(Concrete) Jungle

It has been adventure after adventure here...

Hung out in Valparaiso, Chile, for four days and it was beeeeyoootiful! We had such a loverly hostel with a super cool owner who we barbecued and drank bottle after bottle of Chilean wine with on our last night. Then it was off to Uruguay! Our flight was only 2 hours total, but due to delays, rain, etc., we ended up spending most of the day in the airport, playing hangman, Ispy, and testing perfumes in the airport shops. Yaay.

Montevideo was a really cool city. It has a lot of colonial charm, with old buildings, cobbled streets, narrow alleys, and lots of cute outdoor markets and restaurants. The exchange rate was better here which made me happy of course! We didn't do much except eat and get our hair done. Yes, it was truly relaxing. Oh, and we found a bar called Shannon Pub, so of course I had to capture the moment. How truly spesh...

Another looooong bus ride after a couple days in Montevideo and we were finally in Brazil!!! It was probably the worst bus ride ever. Dinner looked like spam meatloaf with canned green beans inside. And it smelled like ass. Needless to say we were starving once we arrived in Florianopolis! Luckily for us it is really hard to go hungry here. Well, in our case that applies everywhere...

Now we are in beautiful Floripa, staying on Ilha Santa Catalina 50 meters from the beach! We have done so much here...tanned, surfed for the first time ever (I know, I'm from California...), ate deeelish seafood (ooh, I conquered my fear of peeling whole shrimp!! I just really hate looking at their eyes...), we got our nails done, swam in our lovely hotel pool, went out dancing and drinking with the locals...whew.

I have to tell you about this one day though. We have affectionately dubbed it "The Day From Hell." We were looking in our guide books for cool beaches to go explore and their was one on the south of the island. Originally we wanted to rent a car, but (big American surprise) none of us could drive a stick, and it was waaay expensive to rent an automatic. So one of the ladies that works at our pousada (inn) called her friend and she offered to drive us around for the day for 60 reais (like $30). We all drove to the south to this beach called Lagohina do Leste which we could only access by a trail which was rumored to take 2 1/2 hours to walk. But we thought, "oh, what the hell, we're here, it will be long, but it's probably an overestimation."

Not only was it not an overestimation, they neglected to mention that it is straight up like three different mountains, which are covered by cacti, sharp rocks, and mud. We should have brought machetes, boots, rope, and a tent. We were in our bikinis and flip flops. Shit was crazy. We were almost dead by the time we got there. On a positive note, the beach was beautiful: perfect water temperature, white sand, and deserted, except for two Argentinian guys. We were all smiles...

Until we realized we had to walk back. The only thing that kept me going was thinking about the cold, delicious, pint of beer that I was going to inhale when we got back. But so many times, I thought about stopping and living there in the jungle. We could have built a mud house and ate mud pies! Seriously though, I think my life flashed before my eyes. Oh wait, that was just the afternoon Brazilian sun and plethora of mosquitos in my face...

Good thing is we made friends with the Brazilian girl, Paula, who is super cool. She is a teacher and invited us to come speak with her students the next day, then we would all go out. We came and hung out with a bunch of 12 year old surfer kids and then went out for sushi. Paula brought her boyfriend and two of her friends and it was officially a fiesta! We all went dancing at a club called Foho, which is probably the incorrect spelling. It is the name of a type of dance and music they were playing that night, kind of like salsa. We all were taught how to dance by the many willing (sometimes too willing) Brazilian men...

Tonight we are going to a reggae club with Paula (there is a really big rasta/reggae scene out here) and tomorrow we are going surfing again!! I will try not to eat as much shit as I did last time, but I guess the only way to learn is to know what it feels like to get battered by a wave, swallow a gallon of sea water, have the board hit you in the face, and then try to avoid all that. Good technique, huh?

We are flying to Salvador on Sunday, classes start on Wednesday. Oh shit!

Pics coming soon...
*Besitos*

It´s Ok, You´re On Vacation!

Ummm...is it wrong to rationalize eating too much with the excuse "We´re on vacation!"? Ok, well what about shopping?

Oh, everyone does that? Ok, good..

