CHILE!!!!!!!!!

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The first day in Chile I went on a wine tour at Veramonte and Casablanca Vineyards, both of which were amazing. All of the wine was very inexpensive and delicious, living up to their reputation. We had lunch at this tiny horse ranch where they served us pisco sours and a spectacular feast. That night we went to a salsa club with some Chilean students where I failed to learn how to dance, once again. I guess I’m stuck with the moves my dad taught me…it seems to be enough. The next day Seth woke me up very early to go on a Faculty Directed Practicum to meet the Chilean electro-acoustic computer music community (that’s right, they’re organized and have a special group that meets to compare songs). Seth and I split a sampler plate at lunch, which turned out to be a half pound steak of every animal I can think of and some I couldn’t identify. That night we went to a reception at the local university where we saw local dancing, a band that mixed many genres including some local folk music, and had appetizers and pisco sours and wine (everything in Chile comes with the pair, apparently). Afterwards, we went to Club Europa with yet more dancing, etc. I was supposed to wake up at 5:00 am that morning but my alarm didn’t go off, I assume, because my group left without me and I had to find a new random group of friends to travel to Santiago with. In Santiago we stayed at a hostel (me and 7 girls I didn’t know) for 10 bucks a night. We walked around the city where I bought gloves, a hat, and tall socks, all of wool and with llamas, in addition to this amazing red vinyl jacket. At dinner, we met this couple, one from Belgium and one from Arkansas, who worked on yachts and were a very interesting couple to talk to, because of their impressive travels. The next day we went to ski in the Andes at Montana Colorado with a huge group of students, and the views were amazing from the top of the mountain on the lifts. There was so much powder on the slopes that if you went off to one side, you couldn’t turn your skis at all, which was kind of hilarious. We went to Appleby’s that night (ridiculous yes, but it was a good bar with 50% off drinks to watch the Argentina vs Chile game), not to mention I was finally able to get some mozzarella sticks, which I have been missing also as much as the rest of you. Dad: the beer here is actually really good. There are three local beers which suck, escudo, cristal, and another one I can’t remember, but because of the German immigrants here, there are some really good German-Chilean beers, the best of which is Kunstmann. I brought some labels, but no promises that I won’t lose them before I get back. Almost every other beer has sucked so far, though the “Panama” wasn’t awful. The next day we woke up, ate a bunch of awesome empanadas, and then took a bus back to Valparaiso (where we were ported.) There, we walked around the city and went on an Ascensore (escalator) up the side of the mountain, went to Pablo Neruda’s house, which is whacky, funky, and resembles the city of Valparaiso in its winding, small, staircases and cramped spaces. Oh boy. You can see all of the city from a couple of places inside which was cool. The graffiti all over both cities was amazing and punk as hell, lots of anti-bush, anti-pinochet stuff, lots of punk people walking all over, there were some awesome stencils on walls…it was sweet. Lots of murals and beautiful colorful houses. A friend got some pics that I’m going to try to steal before I get back home.
Peru tomorrow morning. Machu Picchu.
I love you and miss you all,
Stewart Ryan

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