Valparaiso

Friday, in 80 degree weather, Rosa, Maria Alicia and I set out by bus to Maria Alicia's house in Valparaiso. It was cloudy and cold when we got there, but Valparaiso is still a pretty cool place. It's built on 45 hills and one flat area in the middle. It was the most important Pacific port until the Panama Canal opened but even still it's bustling. The houses are built on the hills and many were made from metal stripped from old ships. The houses are painted in bright colors: pink, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue. It's quite charming even if some of the houses are rusting.

It seems like more than anything, we walked. I bought a new pair of boots on Friday night and they were very comfortable (also warm, thank God). Saturday we went to La Sebastiana, the house of Pablo Neruda. We had to take an ascensor to get there. Ascensores are something like elevators that don't go straight up. Usually a small box fitting 6 or so people, a roof, and windows, they cost about 60 cents for a trip. While I was in Valparaiso, an ascensor caught on fire and destroyed the car, the building at the base of the hill, and the homes of a few people.

Saturday we also had lunch at a typical seafood place and walked around the port area, too. In the afternoon we went shopping (overall during the weekend I bought 7 sweaters, a pair of boots, and two pairs of wool socks for about 115 dollars). Saturday night I met up with other people from the program; Jack, Emily, and Sara. We went out with a Chilean and then spent the night in the apartment of the director of Jack's and Emily's school. Rosa and Maria Alicia didn't want me to return back to the house alone at night.

Sunday we went to the zoo. I wanted to see the condor. I was a little disappointed that the condor at the zoo was small. I was hoping to see a bird with a 20 foot wingspan. Condors have ugly faces, but you have to admit that they have a majestic presence just by their size. At the zoo there was a 59 year old elephant rescued from a circus in Argentina. For years she was chained up and could only get exercise by rocking herself back and forth. To this day, that's all she does... just rocks and rocks. It was one of the saddest things I've seen.

Sunday night we had tea with Rosa's brother, who's a professor in Santiago during the week and returns home to Valparaiso on the weekends. He lives with his wife and daughter in a beautiful apartment in the city just north of Valparaiso, Viña del Mar. Monday we had lunch with Rosa's aunt and uncle and some other family members before returning home Monday night.

Maria Alicia has offered me the keys to the house anytime I want to return. I'm so lucky to be friends with such generous and kind people in Chile!