Oh, how to describe this situation.. Basically since the first night I got to my homestay, I have been tortured by the sounds coming from next door. Over the past 2 months I have come to understand what is going on a little more, since the neighbors live behind a fence that I can't see through.
So at first, all I can hear all day and all night is this old woman screetching "VICKYYY VICKY vickyvickyvicky venga vickyyyy SALGA SALGA VICKY NO NO NO VICKY NO VENGA come vicky come NO VICKY NO pero COMO vicky, como me hace eso vicky, VENGA VICKY, ay como me das RABIA VICKY VENGA NO NO NO" which if you don't speak spanish is basically just a long tirade of yelling and screaming at this dog, vicky, talking to her constantly. So I thought Vicky was obviously a very bad, bad dog. I mean, the old woman is screaming at the top of her lungs day in and day out, waking me up, starting at 7 am and finishing at 2 am. Even the earplugs don't help. Then to top it off, I think I can hear the old woman snoring every night through my open window.
So you know I don't belive in hunting, but for weeks I fantasized about killing this stupid little white fluffy yappy dog. Would I sneak poison inside meat and leave it inside the fence? Would I pull her through the fence and set her free? I was constantly contemplating the death of this thing so that I could get some sleep.
Eventually I learn that there is not 1 dog, but 2. One white fluffy yappy whose name is actually Julio, then a big ugly bulldog who is the famed VICKY. And it turns out, the old lady is really sweet, and it is her daughter who is yelling at the top of her lungs. Another day, I am walking by and what do I see.. puppies!!!!!!!!!! So I ask my host mom to ask for one, and spend the day with a little bulldog puppy. Yes, these are the offspring of the devil Vicky, but how can you hate a puppy? And as it turns out, Vicky is not a bad dog, the woman just has an insane rage towards the dogs who are just laying there doing nothing. So the puppies are so cute, and finally when I saw behind the neighbor's walls, I realized I had the situation wrong, I guess. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going insane in this room listening to the monologue of rage towards innocent dogs, and then the dog Vicky snoring through my window every night.
Hence, my decision to move into an apartment. Granted it wasn't all the neighbor's fault, but you would literally go insane listening to this craziness next door!!! My host family was wonderful, but it just really wasn't what I wanted my experience to be. Having to be accountable for when I was coming home, what I wanted to eat, where I was going, getting told all sorts of things that I knew, etc.. I have to go!!! I already have a wonderful family back in Austin, and there is no use in trying to find someone who can compare :) So, my friend Jenna and I went apartment hunting on Saturday. Funny story- we are given an address that is 0270 Bellavista. So naturally, we think, the 0 in front doesn't matter. So we head left towards 270 Bellavista, knock on the door, and 5 minutes later a guy comes down and looks at us blankly. "Ummm, vinimos a ver la pieza?" Ahh, si, he says, and shows us upstairs. The building is old and kinda dark, and he shows us several rooms that are also dark and dingy. So, we say thanks, and leave. One minute later a guy calls me on my cell and asks if we're still coming by to look at the rooms. "No, we were just there?" And he says how were you just here if i'm here and you're not? I told him we were at 270 and hes like noooo, 0270!!! And starts cracking up. SO, apparently we just wandered into some random person's apartment, who happened to have 2 rooms open, thank god we didn't get into some trouble there... Then we looked at the RIGHT house and it was pretty cool but seemed like the people there liked to get too wild for us school students. We looked at several other places, walking all around the city, and they were all so-so. Then it came time for our last place, our last hope. It was an old building with a marble staircase. We opened the door and were greeted with the smell of insence. The guy, Rodrigo, invites us to sit down for tea in his living room that is breezy and decorated with art. We chat for a while about various things, and then he shows us the big, cute rooms painted green with queen beds, and the stocked kitchen where he loves to cook. The place has a really good vibe to it!! And you could tell Rodrigo is a really down to earth, relaxed, chill, lively and organic guy. We talked about all sorts of things, and finally at the end of the day this place felt right! The apartment is in a great location, downtown, 3 blocks from the presidential palace, close to my favorite neighborhoods, walking distance from school, etc. And Rodrigo seems to know all the best places to go. So I am super excited to move in after spring break!!!!! Woohooo!!!
Tomorrow we leave for our grand adventure to the south! Thursday night we're taking a bus to Puerto Varas, which is in the lakes region of Chile, where we are going to do canyoning and some other activities. Then fly even further south to Patagonia and Puerto Natales, where we are going to do a 5 day treck through Torres Del Paine. I am so so so soooo excited to see Patagonia, to treck, and just to see all the incredible sights to be seen!!! Then after the hike, we head to El Calafate Argentina to spend time in Argentine Patagonia, then fly on Monday morning to Buenos Aires for a week!!! Woohooo!!! I'll update from the south, but wow I am truly looking forward to it. And when I get back, it's bye,bye Vicky!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Books so far
Here is a list of the books i've read so far so I don't forget. Like I said earlier, the english books are a whopping 40$ here which makes me very, very sad. But I am going to find a book exchange and trade mine in.
