Fast Facts

Here's some random tidbits for you, faithful readers...

 - I only have 4 more weeks here! 1.5 weeks of classes/final stuff/etc and then 2.5 weeks of free time and then flying home on July 19!! Finals include: 2 quizes, a final presentation about chocolate chip cookies vs. alfajores [complete with samples and a demonstration], and 2 papers of undefined length... and then my junior year is done! 

 - I've (finally) finalized plans to go to Perú for 10 days (July 5-14) during my free time!! I'll fly to the northern-most city in Chile (Arica), cross the border, and then take a tour-de-bus through southern peru, go to Machu Picchu, and then back down Perú to Arica to fly back to Santiago and come back to Viña... Then I'll be in Viña for 5 days... and then ... we don't talk about it.

 -  Today was el Día del Papá and literally no reference was made in my family to the holiday... so strange.

 -  My (kind of mean and rude) oldest brother had some sort of [drunken] fall down 6 flights of stairs (or he jumped??? i really struggled to understand the story) ... so his foot is SUPER swollen and purple...  Last night (before seeking medical attention, I guess) he was stumbling around and like using a broomstick as a crutch... but today he had an air-cast-boot-thing and 2 crutches... and whined ALLLLLLLL day. Be a man, you're 22.

 - "Crema Chantilly" (aka spray whipped cream) was discovered today. THAT was a mistake for my teenage brothers.

So that about sums it up for now. It's insane that I only have 1 more month, but don't worry, world-- I still have four whole weeks, and I plan to make the most of them! :)

Hasta luego!

Brodie!

Well the other half of my fan base- Brodie- came to visit me! 

  She arrived into Santiago on Monday night, and so on Tuesday, we started the day at my absolutely fascinating Economic and Social History class (which, she confirmed, is boring no matter what language you do or do not speak) and then toured around Viña and visited the one of the castles, broke into the super fancy Sheraton Hotel, enjoyed the beach, and Brodie had her first alfajor (cookie-manjar-cookie covered in chocolate)... such a beautiful day! Then we went to my Bible study (and had extra delicious once-feast courtesy of Alyssa's mamá) and went out for some delicious Chilean sushi afterwards and Brodie had her first pisco sour! 

  Wednesday, we took a micro to Concón and visited the sand duness, which were absolutely huge and toootally worth it! We climbed across all the dunes and made our way down the cliff to the beach, where there was a lava-rock outlook/park-y beach thing... so beautiful! Then we went to the fantastic orange seafood restaurants between Viña and Valparaíso before I went to my Spanish class. That night, we walked alllll around Viña to find the youth and watch the Chile v. (Spanish-speaking) Bolivia world-cup-qualifying soccer game! We won- Viva Chile!

   Thursday, we went and walked along the beach boardwalk and played on the strange playground-gym equipment and then went up into Valparaíso and poked around Cerro Concepción. We came back for once and naps (aka Brodie read Pioneer lady's blog) and then we went out salsa dancing in Valpo after dinner! 

   Friday we had an early start and took a bus to the Casablanca wine valley and went on a tour of the Emiliana Organic Vineyard. Sadly, seeing as it is now winter, the grapes had already been harvested, but the fields were still pretty, and a fellow Católica student led our tour/tasting, which was really delicious and oh-so-biodynamic (which means that they somehow utilize the sun and moon's patters in their harvest...??) We went back to the orange fish restaurants and had "traditional" conger eel soup, which may or may not actually be made of eel...  but it was delicious either way. At night, we went to my church and [tried to] worship God in Spanish! 

   Saturday, we took the bus to Santiago and had quite a journey getting to our EcoHostel... Finally we found our way and were greeted by several very interesting characters (moonboots rejected-as-a-teacher guy, an overly friendly Australian red head and her awkward Argentine traveling companion, an Australian couple who surfed their way around South America, and multiple french Canadians) Sadly, we took another wrong turn and wandered around the man-world of Santiago for far too long, (read: the auto-mechanic/gentlmen's-coffee-bars) but finally got to to explore around the Plaza de Armas, La Moneda, etc, and stumbled upon a folklore festival of 55 Cuecas (olde timey traditional Chilean dance that's really hard to photograph) and then headed back to the EcoHostel to have empanadas and free tea. 

