Klemens Burpscher, Liber

One would imagine the many hours in air would be plain torture, yet somehow I found it hard to concentrate on sleeping with all the new movies under my nose. The first 12 hours from Zurich to Sao Paulo just flew by! The next bit from Sao Paolo to Santiago de Chile required more will-power to keep the eye lids open.

And now four days have already passed since the jolly taxi driver picked us up at the airport holding a sign "Klemens Burpscher, Liber". We assumed that's us. Exhausted from jetlag, travelling and the few hours slept we still managed to struggle through the day. Our flat is tiny but very cute within an easy distance from the convenience stores and other practical shopping in our barrio, Providencia.

Lukas had the first day at work on Tuesday. The office is located at Santiago's World Trade Center - in the same building as the Canadian Embassy and Radisson Hotel - all just 15 minutes by foot from home. As Lukas was getting to know the Chilean working ways and his new workmates, I headed to one of my favourite attractions: Parque Arauco, a huge shopping centre complex with a cinema and numerous restaurants.

The three barrios surrounding us, Providencia, Los Condes and Vitacura, are upper-middle classy safe and clean. For a Finnish girl the weather is not winter-like with its +10 to +15 Celsius degrees although the wind can get chilly at times that even poodles wear wool! With some patience the minor difficulties related to disfunctioning electronic appliances (such as Internet which finally works! I didn't know how addicted one can be before the media black out hit me) or communication problems can be rather easily overcome.

Lukas's workmates have shown us how to spend the evening the Chilean way. The restaurants we've visited are wonderful and food so delicious! Yet despite of all the exciting new things to do, I'm really looking forward to the start of the language school next week. I can't wait to get my Spanish back. After all, it would be embarrassing to sit in the taxi again and tell the driver to to "Avenida Suecia fünf-cero-fünf bitte eh por favor".

Flying over the Andes.

Parque Arauco - shopping centre.

The homeless dogs break my heart every time but at least they don't seem to suffer from hunger and they know how to take good care of themselves. One was following me to cross the street. So clever.