-Valley of the Dolls by:Jacqueline Susann (liked it! it is a chick lit from the 50's, but the topics are all still relevant today - jealous, lost love, drugs, fame, etc, but it was cute. Dadoo have you heard of this one??)
-When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Me Talk Pretty One Day by: Dave Sedaris (Oh my, I don't know the last time I laughed so hard from a book. This guy is incredible, his way of recounting the normal, every day experiences make them seem like the funniest thing that has ever happend)
-First Comes Love, Then Comes Cholera by: Eve Brown-Waite (This a memoir of a girl who falls in love with her Peace Corps recruiter, goes into the PC, and the stories of her misadventures there and after in Africa, charming and funny)
-Nation of Enemies by: Pamela Constable (a GREAT view of Chile under Pinoche, it covers all aspects of the society during the time and has lots of direct quotes. Really gave me some good insight into life under the dictator. PS it is increidbly fascinating to live here knowing that they were ruled by a military dictatorship until 20 years ago)
-4 Blondes by: Candace Bushnell (No offence, not even worth commenting on this book - superficial and dull plot, but I read it because I was bored)
-The Liars Club by: Mary Karr (heartbreaking memoir about a disfunctional family living in Texas. The writer has such a unique and Texas-y voice, the story is so sad but so good. Finished it in 1 day)
-The Glass Castle by: Jeanette Walls (SO good, similar story to that of The Liars Club, but of course the family had it's own eccentricities. Makes you wonder how these kids survive and grow up to be functional human beings, and how the parents put their kids through all that)
-Playing With Grownups by: Sophie Dahl (good coming of age novel with a bit of whimsical flair)
-The Shadow of the Wind by: Carlos Ruiz Zafon (great mystery set in Barcelona in the 50's, love, twists, and written very well)
-Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by: Tom Robbins - not gonna lie, I couldn't get in to this book, I read a few chapters but couldn't find the plot. Maybe i'll try agian later.
Books for Novel class-
-La Amortajada by: Maria Luisa Bombal
-Pedro Parramo by: Juan Rulfo
-La Increible y Triste Historia de Erendira by: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-Valley of the Dolls by:Jacqueline Susann (liked it! it is a chick lit from the 50's, but the topics are all still relevant today - jealous, lost love, drugs, fame, etc, but it was cute. Dadoo have you heard of this one??)
-When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and Me Talk Pretty One Day by: Dave Sedaris (Oh my, I don't know the last time I laughed so hard from a book. This guy is incredible, his way of recounting the normal, every day experiences make them seem like the funniest thing that has ever happend)
-First Comes Love, Then Comes Cholera by: Eve Brown-Waite (This a memoir of a girl who falls in love with her Peace Corps recruiter, goes into the PC, and the stories of her misadventures there and after in Africa, charming and funny)
-Nation of Enemies by: Pamela Constable (a GREAT view of Chile under Pinoche, it covers all aspects of the society during the time and has lots of direct quotes. Really gave me some good insight into life under the dictator. PS it is increidbly fascinating to live here knowing that they were ruled by a military dictatorship until 20 years ago)
-4 Blondes by: Candace Bushnell (No offence, not even worth commenting on this book - superficial and dull plot, but I read it because I was bored)
-The Liars Club by: Mary Karr (heartbreaking memoir about a disfunctional family living in Texas. The writer has such a unique and Texas-y voice, the story is so sad but so good. Finished it in 1 day)
-The Glass Castle by: Jeanette Walls (SO good, similar story to that of The Liars Club, but of course the family had it's own eccentricities. Makes you wonder how these kids survive and grow up to be functional human beings, and how the parents put their kids through all that)
-Playing With Grownups by: Sophie Dahl (good coming of age novel with a bit of whimsical flair)
-The Shadow of the Wind by: Carlos Ruiz Zafon (great mystery set in Barcelona in the 50's, love, twists, and written very well)
-Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by: Tom Robbins - not gonna lie, I couldn't get in to this book, I read a few chapters but couldn't find the plot. Maybe i'll try agian later.
Books for Novel class-
-La Amortajada by: Maria Luisa Bombal
-Pedro Parramo by: Juan Rulfo
-La Increible y Triste Historia de Erendira by: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
patience and exploration
What I learned this week was that living in a city as big as Santiago means that, while there is a plethora of stores, restaurants, and things to do, actually FINDING the thing takes some dedication and listening to many mis-directions.
