Viva La Vina

shortly after i had written the last blog entry, i had decided that i wanted to do some solo exploring. i took the train from Providencia to Centro De Santiago and just walked around. I did a good hour or two of solid walking and found some small parks including skate parks. mostly though it was just the same old Centro. lots of colorful buildings, lots of sketchy areas, a lot of random shops (i think i hit the "hardware" district of centro. excitement). i was about ready to give up when i looked at a map and saw this pretty big park on there called Santa Lucia. it wasn't too far from where i was so i decided to head that way.

and boy am i glad i didn't end my trek there. Santa Lucia is essentially a really big park that is also a hill. it's very beautiful and full of inclines and stairways that lead higher and higher on top of this mountain until you reach this tower at the top that includes a 360 degree panoramic view of all of Santiago. i swear some of the trails there look like they're straight out of narnia. there's also this sweet fountain out front with a statue of neptune. i took a massive amount of pictures and a video of the view from the top. it was seriously awesome and i definitely plan on bringing some other people there. after that i got an empanada (my current obsession here) and headed back to the apt.

That night i went out to a bar with some people in Alice's program. the 10 or so of us got a private room and it was kinda cool. that night i also learned that chileans, although quiet normally, get really loud when they get drunk. looks like they're more similar to Americans than previously heard of. we didn't stay too long but it was a notable experience.

after i wrote the last blog entry, i was quivering in fear about finding a movie theater in Santiago that not only was playing Watchmen, but was hopefully playing it with English audio and Spanish subtitles. i am proud to say that i did in fact do that. alice and i went to a theater that was about 3 METRO stops away from where i live currently. i write it in caps because i keep calling it "the train" which is incorrect. Watchmen was satisfying. it did not live up to the insanely ridiculous hype it had which is kind of unfortunate, but then again there's not a lot that can live up to that amount of hype besides the dark knight. that's really all i want to say about that here. i plan on writing a detailed review of this movie on facebook's "Flixster" application (which is the bomb, if you haven't started using it yet).

ANY WAYS.

Friday night was going to tentatively be the day where Alice and I went to Vina del Mar to meet up with some friends of her's there. they decided to move their trip to saturday so I had a random free night. I was going to make dinner for myself but Ari and Kat (the couple I live with) said they would make me dinner! it was really delicious. it was like bell peppers and beef with rice and this AMAZING sauce that included soy sauce, balsemic vinagrette, garlic, and this chilean spice that isn't too spicy but just right for me :). after that delicious meal, i met up with Alice at her place and we tried to go out with some friends of mine. Alice and I ended up walking a half hour to Bellavista only to elarn that our friends wanted to go to a club right near where we had started walking. we decided that we'd go if they paid for our cab ride to the origin of our walk. after much deliberation on the phone, we finally met up with them. instead of going to the club right away, they decided to sit down and have drinks so we chilled with them while they did that. unfortunately, by the time they were actually ready to go into the club, it was like 2am. and since Alice and I were going to the beach the next day, we decided to peace out. fine by me. saves money. plus, there'll be plenty of other nights to do stuff like that. and now i know of a club that's close to where i live sorta!

We spent the bulk of Saturday actually getting ready to go to and going to Vina Del Mar. The bus ride there was very short and had absolutely amazing views of the Andes everywhere you looked. we also saw horses and lot of farms, including a pretty massive one where i'm pretty sure they were growing grapes for wine. also, on some of the mountainsides, there would be like random patches of one or two palm trees. it was interesting. overall, the Chilean countryside is both plain and beautiful. the bus pulled into Vina Del mar by going down a few winding roads. Vina itself is a very pretty town. it reminds me of Orlando, Florida in that you sort of get the sense that you're about to enter an amusement park no matter where you go. there's lots of nice restaurants and parks as well as plenty of fun little sights to see. it's a cute area.

we didn't have much time on the beach but we made the most of it. we lathered on sunscreen due to the giant hole in the o-zone layer directly above us. the water was freezing but you got used to it after a while. Alice waded about 15 feet in and that was enough for her but not for me. the waves were particularly gigantic and kind of swept people into the shore if you went far enough out and tried to jump it. this was what kind of drew me to the ocean. i went out there and was jumping waves like crazy it was a LOT of fun! i could have done that all day and been set. but i came back and decided to relax in the sun for a bit with Alice and her group. there were dudes walking around the beach like hot dog vendors selling ice cream and stuff. overall, it was about 2 hours at the beach but it was a blast.

after the beach, we all walked to this Mexican themed restaurant and had a Chilean style 3 or 4 hour dinner with a bunch of people in Alice's group and some Chileans. there was about 10 of us. i tried to order a Chimichanga (basically because the name sounds funny) but they ended up giving me an Enchalada explaining that it was basically the same thing? i wasn't really sure due to my lack of Spanish but whatever. the Enchalada was delish. the people we were with were pretty cool too. as we ate outside the restaurant, we saw two... performers(?) across the street pretending to be statues. once was a gold cowboy and the other was death. it was an interesting thing to ssee while eating mexican food. there was a drunk guy passed out by himself at a table. after everyone wasw done eating, several of the people in Alice's group (and some waiters) did the classic thumbs up smiling pose behind this drunk guy. it was hilarious.

Alice and I followed 3 of the people in Alice's program to a hostel that we planned on staying at. unfortunately, one of Alice's friends had some heat exhaustion that evening. instead of going out, Alice and I stayed in and ended up playing War and Rummy with her. it actually ended up being a lot of fun. and once again, the hostel these people in Alice's program got hooked up with was really nice. the three of us stayed in a room that had two beds and a balcony that overlooked part of Vina.

the Sunday after our overnight, I joined Alice as well as her friends Julia and Danielle for a short tour of Vina. we got Empanadas (nice nice) and just saw the small city life of this beach town that was clearly a town for the beach. lots of small shops and generally very relaxed. we took it upon ourselves to take a very cheap (like 80 cents) bus to Valparaiso. it took like 10 minutes to get from one to the other. Valpo is basically a town on a mountainside with colorful houses that also sort of has a beach but not really. it's an interesting place to visit but i wouldn't want to live there. we took this kind of rickety old gondola to the top of the hill and walked down the hill through the various streets. again, a cute area but not really an ideal living situation. after Valpo, Alice and I went back to Vina for some solo beach time. unfortunately, the weather in Vina/Valpo was ridiculous that day meaning while we were in Valpo, it was really sunny, then an hour later back in Vina it was overcast/windy/cold, then an hour after we decided it was too cold at the beach the sun came out as we were getting on our bus to leave. so stupid.

but hey, it's motivation to go back there, definitely. it's so insanely cheap to go there. like, you can either get a meal at mcdonald's, or you can take the bus to Vina Del Mar. it's a great deal. also, i've heard there's this other beach south of Vina that's really cool so I may head that way some time soon or something.

I stayed at Alice's last night and now i'm here updating my blog. I plan on getting groceries today while i eagerly anticipate a phone call or e-mail from Sam Marsalli. I'm in this mentality now that i've been relaxing and enjoying my freedom for the past few days and now it's time to kick it into high gear working on getting a job again. we'll see how it goes this week. until then... hasta.