A Friend Day in the City

I woke up this morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 11:30. When I stumbled into the hall toward the restroom, Elisa was standing in Maryte's room and greeted me warmly, asking what I would like for breakfast. I made my requests and I spent a few minutes tidying my room before she brought my food to my room on a tray. Let me say, this is a nice way to start a morning. Seriously, though, it's a little weird.

I got dressed and excused myself from the house; I had plans with friends! Maryte called me and reminded me to wear bloqueador (sunscreen), so my first stop was the farmacia so I could buy some, SPF 50 to make Zara proud. After the pharmacy, I stopped by the mall to get more info about my pay-as-you-go phone, and then trekked toward the meeting place.

My companions for the day were Jacob from SD who goes to school in MT; Kayla, also from SD who goes to school in IA; Konnie from Germany; and Kacie from IN who goes to school with Jacob. Konnie was here last year, so she showed us around. We stopped by El Centro because it is better than the mall which is overpriced. I bought a pair of sunglasses and a watch and then found myself without cash. Konnie convinced us to eat this disgusting thing that she says is a Chilean classic, El Completo, see picture below for full disgust. It was actually pretty tasty, especially after I scraped the 1/4-inch of mayo off of it.

And this is post-mayo-scrape

After lunch we walked back across town to the beach and spent a few hours there. Jacob and Kacie and I bodysurfed for a while (I hope this is not a very technical sport and I am not lying about what was really just being bashed about by the waves) before we all spread out to sunbathe. It was late afternoon, but one of the last hot days of the Vina summer, and we dried out in no time.

You can see Valparaiso in the distance

When we began to feel restless we went to a grocery store and bought way too much Chilean beer and then began the hike to an ice cream place down the beach that Konnie said was totally worth it, but I think we would have done just as well to eat at the ice cream shop that was literally a hundred yards from where we had been sunbathing. This walk took entirely too much time, but by the time we had purchased our helado we sat on the boardwalk just in time to watch the sun set over the water.

It seems strange to me that this is my home, not just a place where I am vacationing. People have informed me that it will be getting colder, the summer is basically over, but I know it will still be a paradise at 53 F. I just hope my enchantment lasts the entire five months. I'm already getting a little sick of speaking Spanish, which I didn't anticipate, but it still has high points. For example, my brother Cristobal came into my room tonight to ask about my plans. I couldn't understand a word out of his mouth (and normally don't) until we got a little ways into the conversation. By the time he was explaining his major to me, I was getting about 90%. So it makes me feel like it will get better.