A Warm Visit To A Chile Place

Originally I was planning on heading up to Haiti and the Dominican Republic after my stay in Brazil, but as I've learned from this trip. Plans change. So when I realized that wasn't going to work out, I set my sights on finding somewhere else to visit in the South/Central America region. It was during this brainstorming period when I stumbled across my friend Teo's Instagram picture in Chile. In an instant I remembered that he lives there. It was perfect. Chile is close to Brazil and there was a relatively in-expensive ticket available. I messaged him and the plans were set, I would be visiting Santiago for my unoccupied week.

First thing when I got off the plane and out of the airport, we drove off (into the sunset) towards Viña del Mar. This little beach city is where Teo's mom and grandparents live. It is also apparently where he spends every weekend (and as it was a Saturday when I arrived, we had to go to Viña). The drive only took about an hour from Santiago, so I guess it makes sense that he goes so often. Why wouldn't anyone want to spend every weekend by the ocean?

I know I complained about the rain a lot in Brazil but it was pretty dreary. I was probably even worse in person to Teo when I arrive because he assured me that it basically never rains in Chile. That it might be super cold (as it was winter) but it was still usually sunny. This might normally be true (and I think it probably is) but it just happened to rain 3 out of 7 days I was there. Just my luck!

So we spent the weekend at the beach and it was sunny and nice for that day. I took a few hour walk with Teo's mom and their dog Luna down the coast. The little pup frolicked around on the beach and played with the cochayuyo (seaweed) that was washed up all over the shore. It was a crisp but sunny winter day and a perfect way to spend a sunday afternoon. My senses were overwhelmed by the sound of the ocean and the barking dog, the smell of seaweed, the feeling of the sun and the breeze, but most of all just that feeling you get when you're near the sea and you look out at the vastness of the water stretching beyond sight out to all corners of the earth.

From the sprawling coastline, with the cuchayuyo scattered along the sand and the waves crashing on the shore, we traveled an hour back inland to the foothills of the Andes. The massive snow capped peaks watching over this artsy, laid back city (which feels like the Colorado of South America). Chile is a ski/snowboarders (and surfers) paradise with the attitude to match.

However, there is also a thriving contemporary art community, which I'm sure has an equal impact on the pulse of the city. Because Teo had school and work during the week, I spent a lot of time wandering the city and visiting every art museum I could get my hands on (and there were plenty available!) I also had a few really interesting conversations with the few locals I met who spoke English, these all revolved around art, music, etc. Just generally creative endeavors.

I think I might be a bit smitten with Chile. It is either that, or Teo sold it to me really well (but he was off actually having a life most of the time, so I don't think that is why). One thing that Chile is not though, is cheap. It was almost as expensive as (if not more than) the UK, but at this point in my trip, being under budget, that didn't really seem to concern me. I guess the art, culture, and people gave me enough reason to ignore the price tags.

I did get to spend the evenings with Teo (which would have been more fun had it not been getting dark by 5:30pm every day). We usually cooked dinner and than became hooligans and just generally made a ruckus (but we made sure to be in bed by 9pm because, you know, school/work and stuff).

The last morning, just before I went to the airport, I had breakfast with another friend of mine from India. Guru Seva made breakfast and I ventured over to his place. It was so cool to see him after so long and get a chance to have a bit of a catch up. It was kinda rushed (but that is the story of this trip, so I guess it fit the program).

Now, ironically, the best part of my Chile adventure, even though I think it was my favorite (new) place on this trip, was leaving. The airport saga is a tale of its own. Little did I know that when I got back from my lovely breakfast, the animal farm would be waiting to greet me. Teo and his friend Seba had gone to a costume store (or something of that nature) and picked up a dog and a zebra onesies. They than proceeded to take me to the airport dressed like this, all the while waving around a Chilean flag. This caught everyones attention. It was kinda the best thing ever.

I did have to say goodbye to them and to Chile, which is had but I've gotten used to goodbyes. You could say at this point I am kind of a pro. The goodbyes have actually just turned into, I'll see you when I come back, because I will be returning to most all of the places I have visited (hopefully). Chile, however, is one place that I will return to. I have no doubt in my mind that within the next few years I will go back to this marvelous country. A place I enjoyed immensely but didn't even see close to what it has to offer.

Copa da Chuva 2014 (The Rain Cup 2014)

I said goodbye to my mother in Morocco, knowing I was going to see her again soon. I just had to make a quick pit stop in South America, to round off my 6 continents in 6 months (and see some old friends).

I said goodbye to my mother and along with her I said goodbye to most of the warm clothes that I had packed for my time in the UK. Turns out that was a bad idea. It wasn't an issue for my one day back in the UK (London was so nice and sunny that day, it was almost too hot!)

