Amazing week with an amazing friend!

Monday the 8th Manuel arrived in the evening! Weird but very good to see him in this Chilean world of mine. Sadly enough the rain also came this week so at first it started off as a rainy Chile. But we managed to go to Santa Lucia, did the Puente alto hike again and he got to know some chilean dishes. Then friday Carolina arrived and we had a typical Chilean barbecue. Then the fin de semana plan was to go hiking and camping at Cajon del Maipo. But because of the rainfall Cajon was not really an option. But we ended up going there anyway by car with Carolina, Paulina and a friend of theirs. Which was awesome cause we got to see it still! The day after it was Mothersday so Sofia got to stay with us and we went on our way to Valparaiso! Another amazing day and also the last day that I got to see Carolina. Sad good byes but we will see each other again! Monday Manuel and I visited Cerro San Cristobal and the views where amazing! Because of the rain all the smog was gone so we could see the mountains behind Santiago as well! Now we are planning to go to the Bahai Temple. Let’s see if the weather let’s us.

Dos Fin de Semanas

Las docas y Valparaiso.

On saturday we went to Las Docas to go camping on the beach! Wild camping once again, but this time for real! We could borrow the car from my host parents which was really nice, so we could go to a sort of hidden beach and set our tents there. We arrived, put up our tents and prepared our dinner and had some drinks before going to bed. Ready for yet another trip to Valparaiso. Vamos a la playa! Here we where staying at Oscar’s place so no need to put up tents. Then we had a barbecue and some siestas before heading into the city para bailar y bebidas! First stop was an irish cafe, second a deserted rooftop bar and last we ended up in the place to be. Good music, good drinks and mucho bailar con amigos. Next morning, well just a few hours later we had our breakfast and went on our way to see a little bit more of Valparaiso before heading back home.

Color run y Bomberos.

This weekend Sophie turned 23, so I went to her house on Friday. We watched a nice movie with nachos y guacamole before heading to bed and waking up next to the bday girl! Her family prepared the breakfast and that made it a great beginning of the weekend. Next up was the brunch at Maeve and Hugo’s place. Here we prepared burritos and nachos with cheese out of the oven and it felt like the day was just made for food. But nooooo the color run was waiting for us. So there we went with food babies and our best behaviors. We know Chileans are not that punctual about time so we left for the run when it was supposed to start. Expecting to arrive somewhat on time for the actual beginning. But when we arrived nothing had started yet, so we where waiting for 2 hours still before it all began. Also they had this awesome system of not letting everyone go in at once, which made everyone just more eager to start. And people started pushing and that made it quite unsafe. Good thing dutch people are tall.. After two hours we where ‘running’ and on our way. Running wasn’t really possible because of the crowd in front of us and the path was full of big rocks and bumps and holes. Which we couldn’t see because it was dark. So we ended up walking the 5K. After this we joined the awesome crowd of 16 year olds and showed them how to dance properly. After the run we continued our journey to the fire station of the Bomberos. This station was big and sort of Hogwarts like so I felt right at home. Pool table was ready, drinks where too and so was I. This night continued until the morning and then still a bit more until it was around 9 in the morning. Time to get to a bed. Sophie and me found our way back to Maeve and Hugo’s apartment and slept some hours before heading to the food trucks. Which was supposed to be a big festival and stuff. But turned out to be just 5 food trucks and some random music played through speakers. But we had some nice papas fritas and went home. Just in time to dump my stuff in my room and open the door for Sofia who got dropped off by her dad. Then quickly into bed to get ready for the new day. And! The next day Manuel will come into the Chilean world!

