Alcazar Vina del Mar

... mis besos.<br><br>Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.<br><br><br>Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.<br><br>Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.<br><br><br>Porque en noches como esta la tuve entre mis brazos,<br><br>mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.<br><br><br>Aunque este sea el ultimo dolor que ella me causa,<br><br>y estos sean los ultimos versos que yo le escribo.<br>

My flight finally arrived in Chile this morning around 8:15 AM. I went with a few other students I had met on the flight through Customs and on to find our taxi van which took us to our host families' homes. Flying into Santiago was so beautiful. I was able to watch the sunrise through the window and as we approached Chile, the Andes mountains could easily be seen through the clouds. Some of the mountain tops were covered in snow ...

... larger paparazzi flurries....let's say that was Mr. VP. <br><br>Around 9am we felt bad nodding off in front of these people and headed out to get some breakfast and explore Vina del Mar. It's chilly and foggy, but this seems like with the right weather it would be an adorable beach town. There are various castles throughout the town and some pretty impressive houses on hillsides. We headed to the Museo de Fonck that we had heard has a cool Easter Island display ...

... on the way back I can walk out on a pista which is a small dock over the ocean, here I can stretch above the blue waves crashing into rocks. Once Ryan and I ran up the pier and we saw sea lions! They were playing with and sleeping on a bouy in the water. Here they are called Lobos del Mar (wolves of the sea). They actually play in the water and eat a lot near the beach closest to me. I really enjoy ...

... side, being awake meant that I saw some nice scenery around Los Vilos. It was a little bit overcast and hazy today, with the waves pounding the rough shoreline, and reminded me a lot of some pictures I took on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, such as this: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/p wong/canaries-2007/1199575320/dsc00077. jpg/tpod.html I was VERY glad that I packed those sandwiches earlier, because the bus made no real stops for meals. We ...

... very strange and not really like Christmas at all. I mean, we were on the beach in boiling hot sunshine, getting a tan. The most you would get on the beach at home is a chill and cold toes! Early in the evening we decided to head down to the lake for our barbecue. (Barbecues are not allowed on the beach for some reason). We set up the barbecue and cracked open the wine and then we enjoyed our first ever Christmas feast from a barbecue. It was different but fun all the same. By the ...

... are much more unique and interesting to see than the sketchy dirty area around the bus terminal that Roxy and I were in on Friday.  Turns out Valpo is also made up of 48 different hills (neighbourhoods) that also make up the core of residential living. One hill to the next may also include changes in dialect and slang from another hill. We parked and walked around two of the nicest and richest areas in Valpo: Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre. The area is ...

I spent this last weekend, three weekends in a row now, outside of Santiago in Valparaiso. It's 30 mins or an hour north of the place where I was for Fiestas Patrias on the coast. I think I've got a thing for the ocean. Valparaiso is the obligatory weekend trip that probably everyone in my program has already taken, and for good reason. The city itself is built on this massive slope on a point, all life headed towards the ocean. The vast majority of houses are painted ...

... extends and you go from a stationary position to rocketing up the hill. For skiers this is much easier because you are already facing in the direction of travel, and as we learned it is a little trickier on a snowboard where the bar is sort of wrapped around your leg. After a full day of skiing and taking in the beautiful views of the Andes we returned to our shuttle which took us back to the rental shop in Santiago. Upon ...

... for me with her family and some friends. After spending as little as two months somewhere, it's amazing how much it can feel like home. The hardest part was leaving my family... as much as "mom" could annoy me with her ridiculousness, she was really like a mom to me. I will be sending her some peanut butter as soon as I get home- it's her favorite, and strangely enough, it's somewhat rare in Chile. So as I moved on to Santiago, I was a ...