Blogs from Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 63

Journées des samedi 16 & dimanche 17 Wake up tardif pour un départ en début d'après-midi en direction de Valparaiso. 1h30 de trajet avant d'arriver dans cette ravissante petite ville du bord de mer. Super idée de Julie et Clément que de m'emmener ici, c'est vraiment très charmant. Promenade en fin d'après-midi dans les petites rues escarpées, apéro à la maison Turri (très chic) pour une tabla et une bouteille de Carménère, dîner dans un très bon restau "Pasta i Vino"... Réveil plus raisonnable et petite séance photo dans les jolies petites ruelles. Visite du port, ascension des Cerros à bord des petits ascenseurs de bois (très mignon) et départ pour Vinar del Mar puis Concon par le bord de mer. Déj sur le pouce... Nous partons pour le superbe parc de la Campana avec ses ... read more

Carlos has become my 2nd (or 3rd after my host-family from last year) family. Because I go to Santiago 1 or 2 weekends a month for work and to see Carlos, I normally stay at their house. Carlos´parents are great and seemed to have accepted me well into the family. Carlos has 4 siblings: a brother a year younger named Caesar who is married and has 2 children of his own. Next is Natalie, 21, Nadia, 16 and Jari, 9. They are so sweet and kind and patient with my spanish. God-help them sometimes because it really is horrid, my spanish. ... read more

(N) We will miss the exuberant chaos of Bolivia and Peru, having now traded them for Chile and Argentina, a couple of nations where - as symbols of sophistiation - a seat comes as standard on a toilet, along with toilet paper, taps give forth water and even a towel is often provided. Thurs 7th June - In Salta. The highlight of the day was the view of San Francisco church against the bright blue sky ("an extravagance of Italianate Neocolonial exuberance", whimpered the Rough Guide). Shortly after, The Locro Incident occurred. The Locro Incident: at the small eaterie we had selected for lunch, I chose the one of the national dishes, Locro, described on the menu as "a stew of pumpkin, beans, chickpeas & veal meat", for A$8 (about GBP1.30). All very innocent. However, the ... read more

In need of some skin regeneration after months of sun So after NZ we arrived in Chile, suddenly not just a different culture but a different language to contend with....our dreams of learning on the road so far very short lived, a huge mistake, although a least the chilean red gave us a bit of confidence to try it out. Santiago was okay, although similar to most other cities we have visited, full of traffic, people, pollution and illuminated signs everywhere. We stuck it for a couple of days and then headed out to Valapraiso, still with little command of the language. Valparaíso is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and once you move away from the standard city layout and venture up by pre-hictoruc funicular into the hillside you can see why. Beautiful ... read more

So I had one of the biggest cultural shocks of my life today. I joined this volunteer group, called English Opens Doors, and it is where native English speakers go into the public and semi-private schools and help out the teachers. So today was my first day and I have never seen a class so disorganized. Compared to the students at my dad’s school, his students were angels. I walked into my first class and the teacher was writing instructions on the board and the class wasn’t even paying attention to her. After she wrote the instructions and somewhat introduced me she went back to her desk and sat down. She would help them if they came up to her, but she just wasn’t active with them and 95% of the time everyone just spoke Spanish. ... read more