THURSDAY:
Our trusty chilean amigo, Exe, invited us to be VIPs at a discoteca in his neighborhood. He and his friends continue to be so nice, welcoming, and fun fun fun (plus they are all great dancers). We probably upset some chileans when the 20 gringos cut in front of the line at the bar, but once we were upstairs in the VIP lounge it was awesome. We had our own dance floor perched above the regular dance floor, and we gringos tore it up. The Chilean boys move so well, and they are eager to try out all sorts of fancy steps. We all danced all night and from now on VIP is the way to go (I am spoiled already). After the bar, we had a gringo congregation/feast sprawled out in the parking lot of McDonalds- Classic. And they let us order through the drive-through window which they never allow in the states.
Our trusty chilean amigo, Exe, invited us to be VIPs at a discoteca in his neighborhood. He and his friends continue to be so nice, welcoming, and fun fun fun (plus they are all great dancers). We probably upset some chileans when the 20 gringos cut in front of the line at the bar, but once we were upstairs in the VIP lounge it was awesome. We had our own dance floor perched above the regular dance floor, and we gringos tore it up. The Chilean boys move so well, and they are eager to try out all sorts of fancy steps. We all danced all night and from now on VIP is the way to go (I am spoiled already). After the bar, we had a gringo congregation/feast sprawled out in the parking lot of McDonalds- Classic. And they let us order through the drive-through window which they never allow in the states.
FRIDAY:
Naturally, I slept through my alarm that morning because we were supposed to be at school at 8:30 to go on the school field trip to Pomaire and Isla Negra. Luckily, Jenna also overslept, so she and I headed out to El Tabo together to meet the rest of the group. The second we left Santiago we were stunned. I swear, this weekend we must have said "ohh, my god" about a thousand times just from the sheer beauty of Chile!!! Literally! The country side is soo green and lush, with farm houses scattered around, horses, flowers, vineyards. I would almost hate to sleep on the bus because I would miss out on the scenery. We arrived in El Tabo with instructions to find a campsite for a group of 15, and it was surprisingly easy. We found a spot right on the beach, which we later referred to lovingly as the Refugee Camp. Then we walked along the ocean, looking at the houses and dreaming about where we could live one day. Dinner was at a seafood restaurant right on the ocean, which we had all to ourselves. The sea is deep blue, and in this part of the coast there are tons of big black rocks, so where the sea hits them it turns in to light blue swells and then a kelp forest right near shore. After dinner we bought our standard camping food - bread, avocado, tomato, basil, and 3 bottles of nice wine for 8$. Next came one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. We had a mango pisco coctail, my ipod speakers, and we sat perched on some rocks in awe of the beauty and the magic that is this life!! Seriously, my heart was about to burst (which was a common occurance this weekend). Every minute of the sunset was more and more beautiful, and when we lacked the words to describe it we just said "oh, my, god" again and again. It was so incredibly incredible. I felt so unbelievably lucky to be there in that moment, to be here in chile, I really can't describe..
We then passed a fun night camping on the beach. I tripped over a soccer goal and face planted on the concrete while all the chilean families in the refugee camp clapped for me and laughed, so I took a bow. Then I bled. Not my most graceful moment.
SATURDAY:
Have you ever been so blessed as to be woken up at 8:30 in the morning by a cacophony of extremely loud spanish dance music and men cheering? No? You are missing out. It was pure hell. We were all woken up after only a few hours of sleep, so I stumbled over to our friendly neighbor's campsite and said "it's a little early, don't you think?" they looked around and checked their watches "no, it's 8:30 isn't it?" ummm yeaaa "what", they said, "does it bother you??" DUH. oh my, I cannot describe the level of annoyance that I felt at that moment. They were partying hard at 8 am and all we wanted to do was sleep. So, we relocated to the beach where we all tried to pretend like we weren't cold.