On Tuesday, Jenna and I had a hankering for Thai food, so we left school early and went to the internet cafe to look for some. We located restaurants online, and figured out which metro stop to get off at. When we got off, we went on about a 40 minute walk in the hot sun, fantasizing about what we were going to eat, curry, pad thai, spring rolls, mmm. We saw the numbers getting closer to our destination and we were ever more excted. Its only two blocks away! So we get there, of COURSE it's closed. So we go next door to another internet place and look for another restaurant. Apparently there is one down the street, so we continue on our journey, knowing that our destination will be worth the hot sun and sweat. On the way, we found a cool street with Mexican food, an organic grocery store - with Quinoa, soy patties, grains, tofu, sauces, mmm!, some cool looking bars, and finally our thai restaurant!! of COURSE, it's closed!!! We happened to get there during their 3 hour break. hmmm. So we continue walking, wander in to a thrift store and spend some time debating whether the clothes there are too 80's or if we could pull off the padded shoulders and sequins. Then we got to a street corner with lots of nice cafes, sat down had a salad, coffee, and amazing ice cream, and realized that even though we didn't find exactly what we were looking for, we found 100 other cool things a long the way!! So that goes to show that, it's worth trying to find new places, because every time I find a new street corner in Santiago I fall more and more in love with the city. There are just soo many places!!! But of course, at times this can be frustrating because in Austin I know exactly where to go, I can drive there, and find whatever I need. Here it seems like I go into store after store and the salesperson's response is always "No, No. (with a finger wave no)", some days this really annoys me, like yesterday I spent about 3 hours trying to gather things for my upcoming trip. Walked about 15 blocks to find the "inglish bookstore", when I get there the store consists of 20 dictionaries and some kids books. Thanks. I go in to 5 different pharmacies looking for travel size bottles of shampoo and bandaids for blisters, "No, No." I search for the other English bookstore, find it, and pick out 3 books that look semi interesting. As i'm getting ready to pay, the sales person wants to make sure that I know what i'm buying. Little did I realize that the english books are $40 each here!!!! WHAT. I miss Bookpeople!!!! I am desperate for more reading material! And yes, I know I can read in Spanish, but the difficulty takes away some of the pleasure I get from reading.
So anyway, on Thursday night we went back to the Thai restaurant, and it was everything I had ever hoped for!! First, I started with a Thai Pisco - oh my, Pisco liquor, coconut milk, fresh basil, with ginger crust, served cold - so incredibly delcious and you couldn't even taste the pisco at all. Then, I had Tom Yum soup, which was also good. For my Pad Thai, I actually had the option of chosing how spicy I wanted it! from level 1-5, and I picked 4. It was incredibly, literally the spiciest most wonderful feeling Ive had in Chile. Oh, how I had missed Thai food!!! So now, thankfully, we know where the thai restaurant is and we know their hours. So, Bo and Mark, I will be thinking of yall!!
Another thing, every time I ask for directions here, no one seems to have any clue about where anything is. People will point you in 6 different directions. Either that, or they will say "noooo, es muy lejos!!" Which means they are too lazy to walk the 5 blocks to get there. But walking in this city is great, and I love to get off at metro stops and just walk around the area and explore. Now if only the temperature would drop a couple degrees.
On Tuesday, Jenna and I had a hankering for Thai food, so we left school early and went to the internet cafe to look for some. We located restaurants online, and figured out which metro stop to get off at. When we got off, we went on about a 40 minute walk in the hot sun, fantasizing about what we were going to eat, curry, pad thai, spring rolls, mmm. We saw the numbers getting closer to our destination and we were ever more excted. Its only two blocks away! So we get there, of COURSE it's closed. So we go next door to another internet place and look for another restaurant. Apparently there is one down the street, so we continue on our journey, knowing that our destination will be worth the hot sun and sweat. On the way, we found a cool street with Mexican food, an organic grocery store - with Quinoa, soy patties, grains, tofu, sauces, mmm!, some cool looking bars, and finally our thai restaurant!! of COURSE, it's closed!!! We happened to get there during their 3 hour break. hmmm. So we continue walking, wander in to a thrift store and spend some time debating whether the clothes there are too 80's or if we could pull off the padded shoulders and sequins. Then we got to a street corner with lots of nice cafes, sat down had a salad, coffee, and amazing ice cream, and realized that even though we didn't find exactly what we were looking for, we found 100 other cool things a long the way!! So that goes to show that, it's worth trying to find new places, because every time I find a new street corner in Santiago I fall more and more in love with the city. There are just soo many places!!! But of course, at times this can be frustrating because in Austin I know exactly where to go, I can drive there, and find whatever I need. Here it seems like I go into store after store and the salesperson's response is always "No, No. (with a finger wave no)", some days this really annoys me, like yesterday I spent about 3 hours trying to gather things for my upcoming trip. Walked about 15 blocks to find the "inglish bookstore", when I get there the store consists of 20 dictionaries and some kids books. Thanks. I go in to 5 different pharmacies looking for travel size bottles of shampoo and bandaids for blisters, "No, No." I search for the other English bookstore, find it, and pick out 3 books that look semi interesting. As i'm getting ready to pay, the sales person wants to make sure that I know what i'm buying. Little did I realize that the english books are $40 each here!!!! WHAT. I miss Bookpeople!!!! I am desperate for more reading material! And yes, I know I can read in Spanish, but the difficulty takes away some of the pleasure I get from reading.
