While waiting for our household goods to arrive (yep, still) and for school to start, we took a much-anticipated trip to Chile to see our Kansas City friends Scott and Molly, who are wrapping up a two-year stint in Santiago.
In our week-and-a-half visit, we did pretty much one of everything (rafting, skiing, spa day, massages, wine tour, city tour, shopping, etc.) but the highlight was the Scolly reunion. Our wonderful hosts spoiled Eri and showed us a fantastic time -- they of course know all the must-see places and the best restaurants. We got a good feel for the area, people and culture, thanks to them.
Our impression of Santiago is a good one. It is very different than Brazil, the most obvious distinction being the language. Despite what the whole world thinks, Spanish and Portuguese aren't the same. Because the pronunciation is so different between the two, we actually had better success communicating in english. Understanding Spanish wasn't a problem, though. (I studied Spanish for years and lived in Spain for six months in college, but my Portuguese has smothered any of those abilities.) Chilean food was not awesome: hot dogs topped with mayo and avocado, beef sandwiches topped with green beans, or for a "healthy choice," as described in all seriousness by one of our tour guides, a slab of beef topped with french fries and a runny egg. So we ate lots of Peruvian food. The people and culture are warm and friendly, like Brazilians, but not nearly as attractive, but geez, who is?
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Trivia: Chile and Ecuador are the only countries in
South America that don't border Brazil.
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Valparaiso: We took a two-day side trip to the bohemian coastal town "Valpo."
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| Valpo from our hotel. Even at this height, it still smells like patchouli. |
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Our hotel was built into the side of a mountain; the bedroom and bathroom walls are
exposed rock. All the furniture and decor was "up-cycled." We took long showers, though,
surely off-setting anything green from this laborious, artistic little boutique hotel. |
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City walking tour. The majority of the homes and business in the heart of the city
are covered in brightly colored paint, ranging from graffiti to impressive murals.
And, thanks to the insanely large feral dog population, the majority of the streets are
covered in poo. One of us really had a knack for pushing the stroller though it. It was me.
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| Winter in August. |
Santiago
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Saturday morning at the market.
Molly's shopping cart and Geoff's little precious. |
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| Scott and Geoff at Valle Navado, just an hour outside Santiago. |
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The hop-on, hop-off city bus tour. Riding on the open roof was one of the
biggest thrills in Eri's 2 1/2 years.
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That's that Andes through all that haze. We took short
showers so as not to contribute further to this.
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| Biking tour through the Maipo Valley wine region. |
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