I got up today feeling so refreshed! My clothes were still not ready so I was kind of confined tothe hostel. I took a little walk to the gas station to make a call to a guy that a referee back in Montreal gave me. I was going to referee in Chile! His name was Martin and he was head of a soccer league in Chile. I was going to meet him at 1pm.

After I got my clothes at 11am, I took a shower...there was hot water + pressure! I definitely rated this hostel an A+! That's how I was rating hostels these days...by their ability to provide hot water, all day! I planned out my day, and was ready to leave at 12:30pm to go meet Martin. Our meeting place was only 15 minutes away from my hostel.

When we met, he was really welcoming and friendly right from the beginning (as if we knew each other for years). He invited me for a little lunch at a pizza place and we talked about the possibility of me refereeing in his league. I was set to referee on the weekend (2 games on Saturday and 4 games on Sunday). I was so excited that he was able to do this! After lunch, he asked me if I was doing anything today. I told him that I had some friends in Santiago, especially one that I met in Cusco (Laura). He offered to call her and entered into this long conversation with her before passing me the phone. Laura was busy all week but agreed to do something with me on Saturday.

After Martin and I parted ways, I was still a little hungry. I spotted this gyro place and wanted to see how it tasted in Chile. It was good, but with no zatziki (it was a garlic sauce with salsa), it tasted pretty bland... I needed to go to the consulate of Brazil to get a visa to enter the country in two weeks. It was not an easy place to find! I think it took me about 2 hours to find the embassy, and then when I got there, I was told that I had to go to the consulate (on the other side of downtown), but it was too late because I had to be there between 10:30am and 1pm. Therefore, after walking around some more, and visiting the downtown area, I decided to go back to the hostel.

While going back to the hostel, I had people coming up to me wanted to help me with directions as soon as I took out my map. I found this really strange since I was not used to it (from Peru and Bolivia). People would talk to me in English, too! I find that so far, Chile has the nicest people, however, I have a little difficulty understanding them sometimes because they speak so fast!

When I got back to the hostel, I decided to update my blog all night (I was really far behind). I had supper at this restaurant that was recommended in by book. It was a really good restaurant, and again the service was quick, but I got to realize how expensive Chile can be. Supper cost me 20 USD!!!! This was the most I paid anywhere!

After supper, I was so tired (again!). I don't know why, but for the past few days, I would just eat a lot and sleep a lot (I think I was developping a Garfield disorder...). I was really boring and went to bed at around 11pm. I wanted to get up early tomorrow because I was leaving to Valparaiso...