Monday, November 12, 2012

La Familia Swiggart en Chile

Three Swiggart's in Chile at the same time. It's a potentially terrifying concept for those of you who know us for who we truly are... but don't worry, Chile, and my parents, made it out alive. It was a whirl-wine... I mean whirl-wind... 12 days, but I wouldn't change a minute of it! I'll give a day-by-day play-by-play, so here goes:

Friday, October 26: Head out of Viña at 7am to make it to the Santiago airport in time to pick the padres up.  Their flight got delayed an hour, so I had about an hour to sit and read my book before they got there, but when they did, the reunion was just as great as I had imagined!! Mom spotted me first, and we did all our hugs and kisses and went off to find a taxi.  While reminding Dad to keep his luggage close to him and not on the opposite side of the airport hallways, we made our way to the taxi area, got one, and were off to the Santiago hotel where we were going to spend 3 days. The hotel was GREAT. We had an awesome room, with a waterfall shower that gave hot water 24/7 (who would have thought!?), and a great pool/deck.  Since they were pretty wiped from their long travels, we decided to have a leisurely day. We walked around a nearby park in our Las Condes area, spend some time at the pool just lounging and relaxing (Dad may or may not have let a snore or two slip) and then got ready for dinner. To say that the dinner we had that night was amazing is an understatement. It was SO good. Afterwards we were all pretty exhausted, and a good night of sleep was much needed.

Saturday, October 27: Before my parents got to Santiago, I had found out about a free walking tour from a company called Spicy Chile. We decided to go to the meeting spot for the tour at 10am this day, and we are really glad we did! We met outside of the Palacio de La Moneda, where the president resides, and were lucky enough to see an incredible changing of the guards. Once we found our guide, Carla, she told us that she had never seen a changing of the guards quite like it, it was much more extravagant.  We got to see a parade, music, and lots of other cool exchanges.  From there we started our 4 hour walking tour! We got to see Bellavista, Cerro San Cristobal, Cerro Santa Lucia, Parque Forestal, Pablo Neruda's Santiago house, and many other things! Along the tour Dad also convinced the guide to take us to an incredible ice cream shop that she had pointed out as her favorite, Dad's treat. Definitely not upset about that one.  After the tour we went back to Cerro San Cristobal so we could go up to the top, and after having walked for about five hours already, we decided to take a $4.00USD taxi up and down the 6km hill. Hey, it was steep okay!? We then made it back to the hotel, had some more pool/relaxing time, cleaned up, and went to an excellent restaurant called Tiramisu right across from our hotel. If you are in Santiago in the Las Condes area, this is a must stop! Great pizza, salad, and wine! Yes, my parents and I LEGALLY shared a bottle of wine. And we finished said bottle of wine. I won't go into details for my parents sake, but they were both rather giggly and red-cheeked, and I may have heard stories that I'd never heard before about their pasts! Oh my! It was definitely a dinner to remember, and still makes me smile to think about it :)

Sunday, October 28: Well, we tried to go to Los Dominicos artesian shopping district on this morning, but unfortunately due to Chile's elections which were being held, it was closed! Not to be discouraged, we went back to the hotel, and enjoyed some more poolside relaxing in the wonderful Chilean sun.  After a day of bumming around, we went back to an area we had walked through on our walking tour called Lastarias, which we really liked! Cerro Santa Lucia was also really close to that area, and we decided to try to make our way in/up to actually see the beautiful water fountains it has.  We walked through the gate, when a guard told us they were actually just closing up. Thankfully, with a little gringa sweet-talking, he caved and let us go up and take a couple of photos before hurrying back down.  Thank you blond-ish hair!  Most restaurants were still closed in that area due to the elections, so we took the metro back to our area and found a great steak restaurant there.  The stars were really out that night, and surprising actually visible through all of the Santiago pollution, so we enjoyed those for awhile before finally going to bed after another long day!  Side note- Santiago metros are not quite as clean as those in Viña/Valpo... we constantly had clumps of long black Chilean hair floating across the floor as the wind blew through the moving metro train car... super gross.

