Vineyards, Valparaiso, and more!

Another busy week in my life here! Between my first official day of work at the office, salsa lessons, sushi, vineyard tours, exploring Valpo, dancing La Cueca, and just taking in every amazing moment of my life, it has been another unforgettable week! I hope I can somehow express to you all just how unbelievable my experiences here have been.

This week was my first official week of work and it has been great so far! I'm doing mostly marketing research for them right now, looking for adventure travel companies that send people on vacations to do the kinds of things that AndesTrek offers. I've also been trying to help them fix up their website, and helping with the English translations. We did get to go out and do a hike one day to go do some research into a tour that will be in mid-August, to La Campana. It was really nice to be out in the mountains, wandering in the woods with all my coworkers. I learned a lot about the history of the area, specifically how Charles Darwin found a lot of species there during one of his trips on the HMS Beagle, and also learned a lot about the different plants and animals species, and also the climate of that area. And it was a lovely day for a walk in the woods!

My desk!

Fox skull...

Also for work, this weekend, one of the groups that is a group of study abroad students from the University of North Carolina Wilmington hosted a farewell potluck and included everyone that works at AndesTrek, since they work very closely with each other planning excursions and making their trip as amazing as possible. It was such a sweet night, and it was great to see that AndesTrek really made the trip special for this group and gave them the trip of a lifetime. It showed me that AndesTrek treats all of their customers like friends, and it made me really happy to be working for a company that can have such an impact on people like that. I can't wait to see what other kinds of things I get to be involved with with this company!

The view from the rooftop as the potluck was coming to a close, perfect ending to a great experience for the group

On Tuesday we went out to a local bar that has salsa lessons on Tuesday nights. It was so fun to be out on the dance floor, despite the fact that I am pretty clumsy when it comes to dancing, I love to learn and try new things. And fortunately, all the Chilean men that were there were very talented and patient, so I had a lot of fun learning with them. It was such a fun crowd that came out, and even though we were definitely the youngest and the least experienced, I had a blast with everyone. Me and the women who were about 2 generations older than me had a good laugh while they were trying to desperately teach me to move my hips.  They would grab me by my waist and make me pop my hip to the beat. I had thought I was...haha. But it was so much fun and made me really miss dancing like that; Hopefully we can make it there again next Tuesday!

Wednesday the girls went out to a restaurant/bar near our apartment called Hollywood, which has a 'Ladies Night' on Wednesdays, and gives ladies a free mojito and free sushi. Sounds sketchy, but it was actually so delicious. I've been craving sushi, and this was the perfect thing. They even had a roll where the outside of it was a chicken tender instead of rice. Yep. So weird but so good. I think I'll have to go back!

One of the highlights (of many!) of this week was definitely our trip to Viña Mar, a vineyard in the CasaBlanca Valley (how swanky does that sound??) This was my first trip to a vineyard ever, so I feel like going to one as wonderful as this in Chile will spoil me for any vineyards anywhere else. It was such a perfect landscape, surrounded by mountains on all side. And the place was so elegant, we felt like we were in a movie the whole time we were on the grounds. Getting there was no so glamorous, and we may or may not have had to hitchhike a bit to get there (sorry Mom and Dad! He was nice I promise!), but once we got to the vineyard, it felt like we became VIPs. Here's some pictures of our amazing day.

It's winter, so the grapes haven't grown in yet, but if it's this pretty when everything is bare, I can just imagine how beautiful it will be in a few months when the grapes are full grown

The most beautiful vineyard

My idea of a great afternoon

This was our view from our balcony terrace where we had a delicious lunch

Got to love a sparkling Rosé and a view like this

Obligatory hitchhiking selfie in the cab of a  cargo truck

Our sweet savior that picked us up from the highway after we had a bit of trouble with our bus dropping us off in the wrong place

Saturday after sleeping late, going on a nice long run, and going to the AndesTrek/UNCW potluck, we went out for chorillanas at a restaurant close to our apartment called Tercer Tiempo. A chorillana is a chilean dish of french fries, topped with sauteed onions, meat (usually chorizo, sausage, beef, or pork, or a combination of any of the above) and then a few fried eggs. It is the best combination of food ever. It's just missing cheese and then it would be too good to even handle. The picture doesn't do it justice at all, but here's one. PS it's HUGE, and this one fed 6 of us for dinner...

Today we went to Valpo for the day, and it was an amazing day. We took a funicular up to the top of Cerro Alegre and just did some wandering around, peeking in adorable stores and restaurants, admiring the views of the water and of the hodge podge of homes all around us. We kept our wandering going and ended up in Cerro Concepcion, and took another funicular up, and then just kept walking up, all the way to Calle Alemania at the top of the hill. We were just kind of strolling along, headed vaguely towards Pablo Neruda's house, and happened upon my boss at AndesTrek and her father, just as they were heading to a restaurant/bar where there's a band and dancing and drinks. They invited us along and it sounded ideal to us, so we followed them across the street, down a small alley, through a gate that looked like it led to someone's backyard, and then through a narrow yard on a hill through 2 more small gates and ended up at an outdoor bar with a corrugated metal roof, filled with people and music. It was absolutely perfect. Fran introduced us to all of her friends (who seemed like pretty much everyone in the whole place) and ordered us a pitcher of Terremoto (a wine/pineapple ice cream drink) and we took a seat with everyone while the band played and everyone talked and laughed. We had somehow stumbled upon the most Chilean and fun place that we could have never even imagined, and it was exactly what we never knew we were missing out on. As the night went on, the band started to play songs that are meant for dancing the traditional Chilean dance of Cueca, which involves a lot of spinning and everyone waves handkerchiefs while they dance. I tried my hand at it, but was mostly just making it up as I went along, which no one minded at all. It was a wonderful night that we serendipitously happened upon, and it could not have been a more perfect end to this week.

It makes my heart so happy to see people building dog houses for the street dogs

View from lunch, it was very difficult to focus on eating with that in front of me

Old prison converted to Cultural Center and park. Only in Valparaiso..

Yet another charming mural

The restaurant/bar we ended up at with my boss and all her friends. Doesn't that just look like fun??

View from just outside the bar, overlooking Viña.

Dancing La Cueca! Such a happy dance.

This week was unreal and threw so many opportunities and experiences at me. Every day here I fall in love with Chile more and more. I can't wait to see what next week has in store for me!

Besos! xox