Day Trippin´

Jamie, Meaghan and I quickly set out for Valparaiso, a port city almost due west of Santiago. It was my first time to the city and we found it deserted due to national elections, which are interestingly held on Sunday - I don´t have a reason for that being interesting, but it is for me.

Valparaiso is built into very large hills, thus making it known for it´s funinculars, or boxes that take you up the hills.



We found a great hostel, one of Pablo Neruda´s houses (which was of course closed due to elections), and simply walked a lot around the city. It also houses the Congress, which Pinochet moved out of Santiago so that he could essentially have full control of the capital. The Congress building is on a spot where Pinochet had a childhood home.



J and Mea looking out of hostel room. Jamie hiding in the wall. We kind of went crazy with the camera!








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Some sights around Valpo.







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Early the following day we headed south on the coast to Isla Negra, which is mainly known for having another Pablo Neruda house, the one at which he mainly lived. Although technically closed, we got a private tour around the grounds thanks to some workers. We didn´t get to go inside the house, but it was still great. We then hung out on the beach before catching other buses back toward Santiago.



Neruda´s Isla Negra house. He collected crazy amounts of things. About 1/3 of the house was simply storage space for collectibles.



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Jamie inspecting Neruda´s infamous nariz. Some seaweed. And some sisters.





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Also on the day we found out that the elections were quite inconclusive. No single candidate won 50% or more of the vote, so a run-off election is slotted for January 15. Bachelet, the leading lady since day 1, had about 45% of the vote with her socialist party, followed by Piñera, a conservative, with about 25%. That seems like the run-off will be an obvious win for Bachelet, but the support from the other conservative Lavín will presumably go Piñera, and perhaps the 5% or so from Hirsch, a green candidate for most practical purposes, will go to Bachelet. It´ll be interesting.

Oh yeah, but the girls and I finished the day at Pomaire, a tiny town renowned for its pottery goods. It was cool and we got some gifts before catching a crazily packed bus back to Santiago. The 60 or so kilometers took several hours.

How the Cookie Crumbled

Sorry for the long absence. In my defense, it is summer here - meaning that it´s light out until very late, people are partying, family is visiting, etc. There just isn´t time to update a blog.

School ended well. No huge news. A lot of people took off the day after classes. However in my case, my sister Jamie arrived the following day from D.C. and tour-guide-extraordinaire swung into action. Unfortunately for Jamie, she experienced the same Santiago city tour/walk about 4 times. My skills are limited, resulting in very similar monologues about Allende, Pinochet, Neruda, Mapuches, etc.



Me and the Mexicans. And Scott and Sana.


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We hung out for a long time before heading out to other bars. And the guys having fun.


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My other sister Meaghan removed herself from the otherwise permanent position of clinging to her boyfriend Tim´s ass as they meander through the Americas on their motorcycle and took a 30 + hour bus ride from northern Chile down to Santiago.

Las Últimas Noticias

Álvaro Durán

Oh...I love journalism.

The exposé en Las Últimas Noticias was a little humbling...and hillarious. I simply thought that the article from last week´s interview wasn´t gonna make it to the press because:
A) I didn´t think 2 singing gringos were that news-worthy
B) Mauricio, the journalist, said it would be out by the weekend
C) Again, a few college students getting free rides on buses by serenading the awe-stricken passengers with folksy classics from years gone by --- it´s just not worth putting on the third page of what is one of Santiago´s largest daily newspapers!

You can see how much what I think matters.

Here´s what the article says. Danielle is interesting and had a legitimate reason for singing on micros - she was researching a school paper. Kit, on the other hand, just gets on the micros to say he´s from rural America, doesn´t take too well to the city life, and speaks poor español.

In one part of the article it has me quoted as saying people are "mucho amable," which I did not say. That´s like saying, "Those people were LOTS OF FRIENDLY AND NICE." I read the article first online, where it lacks the italics that are in the printed version, which I like to think give it a comical sense! I admit that Danielle speaks better than me, quite a bit actually, but I did not say mucho amable. I´m sure I said something like, "La gente en las micros es muy amable."

Oh, and 2 people recognized me before I had even seen the article. That was a surprise to say the least!
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Other than an article in the newspaper...I´ve been studying: wrote a 6 page paper over the weekend, took an exam this morning, have another tomorrow, and have 2 more papers to pump out. It´s exam week!

And then the family arrives. Jamie and the ´rents are flying in, but Meaghan and her boyfriend Tim arrive fashionably on their motorcycle. They left the same week as me in August from Utah . They´ve cruised through all of Central America and have had to zoom through the northwestern section of South America to make it down here to Santiago in time. They´re LOTS OF amazing! www.viajerosdelmundo.blogspot.com