I still don't like wine. Sorry, Chile, land of wine (and empanadas). Two wine tours and conversations with a sommelier still haven't changed my wanting a juice-box over a glass of wine, however I can appreciate all the hard work that goes into it. I took a tour with my mom at Concha y Toro, a large winery (2nd in the country by production) located just outside Puente Alto. My favorite part was seeing a sheep grazing on the lawn and visiting the old-school wine cellar four meters underground. And bonus points for getting to the winery without using a taxi.
A view of the Andes mountains, night photos from a high-rise building, and a location 5 miles closer to my university than my home-stay: I'm pretty dang excited to be living in an apartment building for my second semester abroad. And my laptop + Lightroom again. Thank god. All I need now is to stop lighting microwave popcorn on fire...
I think Nunu deserves her own post, for being the big presence she is in my life. Personally, I prefer dogs because they're a little more durable, but she holds her own for weighing all of 5 lbs...maybe a bit more, but most of it is fluff.
Colchagua region = wine, more wine, and empanadas apparently. I wouldn't know because my bus didn't stop at the magic empanada place. This was CIEE's last weekend excursion, a last gulp of fresh air before finals in a month, and it was so beautiful.
Small things: photo edition. I've been in a rut lately, not taking photos, not doing anything different. I just watched a TED talk about getting out of your comfort zone and not letting fear or uncomfortableness get in your way of what you want or who you want to be. (And yes this sounds like wisdom on a Pinterest board) Ugh. I hate it when I read/watch things that are timely and essentially serve to kick me in the pants and then I have to get off my butt and do something about it. I guess watching Netflix and eating manjar aren't the key to achieving my dreams. They can complement it, though. And I'm going to count eating manjar as cultural immersion. Yes.
It's fall here. The bike paths are covered with leaves, crunch and dull brown. It's usually pretty cloudy, and walking to the apartment yesterday I realized I couldn't see the cordillera. It was completely covered up by a mix of clouds a smog. In the midwest US it would have the decency to rain once in awhile and release the clouds, but no such luck here. It is nice breaking out the fall clothes, scarves, jeans...but the sad truth is I still don't have much of a wardrobe after packing so light. But I do have two pairs of jeans now, so that's exciting. Okay, less talk, more photos.
The things I'll probably miss. Food vendors on the street: sopaipillas, empanadas de queso, eggrolls (but only near the bar scene at 2am)...all of it fried. Sugar roasted peanuts, hamburgers made with carne de soya, the little push carts near the metro station...
Isla Negra, translated as Black Island, is not an island. Paradoxical Chile. This small town by the ocean is known for being home to one of Pablo Neruda's eclectic house-turned-museum, and is where my Chilean culture class went for a field trip. We had lunch on the beach, went sort-of-trekking, and visited a smaller town known for its artisanal pottery. There were many wild dogs and 1/2 kilo empanadas.
My program friends and I made samosas and curry over the course of a very delicious Sunday afternoon. The samosas and curry we made disappeared fast, but the pictures remain to make me hungry. Lazy Sunday afternoon cooking sessions are the best.
South of Santiago three hours on Ruta 5 highway is Talca, a medium-sized city of about 250,000 people. From there it's an hour and a half bus ride east (towards the mountains) to get to Armerillo, small town and home of Parque Tricahue, where two friends and I spent a long weekend hiking, eating peanut butter, and somewhat-successfully building fires in our cabin's stove.