So anyway, on Thursday night we went back to the Thai restaurant, and it was everything I had ever hoped for!! First, I started with a Thai Pisco - oh my, Pisco liquor, coconut milk, fresh basil, with ginger crust, served cold - so incredibly delcious and you couldn't even taste the pisco at all. Then, I had Tom Yum soup, which was also good. For my Pad Thai, I actually had the option of chosing how spicy I wanted it! from level 1-5, and I picked 4. It was incredibly, literally the spiciest most wonderful feeling Ive had in Chile. Oh, how I had missed Thai food!!! So now, thankfully, we know where the thai restaurant is and we know their hours. So, Bo and Mark, I will be thinking of yall!!
Another thing, every time I ask for directions here, no one seems to have any clue about where anything is. People will point you in 6 different directions. Either that, or they will say "noooo, es muy lejos!!" Which means they are too lazy to walk the 5 blocks to get there. But walking in this city is great, and I love to get off at metro stops and just walk around the area and explore. Now if only the temperature would drop a couple degrees.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Food
Here i'll mention a few of the traditional Chilean foods.
-the most ubiquitous street food is the completo or Italiano which is a hotdog (normal or supersized) with the sausage, avocado, ketchup, and a heap of mayonaise. You can find completo stands at every street corner, and chileans feast on them like crazy.
-I forget what this dish is called, possibly churasco, but it is a giant plate of french fries, with pieces of meat, and fried eggs on top. Once we were in a restaurant and we saw a family of 4 chileans who ordered a plate of this that was - not kidding- 2 feet long, heaping with all of this cholesterol, and this is the appetizer..
-Pastel de Choclo is ground up corn which covers a variety of different meats, cooked in the oven in a clay dish. I mistakenly thought pastel de choclo meant a chocolate cake... nope..
-Humitas is a corn mash mixture wrapped in a corn husk, very much like a tamale. I thought this was a healthy vegetarian option, but my host family informed me that it is best eaten completely covered in sugar. No, thanks, I told them i'd prefer it with lemon and hotsauce - not too bad.
-Empanadas are very popular, the Chilean version is filled with ground beef, onions, olives, and hard boiled eggs. They also have cheese, seafood, and I have even found soy-meat and veggie empanadas at a market on tuesdays!!!! success!!!
-Cazuela is a stew of different meats
-Pisco is the Chilean national drink, which is fermented grape liquor, similar to a brandy, and when they mix it as Pisco Sour it is like a margarita. Everyone will warn to you watch out for the Piscos, and it's true- Right Jerry??
-Sushi is super delicious here because every single city is so close to the coast so the food is always fresh.
-every where you look people are selling fresh fruit juices of all kinds, which are extremely delicious and refreshing.
vegan/vegetarian options-
Hmm.
-The standard vegetarian plate at restaurants is a salad that has iceburg lettuce, corn, tomatoes, beets, avocado, green beans, and then dress it with lemon or balsamic - so this is a very good option, and it's cheap, but not super filling.
-there is a delicious, tiny vegetarian stand that operates out of a window near the school, and he has soy fajitas where the soy is seasoned, served in a tortilla with tomato, avocado, lettuce. so good! he also makes fresh juice, and has lots of other vegetarian options. Alas, he has been closed all of February due to summer break, so I have been having withdrawls
-Santa Lucia market on Tuesdays gets a shipment of empanadas filled with soy meat, zuchini, corn, and other veggies, with whole wheat crust. but only on Tuesdays.
-there is another restaurant near campus that has supposedly great veggie burgers (haven't tried it yet)
-Last week I finally found my heaven- called El Huerto, mmmm a great vegetarian restaurant. I first had the indian plate which had brown rice, lentils, curry, fruit chutney, and yogurt salad - so good!! then yesterday I had the mexican plate which had a mini burrito with black beans and roasted veggies, a quesadilla, brown rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. and mint lemonade. yum yum yummmmmmy, thank goodness I found it.
-At my homestay I have been eating a lot of salad, bread with nutritional yeast, ramen, tacos, fruits... and my best two meals have been cooked by my friends at their houses. Best restaurant meal might have been with Jerry at Tiramisu- a beautiful italian restaurant, but El Huerto is my new favorite
So, no offence, i'm not super impressed with the traditional Chilean food, but Santiago has a huge variety of restaurants to choose from. I just keep asking myself, why, oh why, couldn't Mexican food travel all the way south?!?!
-the most ubiquitous street food is the completo or Italiano which is a hotdog (normal or supersized) with the sausage, avocado, ketchup, and a heap of mayonaise. You can find completo stands at every street corner, and chileans feast on them like crazy.
-I forget what this dish is called, possibly churasco, but it is a giant plate of french fries, with pieces of meat, and fried eggs on top. Once we were in a restaurant and we saw a family of 4 chileans who ordered a plate of this that was - not kidding- 2 feet long, heaping with all of this cholesterol, and this is the appetizer..
-Pastel de Choclo is ground up corn which covers a variety of different meats, cooked in the oven in a clay dish. I mistakenly thought pastel de choclo meant a chocolate cake... nope..
-Humitas is a corn mash mixture wrapped in a corn husk, very much like a tamale. I thought this was a healthy vegetarian option, but my host family informed me that it is best eaten completely covered in sugar. No, thanks, I told them i'd prefer it with lemon and hotsauce - not too bad.