   Sunday was a very very rainy day... We walked to Bella Vista and did some shopping around, and then shared a pastel de choclo (kind of like Chilean chicken pot pie with a lot of corn-pudding-stuff) (perfect for rainy days) and then headed back into the historic part of town and soaked-ly went from one (free on Sundays) museum to the next before giving up, eating completos, (typical Chilean hotdogs with everything on them) and getting groceries to make scrambled eggs for dinner.

   Monday, today, Brodie headed off to the airport and I sleepily came back to Viña and went to the last session of my film class (I passed!) and then my other classes... and then came home to a house with no electricity... yeah... sad life. Luckily, we all got one candle. That's right, there were 3 candles in the house (we weren't all home), and nope, no lanterns or flashlights... Thankfully, the electricity being out did not affect our heating situation, because we don't have any anyway. Oh, also- I lit and use our stove for the first time while the lights were out (after Brodie taught me how overt the weekend) - so that was pretty exciting! 

   So I have about two more weeks of school and then a few weeks of travel, and then I'm back in the U S of A... so sad. No offense, American readers, I'm just not looking forward to going back to the real world. The real world is lame. 

  Hasta luego!

Buenos Aires!

  Well, the Smiths survived Buenos Aires, Argentina! 

   We arrived Wednesday afternoon to our hotel (which was really close to el Obelisco aka fake Washington Monument) and walked all around the shops/etc in the microcenter our first day. 

  Thursday we had a very big day. We started out on the subte (metro) to the barrio called Palermo- mainly a really pretty area with a lot of upscale shopping and boutiques and expensive stores. 

     Then, being that it was Thursday, we went to the Plaza de Mayo and saw the Madres marching 

in front of the Casa Rosada!! It was so cool to see this historic event that I've learned about up close and personal! The Madres were a group of Moms in the 70s who marched in the Plaza de Mayo in front of the presidential palace each week to demonstrate on behalf of the tens of thousands of youths who had disappeared (aka the government kidnapped them because they were suspected of not being in agreement with the government) -- there are a lot less Madres nowadays, but they still march every Thursday at 3:30, but more out of tradition. Plus, we got to see the home of the late Eva Perón and the porch that she spoke to The People from/that Madonna sang from! Afterwards, we had once (afternoon/evening snack) at a historic café (read: expensive) called Tortoni -- fun! Then, we went home and waited until 9:30ish when we went to a Show de Tango! Tango is a verrrry traditional Argentine thing, and the show we went to was super impressive- plus there were "free" appetizers and stuff! Score!

   Friday,  we took the Buquebús (suuuuper luxe little cruisey ferry-- such a shame it was only an hour ride) to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay! Colonia is a little historic town a-bay-away from Argentina- super pintoresco and cute and faux-Argentine! We had really beautiful weather, and had a delicious/ huge lunch and then spent the afternoon checking out the town and shopping... and then took the ferry back to BA at 5:30. Little town in a little country, but tootally worth it.

   Saturday, was a rainy day, so we went to the huge Galerias Pacíficas shopping mall (I know, trashy and touristy, but it's a nice mall and we/I wanted to shop...) and then went to the MALBA (Museo del Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) in the afternoon- totally legit museum!  

   Saturday night we had a little adventure when my mom read about a "really great and popular" restaurant (so said Frommer) in La Boca-- which is a really colorful and great barrio during the day... but a dangerous place at night. Good! So of course, we made reservations for dinner... After 2 cabs said they didn't even know where this "hot spot" was (?!) the third taxi said we would "figure it out" and we were on our way. The ride took like 20 or 30 mins, and the whole time, the taxi driver was asking me, "How did you find out about this place?? What kind of food...?? Why are you going here??" and was just generally very confused about why we -3 gringos- were going there... So, after refusing multiple offers to turn around and just eat elsewhere, we got to the restaurant and it was NOT what we expected it to be/ did not meet our safety/cuteness criteria, so our chofer took us to a different restaurant that he knew of in a different/safer barrio, San Telmo, and we had some suuuper delicious Argentine steak (I know, I know but when in Rome...) 

