View from the beach in Horcon
Sea lions!
Me and the birthday girl! One of my two sisters, Martina.Time to write about my weekend here!
Friday, I went to Valparaiso again! This time for just a quick visit! We went to a panaderia and 4 of us girls split a pastry called the queen's arm- el brazo del reina. It was sticky and delicious! A light cake with manjar swirled in the middle- google it! That evening I went out with a few girls to a bar and then to a discotech called Scratch. It was fun, but SO crowded in the club!
Saturday I went to Valpo for an asado, a barbeque, with other international students from my university. I met a girl from Germany that is super nice- I love running into other fellow int'l students! At the asado I also met a girl from Montrose, Colorado who goes to Colorado State- what a small world again! We ate some really good meat there and listened to some live music. It was nice to socialize with other Chilenos my age at a place other than a bar! That evening was the night of my sister's 18th birthday party! 18 is the legal drinking age, so it was like her 21st birthday bash. She had a bunch of her friends over. They all seem so much older than they are. So many of them were smoking, brought their own alcohol- but they are all mostly under 18! (PS, everyone smokes here! In all restaurants and everything- gross) But it was good to meet her friends, we ate a really good cake that Erika made. It was merangue and lucuma flavored cream in between layers. Lucuma is delicious- I have no idea what it is, but they have it as flavors of ice cream, etc. Manjar+lucuma=bueno. Erika also invited her good friend Alejandra and her husband Hector over. I talked with them for a long while that evening, and they invited me to go walking with them in the morning.
Which leads me to Sunday- a marvelous day! Alejandra, Hector and I walked to Renaca (a tilde on the n, but I can't get it to work on this blog!) which took about an hour. But the walk is all along the coast, so it was a great walk- with the mists and ocean breeze and all! Renaca is a part of Vina, but a little more removed. They told me that this is the area where the snooty people from Santiago own beach homes for the summer months (Dec-Feb). There I also saw sea lions! They were shouting and making noise like crazy- it is pretty funny to hear! I wonder what they're yelling about? Then we came back and they took me (in their car) to a little town called Horcon, about 40 km from Vina. We had almuerzo there, at a seafood restaurant called Santa Clara's. I had a thick crab soup called Pastel de Jaiva, which was tasty! I'm glad my first meal in a restaurant was amazing seafood! We walked around the beach there, then. According to my Chile book, "Chile's hippie movement began at the small fishing town of Horcon." The town is definitely small, but it has character. I saw a bunch of kayaks, and I now I have an urge to kayak in the Pacific. Maybe I'll have to return. After that, they brought me back to their apartment in Chorrillos (the neighborhood of Vina where I also live) and I got to see the sun set from their place! They live on top of a very large hill, so I could see the sun set over Vina, Valpo and the ocean! Alejandra and Hector are so generous and I had a great time with them! They want to take me to do more activities, which I'm definitely game for.
Until next time...Ciao! (Hardly anyone says 'adios' here, it's always ciao ciao!)
Friday, I went to Valparaiso again! This time for just a quick visit! We went to a panaderia and 4 of us girls split a pastry called the queen's arm- el brazo del reina. It was sticky and delicious! A light cake with manjar swirled in the middle- google it! That evening I went out with a few girls to a bar and then to a discotech called Scratch. It was fun, but SO crowded in the club!
Saturday I went to Valpo for an asado, a barbeque, with other international students from my university. I met a girl from Germany that is super nice- I love running into other fellow int'l students! At the asado I also met a girl from Montrose, Colorado who goes to Colorado State- what a small world again! We ate some really good meat there and listened to some live music. It was nice to socialize with other Chilenos my age at a place other than a bar! That evening was the night of my sister's 18th birthday party! 18 is the legal drinking age, so it was like her 21st birthday bash. She had a bunch of her friends over. They all seem so much older than they are. So many of them were smoking, brought their own alcohol- but they are all mostly under 18! (PS, everyone smokes here! In all restaurants and everything- gross) But it was good to meet her friends, we ate a really good cake that Erika made. It was merangue and lucuma flavored cream in between layers. Lucuma is delicious- I have no idea what it is, but they have it as flavors of ice cream, etc. Manjar+lucuma=bueno. Erika also invited her good friend Alejandra and her husband Hector over. I talked with them for a long while that evening, and they invited me to go walking with them in the morning.
Which leads me to Sunday- a marvelous day! Alejandra, Hector and I walked to Renaca (a tilde on the n, but I can't get it to work on this blog!) which took about an hour. But the walk is all along the coast, so it was a great walk- with the mists and ocean breeze and all! Renaca is a part of Vina, but a little more removed. They told me that this is the area where the snooty people from Santiago own beach homes for the summer months (Dec-Feb). There I also saw sea lions! They were shouting and making noise like crazy- it is pretty funny to hear! I wonder what they're yelling about? Then we came back and they took me (in their car) to a little town called Horcon, about 40 km from Vina. We had almuerzo there, at a seafood restaurant called Santa Clara's. I had a thick crab soup called Pastel de Jaiva, which was tasty! I'm glad my first meal in a restaurant was amazing seafood! We walked around the beach there, then. According to my Chile book, "Chile's hippie movement began at the small fishing town of Horcon." The town is definitely small, but it has character. I saw a bunch of kayaks, and I now I have an urge to kayak in the Pacific. Maybe I'll have to return. After that, they brought me back to their apartment in Chorrillos (the neighborhood of Vina where I also live) and I got to see the sun set from their place! They live on top of a very large hill, so I could see the sun set over Vina, Valpo and the ocean! Alejandra and Hector are so generous and I had a great time with them! They want to take me to do more activities, which I'm definitely game for.
Until next time...Ciao! (Hardly anyone says 'adios' here, it's always ciao ciao!)
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