Pictures - finally!

Hello all,
The internet has been on the fritz at La Casa Loca (the student house) so I haven't been able to post pictures from last weekend until today. But... finally here they are!
It was such a fun trip (and great to go through the pics and relive it) I'm definitely looking forward to more adventures soon... this weekend we're going horseback riding in the Andes and having a picnic on the Cerro San Cristobal (a beautiful lookout pt in the city).

But, back to last week's tour of the San Antonio Valley and the Coast:

The cellar that is designed to resemble a barrel

Annie at the "Altar" in the wine cellar

At our private wine tasting, where Antonio taught us about the history of the Mapuche (the indigenous tribe in Chile):

More shots of the beautiful countryside at Matetic:

Como se llama, Llama? (that joke cracked me up for a while)

An example of the beautiful and delicious food at the vineyard:

In front of the Museo Fonck, Viña del Mar (an example of the statues found on Easter Island):



The beach in Viña:

The view from our room in the hostel, Valpraiso:

Yes, Annie and I ate this (steak, eggs and onions on french fries) and Annie thought it needed CHEESE!:


Mafalda, the adorable puppy at our hostel:

The streets of Valparaiso (Nikoletta, I thought of you a lot while I was here: all the different building styles, the engineering challenge of building on steep hills, etc):

Views of/from the ascensors (yes, they are still functional! and supposedly safe...):

An adorable English cottage in the middle of a Chilean coastal town, followed by an adorable Alpine bungalow:

From the LUKAS museum, not sure how well you can tell, but the man's face is also an aerial view of the city:

 Me and Tyesha, overlooking the port:

Driving home to Santiago with the Andes in the distance:

Our weekend in pictures!

My camera charger came today (thank you, Mom!) so I can finally show you what I've been raving about. Here are the highlights:

The beautiful Matetic Vineyards:

 

The beautiful Antonio: 

The internet is being a bit dodgy right now, but I will add more pictures manana!

Weekend Adventures, part 2 (pictures coming soon)!

When last we parted, readers (all 3 of you!), Annie, Tyesha and I had arrived at our adorable hostel in Valparaiso.  After settling in, we headed out on the town and wound up at a very typical Chilean gastropub (apparently bars have not caught on here: you're either at a club or a gastropub) with a great traditional band.  At first, we didn't realize that the men at the bar across from us were in the band, and confused them with the Italian mafia - they were all very dapper, like a snapshot from the 1950s.  My professor had recommended a typical Valparaisan dish: chorillenas.  Be forewarned, you may have to take a  Statin and brace your coronary arteries to read the recipe: steak, eggs and onions on a bed of french fries.  Annie and I split it alongside a salad and although it will not be my staple dish in Chile, it was damn good.  We stayed in the gastropub drinking Chilean sangria and listening to the crowd at the bar sing along with the band until our eyes coundn't stand the ciggarette smoke any longer, got into a cab and went home.

The next morning we slept in and chatted with Carolina (the main worker at the hostel, and also an environmental engineer) before heading out to explore Valparaiso.  Some background: Paraiso (as the Chileans call it) is a pretty old city with a splendid past.  It was the first port ships would come to after passing through the Straight of Magellan (very important before the Panama Canal opened) and was home to Chile's first newspaper and stock exchange, loads of banks, etc.  Tons of extranjeros (foreigners) came to Paraiso to make their fortune: there were particularly large English and German populations in the 19th century which left their mark on the city's architecture.  Equally important to know is the terrain of Valparaiso; the city is made up of 13 or so very steep hills, like San Francisco.  So, the port area is level, and all the neighborhoods tower above the city, connected to the land below with ascensors (funiculars - aka wooden elevators that feel like old-timey roller coasters) built in the late 1800s.  The streets are all narrow and steep, many have stairs instead of sidewalks, and the houses appear as if they are tumbling down the sides of the hills.  What makes Valparaiso particularly beautiful is that the houses are painted in distinct and bright colors and represent all types of architecture (my favorites were the houses that looked like adorable English cottages clinging to the side of a South American mountain, with palm trees in the front yard!).  Valparaiso lost its fortune after the opening of the Panama canal, a devastating earthquake and attacks from pirates.  The city now resembles a beautiful woman who has fallen from grace: you can tell that at one time she wowed everyone who passed by, but now she's just a bit out of place.  Like many port cities, Paraiso has a high crime rate and vibrant sex trade, making it the city with the highest per capita AIDS rate in Chile.  There is also a lot of graffiti and dinginess.  All that said, there is also a beauty and character about the city that is captivating, which is why most tourists in Santiago visit Valparaiso at least once.  We spent a lot of time walking (sometimes hiking!) the streets, and stopped into a museum honoring a famous Chilean political cartoonist, LUKAS.

