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Published: March 18th 2009
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Graffitti
All these are in Cerro Alegre What I'm learning here in Chile is that it is useless to plan a day. No day ends where you think it will. It always ends somewhere new and better.
Two stories for you all:
First, Monday night: I went with two gringas, Rachel and Christina, to explore one of the cerros, Cerro Alegre, where they have a ton of really awesome graffitti and really cool interesting little cafes. We walked around for like an hour and then we stopped at this little cafe called Cafe Vinilo where Rachel had come with her host sister a few days earlier. We sat down, ordered a bottle of wine and some sandwhiches (mmmmmmmmm) and we were talking to one of the cooks with whom Rachel had been talking the last time she was at Vinilo. Then we started talking to teh Wine Conossouir, the cooks brother, the owner, the waitress. We were really having a great time in this cafe.
When we finished our bottle of wine we said, Alright we're gunna go explore a little more, drink more wine somewhere else. We said our goodbyes and walked out the door. Then the cook, Gustavo i believe, ran out and
was like No I'll drive you guys! and we were like Oh Thanks a Million. The wine conossouir, Sebastian, came too and whne we got to the bottom of the hill we started to get ready to get out, say goodbye and continue exploring.
Gustavo "No, no. We are taking you to our favorite bar!"
Gringas "OOooooh, ok" The language barrier is very evident in times like these. I'm sure they told us they were taking us to a bar earlier and none of us heard it or understood. Anyways, we drove to a bar in Valparaiso called "La Playa" which is apparently really old and famous. And the five of us drank of bottle of wine (chosen by Sebastian of course) and just had some really interesting conversation. These were two very very nice guys. After the convo and the wine...
Gustavo said "Now we're going to the best empanaadas in Valparaiso!"
Trust me, if someone tells you this you can't say no.
Also, trust me, these WERE the best empanadas in the Valparaiso. We drove up to some crazy, shady cerro to some hole in the wall empanada place that none of us would have ever found
on our own. MMMM. I just wish I could remember how to get back there. The owners, a married couple were really nice and gave us some sort of directions to get back but....
Then, yes there's more, Gustavo said, "Now we're all going to see the best view in Valparaiso". and he drove us all to some apartment complex with seriously an amazing view. You could see the ocean, all the huge ships anchored in the bay,and all the lights of the cerros. It was incredible.
And that was that. After the view Gustavo dropped us all off where we could catch our respective busses, waited for us to get on, kiss on the cheek, see you soon! Home by 11 pm. Haha.
It seems to me like all the people here just really want to show us Chile. To represent their country and make sure that visitors enjoy themselves and receive good experiences. They are always telling us "It's a welcome gift. It's a welcome gift" After only 3 weeks I have received alot of welcome gifts like these.
Wait! there's another story. (after I make myself some lunch)
This is the story
of Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day, El Cumpleanos de Nico, El jardin botanico....
Yesterday I had my poetry class with Kathleen, a CIEE gringa, and we left class but had a few hours before our next classes so we were going to walk to this big park and just hang out and chat. Of course that's not what happened. Silly us, trying to make plans.
While we were walking we ran into Kathleens primo- her host mom's nefew. We were talking to him- Jose Pedro- and we were like
"Oh, what are you going to do today"
"Oh I'm going to a birthday party for my friend Nico, he's right over there"
Introduction to Nico. Kiss on the cheek. Hi Hi How are you Good
Nico- "Do you guys want to come to my birthday party in the Jardin Botanico"
Jenny & KAthleen- "DUH"
More friends of Nico arrive, we go to the supermarket to buy wine and asado (meat) the 12-15 of us take the bus ride.
and we're at the botanical garden.
We found this spot with lots of picnic tables, grill and this tight view of a huge cerro. And we just chilled there for
El Gato
A famous graffitti artist here who draws these cats EVERYWHERE like 3-4 hours. Just talking, making friends, eating delicious meat, relejando.
So we leave, I go home, shower, chill and talk with the Claudias. Then aparently I have to go out for Connor's (CIEE gringo) birthday. So all the gringos go to Juglar, this really awesome little bar and we're just chiling, talking. And guess who walks in?!
Everyone from the birthday party. Haha. Surprise. So we hung out there with all of them toasting to St. Paddy's day, and to Connor and to Nico.
Well, those are my two stories from the past two nights. I'm sure there'll be tons more like em.
I'm sure you've all heard the saying: If you want to make God laugh, make plans for the future.
That's pretty much the mentality of la gente chilena.
Well, I hope you guys had the patience to read the whole thing. Tomorrow CIEE is taking us to Pucon. We leave at 9pm and drive through the night and arrive Friday morning. Should be amazing. Pucon has this huge active volcanoe that's always smoking and spitting out some ash.. And some beautiful lakes and forests. I'm thinking about doing white water rafting or
a day hike through the national park.
Then we're also going to a Mapuche (the biggest indigenous group in Chile) village. Not a tourist place at all. Aparently the director of the program has a really good relationship with these people so they let CIEE come. Should be amazing.
I'll let you guys know how it goes.
Much love. Besitos.
Jenny
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Uncle Bill
non-member comment
What a time
Hi Jenny, Boy, it sounds like you are having a fantastic time and storing tons of great memories. Keep taking a zillion pictures. They will trip great memories and stories for years and years to come. Blessings to you and your friends.