Friday afternoon, I left school early and met up with a Scottish woman near the Universidad Catolica, at her antique office on Calle Londres. We sat in the sun and had a coffee with an ice cream scoop plopped in each tall skinny vase and got to know each other. A random British guy stopped on the street, chatted me up, and it was nearly flattering except his pick-up went: "Americana? Aqui? Santiago? Por que?" No, gracias. He managed to get customary cheek kisses in for both me and the Scot, whose name is Joanne. She arrived 15ish years ago on a long vacation and well, she never left. She runs a private English tutoring service primarily for Santiago business people, and she decided to spend the rest of her lunch break hiking up a small mountain in heels with me. You can probably tell I think she's some kind of badass.
On the other side of the hill, I met up with Anna, an NU student spending a full year here. Since I loved study abroad so much, it's always a pleasure to meet other people loving their time beyond the states. We strolled through Lastarria, an upscale bohemian barrio and got acquainted. At Cafe Interludio, I had a nice Coca Cola Light in a glass bottle, saw a copy of 1967 Playboy, and met an Argentinian driving from Ushuaia to Alaska...
After meeting all these new people, I caught a ride home with my Chilean mom and within the hour, our family was packed and off to Renaca, Vina del Mar and Valparaiso.
Over the weekend, I saw neon sunsets and Tom Cruise's latest movie (Oblivion, it was like Inception Light), and practiced relaxing which translates loosely to excessive sleeping and snacking. I read a real book for personal enjoyment for the first time in several years and this delighted me greatly.
On Sunday, we went for a picnic in Valparaiso. The entire city is a Patrimony of Humanity, a.k.a. pretty. After taking the 100 year-old Alegre elevator up to the top of Alegre Hill, we still climbed many more stairs, winding through muraled streets and scrapmetal houses. Every door led to a gallery or a cafe or a hostel, each having its own quirky charm. Our family pretended to be looking for a place to stay so we could check out the insides and the views from some of the swankiest options in town.
On the way home, I should've maybe been admiring kilometers of vineyards, but I continued the weekend snoozeathon and slept the whole way home.
That evening, back in Santiago, the women of the house went out for ice cream, visited the grandparents, made matzoh balls, and went to Chilean Walmart. Despite all the weekend's sleeping, I was still exhausted at bedtime.
Every day should have ice cream and sunsets.
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