Soon, it was time for us to make our way back to Santiago.  Annie was a real hero to drive in city.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the steep, winding streets of Valparaiso are a bit difficult to navigate but after driving few a number of barrios, and finally getting stuck on a small winding street we met some very friendly people who helped us find the highway home.

Stay tuned for pictures from this fun trip!

with love,
co

Weekend Adventures, part 1!

Hello dear readers!

I am so excited to report all about my fun weekend! My pictures are locked away on my camera which is now completely out of batteries (the FedEx package from Mom should be arriving early this week, though). Will post them mid-week.

Friday night Annie and I went to a gastropub in our neighborhood, Bar Liguria. The Frommer's author raves about this place, and since she hadn't led us astray yet we decided to try it out (and were not disappointed!). We got there and it was this big, boisterous bistro (sorry for the alliteration) full of Chileans. The place was packed and we had an interesting time trying to explain to the waiters that we didn't mind waiting for a table in broken Spanish while trying to understand their rapid-fire Chilean (Chileans admit that their Spanish is not so great - they use tons of country-specific slang and swallow the ends of their words). But, I think the experience bonded us with the waitstaff because within no time we were at a great table and they were flirting with us ("So, what part of Chile are you girls from?" On to deciphering the menu! Usually we haven't had a hard time of this, since we know the words for most meats, veggies, etc but for some reason we barely understood a thing on this menu. We decided that since we are both pretty easy to please we should just order things that we thought we understood: salmon tartar, pasta with mushrooms, and tuna on a bed of salad. Out came a delicious salmon tartar (score!), a bowl full of mushrooms in white wine sauce, and... a plate of anchovies. I'd give us a 1.75/3 for ordering but the food was delicious (except the anchovies which we just moved around on the plate a bit). The great food, adorable waiters, and fun oldies music will probably draw us back there again,


The next morning we woke up early and met our friend Tyesha (another girl in the program) to get our rental car and go out into the countryside. First stop: Matetic Vineyards in the San Antonio Valley. What a place! I could probably go on and on about the 4 hours we spent here but will try to give you just the highlights:

#1 Antonio, our private tour guide. As Fiona would say, he is "quite a delight" - a musician who studies the effects of playing various types of music (from Mozart to metal) on the wine's maturation, with beautiful green eyes, and a devilish smile. The 3 of us were hanging on his every word as he described how the Matetic family (one of the wealthiest in Chile) made their fortune in copper and has since expanded to a variety of tourism-related ventures. One of the youngest sons decided that he wanted to create a fully organic and self-sustaining vineyard and within a few years created wine that has received lots of international acclaim.

#2 The buildings on the vineyard were all designed to have perfect fung-shui, with a barrel-like room holding a temple to wine.

#3 The wine itself is delicious (especially when being served and described by our adorable Sommelier)! Their premium line, EQ retails for about $40 in the states, and in my opinion that is a BARGAIN.

#4 After our tasting we went to the restaurant on the vineyard and had a delicious lunch (with more Matetic wine, of course!). By far the best meal we've had since being in Chile, the gourmet food was also cheap - my swordfish with seafood risotto was about $15.

