Vamos a la playa playa!

     Yes I am finally posting on my blog again! So I have been in Santiago for one whole month, and it has definitely flew by. I feel like I have been living here for such a long time already! Since I've been missing in action for a while, I have much to divulge about the adventures I've been having these past couple of weeks. Bear with me guys this is going to be a long post! My 1st weekend in Santiago was spent in Cajón de Maipo with other students from my program.  We all gathered at a resort nestled in the canyons for an orientation, pretty much just a discussion of the events that would be taking place over the next couple of weeks.  It was nice to get to explore a part of Chile that was polar opposite to the city.  It was here that I also met my best group of girlfriends, Katie, Ashley, Hannah, and Nikki, Las Cinco Gringas, as our Chilean friends call us. Over the course of that weekend I engaged in activities such as tanning, eating, hiking, eating, and more eating.  As you can tell it was a very stressful weekend haha. Although I did pretty much nothing for that entire 3 days, I was able to obtain a better understanding of Chilean food. Pan is pretty much a staple here in Chile, and for all that know me know that I absolutely LOVE eating bread, so I am in heaven!  For breakfast a typical meal would consist of pan, queso o mantequilla, y café, definitely not the Ihop breakfast we eat in the states, but still equally delicious. Lunch and dinner are completely different stories. There is almost always some type of ensalada, of course pan, a main course, and my favorite, postre! My host padre Dano is a chef, so we ate everything from sushi to vienesa italiano, which is a hot dog con tomate, mayo, y palta (which is avocado, but Chileans call it palta not aguacate). 
     So far I have liked everything I have tried, despite the fact that everything is covered in mayo.  Although my favorite thing of all... wait for it... the Churassco!  This is the Chilean hamburger, and believe me when I say that it is delicioso! A Churassco Italiano comes equipped with thin slices of steak, tomato, mayo, and lots of avocado all on a toasted bun, the cerveza is not normally included haha.  I could go on and on about how great Chilean food is, but the thing that I find the most interesting is the cultural aspect of eating. Mealtimes are a very important part of family life, and I almost always ate with my host family, something I thoroughly enjoyed. It gave us time to reflect on our days, spend time with each other and practice my Castellano.  We would usually eat dinner anytime bewteen 8 and 11 pm, which is completely normal here.  Speaking of late nights, being able to engage in the nightlife here means that you need to have time to sleep all day!

     My 3rd weekend here my friends and I planned our first independent trip to the beach towns of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar for our friend Hannah's birthday.  It was here that I gotmy first real taste of the Chilean nightlife.  Directly after school we caught a taxi to Centro Santiago to hop on our 2 o'clock bus to Valpo.  After arriving at our hostel and getting ready for the evening ahead of us, we set off to eat at an awesome seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean, Portofino.  Hannah's grandparents paid for our dinner as her birthday present and I must say it was the best seafood I have ever eaten.
     Everything was incredibly fresh and it was so nice to be able to order a drink with dinner, being that the drinking age here is 18.  After trying to shake off our food coma we went to a 5 story club called El Huevo.  I was ready to call it a night at 2 am, but it was almost 5 in the morning when we finally trekked back to our hostel.  I  was completely exhausted the following day and a trip to the beach was much needed.  We took a micro that cost about 400 pesos, comparable to about 85 cents, to the white sandy beaches of Reñaca which is located next to the comuna, Viña del Mar.  The water here is absolutely gorgeous, but freezing cold due to the northern flowing Humbodlt current. It is also not very safe to swim in because the current is so strong, but of course we did it anyways.

The following day we took a taxi to the house of 1971 Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda.  His home, La Sebastiana, is now a museum that sits high above the city of Valparaiso.  In each of its five stories, visitors may discover the lifestyle and absurdity that was Pablo Neruda.  Not to mention the view is absolutely breathtaking.  My favorite part of the house were the ornaments, a great detail that makes this place extraordinarily unique. Neruda also has 2 other homes in Chile, which I cannot wait to visit.  After our extremely fun yet exhausting weekend, we headed back to our hostel to gather our belongings for the journey back to Santiago.  For being our 1st trip I would say that it was a great success and I am extremely excited to see what the next adventure with these crazy girls will be!

     Friends and Family! I will be posting links to my Photobucket so that you can look at all of my pictures from my various trips.  The password is sanitago, for future refernce. Thank you for taking the time to enjoy this experience 

with me! :]

Chau Chau!

      Rina 

Here are the Links to my pictures, enjoy! 
 
 - Cajón de Maipo: http://s1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/miss-rhernandez/Cajon%20de%20Maipo/       

- Valparaiso y Viña del Mar: http://s1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb381/miss-rhernandez/Valparaiso%20y%20Vina%20del%20Mar/












-