Anyway, then Jenna came and found me and we walked to Isla Negra! Oh my! Such a quaint, beautiful town nestled in a pine forest and perched above the ocean. I had the most incredible honeydew melon juice. The town is basically dedicated to Pablo Neruda, with most of the restaurants and shops dedicated to Neruda memoribilia. We walked to his house and I swear I had arrived in what my heaven will look like. His house is incredible. It is built to look like a ship, and the location... It is in the pine forest, with an incredible view of the rough ocean, and a sloping garden full of flowers and greenery. We had lunch at the restaurant right next to his house, coffee ice cream, and I almost died of pure bliss.
When I first bought 20 love poems and a song of desperation last year, I thought, "well, it's only 20 poems so i'm sure i'll glide through this really quickly", but instead I spent weeks on each one and the book took me months to get through because each one was so incredibly beautiful that I could just savor one stanza a night. So actually being in Pablo Neruda's house was incredible, imagining him eating at the table, seeing all the mast-heads (things on the front of ships) that he had collected, his collections of various trinkets. And his bedroom... wow! It is on the 2nd story with huge windows that have a perfect view of the sea and the room is full of light. If that was my room I would never sleep because I would never want to close my eyes. We even saw his closet with all of his clothes and the tuxedo he wore to the nobel prize ceremony! And he and his 3rd lover Matilde are burried right there by the sea. The house is absolutely gorgeous, and more so is the scenery. Give me a shack in a place like that and i'd be more than completely happy. It was incredible being able to see what Pablo saw, and see how he lived. If only he were still here so he could decorate my house. And, I got a postcard of him when he was younger and he actually was cute! (I had been a little dissapointed when I saw his picture as an older man). But really, Isla Negra is incredible.
SUNDAY:
I spent the early afternoon walking around Barrio Bellavista, the hippy/bohemian neighborhood of Santiago (and where Pablo Neruda had his second house), there are tons of little places to see there but most of them were closed on Sunday.
These giant puppets- "la pequena gigante" and her tio were in santiago this weekend, so I went to go scope them out (see pictures above). The crowds were overwhelming. I swear I must have touched about half the population of Santiago in the moshpit trying to get a view of the puppets. People were pushy and sweaty, and I was freaking out because I was stuck in this giant cluster of people with no way to go forward or backward, I thought I would get trampled by this mob gone crazy for puppets. But eventually I found a "less" crowded area and waited around for the puppets to wake up from their siesta. They were awesome. I don't know exactly how many meters, but HUGE! They were operated by cranes and by men who would swing from the ropes that moved their arms. The two puppets walked down the streets of santiago, blinking their eyes and moving their bodies. It was really cool. But the crowds got to me and I had to get out of there. George, you wouldn't have lasted .5 seconds, but lili you would have loved it!!
Naturally, I slept through my alarm that morning because we were supposed to be at school at 8:30 to go on the school field trip to Pomaire and Isla Negra. Luckily, Jenna also overslept, so she and I headed out to El Tabo together to meet the rest of the group. The second we left Santiago we were stunned. I swear, this weekend we must have said "ohh, my god" about a thousand times just from the sheer beauty of Chile!!! Literally! The country side is soo green and lush, with farm houses scattered around, horses, flowers, vineyards. I would almost hate to sleep on the bus because I would miss out on the scenery. We arrived in El Tabo with instructions to find a campsite for a group of 15, and it was surprisingly easy. We found a spot right on the beach, which we later referred to lovingly as the Refugee Camp. Then we walked along the ocean, looking at the houses and dreaming about where we could live one day. Dinner was at a seafood restaurant right on the ocean, which we had all to ourselves. The sea is deep blue, and in this part of the coast there are tons of big black rocks, so where the sea hits them it turns in to light blue swells and then a kelp forest right near shore. After dinner we bought our standard camping food - bread, avocado, tomato, basil, and 3 bottles of nice wine for 8$. Next came one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. We had a mango pisco coctail, my ipod speakers, and we sat perched on some rocks in awe of the beauty and the magic that is this life!! Seriously, my heart was about to burst (which was a common occurance this weekend). Every minute of the sunset was more and more beautiful, and when we lacked the words to describe it we just said "oh, my, god" again and again. It was so incredibly incredible. I felt so unbelievably lucky to be there in that moment, to be here in chile, I really can't describe..
