Another big task was getting our government RUT #s (like a SS#). This number is needed for everything here in Chile, so it's important to get it! Fortunately we had assistance from the woman in Chris' department or we never would have made it through the system. We figured out how to get Metro cards and take the metro for the first time that day so we could meet her. Thankfully our friend told us children are free on the busses and Metro, I couldn't find information about that anywhere! We got to our meeting place early and took a quick walk around central Santiago. We saw presidential palace and some marching military (sort of like changing of the guards!). We met Carina at 8:30 at a Metro stop and we got to the building for our RUT cards in downtown Santiago at about 8:45 am and the line was down the block. Carina knew that you could get preferential #s if you had children with you, so we fortunately were able to jump up in line. It was a confusing process of paying for one thing in one line, getting in another to have them do the initial processing, take photos, give you official paperwork, and then walking about 30 minutes across town to another building and waiting in more lines to have them give you the official #'s IF you have all your paperwork in order. Thankfully she knew what we needed, stopped to get photo copies, and got our papers in order. Phew. So relieved to have that done. Felt awful for all of those that wait hours and hours to get through that system.
Boys and I successfully navigated taking the bus home from our location. Chris took Metro to the University. Busses here are fine, but more graffiti and more bare bones than the fancy red double decker busses in London. Thankful I have google maps on my phone to follow the journey because they don't have anything telling you what stops are coming up next.
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| palace guards (with random street dogs) |
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| Presidential palace |
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| Palace |
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| Chilean flag |
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| Military marching band |
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| Riding bus home |
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