By Dana
Our travels included two lovely nights of sleeping in airports and a unique issue in the Buenos Aires airport with regards to our layover vs. the reciprocity fee you have to pay upon entering the country. After some time hanging out in security and a few nights of THIS (see below) we finally arrived at our final destination of Valparaiso on the Chilean coast.
Our sleeping arangements in the Santiago airport - Can you tell that our tickets were relatively cheap?
For those of you that don't know, during college I studied Spanish in Valparaiso, Chile, and lived with a host family there. I was extremely excited to get to see 'mi familia Chilena' again, for Brent to get to experience this beautiful city that I love, and to get to enjoy one of the best New Years fireworks displays in South America.
Meet the family. . .
Brent with my host mom (Sussy) and host dad (Samuel)
My host sister (Priscila - Picha for short) and host brother (Isaac)
My other host sister (Elizabet) and her son (Marco)
Marco being cute as usual in a Santiago Wanderers soccer jersey (the local Valpo team)
My good friend (Pablo) and I - Pablo lived with my host family as well during my time there 6 years ago
We enjoyed the Christmas lights and decorations in the area. . .
Christmas lights on the street on the way to my host family's house
Home sweet home
Some indoor Christmas decorations on the wood stove, that they use in the winter (which is July) :-)
These lights were just up the street. While this may be a somewhat normal sight in the US, it is extremely rare to see this many Christmas lights in one place in Chile. It's still so surreal to see Christmas lights without snow.
A few days later it was time to celebrate New Years! We had a New Years Eve feast of fresh seafood and salmon. We even survived an entire bowl of Piure. Piure is a traditional dish of raw seafood seasoned with lemon and cilantro.
My host dad cutting the seafood out of a rock and cleaning them
The beautiful raw seafood Piure that we ate on New Years Eve
My wonderful host family at dinner!
After a tasty dinner, Brent and I headed downtown with Isaac, Picha and Pablo to enjoy the fireworks. To give you an idea, Valparaiso is a port town on the coast and is located in a horseshoe shaped bay, so the fireworks over the bay are spectacular.
A view of horseshoe shaped bay of Valparaiso from above
I'm pretty sure this fireworks display is the only event Chileans coordinate all year that is actually on time and in sync. Right at midnight about 8 different barges lauch off the same fireworks display in the bay. I still am in awe that they are able to coordinate something this spectactular in a country where everything is a half hour late and there aren't schedules posted for anything. I guess they know how to start the year off right!
The streets were full of locals and foreigners enjoying the festivities
Our view of the fireworks display
The view over the bay
Happy New Year!
After the amazing fireworks display we helped Picha with her little annual business. Every year she borrows a cart from a friend, buys cases and cases of beer, and sells them to people in the street. This year she sold about 250 beers in 1.5 hours and made around $100 dollars in that short amount of time. Impressive.
Helping Picha pick up the cart a few days before New Years
The mountain of cerveza
Chilling the beer in the bathtub. . . I got a major kick out of this :)
What we looked like walking down the streets of Valparaiso. . .two gringos, a chilean, and a shopping cart full of beer. . .what a sight.
After all the beer sales were done, we met up with Isaac and Pablo to enjoy the festivities in the city. We went to a plaza to enjoy a free concert and then up into the hills to a spot with an awesome view to meet up with more friends.
The free concert in plaza Soto Mayor - I like the creepy mask in the foreground
Isaac and Brent enjoying the concert
The plaza was packed full of people!
Paseo Yugoslavo - Where we headed around 3am after the concert was over to hang out with friends
Globos - Think of these as mini hot air balloons made out of tissue paper and a flaming ball of newspaper
Pablo, Brent and I finally took off around 5am, which got us home by 6am, just in time for sunrise. Isaac got home around 8am, and Picha, like a good Chilean, got home around 10am. I don't know how those Chileans do it. It was a great night. Happy New Year!
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