Tearing ourselves away from Matetic, we were off to Vina del Mar (known in Chile simply as Vina), a beach resort. When we got there we tried to go to the Museo Arqueologia de Fonck, but sadly it was closed so we joined the many other visitors in taking pictures outside. The museum supposedly holds a fantastic collection of artifacts from Easter Island, but I may never know. Instead, I tried to take a picture picking the statue's nose (pictures to come later)! From the museum we walked to ocean and along a promenade. The beach we finally saw was nothing really to write home about; kinda small and short, and very crowded. The ocean was beautiful but the water is cold. In any event, it was nice to be by the ocean and the fresh air felt much cleaner than the smog in Santiago.

We finally made our way down to Valparaiso, where we spent the night. The hostel Annie and I found online after coming home from Bar Liguria was actually great - very clean with a super friendly staff, and a new puppy: Mafalda, (don't tell Moxie)! And if you want to read more about our time in Valparaiso... read my next blog entry!

ciao-ciao (my new favorite phrase, from the lovely Antonio),
co

museo, fiesta y realizaciones (tr: accomplishments)

I realized that my last post was only about the first day of classes and I didn't get to mention the awesome museum Lily and I visited on our second day: the Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum. What a great spot - awesome modern art from Chile and elsewhere alongside a great history lesson. Allende was Chile's popularly elected Marxist President before Pinochet's US-backed coup in 1971. Pinochet was president for almost 30 years; a dictator who was accused of human rights violations and amassing a huge amount of weath by stealing from the people, is is pretty much reviled and so Allende is viewed as a hero (although it doesn't seem like Chile is interested in moving back to a socialist system). The program coordinator, Paz, took us and gave us a tour in Spanish. I understood about 50% of what she said - we talked about the history of the country, and the various exhibits (there were quite a few feminist pieces - Chile is still a pretty macho place with pay discrimination, conservative views of working women, etc). It was great to be immersed in Spanish (that's why I'm here) but by the time I got back to the school for lessons my brain felt fried!

Yesterday evening we went to the weekly Gringa Fiesta. It's a party mostly for foreigners (and the Chileans that love them) that takes place in a different location each week; for example, last night the party was in a movie theater. I had such a fun time, but was suffering a bit this morning. Luckily, almost every other student was in the same boat (no surprise that Thursdays are not the teachers' favorite)! These pictures are from the party:

Fiona demonstrating how we got in, but I didn't do such a good job with the photo composition so you can't really tell that the "door" to get in was the chain fence and only had a 4'x4' opening (you had to step up and duck your head in order to get in).
Then there were the signs for the bathroom:


As you can see, they let you know exactly what is going on (there signs are somewhat typical here). Finally 2 party pics of Lily, Fiona, Annie and Me. I swear I have other friends here (even some who are not blonde!) but the camera went away quickly once we started dancing.



Other bits of news:
- Before class yesterday, I explored my neighborhood a bit more and bought an outlet adapter from a Chilean hardware store entirely in Spanish! Honestly, I was on cloud nine after that.
- After class, Annie, Lily and I went to Paris (a department store) and bought unlocked cell phones and Chilean SIM cards. It feels so nice to be connected to the world again (and to be able to call friends to make plans, etc).
- The best news just arrived via email from my mom: eureka! I found the cannon charger. I will mail it out tomorrow. A tribute to never giving up and keeping your cool. How true, Marilyn! My mom is such a superstar! What this means for you dear readers is that this blog will continue to have pictures posted to it. For me it means that I will be able to have permanent visual memories of my adventures in South America! (Special thank you to Sarah W for encouraging me not to give up and suggesting solutions on how to get the camera battery charger).

