Easter weekend family vacation

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     So this weekend, as you may have read, Jess and I spent our Easter with a terrific Chilean family visiting the cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. We got our housing in order, (I was moving into our new apt on Sunday night so Nelly came to pick up my bags on Thursday evening; Jess dropped her stuff off at our friend Amy's apartment) grabbed our bags, and were off on the metro. Until, we got lost. Why on EARTH the subway would decide to just skip right past our stop I will never understand. Anyway, Sandra's husband came to pick us up and we hung out at their place for a little while while they got the car all packed. 

     Sandra is the woman we met on our tour in Patagonia and had dinner with last Saturday. The drive took about 3ish hours, and was filled with English, Spanish, and of course, music. Juan Eduardo, Sandra's husband, LOVES English music, American and British, and one of his favorite activities is to ask us if we know the song, the singer, or the band. Most often, we do not, and he goes, "I can't believe it!" His other catchphrases include, "I understand you perfectly" "Chicas, vamos" and "Take it easy, man".  He is hilarious. We chatted with Lia more about her time in Nueva Zelanda and about 5 minutes into the car ride, Vale was asleep! Belén didn't come with us because she was spending the weekend surfing with her boyfriend and some other friends in Pichilemu. We arrived in Valparaíso around 11pm, took some beautiful pictures out their window of the bay 

and before we had the chance to say ok, time for bed, Juan Eduardo had set up a picoteo for us all for dinner. 

     Since we hadn't eaten anything all night, this was "dinner." A picoteo is a wonderful tradition that Lia whispered to us that not many Chileans follow, but her dad just loves. And it was so clear that he did; he set out chips and dip and vegetables and more dip and salsas and nuts and crackers. It was maybe not the healthiest thing in the world (especially since I can't eat the raw veggies) but delicious nonetheless, and surprisingly filling. It's basically appetizers, but as simple as possible- no cooking, no meat really, and you just sort of graze and chat until everything's gone. By then it was like 1am and we finally dropped into bed exhausted.

     The next morning, Sandra sent us up to the roof with Valeria while she and Juan Eduardo made plans for the day. It was a gorgeous view from up there, and even the panorama mode on my camera couldn't record all 360 degrees of the beautiful houses. Every one is painted a different color, vibrant and stacked together in messy lines on the hillsides. 
It was hard to stop taking pictures, but it was time to leave on our first adventure, so we were more than happy to return back downstairs. When Sandra was at university, she lived and studied in Valpo(the nickname of Valparaíso). She knew all the ins and outs of the town, and the first stop on our tour today was the famous ascensor, or elevator, of Valpo. It's a small trolley/cable car that ascends one of the steeper hills. It cost about 500 pesos a person and was MUCH faster than trying to walk up there, since all the streets are more like serpentine lanes which people happen to drive straight down the middle of. When we reached the top, we entered a beautiful fería, an artisan craft fair where people sell handmade goods. It was heavenly, and so hard not to buy everything, but Sandra whispered in our ear that it was all very expensive so we controlled ourselves as best we could. She told us we would visit another cheaper one later at the port. 

     Next, we stopped for a tea break, or as Sandra taught us it was called in Spanish, a tentenpie, a small meal to stay on your feet a little longer. Ten pie means to remain standing in Spanish! We stopped at a lovely little café/restaurant, and Jess and I were at first confused because we thought we were having a real lunch, but Juan Eduardo wasn't with us. Then we realized everyone was just getting a cup of tea before the walk back home. Side note: when we arrived at the apartment, Sandra told me not to drink the tap water because it was turbida (murky, cloudy, unclean). I was devastated. A girl who hates to pay for bottled water, stuck in an apartment where there was no potable tap water?? I was seriously worried for the rest of the trip because three days was a long time to only drink bottles of water. What if I was thirsty at night in the apartment?? I was also nervous because I didn't want to be a hassle for the family; I just don't drink anything else. Offering me soda is not offering me a choice- I just hate it. Thus, when everyone else was enjoying a coffee, I ordered tea just to have the water to drink. (By the way it was boiling hot, not as thirst-quenching as you might think). When we got home for lunch, I asked if I could go buy a water bottle somewhere, and they looked shocked and then explained that Sandra had meant just for now the water was cloudy, because they hadn't been in the apartment in a long time and hadn't used the pipes. Crisis averted! Sandra made everyone some kind of soft, white fish for lunch, and delicious sautéed vegetables.

