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.