Chile, July 2011 - #1 (La vida loca)

Here is my first email update from Santiago, Chile! I've been here for one week with my friend Linda from Cornell, and it has been wonderful so far. (I'll post pictures on facebook soon!) I arrived just fine, early in the freezing cold winter morning last Saturday. I was thrilled to find that the apartment I'm staying in, assigned through the language school, is absolutely adorable and comes with an incredible host who lives in the penthouse of the building! And I'm not kidding - his apartment truly is a penthouse. He is a designer, and has decked each room out in its own theme and color scheme, and has art all over the walls, ceilings, everywhere! Not only that, but there is a giant and gorgeous patio with a beautiful nearly 360 degree view of the city around us. His apartment is so beautiful that a tv series was filming there yesterday and today! Hahahah! Incredible! Apparently some very famous Chilean actors and actresses were walking in and out of our building all day.

A view from the "penthouse" terrace

Anyway, all the apartment description has hopefully indicated how much of a character my host is. He is truly larger than life. Our first night here, we went out to dinner for giant steaks with his friends and some other girls staying with him, and the invitations to do things have continued every day since! We have gone to a snazzy gallery opening of a contemporary Chilean artist, who's artist booklet for the show was designed by Nel (Nelson, the host) and his company. Another night we went to the opening of the World Press Photo Exhibit that you had to have an invitation to go to, and had some of the most delicious horsd'oeuvres and lots of different juices, cocktails, and wines. The show was great, but I only got to see some of it because Nel informed me we needed to hurry to the front s we didn't miss the food :). I told him he was an art show opening expert, and he agreed. He is super flamboyent and fun, and such a nice guy! So we really lucked out with our student apartment, because we got the best of both worlds! Our own space and no obligations but an incredibly warm and inviting host none the less!

I also started Spanish classes on Monday, and I'm really enjoying them. I was the only student in my level, so my group lesson hours got translated into private lessons and I really liked my lessons last week. Private lessons are great! I can often understand most of what people are saying, which is exciting because Chileans talk incredibly fast. Next week is Week 2, and I'm hoping I learn lots more! Spanish is a really fun language to speak and sounds so pretty when I can understand it :) (and even when I cant!). The school is great, and they offer excursions twice a week. So far we have gone on both last week - one as a walk/hike up Cerro St. Cristobal, one of the "hills" of Santiago with a giant statue of the virgin Mary at the top, and the second was a visit to the Museo Bellas Artes, right near our apartment. There is also a really nice park near our apartment, and in fact, Santiago has lots of really nice green spaces.

View of Santiago from Cerro St. Cristobal

The city itself is beautiful, with modern buildings and old facades mixed together. In some other parts of the city the architecture is much more modern but in our area it's older with smaller streets and little shops and cafes. There is a really big art scene, and a growing design scene I think, which means lots of interesting clothing, shoe, and bag stores to explore! Also, Santiago has tons of stray dogs! But they are incredibly friendly and well fed by the people here, and many of them have little doggie coats put on by Santiagoans for the winter. It's really funny to see all these stray dogs walking around in cute patterned fleece jackets or once-posh quilted ones! Sometimes its hard to tell the difference between the stray dogs and the house dogs. And, incredibly, the streets are clean and the dogs rarely if ever cause problems for people. For more doggie fashions and commentary, check out my facebook pictures!

Today, Linda, Deepti (a friend from high school I discovered was here doing a summer internship), and I went on a bike and wine tour in the Maipo Valley, about an hour out of Santiago. It was absolutely gorgeous! The mountains frame the vineyards so beautifully, and it was really fun riding around the main vineyard we visited. They grow almond trees, raise cows, and plant eucalyptus trees in addition to both wine and table grapes. We tasted some of the grapes and almonds, and finished our tour with tastings at an organic vineyard and a "typical" Chilean lunch at a restaurant near the vineyards. It was a great day!