Once Upon a Photo Story...

It will unfortunately be impossible to recount my parents´full visit. So I´ll walk you through a bunch of photos from the time.

Rendezvous Santiago



The kids had fun before the parents showed up. Tim took a few days to bring the motorcycle down from northern Chile. Tim´s father came several days later than my parents and unfortunately was pick-pocketed within hours of arriving. Santiagoan thieves are so good they are said to have silk hands.



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Marí, my Chilean mom, found the bird the same day that Tim arrived, so little Tim was the project of the holidays! He eventually flew away about 3 weeks later and having grown like crazy. He also crapped like crazy and woke me up in the morning with annoying squawks. But he was fun to have around. Us on one of many city tours - this time in front of La Moneda, the capitol building.



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It´s hard see Santiago without the Virgen. Actualy, it´s hard to see Santiago from the Virgen, although it is a perfectly placed hill. The smog was horrible and we nearly lost our way (not because of the smog, but because I´m bad with directions!) while walking down Cerro San Cristobal on our way to a tour of Neruda´s Santiago house, La Chascona.
This little guy, at the foot of the Virgen, was undoubtedly the highest dog in Santiago. And looking pretty bad.



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At some point we all piled into the truck and made a day of barbecuing at Lago Peñuelas.





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Cumplí 22 Años



My friend Gry-Mette hosted a great birthday party from her apartment´s rooftop terraza of sorts. It was mainly Scandinavians and J, Mea, Tim and I. But there were some Chileans mixed in as well. After a few hours on the roof we went out to a dance club until the wee hours. Below are Hector and Gry.





Gry and Anna. Me and Maria, a good friend from the program who I will have to visit in Denmark.


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The Beach



Mom, Dad, Mea and I then headed to our Chilean beach house at La Serena after Jamie took off. Mom found el Oceano Pacifico to be freezing!



It was wonderful to fully relax. We took a day trip into Valle Elqui to see grapes, a pisco plant, and some beautiful scenery.







And we had fun.



Unposed above, and posing for a different camera below.







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Christmas



Plaza de Armas had about 5 separate Santas with their own little sleighs for pictures with el Viejo Pascuero. This guy was trying to find a better spot!





The ´rents in central Santiago with a street performer in the background. The days leading up to Christmas meant tons of food...comida muy rica! Marí making empanadas and Mom with an apple pie.





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We opened gifts Christmas Eve, as is the Chilean tradition.



Although there were few gifts, we entertained ourselves for hours and had a very memorable holiday.



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Christmas Day meant borrowing the truck, heading up to the Andes, and getting a good tan. We made our way up to the ski areas near Santiago and then got off the beaten path to a conservation area of sorts.





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After Christmas we had a few spare days to see the city before mom and dad´s return flight. One of the most interesting excursions was El Cementerio General. We spent hours making our way in and out of mausoleum lined streets.



It was common to have have mausoleums stacked 12 high or so, but there was one 10-story building. It held thousands of coffins and was unlike anything we had ever seen before.





There was also a huge monument at Salvador Allende´s grave, only outdone by the tribute to those 3,000 or so who disappeared during Pinochet´s rule.
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I couldn´t have asked for a better holiday and start to my vacations. It was fantastic to have the whole family together for a few days.
Almost immediately after all the parents took off, Mea, Tim, and I headed south. There are more pictures below on previous posts, too.