Chillin' in Chile

Chile!!!

Our friend Claire, whom we know from Scotland (who was Matt's flatmate in Scotland for a year) moved to Santiago, Chile 2.5 years ago. She wanted to learn Spanish (which she is know fluent, amongst her other languages, we say with jealousy!) and work for and start an NGO. She was completely successful and we're so happy for her. Now, she's ready for the next step in life, which means leaving Chile. So we wanted to visit Chile 'Claire style' before she left. We used our frequent flier miles for a trip to Santiago in November. And the icing on the cake was the fact that our friend Linda (whom we also know from Scotland, who nows lives in London) was also going to be visiting!

We were surprised how developed Chile was overall. Not pit toliets, modern plumbing, good roads, good signs, drinkable water. It felt much more European/Spanish and even a bit more American than we expected.

We spent a day or 2 in Santiago. It's a modern city with nice markets, a financial district, historic areas, cute shops and interesting eats (such as Peruvian). You can see the Andes mountain from Claire's flat! It's amazing! A huge monument of Mother Mary overlooks the city atop a big hill. We visited the hill during some sort of religious festival where people played music and danced at the feet of Mary--very interesting! Pablo Neruda also has a house in Santiago, we didn't tour it but visited the outside. Claire translated his great poetry for us and we enjoyed the 'graffiti' paintings.

We spent most of our time outside the city. We flew into the southern Chilean town of Valdivia. It was kind of dumpy with a bit of charm. The boardwalk had sea lions so close you could smell their disgusting burps! Most of the charm was found just outside the city with great views of the ocean and our little cabin (cabana, with an enyeah) on the hill up from the sea. There was also a German brewery called Kuntsmann which had great beer. And a wonderful Argentinian steak place! I am not even a big meat eater, but this BBQed steak was delicious!

We rented a car and drove to Northern Patagonia which is Chile's lake district. It's a beautiful area of lakes and volcanoes. We spent an afternoon in these amazing hot springs! They constructed them very simply with a bit of a modern feel. No electricity at all. Just wood beams and flat rocks to pool the water. It actually looked Japanese. We spent one night in Pucon which is a touristy town that could be in Colorado not Chile. We had nice walks to a beach and on a farm since Claire found a great cabana on a farm! The cabin sat on a big farm with cute sheep and views of 3 volcanoes! We only saw the bottom of one because the weather was pretty rainy and chilly--the landscape was amazing nonetheless!

Although it was so wonderful to be in a new country, the best part was being with friends! On the first night in Santiago, I got a job offer over email! Being with friends and finally having some employment relief was more than I ever could've asked for! Celebrating with another bottle for Chilean wine was a perfect way to celebrate. We can't believe our next reunion will be our wedding!!!