Saludos des de Valparaiso!

The Andes

Hola amigos!  Sam and I have arrived safely in Chile after quite an adventure getting here.  We got to LAX 2 hours early on Friday to find out our flight to Dallas was delayed an hour and we would only have 20 minutes to make our connection to Santiago.  There were no earlier flights leaving for Dallas, and unfortunately, American Airlines only has two flights to Santiago per day, one from Dallas and one from Miami.  Luckily, a flight to Miami was about to board, so we changed our flights and hoped to make the connection in Florida.  As we were boarding, the flight attendants let us know the plane was too full and we would have to check our carry-on rolling suitcases.  I was nervous, but there was no other choice.

Sam & I before landing

In Miami, our connecting flight was delayed 30 minutes.  As we sat at the gate, an announcement over the PA told us the airport would be closed due to electrical storms in the vicinity.  Great.  Stranded in Miami was a helluva lot less exciting that being stranded in Dallas where we could have visited my good friend, Michelle.  We boarded the plane an hour later than our intended departure, and then had to sit for an additional hour while they waited for the airport to re-open and for the baggage to be loaded onto the plane.  I took some really exciting video of the rain and lightning from my window seat while Sam fell asleep.  Finally, at 2:15am, we took off for Santiago.

Upon our arrival, our bags were nowhere to be found.  As our dear friends' son, Ethan, likes to say, "Uh-oh!"  So we headed through customs with the clothes on our backs and our backpacks full of books.  Not quite the adventure I thought I had signed up for to say the least!  

Justin and Rich met us at the airport and had rented the car, so we went back to their hotel and picked up Sue.  Then we drove to the coastal city of Valparaiso.  Sue and Rich are staying in an adorable hotel, The Gran Hotel Gervasani, and after checking them in, we went for a walk in the city.  Just before dinner, we met up with Justin's girlfriend, Liz, a fellow UCD student.  Liz is great- she's very nice, speaks fluent Spanish, and is a wonderful tour guide.  After finding a great restaurant for dinner, Sue and I wanted to check out this really good looking gelato restaurant we had passed.  The owner had visited San Francisco 43 years ago and LOVED it.  She was a huge help and suggested several things for us to do while we're in town.  

After dropping Sue and Rich off at their hotel, Sam, Justin, Liz, and I went out to a club.  It was VERY fun!  They have different rooms and floors all with different live bands and DJs and the Latin dancing is unbelievable.  Sam, Justin, and I stick out like sore thumbs, and not just because poor Sam and I had been wearing the same clothes for over 36 hours.  

Pata Pata

We are staying at a great little hostel, Pata Pata, and it's Sam and my first hostel experience.  I have to say, it's not all that bad!  The four of us stayed in a room with an Irish guy, who has never been seen except while he's sleeping.  Thankfully Sue had an extra toothbrush for me to use- it was SO nice to brush my teeth!

This morning we had an amazing breakfast- banana & manajar sandwiches, coffee, fruit, and orange juice.  The manajar was really, really, yummy.  It's the consistency of nutella and kind of reminds me of Almond Butter.  I need to try to find some to bring back to the US with me. 

After breakfast, we hiked up into the hills to visit Pablo Neruda's Valparaiso home.  It was filled with lots of eclectic stuff like a horse from a carousel, the [drinking] bar from a ship, and other various artworks collected during his lifetime as a poet and diplomat.  Better than all the neat decorations, the view stretched from one side of the city to the other- spectacular!

Neruda's San Sebastiana House

We had lunch at the fish market, where the locals eat.  I had a lovely fried fish, one of the local variety whose name I can't recall at the moment.  It was something that started with an 'R'.  Sam ordered a whole leg of pig, which was pretty crazy.  Sue and Justin had fish soup with mussels, shrimp, crab, and various other sea creatures.  Liz outdid us all and had fried eel... which I was not brave enough to sample.  

On our way back to the hotel we popped into a few cute shops- we had been window shopping all day.  Sue and I are looking for souvenirs and Christmas gifts for a few special folks and we aren't quite sure if we should take advantage of Valparaiso since it's the artist's city, or if we should hold out for later in the trip.  We did find a really beautiful something special for my mom.  I was looking at one, and I pulled a second one to compare and Sue assured me the second one screamed "Camille."  Mom- get excited for Christmas.  xoxox

We arrived back at Sue and Rich's hotel to find our luggage had been delivered- thank goodness!  I was desperate for clean clothes by the end of today, I will be honest.  :-)  Now Rich is taking a nap while Sam and Justin play a very exciting game of scrabble with Sue and Liz helping.  I am serving as the "judge" looking up words on the Miriam-Webster online dictionary.  Technically, Sam owes us all a scoop of ice cream because he lost a bet earlier, but it's already 9:30 and our little gelato shop is probably closing soon.  We might just have to wait until tomorrow.