When I got back from San Pedro, I had gotten a cold thanks to the crazy weather (so hot during the day and so cold at night...deserts), so I spent a lot of this week sleeping and reading. But I did get to have some fun at a cooking class with Alan! We learned how to make some traditional Mapuche (indigenous Chilean people) food that I have no idea how to spell, but it was really good. Essentially little balls of pureed, cooked beans of different varieties. And the class was taught by a Mapuche woman, and she told us a lot about her language and culture throughout the class. I've never taken a cooking class, so it was a fun experience. We even got to wear aprons! So official. I'm basically a chef now.
 |
| Alan the chef |
I spent this week doing a lot of planning for future trips
coming up as well. Right now, I’m working on planning a trip to Machu Picchu
and Patagonia, which are my 2 big trips that I have to cross off my bucket list
while I’m here. I’m so excited to actually make these trips that I’ve always
dreamed about come to life! Looking at more short term, a few of us are heading to Santiago this weekend
for a 2 nights to do some Santiago touristy things and also visit the Cajon del
Maipo, which is a valley close to Santiago with vineyards, canyons, rivers, and
lots of green space for things like rafting, ziplining and horseback
riding. It will be great to
explore some adventurous nature like that! While we were in Starbucks, in the
middle of booking our hostel for the trip, a huge earthquake began and everyone
started frantically rushing to get out of the building. This earthquake was
much more intense than the other one, and the whole world was violently
shaking. On the Richter scale, it was marked as a 6.6, which is pretty big. There
was no major structural damage to any buildings, but there were plenty of power
outages (our apartment included) and broken streetlights. I’m so glad that we
were all together when it happened though because I was pretty shaken up (pun
intended) after it. We were all a little freaked out, since it was the first
really big and actually concerning earthquake for all of us. So we went out for
pizza to calm our nerves. It totally worked. I knew coming here that Chile was
one of the most seismically active countries in the world, but it’s so strange
because there is absolutely no warning or prediction when it comes to
earthquakes, and they can happen anywhere at anytime. It’s kind of a scary
concept, but one for which the country is well-prepared. So no worries :)
 |
| Such a shame that this beautiful piece of artwork in our apartment was knocked off the wall by the earthquake |
 |
| Not the collection!! |
 |
| It's kind of hard to see, but the grocery store was in shambles after everything fell of the shelves |
Today we went on a long walk along the coast up to Reñaca
and Con-Con, which are beach towns just to the north of Viña. Along the way we found Lobos del Mar
(Sea Lions) sunbathing on rocks and plenty of beautiful views of Pacific waves
crashing against the jagged rocky coastline, and ended up at the dunes in
Con-Con, which are so impressive to me every time. It looks like the desert
right next to the sea. And just a bit inland, there is a mountain range called
Cordillera de la Costa. Being surrounded by so many natural wonders makes me so
happy. And we watched the sunset from the beach on our way home, which is just
always so peaceful and a perfect end to any day. We were especially grateful
for the warm sunny weather that we had today because in the past week, we haven’t
seen the sun thanks to constant fog and rain. It was quite the Sunday! And ice cream with Cristian and Rodolfo was not a bad way to end the evening :)
 |
| All those blobs are the sea lions! |
There's no such thing as a slow week here, because there is always so much to see and do! I encounter something new every day and I'm so grateful for all of the experiences that make up my unbelievable life here. I can't wait to see what next week brings <3
Besos xox
No comments:
Post a Comment