Visiting Valpo

Since yet another month has gone by, I thought it was about time that updated my blog and filled everyone in on what I've been up to lately. 

Last weekend Caroline and I, along with all the other Santiago volunteers, headed to Valparaiso to celebrate Barney's birthday. Famous for its port, Valparaiso is a small city situated on the coast of Chile, just a two hour bus ride away from Santiago.  Renowned for its street art and lively atmosphere I was excited to see what Valparaiso had to offer! 

On arrival, once we had dropped off our bags, Barney and Kevin (the 'Valpo' volunteers) gave us a tour of the city. As the majority of Valparaiso is built on an incline the cities architecture is made up of dozens of intertwined hill top neighbourhoods. This maze-like structure along with brightly coloured street art plastered on every building in incredible to see. 

We had to climb A LOT of steps to get to the top...

...but the view was definitely worth it!
(although the weather could have been better)

From the left: Kirsty, Me, Caroline (my partner) and Kelly.

After we had explored the city we headed back to the boys house and celebrated Barney's birthday in the way that Chileans celebrate every special occasion- a plentiful supply of alcohol and a BBQ! Apparently its a Chilean tradition to buy two birthday cakes, one to eat and one to smash in the birthday boy/girl's face! I'm hoping this doesn't happen on my birthday...

I had such a good time in Valpo and can't wait to go back for New Years Eve, where they host the biggest firework display in South America-on the beach!

I'm heading to Argentina, Mendoza next week for Halloween so I'll let you all know how that goes...

 CHAO. <3 

Beaches, BBQs and yet more BREAD!

So it turns out that Chileans are the second biggest consumers of bread in the world. To be fair, seeing as it is the main component of two of their daily meals- breakfast and 'once'-this fact does not surprise me. But, as you can imagine I am getting slightly sick of it. haha.

Amasado- One of the different variations of bread on offer

I have now been living and volunteering in Chile for five weeks. That's four weeks longer than the longest time I have ever spent away from home, not to mention the fact that its about eleven thousand kilometres further away...It's crazy. However, I have been so busy that it honestly feels like no time at all. Although I do get the occasional bout of home sickness, over all the past few weeks have been pretty amazing.

In the run up to the Independence Day celebrations the school was brought to life by rehearsals for the annual concert. This meant that Caroline and I didn't have many classes but instead got to watch all the students (and some of the teachers) rehearse the traditional Chilean dance known as Cueca for a performance that was being held at the school on the last day of term.

Final rehearsals the morning before the concert

The way in which the whole school got involved- from kids as young as five to senior students of eighteen-really illustrated the fact that Independence Day is a big part of Chilean culture. It was also lovely to see the all their hard work pay off as we watched the students dance Cueca to traditional Chilean music (which was also performed live by the students) on the night.

Teachers Dancing Cueca in Traditional Chilean Dress

All the hard work paid off! 

Having made friends with a group of the teachers at the school. Caroline and I were lucky enough to be invited to stay at one of their beach houses the weekend before Independence Day. As we had been living in the city for almost a month, we thought that this would be a great opportunity to explore the countryside, and have a break from the Santiago smog. The morning after the school concert we set off on a two hour bus journey to El Quisco- a town situated on the central coast of Chile. The weekend consisted of walks on the beach, eating Chilean food (mainly empanadas* and BBQs), drinking beer, playing board games and just generally having a fun.

*Empanada- Typical Chilean cuisine made from
 pastry with various fillings  

Chilean take on a BBQ

View from the beach house- The Sun Set

Yes, that is a Tsunami warning sign..

So the Chileans decided to combine all of their favourite things
 (beer, lemon and salt) into a drink
- lets just say it tasted intersting... 

Tired from our weekend at the beach, we spent the rest of the holiday relaxing at home. We celebrated Independence Day itself in true Chilean style- by getting together with all of the family and having yet another BBQ. 

The food was good and the sun even came out which was a bonus.