There are almost 30 countries that speak spanish as their primary language and only a handful that speak french. So why did I take four years of french in high school? Who knows. In most places, especially in big cities, there are normally people who speak a little english, at least enough for me to get by. So far, I´m finding that there are little to no people here in Santiago that speak english, and my spanish is, well, pathetic. I did take an introductory class before I left, but unless the people are speaking very slowly, and with an American accent, I can´t really understand them.

I thought I was doing well with the jetlag. I fell asleep around 9pm on my first night here and woke up at 7am the next morning. I wandered downstairs for the free breakfast that came with the room. When I got back to the room, I decided that I was going to go to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, which didn´t open until 10am. So I went back to sleep. When I woke up, at 3:00pm, I decided I wasn´t doing so well with the jetlag afterall.

I got ready and headed to the museum, which is listed in my lonely planet as the museum you should go to if "you only have time to do one thing." It was an interesting little museum, with paintings, ceramics, carvings and other artifacts from indigenous culture before the Spanish arrived in Central and South America. No photographs allowed inside, unfortunately, but I´m sure I´ll see more artifacts in the next two months that I can take photos of.

From the museum, I decided to stop in and get a haircut. I meant to do it before I left Sydney, but between looking for U.S. dollars with big faces and meeting up with Line and Mark, I didn´t have time. I chose a place at random and was greeted by one of the hairstylists. I asked if he spoke english, and he of course said "No." So I made a gesture with my hand like I was cutting my own hair and said "Dos centimeters." and he knodded his head and said a few things in spanish that I didn´t understand as he put a cape around my neck and lowered his chair for me. We did have a few very short disjointed convesations, in a mix of english and spanish, where he asked me where I was going and for how long. I was able to ask him his name and tell him mine, but that was about it. Riveting conversation or not, he did a great job on my hair, and it only cost me $2000 pesos, or a little over $3 USD!!

For the rest of the afternoon, I went up to the Cerro San Cristobal. I opted to take the funicular to the top, rather than do the 6km hike, to make sure I didn´t get caught in the dark since it was already almost 5pm by the time I got there. At the top there was a nice view of the city, albeit a bit smoggy, with the Andes in the background. Also at the top is a chapel and a large statue of the Virgin Mary, who is said to watch over the city.

I´ll have a few more days here in Santiago in a few weeks after visiting Peru and Bolivia, but for now that will be it! Tomorrow morning I´ll be on a flight to La Paz!