Isla Negra

After a few hours in Pomaire, we headed to Isla Negra to visit Pablo Neruda's 3rd house.  This is the view looking out from his house.  It's incredible!  

I'm not exactly sure why the town is called Isla Negra though because it is not an island, nor does it have black sand.   

This is his front yard.  I'm not quite sure what that red thing is in the middle. 

This is what you see of his house when looking up from the beach.  Photography was not allowed inside of the house (as usual), but the architecture was amazing and it was beautifully decorated. 

Pomaire

This past Saturday, ISA (my study abroad program) took us to the town of Pomaire.  It is known for its pottery, and as you can see from the picture on the left, people make it right on the street.  It was a tiny town, but there were a ton of shops to go into!  It was a great place to buy souvenirs. 

 Along with their pottery, they are also known for having empanadas gigantes (gigantic empanadas).  They weigh close to a kilogram.  I really wanted to get one, but knew there was no way I could finish the whole thing so I settled on a regular sized one.  The shop that I bought mine from was making another batch in the wood burning brick oven seen to the right. 

And no lunch would be complete without some sort of dessert.  In my case, chocolate covered pineapple. 

Viña Casas Del Bosque

With absolutely no planning whatsoever, Mari Clare, Tamlyn and I hopped on a bus heading towards the town of Casablanca on Friday.  The drive only took about 30 minutes, and before we knew it we were there...sort of.  The bus dropped us off in the heart of town so we then had to take a taxi to the vineyards.  Casas del Bosque was the closest one to the town, so we figured we would try it out.  

This is the outside of the restaurant.    

For the tasting, a tour guide brought us into a separate room where he explained the different wines to us.  First we sampled their award winning Sauvignon Blanc, then their Carménère, and finally their Syrah.  The Syrah was my favorite! 

This is the view looking out from the restaurant.  You can see some of the grapevines in the distance. 

We had a great time tasting some amazing wines.  I can't wait to go back!  There are over a dozen other wineries in the area, and I am determined to try at least half of them. 

Puesta del Sol

                 Watching the sunset from Cerro Alegre.  The sky was incredible. 

Cementerio Numero 2

 These are some pictures from the second oldest Catholic cemetery in Valparaiso.  It was constructed in 1840, and officially opened in 1845.  The tombs are incredible and the cemetery itself is huge!  

Mi Hermana Chilena

This is my oldest host sister, Fernanda.  She knows everything there is to know about Valparaiso!  On our little excursion, she pointed out the best places to go for food, drinks and ice cream.  She's just the cutest!   

Marionettes!

Yesterday, my host sister showed me around Cerro Concepcion.  After walking for a bit, we ran into a man asking if we would take some time to watch his show.  We finally agreed and sat down in the grass.  He turned on some music and began the show.  He had 7 marionettes, all handcrafted: a snail, a fly, a mosquito, a spider, an ant, a dog, and a man.  He would pick them up one by one, do a little show with it until the song ended, and then move onto the next one.  Then he started to combine them.  The story ended with the spider capturing the ant, and the man rescuing it...a little bizarre, but cute nonetheless.  It was definitely some good local entertainment!    

Ex-Carcel

This is the exterior of Valparaiso's abandoned jail.  It is located at the very top of Cerro Carcel in downtown Valpo.  From what I was told, it now functions as an art museum. 

This is the oldest building in Valparaiso.  It was constructed in 1807 by the Spanish for defensive purposes.  They stored massive amounts of gunpowder here to help fight off the British Navy. 

Since we visited on a weekday, we weren't able to take a tour, but the guard did let us peek inside.  This is the interior of the ex-carcel.  It has been completely renovated!  From what we saw, the cells have been converted into individual art galleries, but I plan on going back this weekend for the full tour so I will find out for sure. (More pictures to come!) 

And of course, no post would be complete without a picture of the view...this was taken right outside of the jail! 

It's official!

                                                 Received my Chilean ID today!

Laguna Verde

 Today a few of us decided to travel to a little town outside of Valparaiso called Laguna Verde.  It was so cute!  The beach was amazing and it was really cool to see the freshwater mixing with the saltwater. 

 Then we stopped for some delicious empanadas at a local restaurant called El Galeon.  I had an empanada de jaiba y queso (crab and cheese).  SO GOOD!

Terremoto!

When I first got to Chile, everyone warned me about the terremotos (earthquakes).  Here there are two kinds: the natural disaster and the drink.  I have yet to feel any seismic activity, but I have had the chance to enjoy the drink!  It's a fairly simple concoction: Pipeño (sweet fermented wine), pineapple ice cream, and a little bit of flavoring.  The one in the picture is a curacao terremoto...delicious, but extremely sweet! 

Mi Casa

 This is my house for the next five months!  The picture to the left is of the gate that you have to open in order to actually get to the house. 

 Once you're past the gate, this is what you see...

 Here's the dining room (the window on the left opens into my room).  We only eat here for Sunday lunches, or when company is over. 

 To the right we have the living room.

 And here's the kitchen...where I spend most of my time.  This is usually where we eat our meals. 

Last but not least, this is the bathroom.  Pretty standard, except for the bidet that's hanging out in the corner.   

Valpo

                                             My view walking to class...no big deal.

Cerro La Campana

La Campana is a hike about an hour and a half away from Valparaiso.  We got off to a pretty late start and wanted to make sure we had time to get to the top, so this is a picture of us speed walking (to the left).  The first few miles were steep, but not too difficult.  

As soon as we reached the first scenic lookout, this little guy (above) ran up to us.  I'm pretty sure it was a fox, but Max seems to think it was a wolf.  This is also where Darwin's Place is.  I didn't know this before starting the hike, but apparently Charles Darwin stopped at La Campana to conduct research in 1834.  There is a rock dedicated to him with a placard describing his findings.   

 We stopped here for a few pictures and then continued to climb the last 4 km.  It was EXTREMELY difficult, but we finally did it!  The next two pictures show the view from the top. 

And then there's me...jumping on top of the world (literally). 

Sandboarding in Concón

 Saturday, a group of us decided to head to Concón for a day of sandboarding.  We got there and walked the dunes for a bit taking in the beautiful scenery.  We then decided it was time to rent a board.  There were three options:  a snowboard looking one, and then two sled types.  We asked the guy which of the two sleds would be better because the sand was a little sticky from the rain the day before.  He responded: the plastic one.  So here I am ready to sandboard!

And here I am actually sandboarding!  And I don't have a picture of it, but about ten feet after this picture was taken, I was face down in the sand without a board.  Plastic was the way to go...if you like racing down a sandy hill at a million miles an hour.  

Even though I had a bad spill it was a ton of fun and absolutely gorgeous! 

Parque Quinta Vergara

This is the Quinta Vergara park in Viña del Mar.  It's a beautiful place to walk around.  Inside of the park there is an amphitheater which was built for the first international song festival held in Viña (top left picture).  Inside of the park you will also find the Palace Vergara (middle picture).  This is where Jose Francisco Vergara, the founder of Viña del Mar, lived with his family until 1941 when it was turned into a museum of fine art.  We did not go inside because it's closed this winter for restoration, but there were a ton of statues around the house which were pretty awesome (bottomt picture).  

Marching Band Action

Walking to class, a few of us stumbled upon this random marching band in the middle of the street.  We tried to ask what it was for, but didn't really understand.  We walked a little further and noticed that the entire street had been blocked off.  Firemen (bomberos) and police officers lined the street to conduct traffic.  Still don't have a clue what it was for, but it was pretty cool to see!