How I ended up joining climate activists i just met in a march on my first day in Santiago

I, french solo traveler for the first time - student and activist - left for 6 months to travel in Latin America. After a month of traveling in Argentina and Chilean Patagonia between hostels and Workaway experiences, I wanted to share with you my first story during my travel experience and one of my favourite days of travel : my arrival in Santiago ! 

Ever since I decided to travel, I decided I wouldn’t take the planes in between the countries I wanted to visit in Latin America for ecological reasons. Knowing that I exploded my carbon footprint for the year an over-sea flight was already hard enough for me and truely had refrain me to travel… so when I wanted to reach Santiago from the very end of Chilean Patagonia, I first couldn’t imagine taking a plane. Then the reality hit : more than 50 hours of bus and a few hundreds euros, compared to a 5 hour flight. 🚌 

Don’t get me wrong, I completely love buses as it is inherently part of traveling and absolutely enjoyed my bus rides in Argentina and was so proud of me not taking the plane there when people just expect you to take it if you have more than 10 hours of bus. But after a month of traveling, with a limited budget and time and knowing the quality of the roads there… I finally gave up and booked a flight, trying to shush my eco-conscious voice. 

I arrived tired after 12 hours of bus and a 5 hours flight during the night (almost 22hours total) in Santiago, at the place of… my first host found on Host a Sister! We just immediately got along and had amazing conversations on her balcony from 6 to 8am with tea, about travel and social movements. 

I felt like home and rested, before going out discovering the city and the Cerro Santa Lucia. I then discovered a really cute cafe : wonderland café ! The name really suits it as the deco was amazing and I met adorable 2 girls that I later met separately for a city tour the day after and the Cerro San Cristobal walking even after. 

This day was already going so well when I saw a poster that intrigued me : a Festival for water… on that day, in 20minutes ! 

I turned around and saw a girl my age with a fridays for future flag and was so excited - it had been such a long time since my last climate march! 

I thus joined the local Santiago Fridays for future group for the march and the concerts, completely enjoying the vibe, singing strong and significant slogans and seeing the strength and climate activists fighting for water access and protection of glaciers in Chile. I was so proud and inspired of being there, felt really lucky to meet and exchange about our own involvement in climate actions and countries struggles. 

This just reinsures my will to fight for climate action, to talk about it and to continue traveling meeting people and taking the time to admire landscapes on the bus, to put pressure on governments to create a more sustainable world, to preserve theses landscapes, those amazing people and so the weight of the carbon footprint doesn’t weight on the individual. 

I had an amazing first day with a fabulous host and great time meeting other women from Santiago and climate activists I will stay in touch with. I like to think that at least, this unwanted flight allowed me to meet them and I now have the chance and responsibility to make the most out of it and fight for what is right 🌎

If you’d like to see a few pictures of the march, I posted a few pics on insta (@lucie_boutez) 🫶 - if you also travel in Latin America/are interested in social and climate justice, don’t hesitate to reach out!