Museo Fonck

These pictures were taken at Museo Fonck, an archaeological and ethnographic museum in Viña del Mar.  The stone head to the left was brought from Easter Island along with many other artifacts inside of the museum including the pottery and skeleton in the top left picture.  The middle picture is of a two headed lamb, which I thought was pretty interesting.  It only lived a week. 

Crepes de Manjar

So manjar is possibly the best thing I have ever tasted.  It is also known as dulce de leche.  It is made from sweetened condensed milk and tastes a little like caramel.  I thought I was going to miss peanut butter, but now that I have manjar I think I'll be okay. 

Pablo Neruda's House

This is the outside of Pablo Neruda's home in Valparaiso.  He has two other homes in Chile; one in Santiago which we visited and one in Isla Negra.  No cameras were allowed inside of the home unfortunately, but I can assure you that the rooms inside were just as cool as the outside.  His intention was to have the shape of the house mimic the shape of a ship.  This makes sense because when looking out of every westward facing window, one has a very clear view of the port. 

REÑACA

Enjoying a beautiful sunset in the town of Reñaca, just outside of Vina del Mar.  Hard to believe that I can call this home for the next five months.   

Museo a Cielo Abierto - Open Sky Museum

These are pictures from the Open Sky Museum in Valparaiso.  I think the name pretty much sums up what it is.  You walk around various neighborhoods to look at the artwork that has been mixed in with the houses.  Each piece of artwork is accompanied by a placard which states the name of the artist and the date of completion.   The pictures that I have don’t really do it justice.  It was amazing to be able to just walk around town and see this stuff!

“Most obstacles melt away when we make up our minds to walk boldly through them.”

Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924)

This is how I'm feeling today.  Even though my Spanish has improved a bit, I'm still struggling with it.  I get very frustrated when I know what my host family is asking me, and know how I want to respond, but just don't have the words to do so.  However, today is a new day and I'm ready to get my Spanish on!

Yesterday, our orientation leaders took us to the harbor.  Valparaiso was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the port (just off to the left).  There were a TON of loading docs and containers...truly a site to see.  We took a ride around the harbor on the boat in the picture and saw some sea lions, as well as a few naval ships. 

 Today we had a welcome ceremony at the university.  Near the end, they had a few of the dance students come out and show us a few Chilean dances.

 To the right, they are dancing the cueca, which is the national dance of Chile.  She danced the entire thing with that bottle on her head!

I'm not sure what the dance on the left is called; however, I do know that it is typically danced in northern Chile. 

My room for the next 5 months!

Some of the colorful houses and artwork of Valparaiso

On our first day in Santiago, we visited San Cristobal.  We hiked along a cobblestone path/ steps to get to the very top where there is a statue of the Virgin Mary (top) along with a very beautiful church.  After a few pictures we began to make our way down when we noticed one of Chile's famous funiculars (bottom).  They don't go very fast, but they get you from point A to point B. 

"Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken."

-Frank Herbert