First impressions

I'm in Chile now!!

Some things that I learned on the way here (airport/plane):
1) Do not attempt to bring 13" blade knives in your carryon bag - security will most likely notice and laugh at you. Also, do not argue and give any excuses for said knives. It will definitely backfire.
2) If you have a 13 year old daughter (well, 2 of them), do not buy them iPhone, MacBook, iPod, Juicy Couture bag, and Coach shoes, because your daughers will probably turn into douche bags.
3) When a Chilean asks you on an airplane if you are Catholic, just smile and half-nod.

Here are some first impressions of various things:

Bogota airport: needs water fountains. I was almost dehydrated because I had no Colombian money to buy a drink and I decided (perhaps well) that I would refrain from drinking out of the faucet in the restroom.

Santiago from the air: the light pollution in this city is horrendous - I could see the light diffuse from the airplane! Glad I won't be spending too much time there!

Valparaiso: Some sort of combination of Quito, Ecuador and Zaragoza, Spain...a lot of the architecture is pretty European in the shopping areas...the houses are super colorful though. Messy like Quito, and the people are a combo of Caucasians and Hispanics. Saw some foreigners (white), and yet to see a black or Asian person on the streets. But then I've only been here for 3 hours. There are a TON of stray dogs, but these stray dogs are super cute - German shepherds, laboradors, etc. They bask in the sun in plazas, follow people around, sniff shoes, lick hands (I was licked twice), and kind of hang out everywhere. There are at least ten at any given moment within 30 feet of me. I was really tempted to pet them but didn't want to end up at the hospital on my first day here (would not make for such a positive impression).

Well I'm at one apartment hotel now, I'll go look at an apartment this afternoon (or tomorrow during the day) and hopefully it will be good so I can move in. I do NOT want to go extensively apartment hunting....this one looks good and it's within price range, so I may just jump on it without browsing all the other ones I found. Partly, I do not want to go to Viña tomorrow where some apartments are....call it laziness but the buses here are scary! Just like Quito buses where you jump on while the bus is still moving and it speedily rambles onwards to the destination over cobblestone and dirt....I almost saw one flip over on the way here!