Its May....

Hi everyone,

It has been forever, hasn't it??? I have been pretty busy here in Viña. Well, not necessarily in Viña because I had some visitors who did some traveling with me ;). I will tell you all about Daddy, Steph, and Randy's visit!

They got in on April 22, but I didn't get to see them until later because I had a meeting at school :(. But when I did get there I got lots of hugs and Reese's Pieces, yay! We walked a little and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant because I knew where it was and I honestly don't know much about restaurants in vina because we don't ever use them! It was short but sweet because I had class. Then after class I got some work done while mama prepared a feast. It was really great when they came for dinner that night. mama cooked soooo much! and it was fancy! i swear i have never seen stephanie eat so much, hehe. mama prepared hors d'ourves (lets just prentend i spelled that right) and bought champagne and white wine for steph. she also prepared guacamole for daddy, but it was too spicy for him, oops. She made chicken stuffed with spinach and almonds and potatoes and salad and then she made dessert!!! so much food, and sooo delicious! everyone got along great too! mama and dad found a way to understand each other despite the language barrier. i was a little nervous for the dinner, but it turned out being one of the best nights. we all laughed and had a good time. I also got a whole bunch of stuff that night including a jacket and season 2 of Grey's! Daddy bought me a brand new coffeemaker for the DD he brought. Who knew it needed a voltage converter? Its burnt. I almost cried....

Wednesday I booked a tour for them while I enjoyed a full day of classes. They went to some of the cerros (hills) of Valparaiso and La Sebastiana which is one of Pablo Neruda's 3 houses. The tour was basically what I did in one of my orientation classes. They said they had a great time, so I was happy! I took Thursday off to show them around Vina. We walked from my house to the CIEE office where they met some of the staff. Daddy did very good, that was a bit of a long walk. From there we went to the Reloj de Flores (Flower Clock) to take pictures. It was a beautiful day, and they came out nice. From there we headed into Valparaiso so they could see the Casa Central of La Catolica. My school is all spread out, but that is the main building. Steph liked that it is virtually a building without a ceiling. A lot of the buildings here are like that, kindof inside but outside too. We bought some stuff that have the school logo on them. It wasn't that eventful, but everyone liked seeing where I am learning :). From there we went back into Vina and had lunch on the beach at this really cool restaurant. After lunch i dropped Daddy back at home to chill with Mama while Steph Randy and I walked to the feria to do some shopping and see more of the area. We made out like bandits!!!! I showed them the history building of La Catolica then we took the Micro back home. Steph and Randy got a full experience haha. When we got home Mama had been preparing once (own-seh) for us before the bus to Mendoza. She made a cake and jam and bread, among other things!!!! Then we took allllll of the luggage and made way to the bus terminal for the ride to Santiago. From there we took an overnight bus to Mendoza, Argentina. The ride wasn't too bad at all, it was customs in the mountains which sucked. It was freeeezzzinnggggg. Despite customs, we got there in about 6 hours. We went right to the hotel and slept for a bit. Actually, Randy slept more than the rest of us...even I got up! We hung around for a bit then took a tour of two wineries and an olive oil factory. It was really cool to see the difference between a big company winery and a family owned business. I bought a bottle of wine :). Mendoza makes 90% of the wine from Argentina. It was fun, but needless to say we were tired. it was an early night, and our tour Saturday was starting at 7...

Saturday was my favorite day by far, we saw so much! We took a tour of the mountains, because Mendoza is in fact in the mountains more or less. Unfortunately Steph was sick, but she had fun anyway. First we stopped in a little town called Uspallata (as the Argentines say: Uspashata). I bought a thing for mate. Mate is like tea, but reversed. You put in the herbs and water, then sip it through a straw thing, called a bombillo, to filter it. From there we continued on and saw really gorgeous sites and learned about the railroad that used to go through the mountains from Chile to Argentina. Then we stopped to see the San Martin bridge. It is basically the trail where San Martin and his armies marched in from Chile. Randy and I took 3 sips from the river, which is supposedly good luck. Then we continued on higher! We stopped to see Aconcagua, which is the highest peak in South America. It didn't look high from where we were but it is ;). It was covered in snow and really beautiful. I definitely didn't dress for the weather of the high altitudes, I was freezing all day! We continued on for a while and Marcos, our bilingual guide told us the history of the area. Everything we saw was gorgeous. Then we drove up one of the mountains! It was long and twisty, and kinda creepy, but i really loved it. When we reached the top, we were at the statue of Jesus (ahaha) which marks the border of Chile and Argentina. It was by far my favorite part, although i couldn't feel my fingers or really any of my extremities. I took pictures between the 2 flags, and of the Carabineros (Chilean police) who were at the border. The only thing I didn't get was the sign that said Bienvenidos a la Republica de Argentina, but luckily Steph did. Then we drove down the mountain and had a quick lunch. After lunch we went to the Inca Bridge which is actually completely naturally made. I was freezing still! It was cool, though. We did a bit of shopping at the bridge too. After that, it was time to make our way back to Mendoza. It was a long, but fabulous day!

Sunday we slept in for a bit and went for a nice lunch in town. Then we decided to take a city tour because life shuts down in Argentina on Sundays. Marcos was our tour guide again which was fun. The tour wasn't too special really, we couldn't get out much to take pictures. But then we went to Cerro de La Gloria which is a big monument which appears on the back of the 5 Peso bill. I took lots of pictures. After the tour we killed some time at the hotel and ate dinner before our ride back to Santiago. This time for customs i wore 2 pairs of pants, and it was inside...go figure.

We slept once we got to the hotel...Stephanie and I got to cuddle haha. Then we woke up and went to the big mall and had lunch. We kindof shmied around for a bit then went to the hotel. We signed up for dinner and a show! That was really cool. The show was of traditional folklore dances from Chile. I liked it because it is exactly what I am learning in my folklore dance class!!! Daddy even participated! He danced Cueca, which is the national dance. Steph and I did too. Then Randy and Steph did Rapa Nui which is from Easter Island. Overall we had a nice time. We documented Daddy dancing too of course! On Tuesday we decided to do an all-day hop on/hop off tour of Santiago. We went on a double decker bus for a tour for about 2 hours then chose some places to get off and sightsee. We got off at a feria and went souvenir shopping. Then us three walked real quick to another one of Neruda's houses while daddy waited for the bus. After that we went to the Plaza de Armas where theres a lot of old buildings. There were also painters selling their art. Then we went back to the hotel to chill before dinner. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed hanging out before I had to leave in the morning. When we went back Steph and I decided to investigate the "wine therapy" bath. We then decided they were absolutely necessary! I got one first...The lady came in with a carafe of merlot and drew the most amazing bath i ever did see. I took pictures! It smelled delicious and had lots of bubbles!!!!! After i put on the shmancy bathrobe i found in the bathroom haha. Then Steph got one. We were soft after and smelled yummy!! Daddy passed out naturally, but the three of us got to hang out which was really nice. Then we woke up early, so I could come home for classes. Overall, it was a terrific visit, and I am glad they were here!!!!

When I got home I had an oral presentation and a take-home exam hahaha. Let's not go there :) The weekend has been nice despite the aftershocks. Two yesterday and a nice strong one today. Tomorrow is back to the swing of things.... I won't wait as long to post again!!!! Love to the grieving fam, and good luck to my Clarkies in finals!

Besitos,
Carolina