February 18, 2010

Chile!
The flight from Atlanta to Santiago that left Atlanta at 8:30 pm and was a looooonnnnnnnnnggggggg 9 hours. With very little leg room and families traveling with little ones, we were not able to really get any sleep on the plane. After having to pay a reciprocity fee of $131 each to come to this country, and go through customs we got to our hotel just after 9 am Chile time. Apparently the US charges Chilean citizens to come into the US so they are getting even. We took a couple hours to nap and then we were off to look around for a little bit before we met Brian’s parents to do a little shopping.
We found out you have to watch what kind of bottle water you are buying. As strange as it sounds it comes with and without gas, (CO2). Kind of like my husband after a Mexican meal (HA HA).

We went over to one Brian’s dad’s previous PhD students’ home to dinner with his family. It was a wonderful evening and dinner took at least two hours and we were eating the whole time. Dinner seems to be quite a production at lasts a while.
When we got back to the hotel we used Skype to make a video call to the kids back home. Brian brought his laptop and a webcam so we could talk and see the kids. It worked really well once we were able to get an internet connection. It was great seeing the kids and knowing they are all fine. It worked particularly well with Alena because she does not communicate that well on the phone yet.