February 11, 2004
We left Easter Island on February 10 and started back to California via Santiago Chile. We arrived late in the afternoon, and Alex decided to have the worst temper tantrum of his life in the luggage claim area of the Santiago airport. He tried to throw himself on the luggage conveyor belt, but we managed to stop him in before he was tagged and sent on his way to Lima, Peru. Sometimes, traveling with a toddler is not all it's cracked up to be.
Santiago reminded me a lot of Los Angeles, a gigantic urban basin packed with buildings surrounded by mountains. We checked into the Santiago Marriott, which was conveniently located across the street from a toy store. It was Sunday, so Alex could do nothing more than gaze longingly out twentieth-floor window.