Santiago, Chile

So yesterday we had the morning free in Santiago.

We went to the top of a really pretty park on a hill with an 

incredible view of the city. Here's some of my favorite pictures.

The story about how I ate tongue...

What a day.

I'm exhausted! My head hurts from trying to understand Spanish.

I'm actually starting to wonder if I've really been learning 

Spanish all these years. Cuz what I'm hearing on the 

street doesn't sound anything like what I've heard in class.

They should tell you that.

(I know, I know, I lived in Spain, I should know that's how it is.

But, give me a break, it's been 2 years!)

But, we're headed to BRAZIL tomorrow where I do not understand Portuguese!

And it's supposed to be a high of 74 beautiful degrees...
which sounds like heaven compared

to the high of about 50 that we experienced today.

Anyway I'm extremely excited for RIO DE JANEIRO!

But, on to my story....

So the other night a group of us went to a restaurant in Valparaiso that 

our tour guide recommended us.

Let me just start off by saying that my food vocabulary isn't the greatest.

They have very different food preferences in Spain

that I could tell you all about.
However, that doesn't do me any good here in Chile.

So, we're looking through the menu and I pick something that

says it has shrimp, Parmesan cheese, cooked in olive oil, 

with one other word that I don't understand.

I go on to order this thinking that one word is not a big deal...

and this is what comes out:

Which isn't what I was expecting,
but I'm used to that by this point in my trip.
So I start stirring through it and I'm like what are THESE?!
and pull out a long pink thing that resembles a tongue...
We asked the waiter and sure enough, he said lengua.
Which means tongue.

I was a little hesitant to eat this tongue.
What kind of tongue is it?
Whose tongue is it?
Who knows?!
(Don't worry, I got brave and tried it.
It was just extremely hard to chew and didn't have much flavor.)
But what really freaked me out next was the long black hair I found
swimming in the soupy dish.
That and the tongue pretty much ruined my appetite.
I showed the waiter and he brought me something else out.

By then I just really wanted a cheeseburger.

Crazy Chileans.

Coming soon...

K so the other night I had quite the experience at a seafood restaurant.

I apparently ate some kind of tongue...

There are some crazy things happening in Chile, people.

We're about to leave on a business visit though,

so I'll write about it tonight.

Exhaustion.

This morning we went on a walking tour of Valparaiso 

with a student from a local university.

Chile is so different from what I expected, but I love it! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today.

Sorry there's so many, I just liked them all!

Cable car we rode up the hill.

There's graffiti like this everywhere;

I actually think it's pretty cool.

The city is full of stray dogs that follow 

us all around town.

I almost got hit by a car taking this picture. 

No big deal...

All the houses of Valparaiso are built into the hills

so there are stairways like this all over the place.

Haha this is Brent and me eating Pan de Leche.

One of the best things I've ever eaten.

They're sweet rolls filled with custard and covered in powdered sugar.

We may or may not have eaten two each today.

They're about the size of a softball...

View of the beach from the hill

That water was FREEZING!

All the houses built into the hills.

I love how they're all different colors!

Two of the boys in my group and I ventured off and after

a few metro rides, asking a lot of questions 

(luckily we all spoke Spanish),

and some interesting taxi rides,

we found Pablo Neruda's house, La Sebastiana. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but this is the outside. 

It was a really interesting house.

(For anyone who doesn't know who Pablo Neruda is,

he's a famous poet. Look him up, he's great.

Extremely odd sometimes, but a genius.)

Anyway, we walked so much today, I'm exhausted and off to bed!

Vina del Mar, Chile

Well, if I sounded a little bitter or annoyed in my last post,

I apologize. I was extreeeeeeemely tired. 

We're having a really good time though!

Today was apparently the coldest day of the year

(they got frost this morning)

and it ended up being about 68 degrees. Rough weather, right?

We visited a university and a fruit packing plant today.

The secret business nerd inside of me loved it;

I thought it was really interesting. Plus, we got to wear these awesome coats...

We're supposed to be visiting another part of the university on Monday

but apparently the students are on strike, so it's not safe.

They were going to take over the building we 

were in today, but the professors talked them into waiting till

we were done with our presentation.

Strange right?

Anyway, the rest of the night we just walked around

and ate delicious empanadas.

I could get used to this.

Oh, AND a nice man told me I had very good Spanish today.

He might have just been trying to be nice...but it made my day. :)

Dislike

Just a little list of the things that suck about traveling.

In no particular order...

1. Airport Security. 

Shoes off, jacket off, laptop out, arms up, patted down.

2. Lines
For security, for the bathroom, to get on the plane,
to get off the plane, for customs, you get the idea.

3. Airplane Food

Can you really even call some of that stuff food?

4. Airplane bathrooms

Flushing the toilet freaks me right out.

Just sayin...

5. Knee Pain.

Because my feet don't quite touch the ground 

when I'm sitting in my seat.

Hilarious, I know!

6. Ornery flight attendants 

Actually, I'd probably be ornery too if I was dealin 

with crazies night and day.

7. Leaving your house at 5:00 am
and after 3 flights and a bus ride finally
reaching your destination 28 hours later.

8. About 8 hours of sleep in
48 hours.

9. Hair
Sometimes when I travel I wish I was bald.
My hair hates humidity.

10. Exhaustion
After getting to the hotel everyone slept
for a good 5 hours or so.

BUT...on the plus side, Vina del Mar is beautiful!
It looks/feels a lot like San Diego (weather wise).
And I've been espeakin espanish all day!

More tomorrow...