At la fuente in Cerro Santa Lucía
Monday, October 29: Mom and I went back to Los Dominicos to do a little shopping, and had a blast doing so! We let Dad stay home to do whatever it is that guys do when women go shopping, and came back, grabbed some lunch, and took the metro to our bus station! Getting all of the luggage to the metro and onto the bus was a little interesting, but the parents were such troopers and did great! We got to Viña with time for me to go back to the hotel with them before my class, and checked into their room there... such a beautiful hotel yet again with the most amazing ocean view!  Unfortunately I had to ditch them to go to class for an exam, but I came back afterwards! I went up to the room expecting to find them in pajamas watching tv or playing cards, but alas, the room was empty! From our balcony you could see into the restaurant, and after a significant five minutes of creeping, I determined a couple down there was them and went to join! I got there, and not only were they almost done sharing an ENTIRE bottle of wine, but they were just jumping into a big dish of ice cream! The ice cream is definitely no surprise, especially coming from Dad, but the bottle of wine!? I was thinking, who are these lush people and where have my parents gone!? Guess they just had to celebrate finally making it to Viña!

Tuesday, October 30: Lazy morning, and then we went to my host family's house for a big almuerzo! It was anticucho time, and we came with hungry stomachs. With the exception of Francisca, my 21 year old host sister who can speak some English and understand a lot, and myself, nobody else understood anything of the other people speaking! It made for a very interesting translation process, but it was great practice, and everyone got along incredibly well, and we had a great time! Papá's food was delicious, and there was definitely no shortage! Chileans really do know how to eat lunch, and a lot of it! Told you Mom and Dad!  At one point, my host family was showing my parents some old pictures, and there was one of Mamá looking rather sexy with a diva pose when she was younger, and when my Dad saw it, he wanted to jokingly say something along the lines of "Wow, hot!" in his Jim Swiggart-esque way... and so, in Spanish, he said, "Wow! Caliente!" while touching Mamá's arm... and in that specific situation, the word "caliente" was referring not towards "hot" but actually to "horny"... so Dad is touching Mamá's arm, while talking about horny references... needless to say, there were some wide eyes, then a lot of laughing, and then when I told my parents what it actually meant, there was even more laughing on their parts. It was quite wonderful, and definitely an unforgettable, yet slightly embarrassing moment!  Another great part, lunch ran a little long, and rather than going to class, Mamá and Mom both gave me permission to ditch. Awesome! Thanks Madres!

Wednesday, October 31: After running some errands in the morning, exploring a nearby castle on the water, and me registering for my classes for next quarter at DU, we all enjoyed some empanadas at the pool at the hotel. Rough life, I know.  That afternoon I had to go to class unfortunately, but I didn't feel guilty, because Mom and Dad had plans of their own! The day before, my Chilean Papá had offered to take my parents on a driving tour of Valparaíso this next day since he didn't have to work.  I told him I had to go to class during the time he wanted to go, but he said it didn't matter, and that they should go anyway! I asked Mom and Dad if this was okay with them, and they said it sounded great! However, the part they apparently didn't understand was that I wouldn't be there! When they found that out, they were a little nervous, but were game for anything! After class I came back to the house, where we were all going to have oncé together, and they still weren't back! But when they did come back, Fran was with them, so thankfully there had been at least some kind of translating, and they had all had a blast! Oncé was yet again filled with hilarious little mistranslations and conversation, and we also left VERY full. We had panqueque's and my favorite "traigo" (alcoholic drink) called Cola de Mono. YUM.