Barbecue time

This week went by so fast! It rained for one day so the next day there was no school for Sofia, the shops where not open normal hours and we had water shortage because they cut off the water to the houses. So rain really is a problem in Chile. We should give them some of our all known knowledge of rain. Then it was already an early weekend cause she had the friday off. This weekend I had planned a barbecue with Carola, Franzi, Hugo, Maeve and Sophie. We had a great evening and they all stayed at our house which was really nice. And the next day we did the little hike to the mountain with the cross. But this time I didn’t find the easy way down so it was quite steep hihi. But nevertheless it was a good hike and when I got back I took a nice long bath and even got to talk with my mom who now owns a phone with whatsapp! Es una maravilla!

Easter weekend

It all began on a thursday evening. When I took the bus to Maeve and Hugo’s place. Of course the normal bus just ignored me and drove passed me but the second one stopped and got me to the subway. Of course it took me a while but I finally got to their place where we had dinner and prepared ourselves for the short night. Sophie and I had tickets for the next morning at 7.10 so it was a short night before getting on our way to Parque Ingles.

There we went, got to the bus on time and slept till we got to Molina. Here we had to take another bus that took us up to the entrance of the park. Backpack filled with necessary things like a tent, food, sleeping bag and such so it all was like 11 kilo’s on a back that had never wore a backpack in its life. It was a challenge. It was a big hike of about 11k over mountains and through nice landscapes and brought us to Colmillo del diablo. Here was a place where other hikers put up their tents and we joined them. We took our spot before the Colmillo del diablo and started dinner. It got dark and cold really fast so we froze our asses off before getting into our sleeping bags. And from that moment on I couldn’t get warm again. My feet where getting numb, started to get cramps that made me cry and I almost thought about going outside to just wait for the morning to show itself. Luckily I didn’t cause apparently after max 2 hours of sleep we woke up and found ourselves in winter wonderland. Everything was frozen. So cold! No better way to get warm than doing another hike, so we did. This time to Laguna de las animas. But without backpacks because we would return to our little campsite. This hike was a bit more than I expected. Especially cause it was without our backpacks. But probably because of the little amount of sleep we had the two nights before, and the cramps in my muscles from that night my body was rejecting my idea to go to Las Animas. At one point when we had passed yet another mountain without seeing the Laguna I was starting to feel that maybe it would be better to return to camp and try to get some sleep. But I decided while I was there, better see the Laguna as well. We finally arrived there and had a little break before heading back to our camp. To our surprise Maeve and Hugo where waiting there! We ran and stumbled down the mountain before hugging them and had a nice joined meal with each other before heading into our tents prepared for yet another freezing night. But this night was nice and warm! So comfy in my sleeping bag! So happy! Finally got some sleep and Sophie and I where getting ready to head back to the entrance. Before leaving we did a little walk to a cascade and said our goodbyes. Sophie and I where experienced hikers now so time was on our side and we practically run back. No not really. In the end we stumbled over rocks but tried to ignore our sore backs and ankles and continued our walk as if we where zombies. But we made it! Definitely time to celebrate with a beer and a Hotdog Italiano. (kind of a Chilean thing as well) Then we started our hitchhike back to santiago. Which went quite well. Our third car got us to Santiago and we arrived around 9. Tired and ready for bed. As I am now.

Valparaiso

This week was a bit different. On tuesday I decided to climb the little montana of Puente Alto with the cross on top. We had passed it on my first day in Chile and I had walked by it when I went to the park. But this time I decided to climb it. Seemed like a well thought idea, little mountain, early in the morning and a well spirited Carola. But it was a bit different. The mountain was taller and steeper than I expected so at one point I was using both hands and feet to climb to the top. Almost lost my phone during the battle to the top but I made it and had this great 360 degrees view of the city and Puente Alto. Great accomplishment! I spend some time up there taking pictures and enjoying my view when I decided it was time to go back down. But this time I found a less steep way down which was more doable and I made it home safely.

