Chile - the land of the sleeping dogs

It's a bit strange. Everywhere you go around here, you can find dogs, most of them are asleep. It's something they don't tell you before you get here. You can understand how hard it is for me (Lilya) to stay away from them. But you must be proud of me, I didn't touch not even one!
We arrived here 2 days ago. The landing was alright, but since the terminal wasn't functioning due to the earthquake, we received our luggage right in the middle of the field not far from the plain (at least we got all of it this time). We went through passport control inside a tent (as you can see from the pics).
Since Chile is ecologically isolated you are not allowed to bring any fruits/vegetables/animals. Nice dogs go around the passengers and sniff their bags. Don't worry they let SEMPA pass.
The weather in Santiago is great (30C). We stay in a beautiful hostel- La Casa Roja. It is a big 19th century mansion with lots of shared and private rooms, a huge kitchen, a pool, a hair saloon a free internet and other great stuff. Santiago is a nice developing city. It's more developed than some of the east European capitals we know (including one particular eastern capital that has celebrated 3000 years lately). Not at all the third world you might have expected from South America, but a modern and lively capital. The earthquake only slightly effected its buildings. Here and there you can see some bricks that fell of the walls, or some collapsing walls in the older brick building (don't tell mom, but there is some plaster that fell of the walls of the room we're sleeping in). We used the first day to travel around the city center, which was mostly closed, because it was Sunday. We ate at the Marcado Central where they have loads of see food in all colors forms and textures. We can't recommend it, however, because Oren got a nice stomach ache which might be related (and might have nothing to do with it). In all the city you can see Chilean flags and fund raising for the people effected by the earthquake. We stumblled uppon at least two places that held concerts for charity to the earthquake victims.
On the next day we took the bus to Valparaiso, which is a port city on the shores of the Pacific. This is an exciting city indeed. It is spread on the hills around the bay and it seems that there are no two adjacent houses that has the same color. It is also not the most secure city in Chile, so we had to cut on the photography thing after an old lady and two cops warned us and told us to leave the camera inside. However, some pictures were snicked out of the city in a dangerous and successful operation and you can see them in the gallery. We then took the train to Vina del Mar which is a close and more touristic city. It felt much more safe there, but as you can see, there are no pictures from it because it is quite boring. It is mostly a long street with lots of stores. That´s it.
We now getting ready to fly to Punta Arenas. Next stop - Patagonia.