The Papa Lemp in The Chile

About two weeks ago on octubre 25th, I woke up early, cleaned my room, and drove to the airport with my Chilean mom. Why? Because my dad had just arrived in SANTIAGO! And by just arrived, I mean we were 20 minutes late to pick him up at the airport (there was a huge taco, or traffic jam). He stayed for just about a week, and it was awesome! During the weekdays, we explored Santiago. Tuesday we met my friend Charlotte in Manuel Montt (we got our haircut, horribly I might add, and he wandered around and got a cerveza chilena). We went home for an almuerzo and then for dinner we went out a a Peruvian restaurant in Patio Bellavista downtown.  Now I don't know about my Dad, but Peruvian food grandly trumps Chilean food.  It was all fresh seafood and fish, and we ate like a family-stlye meal with everyone eating off everyone's plate. 

On Wednesday we went to my classes where my Dad heard me give a presentation in Spanish (he could not understand anything). Since I had a free day on Thursday, we spent it at Santa Lucia, this amazing open-market place with cheap stones and silver and copper from Chile (hello Christmas gifts...) and then got lunch at Patio Bellavista at the MosaiCafe. Friday was more classes for me and my Dad recovering from too much "Toma Bill, cerveza, vino, y un traigo..." or in other words, from my Chilean family encouraging him to try all the different types of alcohol in Chile.  That night we got dinner with Charlotte and Becca at this phenominal Thai restaurant in Manuel Montt we stumbled upon with help from our Chilean friend who we met at Los Leones from some cupcakes.

Spice lever 4 of 5...Hot!!

Now the weekend was where it really got busy. Saturday we work up and drove to the coast with my Chilean parents for a day trip. We started in Vina del Mar, and driving past all the vineyards was just beautiful, just rows and rows of grape plants and green pastures. We had lunch at a restaurant basically on the beach: hello second round of seafood! We were served things I didn't even know how to sya in English, let alone learn them for the first time in Spanish! I think along the list was mussels, oyesters, clams, prawns, shrimp, anf of course fish. All fresh and all served Chilean style (aka my mom putting on loads of lemon juice and salt). We walked to this pier over the Pacific Ocean and what did we see but wild sea lions, or lobos marinos! There were four of them, all celebrities because everyone was going crazy and taking a ton of pictures. It was one of the most gorgeous days too.

Absolutely huge in person

After lunch we walked around the beach with our shoes off and got a little too wet from the high tide. The water was freezing cold because it is the beginning of spring here and honestly, the Pacific Ocean is always a little cold. Next was Valparaiso! I've been here twice before; once with my Chilean parents and my sister Cote and then second time with the gringos our first month here. But this was so much different! Since it is springtime here, the weather was nicer, the view was clearer, and it wasn't raining! Vina del Mar is known as the beach town on the coast, and for vino obviously.

Along the coast

But Valparaiso is known as the port of Chile! We drove here and stopped at everything there was to see: the twisted roads going up, the steep slope it takes to get there, all the crazy-colored houses, the governmental building where Congress stands, and of course, the main port of the town. It smelled of fish and there were stray dogs everywhere. We had spent about 8 hours, it felt like, driving around and stopping and eating. It was exhausting. We left Valparaiso and headed home for a long siesta.

'The old and the new' by my father, the artist

Sunday was a whole new story. We attempted to go to La Festival de Cerveza, or Chile's Oktuberfest.  However, everyone in Santiago had the same idea! The line was crazy long and so we skipped the beer and decided to go to a little pueblito for lunch! This time it was my Chilean parents and my brother Sergio who lives in Italy year round. 

Someone was still recovering from last night...

The rest of the day was lazy as we spent it looking around the town: there were a ton of artesian shops with pots and pans and hots and jewelry. We spent another day of lounging around and came home. I was all ready to go to bed but my Dad insisted that we go out! So we went to Becca's house and partied with the Chileans and some gringas with the classic choice of pisco. Monday he left at 8 pm so we had the whole day with the family. We had a big breakfast and a big lunch and then we walked around the neighborhood for a little. The best part: we found a plaza de juegos or a playground to swing on! The weather was so nice and it was sunny and there were kids playing around us. It was so relaxing; I have to get back there soon! 

I love the man purse

Dropping Papa Lemp off at the airport was hard, I must say, BUT he made a good point: I've been through 10 weeks here and now I only have 6 more to go! Well now it's 5 weeks but I think the point was proven.