The reason I had a three week hiatus of blog updates was due to some minor distraction in my life between traveling to Easter Island (view that blog here) and Nathan coming to visit me right afterwards.
I returned to Santiago on a Tuesday night and Nathan arrived Wednesday morning, so the fun never stopped!
Anyway, back at the end of March I received an email from Nathan informing me that he found a great deal on a plane ticket to Chile and that he couldn't pass it up, so just like that he was coming to visit me! His trip came at an interesting time for him right after graduating and shortly before moving out of the States to pursue some awesome dreams of his.
Nathan's visit also came at a rather interesting time for me too. Somehow for the solid week that he was here, all of my classes had some sort of out-of-the-norm thing going on. So I was running between classes and meetings and quizes while he wandered around the city and enjoyed some of Valparaíso.
Aside from the craziness of my school schedule, we were able to spend some well needed time together and explore a small piece of this skinny country.
We went to La Campana National Park, which is somewhere between Valpo and Santiago. This park has some really pretty hiking trails and is a nice place for getting away from the busy cities.
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I even introduced Nathan to the joy that is Empanadas. We liked them so much that we started to make our own and get creative with different fillings.
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| Fillings include: mushroom-vegie-cheese, manjar banana, manjar cheese... |
Of course we went to do some touristy Valparaíso things, like ride an ascensor and visit Paseo 21 de Mayo.
Before arriving, Nathan realized that we have a shortage of good photos of us together. So I asked my friend Natalie if she would be willing to take some pictures of us so we could share them with friends and family. She was beyond thrilled. Her photos are awesome
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| Photo Credit: Natalie Christian |
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| Photo Credit: Natalie Christian |
Natalie has an excellent eye for photography, check out her blog here.
After a week and a half flew by here in the port city, it was time to make our way back to Santiago for Nathan's return to the states. But before he left we went to an awesome vineyard complete with tastings. I found a cool one here that is totally organic and produces fantastic wine, so off we went to support the cause.
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| Delicious Wine from Emiliana |
When we arrived in Santiago, we walked right into a huge protest happening in the city. The main point of the protest was against a large hydroelectric dam project that has been proposed in Patagonia, but there were other groups piggybacking on this movement as well...
The one full day we had in Santiago happened to be the one day of the year when all important buildings of the city were open to the pubic, completely free! So we were able to check out some neat museums and such without paying a single peso.
It was so wonderful to have Nathan here in Chile with me. I have had such an amazing experience in this country and I was so glad to be able to share it with him and show him what my life really is like down here. Now he understands more about what my daily life is like and knows who the people are that I spend my time with.
When he arrived we were expecting it to be the last time we would see each other for at least a year since he had plans to go to China at the end of June. But, another opportunity arose and he will now be going to Hungary in September to pursue a masters degree. So while it was sad to see him go on Monday, we knew that it wasn't a "wont see you for a year"goodbye, but a "see you in a few months!"goodbye. Hope that made sense...
So with Nathan's departure that means I have to check back into the reality of school (again) after 3 weeks or so of putting everything on the back burner. Things are going to happen quickly here though. I only have about a month left of actual classes and then a few final exams and I will be headed out of Chilean winter and into Colorado Summer! Should be a fun!
Thanks for reading everyone,
Be well.
Matt
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| Photo Credit: Natalie Christian |
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