The dirt road that we took here gave me a vague idea of the town we were going to. Run down, not maintained, little to no population…I was wrong….

From Vina Del Mar, skyscrapers and fancy buildings to Las Cruces, small, one story houses and rural buildings. A big change from city life to country life. Once your settled in though, it feels like home. Family run businesses, typical families, and all the little side streets makes it feel like your right back home. Anyways, Las Cruces is a small town with a population of about 5,000. All of the smaller streets revolve around the main drag, called Las Salinas. With three small grocery stores and plenty of smaller fruit and meat stands, most things you eat are made right here in the city. Not imported in from places like Mexico and other countries. The only real problem is that there are one or two restaurants. That means almost everything you eat you have to make by yourself. Driving here can be precarious in most places because most of the roads aren’t paved, and even if they are, they aren’t paved very well. That’s why most places we go here, we walk.     Most of the houses here are well secured. Gates and metal bars over windows and doors along with concrete walls eight feet high and a foot more of barbed wire gives you the feeling that they mean business here in Chile. The house we are staying in is a one story house with most of the space inside taken up by bedrooms. Although small, this house can sleep seven people on an actual bed that’s not a fold out couch! There is a small kitchen and a table, but no dishwasher. There is a small TV and a couch with two separate recliners. Outside, there is a manual gate that you have to push open, a separate building out back with a washer & a clothesline. There are 16 seats out back along with a charcoal grill. Finally, there is a six foot deep pool out back that is medium size. There is a cover that hangs between the house and a wall, but IT IS NOT CONSIDERED A GARAGE. There is no door and the back wall of it isn’t complete. Across a cove nearby and you can see the bigger port town of San Antonio, Chile. NOT TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK? Cool. There are three main beaches that border this town, so a lot of people come to go to the beach. There are a ton of dogs here. Most are strays, so be careful. They really don’t bother you though, so it’s nice to watch them and people put food scraps out and water for them. They are very mellow and sometimes they will come up to you and sniff you, but don’ be worried, they are friendly. I like watching them and I think other animal lovers would also. Back in the states, a ton of litter can be seen on the streets, but even in big cities like Santiago, the capital with a population of 6,000,000+ people, and NO LITTER ANYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This town and all of these towns we will go to and have been are different in there own ways, but isn’t different good?