Adventures in Chile!

We arrived in Santiago Chile on November 4, 2011, and it has been a crazy week or so of getting the boys into a new routine.  We are living with a very nice woman who loves the boys very much. She gets them new toys and takes them to the park almost every day. She had her family bring over a little pool to put on the back patio. It's like having a grandma here!  Which is trouble for us because Samuel and Lucas mind everything Carmen  tells them but they kick and scream when they have to behave for us!  So in that regard we are feeling right at home.  The first few days here we explored the town of Santiago. BUSY BUSY!  We went to the Cerro San Cristobal and rode the Funicular up the mountain because the Teleferico is closed.  We got ourselves lost at 9pm on the metro the first night we were here.  Being lost in and around Santiago has become a tradition for us now. We rented a car this weekend and got lost in Santiago for an hour trying to get home.  Mind you....we had a map.  Two problems we have found getting around Chile.  Maps have roads and street signs, BUT NONE AND I MEAN NONE of the streets actually have a sign that says what street it is!!!!!!!  Top that off with the fact that no one in town (even the people that live here) know how to get anywhere! So don't ask for directions!   Surprisingly enough we found our way out of town.....after spending 1 hour going north on Ruta 5 (route 5) and then coming back down south into Santiago (again) to finally get on Ruta 5 SUR (south).  Mind you....we were told that was the way to go!!!  All I can say is that Ruta 5 is beautiful...Norte and Sur (north and south).  So towards the end of this post you will see that we finally made it to Santa Cruz. We felt like we were in a dreamland. The views were amazing. We toured two vineyards on a horse and carriage.  The kids had a great time!  The bed and breakfast we stayed at was wonderful and it was nice to get out of the busy city and be in the country with fresh air!  The first few photos are of Director Fernanda's family.  They have been super nice and they got us all the reservations at the hotels in Santa Cruz. They also loaned us a chilean cell phone so that our mama Chilena can call us and check on us every second!  We will upload some more as the week progresses.  Ciao!