-Empanadas are very popular, the Chilean version is filled with ground beef, onions, olives, and hard boiled eggs. They also have cheese, seafood, and I have even found soy-meat and veggie empanadas at a market on tuesdays!!!! success!!!
-Cazuela is a stew of different meats
-Pisco is the Chilean national drink, which is fermented grape liquor, similar to a brandy, and when they mix it as Pisco Sour it is like a margarita. Everyone will warn to you watch out for the Piscos, and it's true- Right Jerry??
-Sushi is super delicious here because every single city is so close to the coast so the food is always fresh.
-every where you look people are selling fresh fruit juices of all kinds, which are extremely delicious and refreshing.
vegan/vegetarian options-
Hmm.
-The standard vegetarian plate at restaurants is a salad that has iceburg lettuce, corn, tomatoes, beets, avocado, green beans, and then dress it with lemon or balsamic - so this is a very good option, and it's cheap, but not super filling.
-there is a delicious, tiny vegetarian stand that operates out of a window near the school, and he has soy fajitas where the soy is seasoned, served in a tortilla with tomato, avocado, lettuce. so good! he also makes fresh juice, and has lots of other vegetarian options. Alas, he has been closed all of February due to summer break, so I have been having withdrawls
-Santa Lucia market on Tuesdays gets a shipment of empanadas filled with soy meat, zuchini, corn, and other veggies, with whole wheat crust. but only on Tuesdays.
-there is another restaurant near campus that has supposedly great veggie burgers (haven't tried it yet)
-Last week I finally found my heaven- called El Huerto, mmmm a great vegetarian restaurant. I first had the indian plate which had brown rice, lentils, curry, fruit chutney, and yogurt salad - so good!! then yesterday I had the mexican plate which had a mini burrito with black beans and roasted veggies, a quesadilla, brown rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. and mint lemonade. yum yum yummmmmmy, thank goodness I found it.
-At my homestay I have been eating a lot of salad, bread with nutritional yeast, ramen, tacos, fruits... and my best two meals have been cooked by my friends at their houses. Best restaurant meal might have been with Jerry at Tiramisu- a beautiful italian restaurant, but El Huerto is my new favorite
So, no offence, i'm not super impressed with the traditional Chilean food, but Santiago has a huge variety of restaurants to choose from. I just keep asking myself, why, oh why, couldn't Mexican food travel all the way south?!?!
Weekend
FRIDAY:
After waking up late, I met my friend at the bus station. We decided to go to Pichilemu, a beach to the south, so after waiting in 5 wrong lines we got on the bus. There was no AC, and the bus was just sitting there, and a baby was crying, and we were not in the mood so we got off and went to Vina del mar instead. We jumped in the ocean and got tumbled by the huge waves, then watched the sunset over the coast. Then, we all tried to go out for sushi, but of course nothing is as simple as it may seem. We finally sat down at the table, starving, and asked for sake bombs. The chileans had no idea what a sake bomb was, so, like the good gringos that we are, we gave them a demonstration. On the second sake bomb we broke 3 of our glasses on accident, but managed to keep that hidden. Our sushi was increddddddible, so delicious, especially since we were starving. After finishing dinner around 12:30 (normal Chilean time), we walked around Vina looking for clubs, but there continued to be problems with each one (we weren't dressed up enough, they saw us drinking on the street, etc), so we ended up going to bed after a while, but the meal was enough to make it a wonderful night.
SATURDAY:
We agreed to go meet another group of friends to go on a "hike", which I was unprepared for, having only my chaco sandles and no camping gear, but we figured oh well we can make it work. That was the beginning of a trecherous 9 hour journey up a giant mountain. William was convinced that we could make the peak that day, even though the rangers warned us repeatedly that it couldn't be done because we had gotten to the park too late. But we said, darn it, we're americans! of course we can! And set off to hike the peak. The boys wanted to camp at the top of the peak, and the rangers said that it was impossible because.. dun dun dunnn.. there is a mysterious bug who resides at the upper levels of the mountain, who is small with salmon colored stripes, and if he bites you... you will die in 30 years. you don't know if you have been bitten, and there are no symptoms until 5 years later and there is no cure. So whether this is a myth they tell so you won't camp up there, or whether it's true, who knows - but if I die on valentines day when i'm 50 here is why. We saw on the map the campsite that looked furthest up, so our plan was to hike to the camp, set up and leave the gear, then finish the climb. After about 3 hours of extremely hard and verticle hiking with our packs, we run into the rangers again- "why the hell do yall have all of your camping gear with you, the campsite is 5 km down the hill, just 10 minutes from the park entrance, you stupid gringos! we told you!" us- "uhhhh", and then Jake pipes in "ohh yea, I saw the sign for the campsite but since it was 10 minutes in to the hike I thought it couldn't be the right one". So basically we hiked all that way with all of our camping gear, food, drinks, for nothing, in the heat of the day. Ahhh!! So then we just left our gear in a hidden spot on the trail and continued up. It was such hard hiking, having to use our hands a lot, it was slippery, and almost completely vertical. And I was in chacos, a sundress, with 4 hours of sleep under my belt. But I made it super far up, until the very last part leading up to the peak which was extremely slippery and you had to bear crawl, so Cassidy and I decided we had made it plenty far, so we sat there and took in the view. It was pretty scary up there, one wrong foothold and you were going to fall down the mountain. But believe me, we fell plenty of times on the way down. By the end of it my knees were killing me and I could barely walk. We made it back down to the campsite just as the sun set, and felt very accomplished for doing something that supposedly couldn't be done! That is our American spirit! :) Then Liz cooked a gourmet camping meal of spaghetti with sauteed veggies. I had to sleep in the tent, on the hard ground, with no pillow or blanket, and my ipod died after a little while. Worst night of sleep i've had in a long time, just laying there waiting for the sun to come up.
