Easter Weekend

On Good Friday the whole household enjoyed a big lie-in, before Consuelo & her sisters & brother & I headed off to her father's house for lunch. Her dad used to play rugby for Chile, so we had something in common to talk about. Last week I watched the rugby show that he presents on TV. I couldn't understand what they were actually talking about, but I enjoyed watching a bit of rugby action. We had a huge delicious seafood meal, as it is usual in Chile not to eat meat on Good Friday. In fact it was such a big meal I didn't fancy anything for dinner that night! In the evening I had a lovely skype call with Will. It is so easy to travel in this day & age when you have the wonders of modern technology like the internet & skype to keep in touch with loved ones back home...

On Saturday I enjoyed another nice long lie-in. I then walked the 35 minutes or so from Consuelo's house to 'downtown' Vina del Mar, where I met Lucy. We had a wander around the shops before taking lunch in one of the cafes. Lucy speaks fluent Spanish so it is very handy hanging out with her! We then walked back to Consuelo's house, stopping at the flower clock for the obligatory photos. Apparently it is one of 'the' things to do before you leave in Vina! 

It was a glorious day & Enrique, Consuelo's stepdad, had decided to go sailing on the yacht that he keeps in the Yacht club just down from their house.  Along for the trip was Enrique & his nearly 3 year old daughter Violetta...

 Lucy & I...

Consuelo's older sister Fernanda & her boyfriend...

 And Consuelo & her boyfriend Mattius

It was windy out on the water, in the pic below I am looking decidedly touseled... 

Enrique often sails his yacht single-handidly, so on this outing he enjoyed having the boys to boss around & do the work. It really was a magic afternoon. Glorious weather & the Pacific was glistening with the sunlight. We sailed to Valparaiso & back which took a good couple of hours.

Once we had returned to the yacht club the guys stayed onboard a while longer to pack away the sails.

That night the 'kids' plus assorted girlfriends & boyfriends were holding a big family BBQ. It was a good night with many a pisco-cola drunk. I can't get used to the hours the Chileans keep however. We finally had some food at around 11:30pm. I  called it a night at around 1:30am, at which time the others all hit the town, & Consuelo & her boyfriend got home at around 5am!

The Chileans really do party hard at the weekend, then recuperate by sleeping half the day. It means that when I get up, I don't usually see anyone else in the house for a good hour or two!

Today, Easter Sunday, we had lunch at Mattius' parent's place. They really are some of the most hospitable people around, absolutely lovely. We had pisco sours as an aperitif, then a meal of handmade fettucine with a fig, cream & cognac sauce. The main meal was accompanied with a lovely Chilean Vino Tinto & it was all superb. Dessert was crepes with manjar & tropical fruit sorbet, as well as my contribution of a pavlova I had made the previous night. The pavlova wasn't quite right, as the idea of 'cornflour' was lost in translation & I had to end up using a couple of teaspoons of normal flour instead, but they seemed to enjoy it. It just meant it was a bit soft & chewy instead of crisp on the outside.

We got home from lunch just after 4pm & everybody in the house is currently having a siesta. It is another glorious day however, & a shame to be inside, so I am taking advantage of the sunshine & writing this out on the deck over-looking the ocean.

Tomorrow it is back to school. This will be the first full week where we actually will end up being in school all 5 days. The previous 2 weeks were broken up with some day-trips, as well as the Friday off for Easter. We fly home late on Saturday night, arriving back in NZ at the crack of dawn on Monday morning.

Week 2 in Chile

We turned up at school Monday morning to find union jacks strung up all over the place. It seems that 'St Margaret's British School for Girls' takes its British roots rather seriously, & is having a 2-week countdown to the royal wedding! I kid you not!!! At first break some of the middle school kicked off the countdown by dancing some Scottish reels... At other breaks during the week British pop music was played over loudspeakers, & students sold 'British' brownies, biscuits & cupcakes. It has all been a bit surreal...

Monday afternoon is sport for the senior school, & I was asked to teach the Chilean girls some rugby skills. It was very amusing& ended up being not much more than touch rugby, but they all seemed to enjoy it. It looks like I am going to have to do another session next Monday as well.

On Tuesday our golden run of weather came to an end & it was seriously COLD. The high was about 10 degrees cooler than the last few days. I went from t-shirts, back to a couple of layers of merino. Consuelo finishes at 2:30pm on a Tuesday, so I bunked off early & caught a ride home with her. School starts at 7:50am & finishes at 4:25pm so it is a long day.On Wednesday we had the last of our day trips. We spent the day exploring Valparaiso which is a historic port town about 25 minutes drive from Vina del Mar. It is well known for its colourful ramshackle houses that tumble down the hills towards the sea, & its many furnicular railways that take locals & tourists alike up (& down) said hills. We started off by having a tour of the 'dissidents cemetery' which was created so that the ever-increasing numbers of non-catholics would have a place they could be buried. We then went up one of the furniculars & walked around the cobbled streets. On one street an old guy had created a whole lot of 'art' out of junk & stones etc. Whilst we were admiring it he came out of his house & had a chat to the girls. He was rather proud of his wee little patch.

We then visited St Paul's, the Anglican church. This wasn't allowed to have anything on its exterior that could identify as a church from the sea below, but it was lovely inside with some amazing stained glass windows. Its pride & joy was an old organ, bought over from England to commemerate Queen Victoria's reign. The people organising our tour had arranged for the organist to be there & he gave us a recital of several numbers.

After more wandering we caught a furnicular down & headed for the port. The girls had about 45 minutes of free time to wander around the market stalls & souvenir shops.

It was then time for a tour of the 'Esmeralda' which is a navy training ship that all the cadets have to spend a 6-month tour on before they graduate. It is a beautiful old ship & the girls enjoyed the tour, given by one of the crew.