Our last night in Santiago was a Friday night...wooooo!!! We started off with such a good dinner: Chilean seabass with pesto mashed potatoes, mushroom and spinach risotto, and of course a bottle of wine...yummm. For desert we tried to be healthy and order a mango desert but they brought out the wrong one--a white and milk chocolate something that was absolutely heavenly. We knew it wasn´t ours but yes, we ate it anyway...guilt free until our waiter brought the mango to our table. Valerie tried to explain it to him in Spanish as we tried to wipe the chocolate off our faces and it came out something like this: "Umm, we ordered that, but they brought us this, and we didn´t know, but this is perfect! *giggle*" So funny.

Anyway we got a local recommendation to go across the street to this bar/restaurant called Etniko. It was super hip with good music and good drinks. We proceeded to order another bottle of wine and pretty much closed the place down...yeah, we´ve been doing that a lot. We made friends with this young couple and the people that worked there and we all went out to this other club a few blocks away. We then proceeded to close down that club as we danced to I have no idea what kind of music until 5 in the morning. Whew! It was a good way to finish off our time in Santiago...although I think there might be some incriminating pictures. Good thing I don´t remember! Ha!

So now, we are in beautiful Valparaiso, Chile right now. It is a really amazing city with huge rolling hills and windy cobblestone streets, filled with street art and cute artsy boutiques and galleries. Just the houses here are works of art...they are all candy-colored with cute flower beds and decorative graffiti.

We are staying in this area called Bellavista (yes, the same name as the area in Santiago, but more appropriate because we actually have a view here...and it is nothing short of breathtaking. Damn, we felt spoiled eating a delicious seafood lunch on top of this mountain with a scene comporable to Twin Peaks. Niiiice...

We saw Pablo Neruda´s Valparaiso house today (apparantly he has three houses in Chile, probably one for each wife...) and it is sooo cool. It has a panoramic view of the entire city and contains furniture and artwork from all over the world. A chair from France, a painting from India, a piece of driftwood from Argentina...he had such a life...

We explored another area of the city today closer to the water called Concepcion. We had lunch (yes, and a bottle of wine!) and walked around the area. There is this pathway called the "open air museum" which is just a walkway through the city where artists have decorated the walls with spraypaint, stencil art, glass, and a bunch of other crap (good crap, artsy crap ya´know). It was really beautiful coupled with the colorful houses and cobbled streets. Pictures tell all.

Ok, that is the update so far. Ooh! I forgot to mention the most important thing! I got new earrings and they´re really awesome. Yeah, I know...but I´m on vacation!!! *winkwink*

<3 from Chile!
(pics coming soon! No USB port here!)

Lazy Days

I love it here. Every day Valerie, Eryn, and I have lunch, brunch, or dinner somewhere and sit there for hours eating, drinking, talking, and people watching. We have nowhere to be, and no responsibilities...what an escape. Today we walked around Bellavista, had salads, salmon, and a bottle of Chilean wine for $20. It was glorious. We searched for shopping but I guess it´s not in the stars. Probably better that way...

Today was the Dia De Las Mujeres: The Day of Women. Women everywhere are supposed to be appreciated (more than usual...*ahem*) and we thought, oh, we don´t have any boyfriends here to give us flowers so lets buy them for each other. But as we were walking down the street, a man handed us three red roses and wished us a "happy day of women!" Yay, we´re loved!

We also visited Pablo Neruda´s house today. It was amazing, beautiful, eclectic. Very artsy. There are columns outside with his poems enscribed on them. They are soo romantic...*sighhh*

Pictures are of random shit from today (Neruda´s casa, colorful houses on the streets, us lunching...) and the cool artwork found all over the barrio (neighborhood) Bellavista. It´s supposed the be the bohemian quarter of the city.

***hearts***

Dulce Vida

Yesss. Life is sweet. I am sitting here in my temporary home approriately named Chilli Hostel in Santiago. Clever, no? It has been such a beautiful trip so far, and I am blessed to be in such lovely countries with such lovely company. We three girls have lots of fun together (we also eat a lot of food, drink a lot of wine, do a lot of shopping, and take a lot of pictures...yeah, we´ve been busy). We got in yesterday from Mendoza, Argentina after three days in the country. It was a breath of fresh air from Buenos Aires. Literally. Smog checks are obviously out of style in South America. No bueno.

