Valparaíso, Santiago and El Quisco

Hi from the Santiago bus depot! We are preparing to head into southern Chile. Tonight we´ll take an all night bus and arrive in Temuco around 6 a.m. tomorrow. In Temuco, we´ll meet friends Jeannine, Deanna and Lori who are flying down from Colorado. For those of you who heard about the earthquake in northern Chile, it didn´t affect us since we´re in the south already.

After leaving La Serena, we spent a night at a youth hostel in Valparaíso. I always wanted to visit Valparaíso after reading an Isabel Allende novel that took place there. It´s a very unique city built on more than 40 hills or cerros. Each neighborhood is known by the name of its cerro. There are many asencores or cable cars to help you get up the steep cerros. And it´s a major port.



In Santiago, we visited my high school friend Olga, from the United World College, and her husband Rodrigo! Olga and Rodrigo took us all around Santiago, served us delicious food and showed us a great time. They are expecting a baby boy, Juan Ignacio, next month! We went to a scrumptious barbecue at Olga´s parents´ house. Olga´s parents have met many UWCers through the years, and we had fun remembering our high school friends.

Rodrigo is going to be an excellent and attentive dad! He is already practicing by making Olga breakfast in bed.



Santiago is a very modern city, with a few historic buildings scattered here and there. It has everything that is available in the U.S. Olga bought a sewing machine while we were visiting, in a huge department store that way outsizes Bed Bath and Beyond, and is located in one of the largest malls in Latin America.

The Latin American Summit was happening while we were in Santiago. Presidents from all over Latin America were here. We heard lots of news of the inflammatory remarks made by Venezuela´s Hugo Chavez, and how the king of Spain told him to shut up. Other than that, I´m afraid I can´t report on much of what the summit was actually about, but I still like hearing people mention "La Presidenta", Chile´s female president.

We also met Rodrigo´s mom, who VERY generously invited us to stay in her beach cabin in El Quisco, straight west of Santiago on the coast! What a wonderful gift! We spent three beautiful days there, sleeping, reading and just sitting on the beach. We got up now and then to eat a delicious empanada or seafood dish. It was absolutely wonderful. The town was quiet, as the tourist season has not yet started, and the cabin was beautiful complete with a kitchen and hot shower, etc. Thank you to Rodrigo´s family! And we wish Rodrigo´s dad a speedy recovery after his accident. It was really nice to spend some time with Olga, who was my classmate 16 years ago!



Now, on to Temuco and southern Chile, which is said to be absolutely beautiful!