Back in Santiago ..to meet Michal and Ewa!

In Santiago, after hearing multiple positive things about it from numerous people, it was time for me to begin my own couch surfing experience. I’ve already had a contact and a place to sleep set up in one of the nicer neighborhoods of Santiago. My host’s name was Felipe Luer, but with the timing of my arrival, I ended up living in a house which he shared with four other friends of his; all my age, all engineers, and all a great deal of fun to hang around with.

When I arrived at their place, I’ve also realized that they as well were at the beginning of a moving-in process. As it turned out it was their second day at the house, which had electricity but no hot water. The room I was given was completely empty, but luckily for me, fully carpeted, so I could lay out my mat and a sleeping bag, and be happy to have a roof over my head and a great companionship in the rest of the house. Very soon, gas line was hooked up, which provided cooking ability to the house along with generally desired hot water. The internet was installed the day after, and I could look up more couch surfing hosts in other parts of Chile.

In their first few days in the house, the new owners organized two parties, one after another, at which I met quite a few very nice people and received advice of where to go next and what’s worth visiting in the southern part of the country. Valdivia was recommended as my next destination, which is located in the beautiful “region of the rivers,” then Puerto Montt in the “region of the lakes,” and then I was to decide how to go about exploring Patagonia and the southernmost parts of Chile.
My return to Santiago mainly coincided with meeting Michal, my good friend from Poznan (a town in Poland), and Ewa, his girlfriend, who were also traveling through South America but in an exactly reverse direction to mine. I was really glad and happy to see them, to exchange our experiences and some photos, and advices for future explorations. Michal told me that when they visited Torres del Paine National Park few weeks earlier, everything was practically closing down and they didn’t think I’ll have much luck with the weather or excursions to the park, but I’ve decided I’ll try my luck and see what I can do when I get there.