Vina Del Mar, Chile

---

So I made it over the Andes mountains.. spent a couple years at the Argentina/Chile border, but everything went good. We saw beautiful views and some cool looking ski places.

My host family is really nice. I am living with Claudia, who is 34, and her son Benjamin, who is 4. He is really cute. The house is small, but clean and cute. I have my own room and bathroom. its sooo small, but its okay because i dont really have much stuff and dont really hangout in it much. I'm really happy with my living situation.

I started class on Monday. We just had a little speaking test to put us in different levels (i got placed in the high level 😊 After that, they took us to a Bodega (winery) and went on a tour and learned all about the process of wine making. Then we got to sample white and red wine, and cheese and crackers. I already went on winery tours in Mendoza with Michelle, so i'm pretty much an expert now.

Michelle and her sister Jen decided to stay a couple days in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso (the city right next to Vina), so that night I went walking around Valparaiso with them and went to dinner and got ice cream. The food here is pretty good, but i think my mom makes better, so does nanay. They eat a lot of meat, pizza, and empanadas.
Tuesday, my first day of real class, was really good. Our professora is really good. there are only 4 of us in my class. We did a really good review of past stuff. Then I usually go home and have lunch with Claudia and Benjamin, lunch is the big meal of the day. Had dinner with michelle, her sis, and a girl from chile, and a guy from seattle. a few bottles of wine, and an amazing pizza!!! it was the most delicious thing ever.

Today, class, lunch, cartoons, nap, talked w/ Claudia a lot.. then we went to Valparaiso for a dance class to learn the Chilean dance called Cuenca. it was pretty fun.

---