SUNDAY:
Our attempt to "get the hell out of there and get home" translated into a 6 hour misadventure home. when we finally reached Santiago we headed straight to California Cantina for gringo food, but, of course it was closed. So I went to the next street over to the amazing vegetarian restaurant for great mexican food, which was much more delicious anyway. then I passed out, my body aching,so extremely tired. happy valentines day!!
MONDAY:
Tonight Randy made curry from scratch, with a veggie curry for me!! sooooo delicious!!!!!!! As jenna said earlier today, "chileans hate flavor", so tonight we all savored the delicious spices and aromas that came from real food.
After waking up late, I met my friend at the bus station. We decided to go to Pichilemu, a beach to the south, so after waiting in 5 wrong lines we got on the bus. There was no AC, and the bus was just sitting there, and a baby was crying, and we were not in the mood so we got off and went to Vina del mar instead. We jumped in the ocean and got tumbled by the huge waves, then watched the sunset over the coast. Then, we all tried to go out for sushi, but of course nothing is as simple as it may seem. We finally sat down at the table, starving, and asked for sake bombs. The chileans had no idea what a sake bomb was, so, like the good gringos that we are, we gave them a demonstration. On the second sake bomb we broke 3 of our glasses on accident, but managed to keep that hidden. Our sushi was increddddddible, so delicious, especially since we were starving. After finishing dinner around 12:30 (normal Chilean time), we walked around Vina looking for clubs, but there continued to be problems with each one (we weren't dressed up enough, they saw us drinking on the street, etc), so we ended up going to bed after a while, but the meal was enough to make it a wonderful night.
SATURDAY:
We agreed to go meet another group of friends to go on a "hike", which I was unprepared for, having only my chaco sandles and no camping gear, but we figured oh well we can make it work. That was the beginning of a trecherous 9 hour journey up a giant mountain. William was convinced that we could make the peak that day, even though the rangers warned us repeatedly that it couldn't be done because we had gotten to the park too late. But we said, darn it, we're americans! of course we can! And set off to hike the peak. The boys wanted to camp at the top of the peak, and the rangers said that it was impossible because.. dun dun dunnn.. there is a mysterious bug who resides at the upper levels of the mountain, who is small with salmon colored stripes, and if he bites you... you will die in 30 years. you don't know if you have been bitten, and there are no symptoms until 5 years later and there is no cure. So whether this is a myth they tell so you won't camp up there, or whether it's true, who knows - but if I die on valentines day when i'm 50 here is why. We saw on the map the campsite that looked furthest up, so our plan was to hike to the camp, set up and leave the gear, then finish the climb. After about 3 hours of extremely hard and verticle hiking with our packs, we run into the rangers again- "why the hell do yall have all of your camping gear with you, the campsite is 5 km down the hill, just 10 minutes from the park entrance, you stupid gringos! we told you!" us- "uhhhh", and then Jake pipes in "ohh yea, I saw the sign for the campsite but since it was 10 minutes in to the hike I thought it couldn't be the right one". So basically we hiked all that way with all of our camping gear, food, drinks, for nothing, in the heat of the day. Ahhh!! So then we just left our gear in a hidden spot on the trail and continued up. It was such hard hiking, having to use our hands a lot, it was slippery, and almost completely vertical. And I was in chacos, a sundress, with 4 hours of sleep under my belt. But I made it super far up, until the very last part leading up to the peak which was extremely slippery and you had to bear crawl, so Cassidy and I decided we had made it plenty far, so we sat there and took in the view. It was pretty scary up there, one wrong foothold and you were going to fall down the mountain. But believe me, we fell plenty of times on the way down. By the end of it my knees were killing me and I could barely walk. We made it back down to the campsite just as the sun set, and felt very accomplished for doing something that supposedly couldn't be done! That is our American spirit! :) Then Liz cooked a gourmet camping meal of spaghetti with sauteed veggies. I had to sleep in the tent, on the hard ground, with no pillow or blanket, and my ipod died after a little while. Worst night of sleep i've had in a long time, just laying there waiting for the sun to come up.