First day of class and more exploring

Hola chicos!
When last I wrote, Annie and I had arrived in Santiago and had just come home from a day of exploring the city. The past 2 days have continued to be a fun time. We woke up early for breakfast and an 8am placement test and met 2 other girls in our house who were also starting their first day: Lily and Fiona. We all walked over together and were shuttled into the exam. I am embarrassed to say how much Spanish I forgot (por ejemplo: la significa de "fecha"), yeah - on the exam I wrote my name and then could not put 2 and 2 together that I should also write the date! Oh well - it was off to level 1A for me!
My class and private lessons were schedule for the afternoon, so Lily and I decided to explore the area west of our neighborhood. We went to the Plaza Italia which is part of the park that Annie and I walked in and there was a rainbow!

beautiful fountain


fountain with rainbow

Back to school for my first lessons - it all went by very quickly, but I already feel like I'm learning/remembering a lot. There are 5 of us in my class - a guy from Britain, 2 girls from Germany and another girl from Austria, and we're all around the same level. The teacher is a young Chilean guy and very nice - it's supposedly one of his first weeks teaching but I think he's very good. I'm really happy with our program choice - the staff (from the receptionist to my tutor and professor) are all patient and helpful - and strict about speaking only Spanish!

The day ended with a walk to an artsy neighborhood, Bellavista, which is right across the river from where we live. We ate at a yummy Peruvian place that was recommended by a few of our travel books and had our first Pisco Sours - the national drink of Chile. Pisco is Chilean brandy and they mix it with lemon juice served chilled. The drink was delicious - tasted like a really strong margarita - but we were all feeling it after the first sip or so! It was such a fun dinner full of lively conversation; Lily (pictured with me) and Fiona (with Annie) are awesome and will also be here for a month or so with us.




Pisco Sour (yum!)

To answer your questions, Summer:
(1) The house has about 13 rooms (some singles, some doubles), but mine is the cutest (in my opinion). Annie's room is also great - it's one floor above mine with eaves and a private bathroom. The house is called "La Casa Loca" but I haven't found that at all - people are mostly friendly and considerate.
(2) The obelisque/obelisk (Washington Monument) is for Jose Balmaceda, an aristocrat and President in Chile. There are actually quite a few similar structure honoring other pple throughout the city. This one reads: "La Patria Balmaceda. Porque la amo sobre todas las cosas de la vida. - The Founding Father Balmaceda Because he was the master of all the things in life." From wikipedia: José Manuel Emiliano Balmaceda Fernández (July 19, 1840 – September 19, 1891) was a Chilean political figure and President.
(3) I'm so glad you like the blog!

love,
co

day 1 in pictures

Well, it seems that despite the best planning, I forgot my camera's battery charger at home. Since it's unclear how long I will be able to continue to take pictures I hope you enjoy these!


Annie upon arrival


I declare that I am not bringing semen or embryos into Chile



What a great room!

The pups and a monument from our walk in the park:

arrival

Posting from Santiago! Annie and I arrived this morning without incident. Actually, it was such a good trip that it left me suspicious that something was amiss. How could airline travel be this easy? After meeting up in Miami, Annie brought me into the Admiral's Club where she had spent the day (her plans to visit the new gym in the Miami airport: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/business-trip-airport-exercise/1/ were foiled by construction). I'm pretty sure that this was my first time in an airline lounge and as usual, it turns out I like places that pamper me. The free alcohol was abundant, as were wireless and printers, coffee and apples. After sending our Chile school itinerary to the printer (too bad we never picked it up!) we found a comfy spot to sit, drink wine, and catch up.
On to the plane where Annie had gotten us bulkhead seats (the wonders of traveling with a consultant). More wine followed, along with more chatting, and then we fell asleep. We woke up to airplane breakfast and coffee... not nearly as satisfying as the first episode of "Royal Pains" which was hilarious because of how bad it was (acting, writing and plotline).
Soon enough we were off the plane and in a van on our way into Santiago! We were greeted in the house by Tia Lucy, the woman who takes care of our house. She is very sweet and helpful, and most importantly speaks very patient Spanish. Our house in Providencia (a nice middle-class neighborhood) is really cute. It's old, so everything creaks and the heat is not so great, but charming. As you can see from the pictures, my room is adorable but hopefully I won't be spending tons of time in it!
After settling in and napping, Annie and I headed out to explore and grab lunch. We walked along Av Providencia - the main thoroughfare in the 'hood and got a sense of the place. We stopped into a small market on our way home and got cereal, milk and fruit so we could eat breakfast in the house. The fruits and vegetables have all been delicious, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised! In the early evening we walked towards downtown along a beautiful park that runs through the city, and explored the area closer to downtown. The center of the city (where downtown, Providencia and another neighborhood, Bellavista are) seems very nice, relatively clean, and safe. We definitely lucked out b/c I don't think that this is the case throughout the whole city. There is nothing particularly special about the city - it sort of just reminds me of European cities with the obligatory mix of 19th century structures alongside 1970's monstrosities and some modern stuff. The only sad thing is that there are lots ofstray dogs (and the population is growing as people put out their dogs b/c they can't afford them), but as Annie points out they look well-fed so I shouldn't be too upset. In fact, in our neighborhood we saw dog food put out on the street for them.
So, after a day of exploring I got back at 10:30 and fell into bed. Tomorrow is my first day of class (but first a placement test - yikes!).

