Chile National Days

I have to say that Chile's National days rival China's New Year celebrations. We partied for five days here taking advantage of all Santiago had to offer for their Independence day. The 18th was the National day, the 19th was Military day, and because these fell on a Tuesday and Wednesday we also celebrated a 'sandwich' day  on the Monday. Around 2 million people actually left the city to vacation in coastal towns like Vina del Mar or head south into the Lake District, and as unpatriotic as it sounds many went into argentina for cheap eats and sleeps. For us it Santiago was unusually tranquil....the streets were quieter anyways.

Bridge Linguatec had a party on the Friday leading into the long weekend. They had food, drink, dance and karaoke. 

On the weekend we spent time 

with our Brazilian friends Daniel and Fabiana, and their friend Paula visiting from Brazil. We walked around the central market and main plaza and into a cultural museum underneath the presidential palace. We also went into other cultural neighborhoods like Barrio Bellavista for food and entertainment. The highlight was finding a little restaurant at the end of the day and sitting down for beers and empanadas, while being entertained by traditional dancers dancing the cueca, Chile's national dance.

On Monday we had people over to our apartment building roof-top for a barbecue. It was a nice time with lots of food, pisco sours and beer, that reminded us of summertime in Canada. 

The next day we had refueled our tanks and went to party at a nearby Fonda. We went to 

Parque Inez de Suarez for live music, dancing, food and wine and had a great time celebrating Chile's Independence days.

Day Trippin'

We just spent a great weekend on Chile’s coast.  

Our friends Philipe and Zanatoa invited us to their beach house for the weekend in Concon.  They picked us up in Vina del Mar and we drove up the coast to their place taking pictures and checking out the surfers along the way.  

We had a great dinner that night at a local restaurant of seafood and white wine.  The best seafood ever..?  I would have to say yes.  Mixed seafood platter to start followed by crab cake, fish and chips, and cooked fish jumbilee.  For dessert we had two crepes - papaya and pineapple.  We walked it off and then relaxed on their balcony overlooking a beach.

The next day we went back down the coast to Valparaiso and spent the afternoon walking through the streets, up and down the hills through different neighborhoods.  Actually I should mention before going to Valpo we went to Las Deliciosas in Concon and filled up on the best seafood empanadas in Chile; seafood, crab and cheese, scallops and cheese, - again the best empanadas ever!

So with full stomachs we walked the streets of Valparaiso taking pictures of the cool graffiti and colorful homes.

We used a couple of the funicular elevators to get us up certain hills for great views of the city and port.  The city has a certain atmosphere...like old Quebec, a cool old-charm.  UNESCO named the city a world heritage site in 2003.

We took a lot of pictures and I’ll have them uploaded soon(I hope)(Elqui Valley pics are finally loaded).  It’s slow without home internet access.  We are seriously reconsidering our position on getting the service.

Tomorrow is National Day for Chile.  We are having a barbecue here on the roof of our apartment tonight and will be checking out all the festivities around town tomorrow.  Stay tuned for September 18 update.

September Weather

Hi all.

August was a very busy month.  Lots of work.  All of a sudden it’s September now and there’s not as much work, but Paula has secured a private class! Spring is around the corner and thank god, we’ve been a long a time without a summer and now it’s almost here.

We’ve been exploring the mountains close to the city.  Last weekend we went deep into Parque Mahuida  along the pre-cordilla mountains.  We hiked up and over them for some really great views of the Andes.  We had a picnic and met a old ranger patrolling the area on horseback who told us to come back in a couple of weeks and he’d give us a tour further into the mountains.

With all the free time on our hands, we’ve been doing a lot of homemade cooking!  (yum!)  As I write, Sean is frying up fresh naan to eat with some chickpea concoction I made up....  We’ll let you know how that works out!  It’s hard to find ethnic food out here, unless it’s Japanese.  Sushi is huge and any blue-blooded Chilean will tell you that raw fish is at the top of their favorites list along with Peruvian food.  We’re not too sure how to distinguish between Chilean and Peruvian yet, but the Chileans are astute in pointing out the differences, sure it will come with time!

We’ve bought our tickets to the south for February!  We will fly from Santiago to Punta Arenas on the 4th and then head to Torres del Paine National Park for 8 or 9 days.  We’re planning on doing the circuit.  Then we have tickets for P.A. to Balmaceda.  Will will spend a couple of weeks exploring the carretera austral(southern highway) between Peurto Montt and Cohaique, Chiloe Island, Orsorno Volcano, and then head into the Lakes District where we’ll hopefully visit with some friends in their summer home.  

Big plans that require a lot of preparation.  We really need to buckle down and save as much money as we can during the time between so there will be plenty of home-cooked meals and walks in the parks.

Around town; there was a violent protest last week with molotov cocktail’s and full riot police(don’t worry folks we stayed away), the city is getting ready for Chile Independence day on September 18, and we’ve increased our Spanish lessons to 3 times a week!