A Tale of Two Weekends...

Lots of fun stuff has been happening on my 3 day weekends... here's a glimpse at the last 2!

#1 (Aug 23)
Saturday we went to explore the center of Santiago with our friend Ricardo who is a chilean student who shows us around. Our first stop was Mercado Central, the mostly seafood market in downtown. There are a lot of restaurants too, with pushy recruiters who want you to try THEIR restaurant. A famous dish here is the conger eel soup... I was kind of glad I had already eaten. :)

La Vega was next, Santiago's HUGE fresh produce and other random things market. Any kind of vegetable, fruit, type of meat, or pair of socks (!) you can imagine. Some really gross things were found in the meat section, including pig heads and a little skinned baby goat. You have to see for yourself. (go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015835&l=84914&id=54001690)

La Piojera is a famous hole in the wall bar that has a name meaning "home of lice". That gives you an idea of the sketchiness of this place. It was fun though, and definitely a cultural experience. We tried "Terremotos", a drink made from a type of wine and with ice cream on top! Veerrry strong. Chileans have a tendency to put a LOT of alcohol in their drinks.

#2 (Aug 29-30) Valparaiso
Tiffany, Beth and I went to Valparaiso on Friday. It is a adorable port city about and 1 1/2 from Santiago. I am in love with the bus system here! We paid US $ 8.00 round trip. We arrived in Valpo at about noon, and set out to find the hostel we had booked online. After some wandering, we finally found it up a steep hill. Valparaiso is a city of hills, and some are so steep that they have "acensores" to take you up. Our hostel was a very interesting experience. It is a very old building, and I've seen cleaner places. But, for $12 a night, you get what you pay for! After dropping our stuff off, we went out to see the city.

Our first stop was Cerro (hill) Concepcion. We rode an ancensor up and enjoyed the incredible view while looking for somewhere to eat lunch. Allegretto was the adorable (and delicious!) pizza restaurant where we ate. We had fun enjoying the cool breeze (it was WARM in Valparaiso!) and listening to songs like "You're so vain", very popular in Chile. After lunch, we went back down and began looking for the pier to take a boat tour. After some searching, we finally figured things out and got a boat tour for $2.00 each. It was a great way to see the city!

After a short rest at the hostel, we headed out for Cinzano, a 19th century bar that claims to serve the original "chorrillana". This wonderful Chilean dish is a enormous plate of french fries, eggs, steak, and onions! We were glad we only ordered one! The next day we left the hostel unshowered to find the "Dissident Cemetery". My guide book said that this was an interesting place to go see the city and enjoy the "dramatic ends" spelled out on people's graves. While we didn't see many dramatic gravestones, we did get a great view. But it came at a cost. THE STAIRS. We climbed up the longest and most painful staircase I have ever seen in my life! See my facebook album for a glimpse, though it doesn't begin to show the difficulty! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015910&l=52e73&id=54001690

After a delicious manjar (dulce de leche) filled churro (fried dough), we browsed some markets and headed home! It was a great 2 days and I can't wait to repeat the experience with mom and dad when they come in less than 2 weeks!

Well, if you've made it all the way to the end, I hope you are doing well! I love and miss you! This Monday will mark my 6th week in Chile. Just a little under 13 more to go! Only Wofford people: beat PC tonight and have a great first day of classes Monday!