Advertisement
Published: July 19th 2011
Valparaíso
...Unfortunately without sun, but nevertheless beautiful!Santiago
I haven’t seen much of Santiago, but so far I like it a lot. Santiago is huge and definitely not a beauty, but it has it’s own flair! It’s a bit dodgy and crowded, and apparently you’re supposed to watch your bag everywhere you go. There are markets everywhere, fresh fruits & veggies, millions of homeless dogs, crazy taxi-drivers and very friendly Chileans.
I will share some more first and second impressions once I actually start exploring the city a bit more. So far, I’ve mainly been busy with studying Spanish and making new friends. About the „Spanish“: Chilean sounds nothing like the Spanish I've heard before. Chileans generally don't like the letter 's' and they usually leave it out whenever possible. Also, they talk about twice as fast as anyone else. Where other Spanish-speaking folks practice power walking, Chileans run marathons. A first-hand Example: „Es lo mismo“ in Chilean is: „elomimo.“ How is anyone supposed to understand what „elomimo“ means? Right now I
Valparaíso
Many typical streets in Valpo are very steep. understand about one word in every five sentences, but I’m very determined to speak fluent Chilean soon.
At the moment, I’m staying with a Chilean family, but they are very distant and I don’t really feel comfortable here. I already found an apartment and I will be moving out by the end of this week before University starts. I will be sharing a beautiful artsy house with about ten to twelve people, including a huge roof-deck with an amazing view! I’m also very excited to finally start cooking for myself again. My Chilean mamá has her own peculiar way of what she calls „cooking“. It basically involves a huge amount of meat and a microwave. And sometimes rice, dry, without anything else. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten more meat in my entire life, and I don’t think I will ever be eating meat again.
Some fun stuff: My first Pisco Sour. Pisco is the national drink in Chile (even though they’re having an ongoing fight with Peru about the true origins of Pisco, but I’m going to say: Chile.) Pisco is good stuff and it can be combined with absolutely anything. Last week, some Chileans drank a
Valparaíso
Valpo is full of beautiful, colorful houses. mix of Pisco and pesto, which I wouldn’t want to try in a million years, but just to point out that you really can mix Pisco with anything.
Some not so fun stuff: It turns out that the Postbank-guy lied to me when he told me that “V-Pay is just the same as a Master Card, only with a different sign.” It’s not the same and it only works in Europe. That’s what I figured out when I tried to use it in Chile.
So basically I have no money, but luckily I have friends who offered to feed me as many empanadas as I want until I get my new credit card.
Valparaíso
Last week, I spent a day in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Since I was only there for a few hours (and because the weather was bad) I only got a first glimpse of what seems to be a beautiful little town with many colorful houses and graffiti & paintings wherever you go. This first glimpse was enough to make me fall in love and I will return to Valpo as soon as possible!
I went to Viña del Mar on my way back
to Santiago, but I didn’t stay for long. It is close to the ocean, right next to Valparaíso, but I didn’t like it very much. Very touristy, lots of skyscrapers, pools and fancy beaches for the rich and famous. Probably a nice place to relax for a day or two, but it doesn’t seem very interesting.
If you have a minute to spare, I'd love some updates on your German/Canadian/Australian life's every now and then, so I won't feel too lost in this big city! I will try to update my blog as often as possible, and I promise I will have some more details soon. Until then, chau!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0448s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