   Sunday, we found more history when we went to Recoleta to see the beautiful (creepy?) cementerio where my beloved Evita is [allegedly] burried, and then kinda checked out Recoleta which had a huuuuge ferria going on. Later, we went to San Telmo, where all of the streets are closed off every Sunday for the massive antiques ferria! A lot of reallllly random goods, but fun to poke around. Then, since San Telmo was maybe not all we hoped it could be, we went back to La Boca (in the day time) and it was super colorful and fun! We sat and had coffee and watched the tango dancers in the street! 

(No, no Smiths partook of the fun.) Afterwards, we went back home for a big nap and then went out for dinner near our hotel later on.

   Monday, our last day, we attempted to go to the Museso de la Presidencia, but it apparently does not exist any more -- nice-- so instead, we found a café and had the best empanadas EVER and headed back to the hotel to finish packing up before my taxi came to take me to the airport. At 2, we parted ways (me to Chile, parents to wait until their flight to the US later that night) and I went to the airport to find that... oh, yep- my flight had been cancelled! Rude! Oh but wait-- To apologize, they put me on an earlier flight (yay, less sitting-in-airport-time!) and unfortunately, they had to put me in 1st class because it was all that was left. Sad life. Kind of a shame that my first (and, let's be real, probably my only) 1st class experience was only for a 2-hour flight, but it was just so much better than I had dreamed... Free champagne, which I don't even like, but you know I'm gonna accept it just because I can... and more leg room than you can even imagine, plus seats that reclined to almost laying-down position, and full control of your personal TV. Yeah, jealous? Needless to say, I did not get my homework done on that flight... but I felt it was my duty to fully appreciate my situation.  Anyway, after landing in Santiago, I got the bus back to Viña and was warmly welcomed by my familia chilena when I arrived. It was good to be home. :)

  So yeah. That pretty much sums up my trip to BA/ Baird and Marcia's South American adventure! A good time was had by all - it was tooootally worth it! BA such a huge and diverse and interesting city with many very different places, I def recommend you stop by the next time you're in the neighborhood.

Hasta luego, world! 

PS: If you're feeling too jealous of me, just keep in mind that it's now winter here... so it's in the 50s and I'm cold... 

True Confessions

Oh. I forgot... I had trashy American moment #2 in the airport today.

I went to Starbucks and got a grande skim chai... and it was American and it was more expensive than at home and it was worth every peso.

Los Papás

   Well hello, world!  Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but the vast majority of my fan base is right here with me (aka my parents are visiting me) so it didn't seem quite as necessary to update... plus I had no wifi. 

   Anyway. Marcia and Baird arrived last Thursday into Santiago, and so we spent the day walking around Santiago/ the fish market/ Plaza de las Armas and ended up in Bella Vista for dinner (super cool) where they had their first pisco sours. 

   After visiting the Cerro Santa Lucía on Friday morning, we headed to Vinã and walked along the beach and saw a REALLY beautiful sunset from a glass restaurant. 

 

   Saturday we took a micro (bus) and headed into Valparaíso and walked around my university's main campus (la Casa Central) and walked around a fruit market and then went up to Cerro Concepción on an ascensor! Sadly, it was pretty cloudy, so the view wasn't too pintorseco, but it was still really fun to poke around and we had a SUPER delicious lunch up there. That night we came back and went to this awesome dancing/singing espectáculo de música folklórica Cubana y Chilena in Viña! Afterwards, we had a very late, very greasy Chilean dinner of Escudo (Chilean beer) and chorrillana (Chilean dish: fries with egg, onion, chorizo, beef,  and many other things on top). While we were walking back to our hotel that night, I was nearly robbed! 2 guys came by and tried to pull my purse right off my arm- Rude! Having the excellent reflexes I do, though, I somehow bent my arm to inhibit the purse from escaping whilst they continued to pull... pulling me until I was face down in the street! They continued running into the fog with nothing except my hope and faith in humanity, and, suddenly seeing me on the ground, my mom confusedly asked me if I had fallen. "Uhh, no Mom... just attempted theft." Needless to say, we headed back to our hotel and I contemplated the idiots in this world. 

