Ok where was I? Probably professing my undying love for Chile. Did I mention I love Chile? Because I do! I completely fell in love with Chile over the four and a half days I was there. The people, the food (I am SO mad at myself for not taking photos), the landscape - for a girl who grew up in the midwest, with the mountains and the beach so far away, to be in a city where you are quite literally an hour away from the Andes and an hour away from one of the most stunning beaches I've ever seen, well, it was incredible.
On our third full day, Oscar took me to the coast. Unfortunately Maria Louisa had to work, so it was just the two of us for the day. I think we did ok for ourselves though. The beach is my most favorite place in the world, and I think these photos at least somewhat adequately capture my happiness to be there:
Crappy phone photo, but even in it's crappy-ness, it was too beautiful not to post. I would have stood in this spot all day had Oscar let me (I'm glad he didn't!):
The water was really sparkling as much as this photo shows, it was stunning:
With the beautiful landscape, comes some risks. Tsunamis being among them. There were signs like the below everywhere. Apparently, if there is an earthquake of "size" and you live on the coast, you need to book it inland as quickly as possible. I say "of size" because apparently earthquakes are quite common, and its only the bigger ones you need to worry about. Suffice to say, had I felt even the tiniest tremble I probably would have begged Oscar to book it as far away from the beach as possible. This midwestern girl isn't used to earth quakes or possible Tsunamis.
Below the girls are drinking mate on the beach - a typical Argentinian thing to do. Mate is a lose leaf kind of tea, that you put directly in your cup and then use a special straw to drink it that has a filter on it that makes sure you don't drink up the leaves. It's extremely popular here in Buenos Aires. In fact, every single day at work my coworkers drink mate around 4pm. The first time I joined them I was a little shocked to learn that not only do we all share the same glass (!) we share the same straw (!!) In an effort not to be the fuddy-duddy girl from the states, I of course pretended not to be grossed out and joined in. (for those of you who know me well, you know what a big deal this is!)
Ok, enough about mate. Back to the beach, which was so beautiful, it literally took my breath away. The water was so many different shades of blue and green. And so rough! It hit the rocks and splashed everywhere. I was completely mesmerized.
Oscar and I even got a photo together! I can't say enough good things about him and his wife. Loved them. Also, it looks like we dressed purposely to match the water...which I didn't notice until just now. Makes for a nice photo!
You know what else made this beach amazing? The sea lions! They were SO close! We got to watch them climb and then play with one another and then jump off spectacularly back into the water. It was amazing. Again, I could have stayed forever and just watched them.
But eventually we did have to leave. We had dinner plans! But not without embarrassing myself completely before we left. As we were leaving, the below girl said "hello" to us, which is code for "Hi! I speak English too!" So we stopped to talk to her while she did all manner of crazy yoga type stretching. Since I've started doing yoga too, it seemed only fit that I'd pose in a photo with her and show off my new moves. I obviously have a long long way to go eh?
The drive back to Santiago was beautiful. Of course, I didn't get any photos. I really thought I got photos of everything, but when I started writing about this trip, I realized how many things I didn't take photos of. Trust me, the sunset reflecting on the Andes is something worth seeing!
That night we went to a dinner party. It was fantastic. The food, the wine, the company, it was all amazing. Three of the four guys in the photo knew my dad, which was a big part of the reason we all got together. I so wished he could have been there! But we had a lot of fun without him!
See? Fun...I'm pretty sure that was the look my face most of the night, when I wasn't stuffing my face with shrimp or avocado:
And now onto my last full day in Chile (sniff sniff!) We drove up into the Andes, to where Oscar and Maria Louisa ski. Let me tell you, it was quite a drive. I was mostly terrified. Oscar is a fantastic driver, but the curves were SO steep, and there were no less 8 million bikers out on the road, which added another dynamic to the whole driving up the side of the mountain thing. But the view from the top? Completely worth it!
You will probably notice, that similar to yesterday, I am sporting the biggest, cheesiest grin known to man kind in every single one of those photos. I really couldn't help myself. This is what happens when I am blessed enough to spend time with wonderful people at some of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.
We walked around a bit after we reached the top and then stopped for lunch.
We were actually quite lucky to be able to have lunch. Since it was a national holiday, literally almost everything in Chile was closed. But the main restaurant at the ski resort was open, which was great, because I was starving!!
It was crazy warm while we were at the restaurant. The sun was SO hot. There was snow everywhere, and yet you can see in the photo above the Oscar was in short sleeves and below I was in a sleeveless shirt. It's crazy how warm the sun can be when you are that high up, notice the snow right next to me:
I think the below is the only photo I have of the three of us!
Oscar and I and the Andes. The mountains were so dang beautiful.
Maria Louisa received an iPad for her birthday, and spent the greater part of our time in the mountains trying to figure out how to use the camera. It was pretty darn amusing.
Since it is just newly fall in South America, there was no skiing for me while I was there. And honestly, it was probably a good thing, because I am a terrible skier, and probably would have broken my neck on those slopes. I didn't see anything resembling a "bunny hill" while we were there. So this photo of me in the ski lift is probably about as close as I'm ever going to get to actually skiing in the Andes.
Since its fall, and the ground was really really muddy where the snow had melted, all of the vehicles were covered in mud. I like to pretend that I am tough and go off-roading in my truck just for fun. Convincing no?
One last gratuitous shot of the Andes. I miss them already!
We ended my last night in Santiago with another dinner party. These lovely folks were also friends of my fathers at one time or another and now live in Costa Rica. With as many friends as my dad seems to have in Chile, it appears that he's a likable guy or something. Who knows.
Ok ok, fine, yes, my dad is a likable guy, with really fantastic friends who I had the immense pleasure of spending a few very memorable days with. Oscar and Maria Louisa, I can't thank you enough for the visit and I hope someday to be able to repay the favor back in New York!
I think the below photo sums up my trip pretty well. Beautiful landscape. Lots of laugher and wonderful memories...
I miss you already Chile!
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