How I spent my last month in Viña with family and "family"

Well everybody, this is an attempt to memorize and sumarize my last month in Viña del Mar.

After Buenos Aires, my parents came to visit me. When Jennifer's parents visited earlier that month I could really feel how much I had been missing my own and the feeling just grew and grew day by day. So when the day finally arrived I was so excited to see them again. They only had one whole day in Santiago before coming to Valparaíso, so I had created a walking tour (a very long one) with all the must-see places and restaurants in my opinion. I thought that there was no way that they would be able to do everything on the list, but it turned out that they DID. They loved it so if anybody is interested, just let me know and I can send it to you. Here you can see the map I drew in Paint (hence the badly drawn numbers and route). 

Santiago walking tour

The day my parents arrived in Valparaíso, I went to look for them at their hotel which was on a square. I was heading right towards the hotel when suddenly on the square in the middle of the crowd of tourists, I saw my mom's face! Surprise! It was weird and great to see them again after 5 months! I was only missing my younger brother Niels who had just finished one month's work at Isle of Skye at a hostel.

The next couple days I had a great time with my parents even though the weather wasn't perfect. After visiting Pablo Neruda's house, the rain ideally stopped. The sun came out and the sky was so blue that we got a spectacular view from Paseo 21 de Mayo. And for the first time I took a lift to one of the hills. Every time I wanted to go they had been closed, so I was just as excited as my parents about taking the lift. 

Mom and dad on the lift

Me and mom on horseback

After having dinner at my apartment with the roomies, we all went out for drinks at our favorite bar, 3er Tiempo, and had the (in)famous drink Terremoto. The next day we went horseback riding in Ritoque as I had done earlier in the year with Thibault and Julie. My mom had not shown the biggest enthusiasm about going, but she didn't say anything until the night before where she actually told me that she was afraid of horses. But after 10 minutes on the horse she yelled to me "I love this!" so I took that as a stamp of approval.  
They both enjoyed the 3 hour horseback ride on the beach with lovely sunny weather and the day ended with great empanadas in Concon. Sadly, time was running out and my parents were off to San Pedro de Atacama and later Buenos Aires.

Nicolas jumping in the pool

The weather wasn't perfect during their visit, but every week it seemed to improve. The first weekend I really felt that the summer had arrived was in Los Andes where Julie and I visited our Chilean friend, Nicolas. Somehow we (mostly Julie) had understood his invitation as being for just one day so we hadn't brought anything more than money and water. We quickly realized that we had been invited spend the WHOLE weekend! We stayed at his parents' house who were the MOST welcoming people ever! We went to their beautiful summer cottage with a pool and view of the mountains. There we had a barbecue and a party. The day after, Nicolas' parents took us eating at a local restaurant (where I finally tried Chica - Chilean drink of fermented fruit) and we saw real Chilean rodeo. I was rooting for the cow by the way! 

Rodeo Chilean style - go cow go!!!

As the semester was coming to an end, the exams were getting closer. They all went well; I had dreaded especially one where Julie and I had a presentation in Spanish in front a classroom full of Chileans. As if that wasn't giving us enough nerves already, a Chilean girl was laughing and mocking us during our presentation! But as they say: "The one who laughs last laughs longest" for a week later we received our grade, and as the only ones in the course we got the top grade - so in your face, random Chilean girl! hahaha :D

Julie opening her birthday present from me at the surprise party

All this time, since the trip to Buenos Aires, I had been planning a surprise party for Julie and Thibault. Her birthday was on the 21st of November and his on the 3rd of December. I had been organizing it through Facebook and got Paula and Nick to come the apartment and prepare everything, while Jennifer and I had convinced the two to go out for sushi. I was so nervous the whole day and especially during dinner that ended too early so suddenly Jennifer and I had to stall time. We started talking about getting ice cream even though it was a cold night. On the way home Jennifer and I, in desperate try to stall time, were rambling and walking very slowly. I feared that Thibault had start to suspect because he started speeding up and was looking at me funny. But they had NO clue! When they opened the door they were so surprised - Thibault's initial reaction was backing out off the door saying "But it's not my birthday yet!"
 

Empanadas on the beach in Reñaca

But then his birthday did arrive - and must I say: He was treated like a king! Julie had been making brunch for him and what a feast: homemade buns, Nutella, French toast, fresh pressed orange juice, scrambled eggs, and bacon, LOTS of bacon. Later that day we went to have empanadas on the beach in Reñaca and a quick swim since the waves were huge that day. 
 








 

And then my last week in Viña had begun. I had planned a going away party and Nick came a few days earlier to help out, be great company and enjoy the beach. The day before my party, Thibault, Nick and I did a good hike all the way to the top of Valparaíso where the view was breathtaking.

At the top of the city

That day I realized how much I love that city! It's so exciting, beautiful and different from any city I have ever visited. Now I regret not living there for the whole semester. I got sad that day because it was the last time I'd go to Valpo - but I'll be back in the future!
Speaking of sad - my going away party and the day after packing up my room was too sad. The party went well, but at the end of the night when the alcohol intake had peaked, people started getting teary-eyed including myself - outside of the bar Journal I was crying so much that Nick had to carry me to a taxi. After finish packing all my bags, the waterworks started again when I had to say "good-bye" to Julie, Thibault and Jennifer. I know I'm going to see Julie and Thibault again in Brazil, but it was still difficult. 

Nick and I headed back to Santiago where we had sushi, daiquiris and a good chat before me leaving for La Paz at 4.30 am the next day. 

And so my trip around South America had begun. I'll write about that in my next blog!
Until the next one
XX
Mette