This weekend I joined Paulina y Sofia to Valparaiso. It’s at the coast and is famous for its street art and colorful houses. We where staying at a hostel (with WIFI) and the first day we walked around a bit to get an impression. Of course there where street dogs everywhere as it’s common for any Chilean city. We also took a little wagon up the hill cause thats the thing you do in Valparaiso when you are blond and have tourist written on your forehead. But it was quite nice and it gave us a good view of the harbor. The second day we went to the beach at Vina de Mar. And my bathing stuff was shining on the bed in our hostel while I was sunbathing in my running short and bra. I think from that day on it was a hit in Vina. And in the evening we went to the Lamba Lamba exhibition where I froze my butt off and made new friends that where way to young for me. But I learned their language quite easily and we managed to have our own little conversation under the supervision of the moms and dads. Oh and! I could finally Skype with Azad and so we did. Both smiling uncontrollably and babbling words no one could understand but we both had a good time. Well well well and then it was Sunday, time to get back home. Santiago was calling. We took the bus back and went our separate ways cause I had planned dinner with you will never guess who.. Carola! From Holland tambien of course! And Franzi and Paloma where there to accompany her. We all met at the shopping center and scored a nice Cafe helado con crema. I really recommend this drink to any of you. Even if you don’t like coffee. Then we strolled along the shops and I saw this blouse with cats which I had to buy for Paulina. And so I did hihi. As a little thank you for the weekend and of course cause the blouse was made for her. Carola, Franzi and me had dinner at Vapiano where I ordered the pizza del mar. But apparently I wasn’t the only one with that plan, cause my delightful boyfriend had just eaten the same pizza at Vapiano’s but then in Amsterdam. You know you really belong together when you order the same thing without knowing it. And then it was time to get back home into my lovely bed.

Nuevo fin de semana

Work outs and dropping and picking up Sofia is still going strong during the week. This fin de semana Carolina was here again so we went to some friends of her and drank some cervesas y wino and of course had suchi (a.k.a sushi). My tummy and mind where satisfied. Then I also arranged this awesome hike with some of the campsite friends but ended up doing the climb of the San Cristobal. Gerardo, Natalia and some other guy joined this time too which was really nice. Sadly enough the smoggy fog is bad in Santiago so the view was’t that great. But still. Always nice to have a view over a city with mountains in the back. After that everyone went their separate ways and I had the great idea to go on home cause the subway and buses etc where waiting for me. As I knew it would take me a while to get back. Little did I know that bus drivers are mondial asses who have me on their blacklist. Cause yet again I thought it was a good idea to walk down Av. Diego Portales until I could catch my bus up to the supermarket. But at the busstation it took like half an hour before my bus came. And when it was there, I waved my most elegant wave, even flipped back my amazing blonde locks of hair and winked at the driver. But he just raced on by. So yet another bus relationship has come to an end so quickly. From now on I’ll be walking down Av. Diego Portales. Maybe I’ll wave at some bus drivers again just to make them stop and then walk away without getting on them. Just to annoy them a little. So back to today. I walked all the way to the shops and got myself some snacks. It was the weirdest thing. I walked towards the crisps and didn’t even have the urge to buy some. Think the sportive virus has got me. But when I was waiting in line I heard this voice calling my name. Thought I was dreaming but there she was Paulina hihi. So I joined her and look what she had! Pizzaaaa. After all an happy ending to this story.

The End.

Laguna de aculeo

This week went by so fast. Normal things though. Pero en fin de semana I went to Laguna de aculeo. On whatsapp I got in touch with some people who where going there and asked me if I wanted to join. And so I did. I talked to Sophie some days before and it all seemed okay. I looked for some camping gear that I could borrow for the weekend and saturday morning I left while it was still dark. With a backpack on my back, air in my lungs and food at my side. Had to take the bus and the subway to get to estacion central. Here I met up with the others. Maeve, Sophie, Lauren, Sebastian, Hugo, Felipe and 3 roommates of Hugo came to the campsite. Again we had to take a bus to get to the laguna. In the bus we talked to some military guys who suggested us a nice campsite and we decided to take their advice.