Laughing at oncé
Thursday, November 1: Today was a tour of Viña! We saw Parque Quinta Vergara, La Parroquia, La Plaza de Viña, and ate at my favorite ice cream shop (anyone noticing a trend here yet with the ice cream?).  We had a nice homemade sandwich lunch on our hotel balcony and played cards, and then went for a tour of Valpo in the afternoon.  My friend Nolan came with us, and Mom started off on the right foot with him by bringing him a sandwich and cookie! What a lady.  In Valpo we just explored the hills of Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre, got lost, but as one of my favorite quotes says: "Not all those who wander are lost." So true!  While we were definitely a little turned around at times, we got to see some amazing wall art, colorful buildings, and Dad was especially amazed by a tree growing out of a wall.  To end the tour in Valpo, we sat at a small restaurant/café with a terrace overlooking the port and all of Valpo, and shared some wine (yes, more) and cheese. Yum. Then to really top it all off, we did a quick/cheap boat tour of the port, while wearing super cute orange life vests. We were definitely the best looking gringos around in those things.
Parque Quinta Vergara
Mom walking the colorful hills of Valpo
Boat tour of the port of Valpo
Friday, November 2: Día de la bodega! We went to Casas del Bosque, in the Casablanca Valley. In the past almost four months that I have been here in South America, I have visited six wineries in total, and this was above and beyond my absolute favorite. We started the tour off with a bike ride through the vineyards, which were massive!  We stopped at a beautiful dam at one point, and at another, Mom saw a big Lion-King-esque tree that she wanted to bike up too. I thought the hill looked a little intimidating to bike up, but she insisted we could do it.  And when Momma insists, you don't get the option of saying no.  My Dad says that my Mom is always right, even when she's wrong, but in this case, as we were walking our bikes up this incredibly steep dirt hill, I was really wondering how that statement came into play.  I guess when the view was so incredible from up there, that might have been the "rightness" he was talking about.  After a little more biking, we made it back to the main area of the winery, and we all decided that we needed to do some wine tasting before lunch, naturally.  Now in most places that you taste wine, a taste is just that: a taste. However, at this winery, a taste was about 3/4 of your normal glass. And we got three different wines to "taste". Mom couldn't finish her third one because she was feeling too buzzed. Needing some food in our stomachs, we got to the lunch table, and ordered what was about to be potentially one of the top 3 meals of all of our lives.  We also shared another bottle of the winery's famous sauvignon blanc wine. The meal of steak, salmon, potatoes, salad,  mousse, and wine among other things was just incredible, and we all left very satisfied and quite tipsy as well. Job well done I'd say. I may or may not have fallen asleep on the 40 minute taxi ride back to the hotel. Just throwing it out there.  After getting some advil in us, Mom and I did a little more shopping while Dad took a nap to wear off the wine, and that night I spent the night with my host family in order to get a little school work done!

Dad and I at Olivos Dam
Mom and Dad are tipsy.
As I'm getting a bit tired of writing and the last couple days were a little bit of a blur, I'll summarize: We played lots of cards.  We went to my favorite restaurant, La Flor de Chile, for a typical Chilean meal of chorrillana and pisco sours with some of my friends, Nolan, Laura, and Ellen.  We took my host family out for an Italian meal dinner, and Esme brought her own little "purse" filled with a toothbrush, hand soap, shampoo, hairbrush, coloring things, a sweater, oh, and my host dad's gold wedding band. Casual, and normal.  We had a nice, relaxing day at the Reñaca beach (after waiting about an hour for the fog/clouds to clear).  We had a picnic and wine at the sand dunes in Concón for sunset, and took a crazy fast micro bus back to the hotel. We got coffee with my friends Geneva and Rachel, and they had to suffer through my Dad's 25 minute long story of how he met/married my mother. And the last night, we ate at a beautiful restaurant, Tierra de Fuego, that I've wanted to eat at since I got here! I was not disappointed. Yum. So good.

Picnic dinner at the sand dunes in Concón!
Overall, this trip was absolutely incredible.  It was an amazing experience to be able to show my parents where I've been living almost the past four months, and I'm so glad they were able to understand a little bit more of what I've been doing/experiencing since I've been down here.  A big thank you to both of you for helping me to make this experience possible and always being so supportive and understanding of me, and having you two down here is something I will never forget! Ciao for now, updates on my weekend in Pucón will come soon when my fingers can type again!

Sunset from Viña over Valpo

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