I was surprised how easy it was to get in contact with the embassy. I have called, emailed, and left messages at every US embassy since Vietnam only to never hear back from or speak to a person.
The embassy in Santiago is pretty nice; it's a large multistoried building. As I approached the door, I was thinking, yes, now I get to speak English to a fellow American. That was not the case. At the door and at security, no one spoke English; they had to call someone to translate for me so I could get in. Once inside the embassy, it reminded me a lot of a DMV; a line of windows, numbers being called out, and a ton of people waiting and filling out forms. It was primarily people applying for visas to get into the US. Luckily, since I was a citizen, I was quickly processed. Now I just need to come back around 4pm to pick up my passport.
Now that I have this done, I headed back to my hostel to get a plane ticket. I am now headed to San Pedro de Atacama; I will buy a plane ticket to Calama then take a bus to San Pedro. I chose to fly instead of taking a 30hr bus ride; I don't know how people do it.
I found a cheap flight for tomorrow and booked it. Then I get an email saying that I had purchased a ticket for 3x the price. I called the company and luckily they were willing to give me a refund and put me on a flight the following day for the same price I had originally booked it for.
Later that afternoon, I headed back the embassy to pick up my passport. With 48 new pages, I don't think I have to worry about running out of room anytime soon!
After I got my passport, I walked around in the downtown area. Nothing too special, just a somewhat busy business area. I then walked back to the area where my hostel is and walked around. It is cool to see parts of the college campus.
That night, I just ducked into a local pizzeria and then hung out at the hostel.
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