SUNDAY:
Our attempt to "get the hell out of there and get home" translated into a 6 hour misadventure home. when we finally reached Santiago we headed straight to California Cantina for gringo food, but, of course it was closed. So I went to the next street over to the amazing vegetarian restaurant for great mexican food, which was much more delicious anyway. then I passed out, my body aching,so extremely tired. happy valentines day!!
MONDAY:
Tonight Randy made curry from scratch, with a veggie curry for me!! sooooo delicious!!!!!!! As jenna said earlier today, "chileans hate flavor", so tonight we all savored the delicious spices and aromas that came from real food.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Palacio Cousiño
Today for art class we went to an incredible, splendid mansion called the Palacio Cousino. It was the home of the richest family in Chile, built in 1850 and inhabited by 3 generations. It was absolutely stunning. I don't think I had ever been in a house that grandiouse (in a different way than Casa Brady in Cuernavaca). Every single part of the house was so finely and exquisitely detailed. Most everything was original, but the 2nd floor was ruined in fire. My favorite room was the winter solarium, a huge room with panoramic windows and windowed cieling, pretty tiles, that looked over the garden - that can be my bedroom, please. The house took my breath away though, imagining the sheer wealth that that family had. Supposedly they owned the coal mines, silver mines, vineyards, etc, and the husband died in his 30's so the wife was left to take care of the businesses and live in the huge house with her 6 children and grand children. The staircase had 10 different kinds of marble imported from Europe, and the grand chandelier had over 6,000 individual christals. The house was super European, and even had the first elevator in Chile and in Latin America (really funny, it was like a velvet throne). They also had several important Chilean paintings which we had just learned about in art class. One of the cute descendants of the family was hanging out in the parlor, and my teacher knew him, so I asked if he was single "si, pero es gay!" (dang, it was worth a try)
So far art class has been my favorite, it's fascinating, and since there are only 3 people in the class every day is like a private lesson. And best of all, we get to go to a different museum every week and our teacher comes and explains everything to us.
(These are some pictures I stole off the facebook page)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Cajon del
WEDNESDAY:
In downtown Santiago there is a huge, old, yellow castle/shrine that is dedicated to the place where (I think) the Spanish explorers came and founded Santiago. Of course, there was already an indigenous temple there, but the Spaniards built over it. But now its a beautiful park with a beautiful castle sitting on top. And, wouldn't you know it, the castle turns in to a dance club on Wednesday nights! So, last Wednesday, my friend Sebastian got a couple of us on "the list" to get in to the super exclusive party where professionals go after work to mingle and dance. The inside of the castle is a 3 story dance club... it's awesome. And outside the castle is all lit up and there are couches and places to lounge. So that is where I think we could find our wealthy Chilean husbands (ha, ha).
THURSDAY:
We had the delicious frozen yogurt treat in the coolest patio in Bellavista Santiago to cool off in the afternoon. I don't remember if I have described it or not, but you can pick any fresh fruit that you want, mixed in with fat free frozen yogurt, no sugar added, for a delicious (non vegan) treat.
Then, we came back to the patio that night and sat in the most pleasant atmosphere I've been in, up top of one of the restaurants, with the sun setting, good music, wine and sushi. Very, very, very nice. I could live in that patio, there are probably 10 restaurants that are all delicious, and they all have a different theme and decor.
FRIDAY:
One of the really nice things about Santiago is that there are lots of cool places to see right outside of the city. To visit Cajon Del Maipo (mountainous adventure region), all you do is take the metro to the end of the line, and it's a 2 dollar cab ride into the quaint town nestled in the mountains. We found another great campsite, right on the raging river (which is brown from the sediment, not pollution), and cooked up veggies and fish in foil, sang songs around the campfire, then slept next to the rushing river.
SATURDAY:
I wake up to the sounds of a loudspeaker coming from a distance, some music, and my tent is blazing hot already by 9:30 so I get up and walk towards the loud speakers... Of course, we unknowingly pitched our tents at the Chilean Rodeo fair grounds!!! Of course! So I meander into the corral, half asleep, and watch the opening ceremonies take place. Everyone (including one girl) was on their horses (which are shorter than horses in the States), wearing striped ponchos, wide brimmed hats, and spurs that are probably 3 inches in diameter. The cowboys would ride out in pairs and shoo a cow against the railing, up, down, then shoo her out. Again and again. It was very entertaining, more so because the location was beautiful - tall trees, a huge mountain in the background, and tons of families out there bright and early to enjoy the rodeo. I felt very close to Texas, not to mention how the Chilean flags were everywhere there and reminded me of home :)
Inspired by the spirit of the rodeo, we rented some horses and went on a wild horse ride through the mountains. We were trotting and cantering, screaming and laughing, perched precariously on the edges of cliffs, hoping our horses knew how not to tumble down the mountain. My friend's horse was a mama and her baby followed us, running, the entire way. The scenery was beautiful, I saw lots of cool houses, fields, and little streams of water. There are probably few things more exhilarating than trotting on a horse through the countryside, trusting it and trusting yourself to hold on. And that's where the Texan in me comes out!