     Afterward, we girls again left to go sightseeing and shopping, as Juan Eduardo wasn't feeling very well. Sandra took us past her college and the city's central plaza to the shipping port, or puerto. There we delightfully discovered thousands of beautifully, carefully crafted items for sale. I hunted and hunted, and finally found my most sought-after souvenir, a key holder I saw in Sandra's apartment. It may seem lame but I LOVE it :) We came back from the port to have dinner (lunch leftovers) with Sandra's relatives from Viña del Mar, the neighboring city. Her brother, his son, and her mom all came over for a visit. They were so nice! Her brother's name was ___ and his son was Cristian. Her mom was the cutest little old lady, and she just smiled the whole night. This was one of my favorite moments: (pic of lia and grandma). Before dinner, some of us took a paseo around the upper roads of the town. We walked past beautiful houses, restaurants, and hotels, before stopping for a drink at this restaurant/bar. It was a lovely building and the view was great, especially as night fell. The cats were adorable too, strolling around under our chairs, climbing on our legs to be petted. They were cute all the way up until one decided it would rather attack my hands than simply be petted. I am very allergic to cats, and since I've never been scratched by one before, I never realized the extent of my allergies. This was the result of our innocent pre-dinner cocktail:

. Oops! Don't worry Mom and Dad; I'm fine. I "hand-san"-ed my hands immediately, iced them when we got home, and took Benadryl. No lasting damage, though I will have a hard time finding any cats quite as cute anymore... haha. We had another picoteo when we got back to the apartment, and talked for a long time with Sandra's brother about languages and learning Spanish and teaching English and so on. Tonight was the night we discovered ramitas. Juan Eduardo poured them into the tray on the table, and after one bite, we were gone. They're like tiny, miniature, slender breadsticks, but just crispy, and super-salty. But the powdery kind of salt, not the overwhelming regular grains. They're amazing and depending on how much room I have left at the end, I may or may not be spending my last few pesos on 6-10 bags to bring home. Tonight's topic of picoteo conversation was some more American music that we haven't heard of?!? Finally, we went to bed, excited to maybe go swimming or horseback riding in Viña del Mar tomorrow!

     Surprise! We didn't do either of those things haha. I was a little disappointed, but I'll just have to book them on our next trip is all. Instead, the family showed us more of the city's important aspects today. We visited Pablo Neruda's house, La Sebastiana, and the Congreso Nacional de Chile, where the president meets with Congress to discuss political matters. Juan Eduardo shared his opinion on the people of Valparaíso. He says that the citizens are an angry people, jealous of all the tourists who come to visit with so much money when they have so little. He described how the people from Viña are much nicer, because the city is cleaner and safer. Here in Valpo, even he is afraid to walk the streets by himself at night because the people are angry that the government markets their city as a beautiful little town full of pretty colored houses and an ascensor (elevator) and nothing more. Many of the people here have very little money, and they are aggressive towards foreign and national visitors alike. Jess and I were very surprised to hear this, but some of it made sense with the ragged storefronts we had seen, as well as the broken ruins of buildings destroyed by the 2010 earthquake. Their jagged holes stick out like broken teeth in a mouth full of shiny, bright ones. It was a sobering talk, especially after all the lightheartedness of the sightseeing so far, and the amount of pictures we had taken. Later we returned home for lunch, more leftover fish and some chicken (today we were allowed to have meat, no abstinence on Saturday). While lunch was prepared, Lia flattered us all with some bachata lessons.

     For the afternoon and evening, Vale stayed behind with her parents and Sandra's relatives, while Lia took us to Viña. This was a surprise, as we had expected the whole family to go. Instead, Lia (the 18 year old, remember) escorted us gringas on the bus over to Viña. We girls had a great time taking jumping pictures, sunset shots, and general ridiculous photos. 

We tried to warn Jess to be careful near the waves, but she said she wanted to feel the Pacific ocean, and stood just at the edge of the water. She must have put one toe over the line of "careful," though, because a wave came, soaked her jeans up to her knees, and swept away her flip flops! Thankfully she managed to get them back, but I'm sure she was less than comfortable in wet jeans, blech! Oops. Next, we visited the famous casino (pic) and were bodyguarded by a stray dog all the way to the beach, where he left us, alone and heartbroken, to follow a man with two hotdogs instead.

