The plan is to leave on Saturday 4/2 and we will return on Sunday 4/10. I am taking suggestions for things to do, so do some research people! I'm counting on Uncle Don to have some free time and make a nice little spreadsheet with some amazing stops just like our road trip!
So, before we bought the tickets I had my chilean culture class. The goal for the day was to go to a local market or *feria* that is close to the University. We had a number of questions that we were supposed to ask one of the many people there.
Natalie started out by buying flowers for her host mom and then asked the woman a number of questions. I was intrigued by the many options of flowers and I decided to buy probably one of the tallest flower possible. I wanted to give it to my host mom as well, and it worked out well because they only cost about a dollar!
It's hard to see the length of these flowers but they are beautiful! I like how the flowers are in a long row instead of side by side!
The whole flower stem and all is longer than my arm. That made for an interesting ride on the micro! It was definitely a challenge to carry those for a good part of the afternoon. Anyways, so after Natalie finished her interview i decided that I would try to buy some melons. Most people know that i like my melons! So i found a stand with a guy who looked nice enough and I bought one honey dew melon *una tuna* and a cantaloupe. For those 2 it cost me 500 pesos which is a little bit more than a dollar. Not a bad deal right! I then asked him if he was willing to answer a few questions. He was mumbling so I continued. When i went to asked him what his name was he replied "estoy ocupado". Which means i'm busy. YA RIGHT. cause im pretty sure i was the only one near his stand. he had the time but was being mean. So i laughed it off but then, i had to buy something else to actually get my interview! I bought a few peaches and finally a nice old man answered my questions. So there I was walking around with 2 heavy melons, some peaches, and flowers the length of my arm. Managing all of this while trying to keep my dress down because of the wind! Quite the multi-tasker!
The melon. YUM!
So after lugging the fruit and flowers around i finally made it home! YES. siesta time! I wanted to eat dinner early because we were going to play soccer around 8pm. Lovely raviolis for dinner. We had a few people from ISA that wanted to play, so one of the host brothers set it up. We had to go to this sporting club that had a whole bunch of soccer fields under the lights. I wish i had brought a camera but we are returning next week so i definitely will. Our field ended up being right next to the horse track so that was funny to have the trainers walking the horses and watching our game. It was great to get back on the field although I am definitely gonna feel it in the morning!
We were right in the middle of our game and pounding of horses came up behind us. I stopped and stared at the pure beauty of these horses speeding past us. I was in awe. No one else seemed to be as amazed as I was. At the way back of the pack there was a horse *sin jockey* or without a jockey on the back. ha that was funny. There were 2 races that happened while we were there and it was amazing to see them speeding past us. Great part of the day.
Once I got home mi madre served me up a nice bowl of ravioli and that nice lookin melon above. I asked her if she liked the flowers. Then she started to tear up! I didn't know what to do. She was saying that it was so sweet of me to think of something so small to brighten her day, but to her it meant the world. I'm sure she is missing her daughters who are off living in Europe and she is left with her 3 sons. Not that they don't show their affection, but us girls. you know :) The tears were welling up and then she kissed me on the cheek and said that i was too sweet and that she loved them! It was a really important moment in the bonding that will happen in my time here in Chile and Mamá Vivi. I said my goodnights and headed up to my bed. Exhausted i went to pull back the covers and i felt something hard. Curious, I pulled back the covers and found this!
Chocolate bar with almonds! So yummy!!
Mamá Vivi is amazing and I could not have asked for a better Chilean mommy. I ran downstairs and gave her kisses *besos*. Better be watching my weight with all this chocolate and pan! After I complete this bar this will be my 3rd bar of Golden Nuss consumed! oh it's so yummy!
Overall such a wonderful day on all accounts. I got to play soccer, finalize plans for Patagonia, buy beautiful flowers for a wonderful warm hearted woman, and get some exercise!
buen día :)
You're doing a wonderful job of sharing with us your eveeryday life. I'm totally enjoying it. I had no doubt that your host Mom would find it easy to love you like her own.
ReplyDeleteI am behind on your blog but home from work today and enjoying catching up! Sounds like you are having an amazing time and really getting a lot out of your travels!
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