Hasta luego!

co

writing not packing

There should be an international award for procrastination, because then I would be sure to receive an international award. I leave in less than 12 hours and I still haven't packed - haven't even decided if I need my ski jacket (probably, for the South) or my black suede boots (probably not, even if they are really cute). I've already found impressive techniques to put off packing: laundry; breakfast; visiting my grandmother - we baked popovers; returning clothing (which I had put off until today); buying a travel book; finding a great/safe/cheap purse for travel - I think it ; making a list of everything I want to pack; dinner; and now, blogging. Today was probably the most productive day I've had since being in New York - but I haven't accomplished the one thing that must be done before I leave. It is definitely time to put some clothing in a bag and zip it up.

To be fair, there are many factors I need to consider. For one, it will be spring during my stay below the equator and the temperature in the two cities where I'll spend most of my time will range from the 60s to 70s F, but I will potentially travel to places that will be below freezing come nightfall, so what kind of layers should I bring? Another consideration is that I'll be going to Spanish classes during the week (casual outfits) but working in the hospital some afternoons (business outfits). Further wardrobe complications include: going out, working out, traveling around, going to vineyards, going to the beach, spending the afternoon in a cafe... I could go on, but will spare you.

So I hope you have some sympathy for my packing predicament, because the next issue that deserves mention is my anxiety around packing in general. Whether it's for a 2 month trip or a 2 hour picnic, I am never sure what to bring! Bring too much and you look like a princess (and have to carry a heavy bag!), bring too little and you're sure to have regrets. So what's a girl to do? Realistically, I may never get over this analysis-paralysis, but with any luck I will be on a plane bound for Santiago tomorrow afternoon, I guess that means it's time to get my suitcase out of the closet!

with love,

co

start blogging

Well, I can't promise much. I was always terrible at keeping a journal when I was younger - good at starting to write in bursts of emotion (usually when I was suffering from a heart-breakingly adolescent crush), not so good at actually documenting my life consistently after I recovered my sanity. And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure that any blog I write would amount to much more than my childhood journals: "i love michael s. i love michael s. i love michael s." (Jillian's diary, circa 1989 - I perhaps started liking boys at a too-early-age).
So why blog? Well, I love reading them. All types: gossip, news, cooking, random blogs I stumble upon while facebook stalking, I can spend hours finding and reading the ramblings of others. And while I've been with my one-sided relationship with blogs, since I'm about to embark on a 2 month journey through Chile and Argentina, I thought I'd give incorporate this experiment. So, if you've somehow found yourself reading this, thank you. I'll try to spare your eyes (and the rest of the internet) my "i love mateo. i love eduardo. i love enrique." inner adolescent, and instead let you know about my adventures over the next two months (and maybe more)!

with love,

co