Santiago, part 2

... where Matt hikes up Cerro Santa Lucia and goes to a Spanish/English mixer.

After my mid-day bus from Valpo to Santiago I checked into my hostel, which I found out was mostly Spanish speakers.  This is the case in a lot of Chile.  Unlike almost every other place I've traveled, the majority of tourists in Chile are not English speakers, they are from other countries in Latin America. I would say about 75% speak Spanish as their first language, then another 10% speak German, French or a Nordic language and the remaining 15% speak English.  So there's a pretty good chance that you can arrive to a hostel where no one speaks your language.

After lementing this (and the INCREDIBLY creaky floor in my room) I figured I should make the most of the rest of my day, so I hiked up nearby Cerro Santa Lucia.  It's not as tall as Cerro San Cristobel but the park and fortifications on the hill and very impressive and visually appealing.  

Afterwards I went back to the hostel to watch some Netflix and enjoy a bottle of wine from my Casablanca valley adventure.  In the dining/lounge area I met the only other English speakers in the hostel (oh, besides Kirk!  But Kirk was very forgettable, so I forgot about him.  If you ever read this Kirk, I'm very sorry.  You may have been very interesting, but in the fifteen minutes we spent chatting you barely made an impression.  Maybe have some interesting anecdotes loaded next time.  You bicycled all around South America, you must have some), who are named Stephen and Dee.  They were British and very interesting (We probably have something to learn from them

Kirk.  After my initial outburst I now realize that I also don't always make the most compelling first impression, so should probably look inward before criticizing others.  But for some reason the British people you meet in hostels are always at least a little bit intriguing. Is it just the accent?  Should we start talking in fake British accents Kirk?  Probably not).

So Stephen mentioned that there was an English/Spanish speakers mixer going on next door organized by an English teacher (Why didn't they tell us about that at reception Kirk?  It would have been nice).  Stephen and I went and quickly met Carlos who ties twelve other Latin Americans for the most exuberant person I've ever met.  Carlos introduced us to some other locals and encouraged us to speak as much Spanish as we could, which started off a not very much and after four or five drinks increased to a pretty impressive amount, although none of the native Spanish speakers could understand what we were talking about.  After a few hours Stephen decided to go to bed and I said that sounds like a good idea and I'm going to bed too and then about a hour after that I left and went to sleep.