After our horse adventure we went and cooled off in the pool which was very refreshing, then took the bus back to Santiago. Jenna cooked an amazing dinner for us (best Ive had in Chile), shrimp cooked in orange marmalade, candied walnuts, coconut, roasted veggies, and real salad- and it looked so easy! thank you jenna!
Seems that every weekend here, by the time Saturday comes around, we want nothing more than to go home and go to sleep early.
SUNDAY:
Sundays are so quiet in Santiago, it's a completely different city. Most everything shuts down, so I spent the morning walking around Provedencia, another neighborhood I love, and just kinda getting to know the streets and seeing what was there, without the millions of people swarming around. Then came superbowl Sunday, which we spent at California Cantina. It was paaacked, but we got there early and got great seats, enjoyed watching the game and celebrating this American holiday with our gringo compadres. The Chileans/Latinos that were there said "I like football ok, but I don't understand, what is with all the stopping??? You play for 5 seconds, then take a minute break to walk around the field and discuss, play for 2 seconds, stop again" My sentiments, exactly.
In downtown Santiago there is a huge, old, yellow castle/shrine that is dedicated to the place where (I think) the Spanish explorers came and founded Santiago. Of course, there was already an indigenous temple there, but the Spaniards built over it. But now its a beautiful park with a beautiful castle sitting on top. And, wouldn't you know it, the castle turns in to a dance club on Wednesday nights! So, last Wednesday, my friend Sebastian got a couple of us on "the list" to get in to the super exclusive party where professionals go after work to mingle and dance. The inside of the castle is a 3 story dance club... it's awesome. And outside the castle is all lit up and there are couches and places to lounge. So that is where I think we could find our wealthy Chilean husbands (ha, ha).
THURSDAY:
We had the delicious frozen yogurt treat in the coolest patio in Bellavista Santiago to cool off in the afternoon. I don't remember if I have described it or not, but you can pick any fresh fruit that you want, mixed in with fat free frozen yogurt, no sugar added, for a delicious (non vegan) treat.
Then, we came back to the patio that night and sat in the most pleasant atmosphere I've been in, up top of one of the restaurants, with the sun setting, good music, wine and sushi. Very, very, very nice. I could live in that patio, there are probably 10 restaurants that are all delicious, and they all have a different theme and decor.
FRIDAY:
One of the really nice things about Santiago is that there are lots of cool places to see right outside of the city. To visit Cajon Del Maipo (mountainous adventure region), all you do is take the metro to the end of the line, and it's a 2 dollar cab ride into the quaint town nestled in the mountains. We found another great campsite, right on the raging river (which is brown from the sediment, not pollution), and cooked up veggies and fish in foil, sang songs around the campfire, then slept next to the rushing river.
SATURDAY:
I wake up to the sounds of a loudspeaker coming from a distance, some music, and my tent is blazing hot already by 9:30 so I get up and walk towards the loud speakers... Of course, we unknowingly pitched our tents at the Chilean Rodeo fair grounds!!! Of course! So I meander into the corral, half asleep, and watch the opening ceremonies take place. Everyone (including one girl) was on their horses (which are shorter than horses in the States), wearing striped ponchos, wide brimmed hats, and spurs that are probably 3 inches in diameter. The cowboys would ride out in pairs and shoo a cow against the railing, up, down, then shoo her out. Again and again. It was very entertaining, more so because the location was beautiful - tall trees, a huge mountain in the background, and tons of families out there bright and early to enjoy the rodeo. I felt very close to Texas, not to mention how the Chilean flags were everywhere there and reminded me of home :)
Inspired by the spirit of the rodeo, we rented some horses and went on a wild horse ride through the mountains. We were trotting and cantering, screaming and laughing, perched precariously on the edges of cliffs, hoping our horses knew how not to tumble down the mountain. My friend's horse was a mama and her baby followed us, running, the entire way. The scenery was beautiful, I saw lots of cool houses, fields, and little streams of water. There are probably few things more exhilarating than trotting on a horse through the countryside, trusting it and trusting yourself to hold on. And that's where the Texan in me comes out!
After our horse adventure we went and cooled off in the pool which was very refreshing, then took the bus back to Santiago. Jenna cooked an amazing dinner for us (best Ive had in Chile), shrimp cooked in orange marmalade, candied walnuts, coconut, roasted veggies, and real salad- and it looked so easy! thank you jenna!
Seems that every weekend here, by the time Saturday comes around, we want nothing more than to go home and go to sleep early.
SUNDAY:
Sundays are so quiet in Santiago, it's a completely different city. Most everything shuts down, so I spent the morning walking around Provedencia, another neighborhood I love, and just kinda getting to know the streets and seeing what was there, without the millions of people swarming around. Then came superbowl Sunday, which we spent at California Cantina. It was paaacked, but we got there early and got great seats, enjoyed watching the game and celebrating this American holiday with our gringo compadres. The Chileans/Latinos that were there said "I like football ok, but I don't understand, what is with all the stopping??? You play for 5 seconds, then take a minute break to walk around the field and discuss, play for 2 seconds, stop again" My sentiments, exactly.
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