Sunday, March 1, 2009

Chi-Chi-Chi-Le-Le-Le Vi-va! Chi-le!

Returning to Chile was like coming home for the first time after first semester of freshman year--everything looks better then you remembered. The Chile part of our trip was probably the craziest. In 5 days we were in 8 cities including 2 over night bus rides. But hey...Go hard or go home, right??? So here are the top 10 reasons I 'heart' Chile...

#10-It's has penguins! As most of you know, I hate animals but there is something so great about birds that live in igloos. We didn't make it down to the real penguin colonies, but these were representing southern Chile in a huge mural in Santiago. Plus anything goes here. Melissa showing off her tagging skillz--as you can she she is quite the graffiti artist. But this is why Chile is so great--anything goes. For example, anything can be used as a bathroom for the male sex-bushes, walls of buildings, and a bench in a city park

#9-History and Nationalism. Chile has a great history and while I have read tons about it, it was fun to go to the places that impacted where Chile is today. Plus can you really be a Chilean if you have never been to La Moneda (their White House)? So I guess that makes me official--too bad my Chilean ID has expired.

#8-Inventive transportation. And I don't mean crazy buses with vibrant colors and loud ghetto music (those do exist). I am talking about gondolas and lifts, small train like things that take you straight up a mountain side. Or then there are always the stairs. Valparaiso, one of Chile's coastal cities is build right into the mountain side, so in order to get anywhere you either have to climb up step stairs, that make Mt. Hood look like a Sunday stroll, or take the ascensores (lifts) to the top. We did both and my back side is probably better for it. We took a lift to the top of the biggest hill that over looks Santiago and headed down on a Gondola. Santiago is an enormous city.


#7-Great food. As you may be able to tell food was kind of a theme on the trip. Meliss and Kevin kept trying to convince us that trying everything was part of the cultural experience. While Chile cannot compare to wonders of Argentine beef, the seafood is pretty amazing. We were not allowed to eat seafood on the mission because of the risks of getting sick, so this was a new experience. On our last day in Santiago, we went to their version of Pike's Place Market. We found this hole in the wall place b/c we were told those places had the best fish. Potential internal eruption aside, we took a chance and we were not disappointed. I had the best swordfish I have ever had in my life!! Shortly after a make out with my scaly friend below, they cut him up and cooked him for us.

#6-It has some great beaches. We went to 2 beaches one in Vina del Mar and one in Isla Negra and then we went to a black volcanic rock beach on one of the lakes. My desire to get tan outweighed common sense on several of those days and I ended up with strange tan lines and lips burned so bad they put Angelina Jolie to shame.


#5-Pablo Neruda is from Chile! After taking tons of Latin American literature classes in college, I discovered one of my favorite poets:Pablo Neruda. Not only was he an amazing writer but an influential political activist and ambassador. He is one of the most famous Chileans. Obsessing over Pablo was another theme of the trip. He has amazing collections of lots of things but one of the coolest things he collected was maps and globes! All of his houses have some kind of nautical theme and all but one have incredible views of the ocean. I brought one of his poetry books so we could have a poetry reading with him. We ate his favorite meals and his favorite restaurants and even rented an apartment named for him. It was a total Neruda love fest!


#4-Best produce in the world! If you don't believe me asked Costco--most of their produce comes from southern Chile. One of the things I miss the most about Chile is the incredible produce and its really cheap. We were there during their summer so it was the perfect time. If if would have been legal, I would have brought home a whole suitcase of plums, avocados, nectarines, and tomatoes.

#3-Mountains, Lakes, Volcanoes--o' my! I talked everyone into taking a 9 hour overnight bus ride to see the beauty of southern Chile and we were not disappointed. The region is called the lakes region because of all the lakes (we went to three). They are all surrounded by mountains and volcanoes and on a clear day you can see part of the Andes. We paddle boated around one of the bigger lakes on a wood paddle boat that looked like it was made in the 1970s. We only almost capsized once so I am pretty sure it was verily safe.


#2-Great company. What is better the going to my favorite country with my favorite people? The SoCone Cinco made a great team and we are already planning another trip! Just kidding..sort of:)

#1-My peeps live there! One of the best things we did was spend a whole day with the Familia Mera, one of the families I baptized on my mission. I spent my last Christmas in the mission with them and they are some of the greatest people. I love the Chilean people, so much that sometimes I wish was Chilean:) I forgot how warm, loving, and helpful they are. I felt like we made friends with complete strangers where ever we went.

Returning to the "homeland" (aka Chile) was a great experience. I can't wait to go back and spend more time in southern Chile with more of my peeps. We did 10 cities in 3 countries and saw all the major highlights. We made it back to the DC in one piece with all of our stuff, a "few" extra souvenirs:), sunburns, swollen feet, and exhausted after the 10 days journey, but it was worth it!

Smarties, For a complete photo log you can check out the Smart Family Shutterfly page.

2 comments:

Darcee said...

Wow, CJ! I cannot believe what you packed into 10 days! I loved your Top 10! Glad you had such fun in "the Homeland"!

Darrell said...

Chels, I finally had time to read this post. What an amazing trip. I agree that it's always the "peeps" that make the difference. Great pics!