     We continued on our way to Viña's feria, a looooong stretch of artisan booths with more artwork and handicrafts. Here are the views that accompanied our walk:

This time we bought a bunch of things, knowing this was our last chance to shop! We made sure to save enough for churros though, and MAN were they good! Very similar to Spain's churros, but almost, I hate to even say it, better? I'm sorry Cádiz!! But they were crispy on the outside like Spain's, gooey and soft on the inside, thick but also creamy and smooth, not just light and fluffy and barely there like in Spain. Plus, they sprinkled serious amounts of azucar flor onto them, whereas in Spain, you sprinkle regular granulated sugar on yourself. It was heavenly; I'm serious. A divine experience, because look who was sitting across from us at the table!

Lia laughed while we gobbled down our "dinner", before shepherding us back to the bus and home for dinner.

     Tonight, Sandra and her family took us to a very famous restaurant in Valparaíso, ElCinzano. We felt a little awkward because the family was frustrated that we had to wait so long (we were a big party and it was late). Also, they had a plan to get a parrillada, a large family-sized platter of several different meats so that Jess and I could try them all. However, the restaurant had an obnoxious rule that during their "rush hour" so to speak each guest must consume a minimum of 5,000 pesos, which meant we couldn't all share the big dish. Instead, everyone ordered their own meal. I got more salmon salsa menier, which is grilled salmon with a lemon-butter sauce. Delicious, but I was about to explode by the end. Jess and I were brave and tried their machas a la parmesana, clams with melted parmesan cheese. Just found this guy:  who had this to say about the famous dish of machas:

" Machas a la parmesana, (surf clams au gratin) one of the classics of Chilean cuisine, was created 50 years ago in Viña del Mar by an Italian immigrant, Edoardo Melotti Ferrari."

 The place also had live music, a singer and a guitarist/piano player. It was a great evening in spite of the little hiccups. Plus, look how adorable this family is: When we got back home, Jess and I were super excited because the family wanted to discuss how to go about the Easter egg hunt in the morning. CHOCOLATE. I had been craving it all weekend, especially since it was Easter; my body just needed it, ok? We described what Easter was like for us at home, and then they explained how they did it here, so we just went along with them. Vale was so intensely excited, telling us she was going to wake up at 5 just to beat us all to the eggs.

     As morning dawned, Sandra and Juan Eduardo told us to come into the living room for our baskets. The four of us, Lia, Vale, Jess, and I, ran around collecting little chocolate eggs. It was so interesting to see how the Chilean girls worked. Lia was so kind to her younger sister, pointing out hidden ones and only taking one of the three from the shelf so Vale could get the other two. It was very different from what it would be like in my house, a real competition where we run and race and grab as many as possible. Perhaps that's why my parents label our eggs so there's no fighting; it was nice to see that the Chilean family didn't need to do this. Now I'm not saying they're better than us, or my siblings and I are greedy and selfish. I love the way my family does Easter morning. This was just a different experience and I like to highlight the differences between us. Afterwards, we all helped clean the house and got ready to leave.

     On our trip back to Santiago, Juan Eduardo drove us through the hills and countryside until we stopped for lunch in another famous restaurant, No me olvides.  It means, Don't forget me, and I didn't! The meat was mouthwatering; so tender and salty and amazing. We apparently couldn't get that damn parrillada here either, or at least the kind Juan Eduardo wanted us to have, in order to have a real Chilean experience. Instead he and Sandra got a smaller version, got the same for us, and the girls got burgers. We of course had Chilean salad and pebre, which if you've been reading, you'll remember is raw onions and tomatoes sliced up and that pebre I said was a mix of onions, tomatoes, and basil or something. According to Wikipedia, I was way wrong, oops!  Instead, it's actually a mix of onions, garlic, olive oil, and ground or pureed chili peppers (ají). It's delicious and the pan amasado, the bread, that we spread it on, was warm, soft, and so filling we barely had room for the meal! Also, an accordion player serenaded the whole restaurant throughout our entire lunch. Another great dish down the hatch and with our bellies full, we rode with our Chilean family back to Santiago and the real world.
     We were so grateful to have met such a wonderful family and shared such unforgettable experiences with them. Hopefully this won't be the last of our adventures together :)