Hey everyone. I am writing again and I am sorry if I have been slacking, but once I don't do something that I have gotten into a routine it is easy to forget about it. But I will have to get back into a routine of talking about Santiago!!
Last night I went to After Office. It is a place where the people go after working in the office. So if you want to go somewhere were you are going to have to dress up, After Office is the place to go. Sadly eventhough it was the Birthday of the place, we still had to pay to get in, but we received a free drink so it was the same as getting in free and paying for a drink. :) but it is a place where we can dance all night and have a blast. It is only open until 1:30 so it is nice, cause most of the time I don't like to stay out late, so its perfect especially when I go with people that live by me too cause then it is easy to get home.
So that is where the taxis come in! When we go out at night, sometimes we take the metro to the club, but it closes at 11 so we have to usually take taxis home if it is a ways from where we live. But one needs to be careful when they take taxis here!! If someone speaks with an different accent than Chilean it is easy to see that the person is not a Chilean native. Here is where the drivers get a little sketchy.
I had a problem one night leaving a friends house and I just think that I said the directions wrong or he couldn't understand me, but after about 4 maybe 5 blocks at the most my taxi meter was already up to $7.000!! that is like $14 USD. It was outrageous, but I was by myself and it was late at night, so I just stayed in the taxi and finally got out...threw the money at him, cause didn't know what would happen if I didn't pay him and started walking down a street by myself. At least I knew what street I was on...but I hailed another cab and was scared to get in and say directions, b/c I didn't want a repeat. But got in told him, and when he would do the slightest thing that I thought was out of the norm...having his blinker on like turning down a street I KNEW that we didn't need to go I freaked out. But he was a good driver. I told him what happened and he was disgusted. I got home safe, was a little shook up and just relieved that nothing happened to me.
But I strongly suggest not taking a taxi by oneself. Its just so easy to be distinguished as a foreigner here, that people try to take advantage of you. So usually I like to go with at least one other person which is pretty good, but what scares me the most is they can still jack the meter, because one guy did it by the touch of a hidden button, and they will do it if they hear English. Another night with 3 other girls in the cab, the meter just climbed and was double than what it should be, but again we were all speaking English. So when I get in a cab I prefer to not talk, or speak Spanish. I try to not feel so out of place like normally which I admit is quite hard.
So either negotiate the price before hand or clearly state your directions before getting in the cab. But during night never take one by yourself, especially being a female. Chile is quite safe for the most part, but then again it is a city of about 6 million people so it wouldn't be strange if something happened to a person one time.
But here as you listen to me it sounds like I am disgusted with Chile and saying all the negative things about it, and by thinking all these things is what gets me worked up all the time. I need to trust myself with my level of spanish and if I only think about the bad things I am never going to have fun. It is just like any other bigger city that I have been too, there is an amount of crime everywhere, but if I just dwell on that nothing is going to be accomplished.
So with this I just need to have a more open mind, travel smart and trust my instincts.
Ciau de Chile
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