Because it was such a lovely day I strolled around Covent Garden. Saw some street performers, had a lovely Korean lunch and sat in the sun. It was a much nicer way to kill my layover time than sitting in the godawful place that is Heathrow airport.

Next stop (after about 9hours on the plane) São Paulo! When I arrived, my friend Gobind was there to meet me. It's been so long, I didn't even recognize him at first. I walked straight out of the airport and almost kept going, until I heard my name and suddenly, 'wa BAM' there he was!

We hopped on a bus, which took us to the metro, which took us to his car, which took us home. Now, I don't know how many of you know this but apparently there are these people in Beijing (maybe Shanghai, as well) whose job it is to stand behind the crowds who are trying to use the subway (during rush hour) and literally push them onto the train in order to fit the maximum people on board. Well let's just say, São Paulo metro felt like that had happened...

Welcome to Brazil!

After we ditched the quasi-India-like-sardines-in-a-can-metal-tube-speeding-through-the-city, we were spit out into a little naighborhood that I would soon come to know quite well over the next few weeks, because of our frequent journeys from Gobind's house to the metro.

Years ago, when Gobind first invited me to come visit him, I remember he used to talk about his house as if it was some sort of paradise on earth. The descriptions he would give sounded so heavenly that THAT is the main reason I felt I needed to go visit Brazil. Luckily, when I got there, his story held up. The place was (is) beautiful! With passion fruit, papaya, and banana trees, a swimming pool, a lush garden, a yoga room, and a lovely lawn all tucked into a jungle mountain overlooking the Saha (jungle/forest/mountain) on the outskirts of the city.

The only problem with this paradise was about 8 out of the 14 days I was there were rainy, cloudy, and gross. Now, remember how I gave my warm clothes to my mom to take home? This is why it was a bad idea. I knew Chile would be cold so I kept a few things with me. It's a really good thing I did that or I would really have been screwed. I know it's winter and all, but, COME ON, Brazil.

The good news was that the day we were in Rio was gorgeous (we did plan it that way, but still). Because Gobind teaches yoga Tues, Thurs, and Sat we had to work around his schedule. What we ended up doing was leaving Tues after his last class (at like 11pm) and took a 6hour bus to Rio. We arrived super early, crashed for a few hours, and than went exploring.

We ended up doing all of the touristy things in Rio. We were really efficient. Started by going up to the Christ, after that we headed right to the sugar-loaf, and finally, ended up at Ipanema beach where we had dinner. This was after we saw someone almost drown. It was pretty intense. They were just lying there with a massive crowd around them with foam or something coming out of their mouth. It was like, oh, nice sunny beach day. Nope, death. Gobind doesn't think they actually died and for my peace of mind I like to agree with him, but I'm not quite sure.

Since Rio is pretty dangerous (and seeing as we got very little sleep the night before), we decided to call it an early night. I was exhausted at that point anyways, so I crashed at about 7:30pm.

The next morning we had to leave Rio around 10am so we could get Gobind back in time for his yoga classes. It ended up being a lot of bus travel, but was also really worth it. I like Rio a lot (regardless of Gobind talking smack every chance he got).

Because the weather was so crap the rest of my time there (except maybe one or two days) we had to call off our trip to the beach. We were going to take the weekend and stay at a little beach town for a few days but instead we went to some really nice (but no beach vacation status) museums in São Paulo. I even got Gobind (who "hates art") to admit that he didn't have an awful time exploring the museums with me. I think in all we went to one museum about the dictatorship in Brazil and two (or three) regular art museums.

There was one other day with nice weather so we took advantage of the sun and general clear sky and went up in the highest building in São Paulo to see the city. It was a great view, although it's not the nicest looking city. We also toured around the city center, which included going to the first building in the city that is still standing and the massive cathedral that marks the exact center of São Paulo.

Besides these few excursions we did a lot of just hanging out at home. We cooked a lot, watched a bunch of movies, played some video games, read, and had some really deep heart wrenching conversations (minus the last thing, we don't talk, what do you think we are, social human beings?).

One thing I will say that Gobind was very good at introducing me to (besides his dislike for the majority of big cities in Brazil) was the traditional foods. We had some awesomely tasty things that I will probably crave in years to come. Passion fruit mousse (Mousse de Maracuja), a dulce de leche and chocolate sweet (Brigadiero), these cheese and veggie pastries (I don't remember the name), and the tastiest (gluten free) cheese bread ever. Think a Chinese tang yuan (glutinous rice ball, look it up! Or just look up Pão de Queijo) with cheese instead of sweet filling but with an initial crusty crunch.

The two weeks I spent in Brazil went by really quickly and I feel like we didn't even do that much because of the weather. It just means I have to go back during their summer when we can go lounge on the beach and pretend like we're doing more than lounging around inside the house on the couch. Also, I made friends with their scrappy cat, so I gotta go back to visit her.