   Sunday we went to the ocean again and walked down the boardwalk and looked through all of the artisan gifties/junk in the stands there, and then went to an asado at my host family's house for lunch!! What fun/ delicious food! My 2 friends Jessica and Kelsey came (the girls with whom I went to Patagonia), too, and it was a big old translate-every-word party! 

  Monday I went to class (lame) while Mom and Dad went East to see the mountains in the town of Los Andes! We met back up at night and went out to dinner to eat Chilean empanadas with about seven of my gringa friends - what fun! 

  Tuesday, I went to another class (my professor said "no cierto," which basically means "right," 169 times... not that I counted for an hour and a half...) while the padres walked around Calle Valparaíso, which is a big shopping/hustle-and-bustle street in Viña. At about noon we hit the road to return to Santiago, and walked around until we had lunch and 'artesan' ice cream. Afterwards, we went back to our room and some of us had naps while some of us ran in our fancy new American tennis shoes and explored the city more.

   So then, that's the basic play-by-play of the partial-Smith-clan's partial-week in Chile. I'm now sitting in our (super nice) hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina- we arrived this afternoon! So far we've just kind of explored the streets filled with a bazillion shops around our hotel, but an update on this adventura Argentina to come soon, I promise.

  Chao chao, world! Que les vayan bien! 

Santiago trip y el Jardín Botánico

  Well world, I went to Santiago last Saturday! I went with my friends Kelsey and Jessica (the girls I went to Patagonia with) and we met up with a few of Kelsey's friends who are students la Universidad Católica de Santiago. What a fun day!

  We took the bus to the station in Santiago, took the metro into the center of town. We started out at La Moneda, which was the former presidential palace, until to-be-dictator-Pinochet's tanks came up to it and President Allende killed himself.... yeah, oops. Pretty palace, though! 

  Then we went to the Museo del Arte Precolombino - free and a super legit museum (not like the science-fair-types we've found in other parts of Chile)... and they had mummies that were older than Eqyptians. Very little people. 

  We met up with Drew and his polola, Anna, in the Plaza de Armas, had lunch, and then headed up to el Cerro Santa Lucía, which is just a big hill in town with pretty parks and random European buildings and churches.. and then a good view of the smoggy, smoggy city; 3rd smoggiest in the world, ya know! 

  

 Then we went to the Museo de Bellas Artes, which again was somehow free and really legit! We went out for coffee and once, and got back on the bus to Viña where we had a deeelicious empanada/salad dinner! 

   So on Sunday, we had another outing with the 7 foster kids at the Jardín Botánico de Viña-- so much fun!! We had a huge picnic and then just spent the day with them playing soccer and exploring the gardens-- unfortunately it's fall here, so there weren't too many flowers around, but it's a really pretty (and huge) garden/park. 

  THEN! We stumbled upon a couple taking their wedding pictures... and I couldn't have been more creepily excited to see them... may have tried to sneak into their pictures... 

  So yeah. It's Tuesday and I just took a prueba in my borrrrring Social and Economic History class.. I wikipedia'ed like crazy last night, so I think I did alright, but I can assure you that I have learned NOTHING in that horrible, horrible class. Other than that, my week shouldn't be too exciting until I meet my parents in Santiago on Thursday! We'll be there for the night, then come here to Viña until Tuesday, when we'll [probably] return to Santiago for a day and then head to Buenos Aires, Argentina from Wednesday to Monday! Yippee!

Sunset pictures

(These are in order from earliest in the evening to latest, just in case you couldn't figure that out... )

Also, sadly, apparently blogger hates making photos look good... so these are kinda jank (that's a word I learned from some of my programmates... it either means really great or really gross, depending on the context... or something...)