We then passed a fun night camping on the beach. I tripped over a soccer goal and face planted on the concrete while all the chilean families in the refugee camp clapped for me and laughed, so I took a bow. Then I bled. Not my most graceful moment.
SATURDAY:
Have you ever been so blessed as to be woken up at 8:30 in the morning by a cacophony of extremely loud spanish dance music and men cheering? No? You are missing out. It was pure hell. We were all woken up after only a few hours of sleep, so I stumbled over to our friendly neighbor's campsite and said "it's a little early, don't you think?" they looked around and checked their watches "no, it's 8:30 isn't it?" ummm yeaaa "what", they said, "does it bother you??" DUH. oh my, I cannot describe the level of annoyance that I felt at that moment. They were partying hard at 8 am and all we wanted to do was sleep. So, we relocated to the beach where we all tried to pretend like we weren't cold.
Anyway, then Jenna came and found me and we walked to Isla Negra! Oh my! Such a quaint, beautiful town nestled in a pine forest and perched above the ocean. I had the most incredible honeydew melon juice. The town is basically dedicated to Pablo Neruda, with most of the restaurants and shops dedicated to Neruda memoribilia. We walked to his house and I swear I had arrived in what my heaven will look like. His house is incredible. It is built to look like a ship, and the location... It is in the pine forest, with an incredible view of the rough ocean, and a sloping garden full of flowers and greenery. We had lunch at the restaurant right next to his house, coffee ice cream, and I almost died of pure bliss.
When I first bought 20 love poems and a song of desperation last year, I thought, "well, it's only 20 poems so i'm sure i'll glide through this really quickly", but instead I spent weeks on each one and the book took me months to get through because each one was so incredibly beautiful that I could just savor one stanza a night. So actually being in Pablo Neruda's house was incredible, imagining him eating at the table, seeing all the mast-heads (things on the front of ships) that he had collected, his collections of various trinkets. And his bedroom... wow! It is on the 2nd story with huge windows that have a perfect view of the sea and the room is full of light. If that was my room I would never sleep because I would never want to close my eyes. We even saw his closet with all of his clothes and the tuxedo he wore to the nobel prize ceremony! And he and his 3rd lover Matilde are burried right there by the sea. The house is absolutely gorgeous, and more so is the scenery. Give me a shack in a place like that and i'd be more than completely happy. It was incredible being able to see what Pablo saw, and see how he lived. If only he were still here so he could decorate my house. And, I got a postcard of him when he was younger and he actually was cute! (I had been a little dissapointed when I saw his picture as an older man). But really, Isla Negra is incredible.
SUNDAY:
I spent the early afternoon walking around Barrio Bellavista, the hippy/bohemian neighborhood of Santiago (and where Pablo Neruda had his second house), there are tons of little places to see there but most of them were closed on Sunday.
These giant puppets- "la pequena gigante" and her tio were in santiago this weekend, so I went to go scope them out (see pictures above). The crowds were overwhelming. I swear I must have touched about half the population of Santiago in the moshpit trying to get a view of the puppets. People were pushy and sweaty, and I was freaking out because I was stuck in this giant cluster of people with no way to go forward or backward, I thought I would get trampled by this mob gone crazy for puppets. But eventually I found a "less" crowded area and waited around for the puppets to wake up from their siesta. They were awesome. I don't know exactly how many meters, but HUGE! They were operated by cranes and by men who would swing from the ropes that moved their arms. The two puppets walked down the streets of santiago, blinking their eyes and moving their bodies. It was really cool. But the crowds got to me and I had to get out of there. George, you wouldn't have lasted .5 seconds, but lili you would have loved it!!
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