We arrived at the campsite, set up our tents and went on a hike over the lake, cause apparently it had been dry for over 7 years already so we could walk over it. It was muddy but you could step on the mud blocks and find a way across. If you jumped on it the ground was like a trampoline. I felt like a little kid on a trampoline! But Maeve was the first to sink into the mud with her shoes. Now it was a obstacle course which we had to cross to get to this little island with a house. We all arrived there and we walked around the island and had this nice view of the surrounding mountains. On the opposite side of the island we where on was another island. We decided to go there as well and this time Sophie sank into the mud until her knees and we had to drag her out. We still reached the other island and found our way back to the campsite after that. Here we had a barbecue and of course drinks. Pisco! We had a nice night and a short sleep hihi. You know why.. I was the first to wake up and found that the place we had left our food supply was totally trashed by the birds. They even picked their way through the cooling box and ate everything they could get to. I cleaned the mess and people started to wake up as well. We had breakfast and decided to do another hike. But when we where already on our way we got a call that the owners wife had gone to the campsite and said we did not pay enough. So we turned back to make sure that our stuff would not be taken by the owners. Then we had a relaxed lunch and I spend the rest of the day at the pool until it was time to go back to Santiago. It took me quite a while to get back home and apparently Paulina had called me several times to make sure I was okay. Which I was but because my phone had no data left I hadn’t looked at it for a while. Now I’m home safely and quite tired so time to get to bed and have a nice sleep. On to another week en Chile. But I have to inform you. My mobile data is gone, so I’ll be online again at fin de semana.

Buenas noches!

Fin de Semana

Hola,

Week two has gone by so fast! Normal week of bringing Sofia to escuela and doing work outs and preparing dinner. But on viernes (friday) Carolina was there too. She works in the mines in Calama (up north) and came here for the weekend to see Paulina again. We went to her university, friends and went to have suchi (the way they pronounce it, while we would say sushi). I had a really great time talking to her and getting to know her. And en la noche we had a little barbecue con una amiga de Carolina. They where talking in spanish because I want to learn, so a lot of it I couldn't understand yet but it's getting better. On sabado we had a dinner with the mom of Carolina. She lives in the poor area of Santiago so I went along with Carolina to pick her up. Of course I was the sightseeing of the neighborhood cause I'm blond. And in Chile its normal to call things and they called me Rubia which is blondie... So not that imaginative haha. It was nice to see different areas of Chile. And the mom had cazuela in mind for supper so I couldn't wait to try. It's like this soup with choclo (corn) meat, vegetables and many other things. And of course you can add spices. Which I tried as well. It was really nice! Muy rico! The mom also tried to have a little conversation with me. But the Chilean people find it hard to speak with me apparently because they are afraid I might not understand and they can't speak English so they stop haha. But I managed to tell her that I really liked the food she made and she was happy. Then in the evening again the amiga se llama Claudia was there too and we ate the rest of our barbecue. Oh and we went to the market on Sabado and the choclo man was really interested hahaha. He was calling me hola rubia! Como estas?! So I replied I was fine and thanked him. But of course me understanding him was even more interesting so he kept on yelling. And on the way back we passed him again and he started again. Typical Chileans... Good thing all the Chileans aren't really pretty. So still Azad, you are in the safe zone hihi.

Today is Domingo, and the plan was I would meet up with some girls and do a hike, but they where acting weird so I wasn't counting on them. And of course they didn't send me anything until like 4/5 in the midday. So I ended up staying at the house, laying in the sun, doing some exercises and eating pancakes. Such a bad day hihi. No it was good. Today Carolina is going back to the mines again. She is leaving in the evening/morning at 3 and is flying back to Calama and going straight to work. She is a mechanical engineer at the mines so has long working days. But still its a great opportunity so it's good that she took the chance. I'll be looking forward to see her again.

For now this was it. Hope to see you all next week again!

Sorry if I reply a week later, but I don't have regular WiFi here so can only reply when I write my blog.

Besitos!