No Coffee at 7am

Day 1: Landing in Santiago

We landed at SCL and took an Uber into the city, forgetting to stop at the arrivals lounge for food and coffee first.

As usual, we called the Uber before finding the pickup spot, then scrambled to find our driver.

The coffee hunt

It was 7am, and no coffee shops were open. None.

Luckily we found Cafetería Casa Salvo, which opened at 8. We camped there on their WiFi and ate avocado toast and some very good scrambled eggs.

Up the hill, laptops and all

We dropped our stuff at the Airbnb, then set off with our heavy laptops and climbed Cerro San Cristóbal.

At the top we had empanadas. And The Alpha needed a chaperone into the men's washroom, because the women's had no soap and water. That wouldn't be the last time.

We took the cable car down the mountain and checked in to the Airbnb properly. The host was kind, and from Quebec.

Nap, then seafood

The group napped for an hour, then headed to Pal'Mar, a Caribbean-style seafood spot, for dinner: ceviche, fried seafood and chicken, and a beautiful fried fish.

Matching tees

We ended the night watching reels: a guy pranking New Yorkers with fart sounds, and New York subway interviews. All of us in matching oversized XXL company-swag T-shirts, in which The Beta looked either pregnant or a lot bigger than he actually is.

Early to bed. A private tour was picking us up at 7:30 the next morning.

Day 1: done. Coffee: eventually.