From the deck of the Esmeralda we had a great view of some seals which were frolicking around the hull of a huge big container ship moored next to the Esmeralda. The seals were trying to leap up out of the water & onto this hull, & it was pretty amusing as they kept failing & sliding back down into the water. Eventually they made it, & were pretty pleased with themselves...

Thursday was a nice short day, we broke up at lunchtime for the Easter long weekend. That night I went with Consuelo & her boyfriend to her boyfriend's parent's place for dinner. This turned out to be a great night. The parents were lovely & enjoyed practising their English with me. We had pisco sours to begin, then a very good reserva vino tinto ('in my honour') with homemade pizzas for dinner, then pisco-cola to finish. Chileans really are incredibly hospitable people, & they all LOVE pisco, & break it out on any occasion. They seemed to enjoy having us because we have been invited back to lunch on Sunday as well. They live about half an hours drive from Consuelo's house, in the Miraflores suburb up a big hill. Consuelo stopped at a viewing area giving a lovely view back over Vina del Mar.

A relaxing weekend in Chile

The golden run of weather continued into the weekend. It really is unseasonably warm at the moment. On Saturday I recharged the batteries with a nice long lie-in. I got up at around 10:30am, & it was a good couple of hours before there was any sign of life from anyone else in the house. Chileans seem to love to party all night, then recover by sleeping half the day! Saturday was very relaxed, I mostly spent it sitting outside in the sun either reading a book or doing a few bits & pieces on my laptop. That night we went for a meal out at a local restaurant. We picked up Lucy, & a couple of Consuelo's friends also joined us. Lucy & I had some very good empanadas, & instead of the ubiquitous pisco sours, we branched out & tried a mango sour. It was good, but I do still prefer the usual lemon version. Today Rosemary (who is the St Margaret's woman involved in overseeing the whole exchange) picked up Lucy & I & drove us to a beach resort about an hour north of Vina del Mar. It was a lovely spot, but very very windy. It was just like being on the beach in Wellington with sand ending up everywhere! As you can see below, this cultural exchange malarky is hard work...

We had lunch (more empanadas & a pisco sour) in a rustic little restaurant on the beach, shown in the pic below. The pelicans kept landing on the roof, & when we were eating we could just see the tips of their huge webbed feet overhanging from the roof!

After lunch we had bit of a siesta on the beach before Rosemary drove us a short distance back up the coast towards Vina to a private beach. This was a lovely spot & we went for a nice coastal walk for a bit. Rosemary is on the left with Lucy in the pic below. She really has been good to us, making sure everything runs smoothly at school & looking after Lucy & I exceptionally well.

This spot is where the super wealthy keep holiday homes & we saw some amazing houses with beautiful gardens. Apparently in summer the beach is a who's who of the rich & famous.

Once we were done here we drove a bit further to a place where there are some good markets selling Chilean handicrafts. Unfortunately, because it is the off-season, most of the places were closed. However there were lots of pelicans to keep us entertained. I am sure the novelty value of them will wear off before the end of my trip!

Tomorrow it is back to school, but a short week due to Easter. We break up at lunchtime on Thursday & have the Friday off. We also have a full-day excursion planned for Wednesday, so the week should pass by pretty fast. Hopefully some time this week I will be able to get a few reports written, we haven't actually had a lot of downtime during the school day yet, but it should be better this week as now the girls have more of an idea of what is going on & where they are supposed to be.

Isla Negra and Pomaire

The weather here has been absolutely stunning of late. Thursday was blue skies, sunshine, & 28 degrees. So not a bad day to bunk off school then! The day off was really beneficial & I am feeling much better now. I didn't wake up until about 11am, so my body obviously needed the rest. Above & below are a few pics of the house I am staying in. As you can see, it's not a bad wee pad... There are stunning views out over the Pacific from the deck, & I also get great wifi signal there, so it's one of my favourite places in the house. In fact I am writing this from there as we speak... Thursday afternoon I went for a walk for a couple of hours along the coast. There are loads of pelicans on the rocks which I find fascinating. I have also seen lots of teeny little humming birds which are very cool. On Friday we had another full day excursion. This time it was a visit to Isla Negra which is the house that the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda lived in with his third wife, & where they are buried together. The house had a beautiful location right on the coast. I think that if I lived with that sort of view even I might be inspired enough to write some poetry! The house was amazing, chocka-block full of all kinds of treasure. He was an obsessive collector & lived in the place with a view to always eventually leaving it as a museum. The living room was one of my favourites, filled with over a dozen ship figureheads. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the house but I 'lifted' this one off the internet... The house from the outside There is a nautical theme right throughout the place, & even his grave is designed to look like a ship's bow. I like to think the dogs casually lounging on his grave below are keeping him & his wife company... Some more pics of the place. The model steam engine was one of his prized possessions.We then travelled an hour or so to the village of Pomaire where we had a very nice lunch in a restaurant, accompanied by some traditional Chilean singing & dancing.

Pomaire is famous for its pottery & after lunch we had a bit of free time to wander around the craft markets. The girls bought bits & pieces for presents, & I bought a couple of things for the house. It was all really cheap & I would have loved to have been able to bring back loads with me. They had some amazing huge clay pots that people here seem to use for both cooking & decorative purposes.

After the shopping we visited a pottery place where the girls got to have a go at both creating something by hand as well as trying their hand at the potters wheel (with mixed results!). It was a superb day out & the girls really enjoyed it. They were pretty tired by the time we got back to Vina at around 7:30pm!

That night Lucy & I (as well as our hosts) were invited to dinner at the Headmistress' house. She had also invited most of the heads of school & it was a most enjoyable evening. We got home just after midnight & Consuelo headed off to ANOTHER party, whereas I turned down the invitation & headed off to bed instead...