Arriving in Santiago, going to Hotel Tokyo

Make a phone call to Hotel Tokyo at the airport. This hotel is listed under the name Hotel Japon in “Arukikata”. Japanese and his Chilean wife, who speaks Japanese well, run the hotel. I talked to her on the phone and booked successfully in Japanese, then I immediately headed to the city. I got out of a terminal building and found the ‘Tour Express’ bus stopped, then took it. A ticket might be sold somewhere, but it seemed that I could buy it on the bus. I showed the address of the hotel to the bus staff and told them that I wanted to go there. Nobody clung to me when I got out of the terminal building, and there is a nice airport bus, it’s a great difference from Peru. The town is clean and safe, it has good transportation, things are neat, and it is easy to travel to Chile. But it doesn’t have an Asian bustle, there is no cheating guy, phony bastard. Some travelers who love Asia may miss them. I think, rather than watch the lives of people, it is good to see great nature. The bus came close to Los Eroesu station. The bus staff kindly told me “The street you’re going to is another side of this road. the bus stop is at the station, you will go back a little down this road”, pointing out the window. I became to love the country of Chile, because of his experience on the first day. I rang the bell of Hotel Tokyo, and an old woman came out. I had to imagine a younger one, I was a little surprised. Her name is Monica, she married a younger Japanese and has lived in Japan for 10 years. She said she was going to forget so fast because she didn’t speak Japanese after moving to Chile. Her husband has been working in the city office in Japan. He will retire in three years and come to Chile after that, and she is waiting for it. Until the room, I stay in is ready, she let me show the video on Japanese TV in the living room. She has many old Japanese potteries and dolls in the dining room and the living room. She bought them from Japanese who lives in Santiago. Japanese immigrants auctioned antiques brought from Japan when they wanted money. She has a Japanese old gun and asked me how much it is. I replied it’s a million yen. She bought it for about 300,000 yen. She said it was very cheap.

The room became ready and I carried the luggage. it’s a US $ 35 room with a private shower. It is a little expensive. I can enjoy the chirping of birds and the courtyard with beautiful flowers. I recommend it to those who like that sort of thing. I asked her if there is a place to wash my clothes, then she said I should go to a laundry shop. A cleaning is cheap because it is fixed price, 2,000 pesos per cleaning even though how many clothes I take to the shop. I got taught the mystery spell, “lavado y secado”, which means “washing and drying”. “Hmm, lavado y secado, lavado y secado, …” I decided to the town center first, then go to a laundry shop. First, I went to an AMEX office. Many dirty travelers who are odd with a fine office have come. When I went to the AMEX office, they made a queue. Why did they come here? Because at this AMEX office, travelers can exchange their AMEX travelers’ checks for US dollars. If you want the Chilean pesos, the rate from the US dollar is good. It is very grateful that we can get US dollar cash in the land of South America. Has no meaning traveler’s checks if I exchange them with a large amount of cash, but I will use more and more US dollars while I go around the south of Chile, so I cashed the US $ 500. As the Sun rose higher, it became hotter and hotter. The street at Centro where the vehicles are shut out for pedestrians is very crowded. It seems to have come to the Christmas shopping. I found many people eat a mountain of ice cream while walking. I also tried. There is various Ice cream at the shop but I do not know which is which. I choose Chirimoya ice cream. It is super-heaping. It seems that everyone loves ice cream. I decided to take lunch at the Central Market. I was looking forward to it. When I went backside to the market, I found some restaurants. Men and women there said to me, “Uni!, Sakana!” (“Sea urchin!, Fish!”). I entered a small restaurant and looked for something from the list on the wall. “Paila Marina”, it seemed good, I decided to ask this. The thing that came out is what should be called seafood soup, yeah, it was very delicious. There is also something similar called “Sopa Mariscos”, I did not know where how different. It was 1900 pesos. I found a sea urchin, but it is 3000 pesos and looks a bit expensive. It was pretty expensive at about 3000 pesos or 4000 pesos at shops elsewhere. I left the central market, then go to a great church to see inside and Lan Chile office to reconfirm my air ticket. When I returned to the hotel, I found that I forgot the mystery spell. Hmm, it may be OK without the spell. I went back to the hotel and I was looking for a laundry shop Monica said to me. It is easy to find, there is a price list at the entrance, and it says “Lavado … 1000, Secado … 1000”, I finally remembered the spell. “Lavado y secado, por favor” The spell was right. A man at the shop accepted. I forgot how did the conversation was, which I found to be coming to take Siete (7:00) anyway. I back to the hotel and slept. It was 10 pm when I woke up. I did not go to take my clothes eventually. I also didn’t have dinner.