Parents, Horses, and Rivers

It has been an amazing 2 weeks since I last posted.

Not only am I enjoying my time with my new family, but my real parents came to visit! They stayed for a week and it was absolutely impeccable timing. With the switching of families and finally beginning to get real work in school, I was really beginning to get homesick. But as they usually do, my parents fixed up any problems I was having.

I was supposed to meet them at their hotel the day they arrived, but I have never been there before so I was assuming I’d get lost. I didn’t because I had a very obvious sign… my dad was the only man in all of Santiago standing in the street wearing a T-shirt (most people were still walking around in winter jackets).  The first day they arrived we went to have lunch with my host family. The mom wasn’t there but it was still a really great time. I had no idea my host sister spoke so much English, which made the situation much easier for me because I didn’t have to translate as much.

View of Santiago from the the top of Cerro St. Cristobal

Papa's shoulders are a little wide...

The rest of the week we spent doing very touristy activities. Many of them I have done before, and a few that I have not. As much as I wanted to, we didn’t go outside of Santiago too much. Although my host family did take us to a little village called Pomaire which is famous for its pottery and its extra large empanadas… 

My Chilean Family :)

Empanada, mmmm

We also went to lots of delicious restaurants. One where I got a 20% discount for the next time I go basically because the waiter liked me. And I was even wearing my new llama sweater that night.

My mom has a new found obsession with llamas. We actually saw one just casually crossing the street one day...

llama llama

My dad also drank with my friends a couple of times. At first I thought it was a joke, no one would take me seriously when I suggested drinking with my dad to my friends. But my dad and my friends all actually got very excited. So my parents second night in Santiago I invited 3 of my guy friends and one girl over for drinks. Of course my dad bought vodka. Absolut…which to college kids is a delicacy; to my dad it’s just an average vodka. And my mom of course was worrying about what food to serve them, because of course you can’t drink on an empty stomach. So armed with chips, aji (which is basically pico de gallo), and vodka (with chasers for the children of course), we were ready at the hotel waiting for my friends.

My dad drank straight vodka. We had it mixed with orange juice. Everything went perfectly. My friends loved my dad and visa versa. The conversation was absolutely amazing, I never imagined my dad getting along so well with people my age, but it happened. A few days later my parents and I took the same group, plus one other boy, out to our favorite bar HBH. My parents bought drinks and pizza. It was another great chat. I was talking with one of my friends that went about why I never do that at home and we realized it’s because we aren’t allowed to go to bars in America. Still another year and 3 months for me… It’s going to be terrible when I get back from this country and still have to wait a year to drink legally.

The day before my parents left, we went to those two beach towns, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. Did a lot of touristy things there too… 

Valparaiso is famous for its funiculars

Valparaiso

We also visited the Naval Museum where I was extremely proud of myself for knowing most of the history without even reading the information given by the museum... Thank you Mauricio. 

This is the device they used to get the Chilean miners out in October 2010... 
Papa could barely fit inside

The next day my parents’ flight was at night so technically we could have spent another day together, but my entire group was coming to Valparaiso with my coordinators. I found out about this after my parents already booked their flight. So we said goodbye in Valpairso and they went back to Santiago as I met up with my friends in Valparaiso. So we did some more touring around the city. And I didn’t have my camera because my dad had been taking pictures with his all week. It was almost torture seeing all those beautiful sites and not being able to take a picture of it all. But the cities are only an hour away from Santiago so we will definitely be going back there soon.

The day after we spent the entire day on the beach in Vina del Mar, just laying down and enjoying the sunlight and the water, the sand and the good conversation. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful week. 


The next week was nothing special. But the next Saturday definitely was. At 5pm I met up with a group from my Chilean university called "Coordinadores Generales Comision de Acogida" or in English, "General Coordinators Welcome Committee" The abbreviation in Spanish is CAUC...pronounced "cock." 


But anyway, that was a little off topic... what I ended up doing on Saturday was going on a cabalgata - horesback riding. But not just any horseback riding trip - this one was in the mountains of Santiago under a full moon with a barbecue waiting for us at the top. 


It was absolutely magical. We rode up the mountain for an hour and a half during the sunset, which was beyond beautiful. 

Hello moon

Of course I had a few issues along the way. My horse wasn't one of the brightest horses, and he was also very slow. I thought it was very obvious what he had to do... follow all the other horses. A very simple game of "follow the leader." But apparently to him it wasn't so obvious. He liked to steer off the track and when he was following the other horses he was going at an exceptionally slow rate, creating a very large gap between us and the horse ahead.

Also, for some strange reason, there are these very weird trees in Chile that have spikes on their branches instead of leaves. Obviously my horse walked under each one we passed (which was a lot) and I had to duck every time, and of course I missed a few times. And once he walked me right into a regular branch - my shoulder has been sore for days. But we got there in one piece, somehow. And what we arrived to was magnificent:

View of Santiago (a little blurry, sorry)

The coordinators quickly started a fire and an asado (barbecue). The food was delicious and the fire was excruciatingly hot and smoky, but also so wonderful because it was freezing up there.

so much warmth

I think I have run out of synonyms of "amazing" because there are no words that I can find to adequately describe the beauty of the ride back down. I didn't take any photos on my way back down, I just wanted to take it all in and appreciate it for myself. Selfish, I know. Also, I physically wouldn't have been able to because my horse on the way back down was a giant and liked to try to run down the hill. But this time it actually felt like I was truly riding a real horse. I didn't have to focus too much on guiding him and could really appreciate the view. Although I do wish I captured it because it was breathtaking. The only light was from the full moon and the city lights down below in Santiago. The horses were calmer, as were the riders. Everything was just perfect on that ride down.


The next day I went hiking in the morning. I was supposed to leave my house at 10:30 but was only walking out at 10:45, so I was obviously rushing. So much so that I accidently let my dog escape...the one rule in the house. I quickly got my host mom and we chased after him for three blocks screaming "Happy!" We looked crazy. But we caught him eventually. Thankfully. I was already imagining awful scenarios in my mind about how I ruined their lives and me getting kicked out of the house. So glad that didn't happen.


I was late to go hiking. But I didn't miss it. My 2 friends and 2 Finnish guys that one of my friends met were waiting for me at the bus terminal. We slept on the hour long bus ride, perfecto.


The hike was beautiful, it was a wonderful day. We went to a national reserve called Rio Calillo, somewhere that most Chilean natives have never heard about. Even though it isn't one of the most popular reserves in Chile, it was still pretty amazing.

We sat on these rocks for about an hour and a half. Casually dipping our feet into the ice cold water and bathing in the sunshine.

And instead of taking a bus back to the metro, we ended up getting a ride from a random Chilean man. Not something our parents or coordinators would be proud of us for...but he was a very nice man. He drove us a long way and we just chatted, mainly about how cold Finland is in comparison to Chile.


It was a perfect relaxing day after the cabalgata the day before.


Hopefully I keep having more wonderful adventures here in Chile, this weekend is Chile's Independence Day so we'll see what happens then!