Esperando mis amigas

For the 24 hour bus ride from Iquique to Santiago we splurged on the supreme bus with seats that extended completely flat like a bed. The ride went suprisingly quickly, I slept through most of it. We arrived in Santiago the night before my friends from work, Abby and Katie were to arrive.
We made reservations at Casa Roja, a beautifully restored mansion in the area of Satiago called Bario Brasil. I immediately loved the place. The building seemed enormous with ceilings looming at least 20feet high. Out back there was plenty of space to relax including an enticing pool for the warm days.
The next morning we rushed off to the airport to get the girls. Their flight was delayed a bit, so we wasted time drinking coffee and people watching for a couple hours before their arrival. Awaiting them I was literally sweating with excitement. Thankfully they made it safely and we caught the next bus back to to central Santiago.
Their first day of vacation we relaxed around the pool. Katie and I put back a liter of beer while Abby tried at a nap. She joined us later to have at a bottle of nice Chilean white wine. Needless to say we stumbled out of the pool a bit tipsy. Katie was attacked by the ruthless step into the shower and came out with a rough looking scrape. If only she knew that it was only the beginning of her battles against the ground.
We headed out to dinner that night a few blocks from the hostal near a cute plaza. Katie asked along a friendly guy from Chicago that she had been chatting it up with. After dinner we wandered down to the plaza to find couples dancing quite elegantly to latin beats. Josh and guy from Chicago, Andy, headed off to find some wine while we watched the show. The dancing kept on into the night as we shared the bottles of Chilean red wine.
After the music ended we headed back to the hostal, but weren't quite ready to say goodnight. We sat at a patio table in the back to play a round of cards with a little Heineken night cap. It was a good first day.