Patagonia

I made it to Patagonia.  I spent a day walking around Santiago.  The city was beautiful and the people were welcoming.  One man stopped me when he saw me looking at a map and offered to help me in English.  Then said welcome to my city I hope you enjoy it. I hiked up to this castle at the top (Cerro Santa Lucia) of the park in the city and it had beautiful views of the city and the surrounding mountains. (Video posted below) Then walked around a little and went to the artisans market and got some empanadas which are sold everywhere. I navigated my way a day and a half journey here to Patagonia where I look out onto the ocean and snow covered mountains.  The weather is cool here which I am enjoying.  To get here I had to take a 3 hour ferry and then have  launch come meet me at the ferry.

The people in El Salvador went out of their way to be friendly and helpful. In El Salvador a man gave us a ride and told us he wouldnt accept money for gas and that it was a privilege to drive us to the bus stop.  We met many people who wanted to help us and make sure we had a good time and were so sad to hear how the rest of the world has such a negative view of El Salvador.  Its a beautiful country with lots of nature and we were there during low season so we didnt meet many other travellers.

One of the funny experiences I had was a German traveler saying oh you are from Boston, I want to go there for the view from the toilets. I  had no idea what she was talking about at first.  I was trying to think of a skyscraper that maybe had toilets with a view.  Then finally realized she was talking about the round public toilets that I have never been in but heard they are one sided glass so you pay like $4 and you can see people walking around on the streets while you go to the bathroom.  I never knew Boston was famous for this!!!  I have seen them and always just scoffed at the price.. apparently its a tourist attraction.