My solo tour of Santiago

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Originally uploaded by erostkowski.

So, I had been living in this country for 3 months had still not really come to 'conocer' Santiago. One Saturday morning I woke up early, realized I had nothing to do, and decided to walk to the plaza and catch the next bus into the city. Santiago itself is only an hour and half away from my town. I, with my Lonely Planet book in hand, hopped on the metro and navigated downtown on foot. It was sort of strange playing tourist for the day, but really gave me a boost in my language confidence. In Los Andes, people just expect you to speak Spanish. In Santiago, a city that sees thousands of visitors each year, if you can say, '' Hi, my name is Emily. I'm from the US. I arrived 3 months ago.'' they count you as fluent. Lucky me.
This is me taking a picture of myself in front of the La Moneda building where the Office of the President is located.