So I have finally found a computer that was made after 1995 and has a port where I can upload my pictures. Yay! However, I have like 400-something of them and it will probably take many hours to put them online. No yay there...
So I will put them up from my trip thus far and let them do talking. I am too tired to type a lot. But I will fill you all in on where we have been:

First, we were in Puerto Iguazu where we visited the famous Iguazu Falls. We also drank a lot of Argentinian beer and went out to a random discotech with a random guy we met at this restaurant. At the club they had a room with lots of fog and foam. Adventure!

Next, we traveled to Buenos Aires, where we stayed at this super fun hostel full of young partyers. Downside: we were "sleeping" next to the party room. Upside: I *heart* Buenos Aires. It is full of all these really cute neighborhoods, reminiscent of the Mission district or Noe Valley in San Francisco. We ate out, went drinking and even took tango lessons! The tango is soo beautiful...it made me melt watching people dance it (well, dance it well I should say...). We also had an excellent steak dinner one night. I really don´t want to go into detail about how much food I consumed. It was a sight. There was this amazing cemetary there, full of huge monuments of all these prestigious Argentinians. We saw Evita´s grave! It was beautiful.

After four days there, we were off to Mendoza, which is wine country. Yum!!! It was a beautiful part of the country, very hilly and green. Actually reminded me a lot of California, oh pangs of nostalgia! We spent leisurely days in the park, having lunch by the lake and popsicles under grape vines. We rented bikes there and rode around the wineries, tasting all these delicious Argentinian wines. We were invited out by the woman who owned the hostel one night to a barbecue nearby. We got to practice our Spanish, drink lots of good wine, and eat lots of a-m-a-z-i-n-g barbecue. So, we left Argentina after dancing tango, drinking lots of wine, and eating lots of meat. Goal accomplished!

To end this entry on a blue note, I got an email from my mom telling me my dog died on Monday. Java was my baby and I loved her with all my heart...we had her for 12 years! I knew she was old, but I still couldn´t help the tears...
Sending my love to doggy heaven!!

Well anyway, here we are in Santiago, Chile and our adventure continues! Hope you enjoy the pictures, although they are a poor representation of the amazing sights I am seeing day to day! Miss and love all of you!
¡Besos y abrazos!
¡Ciao!

(Tip: Pictures are from oldest to newest and they are in groups of five because I could only upload five at a time. So I will have five, ten, or fifteen pictures from the same place, depending, just to give you an idea of where they were taken...)

All I Can Say Is...

Wow.

I love South America. It really is such a beautiful place. I love the people most of all..everyone is so friendly (for the most part) and not to mention they are all freaking gorgeous. Yes, just my kind of place. Y tambien, puedo practicar habla Español con los personas que viven aqui, porque es muy mal ahora. Ok, that probably has soo many grammatical errors. But I'm learning. Slowly. It's a lot easier than Thai, and I can say for sure that I know more than four words. Exciting!

I am in Buenos Aires right now staying at a lovely hostel with people from all over the world...there is a party here every night until the sun comes up, which sucks for us becuse we are on the bottom floor right next to all the noise. Although last night we were up getting crazy! We (for those that don't know "we" is me, Valerie, and Eryn, two girls in my Brazil program) signed up for the "Tango Xperience" last night for 65 pesos per person, which is like $20. We got some cheap read wine, tango lessons and went to a tango club reminiscent of the 20s era. I absolutely am in love with the tango!! It is so beautiful, romantic, passionate. Watching all the people at the club gave me chills...people were just dancing with their eyes closed listening to the music and moving with each other...it made me swoon. We were there with a big group from all the participating hostels, which was like 40 people or so! Tangoing is only fun if you have a good partner though. It's the man's job to lead so if he doesn't know what he is doing, then you end up stepping all over each other's feet (although granted, that was totally me last night, but hey I never tangoed before!!).

After the club we went back to the hostel and decided to go out and party some more (uh oh...). So the three of us went to this big club called Bahrein not too far from our hostel and danced the night away! I didn't go to sleep until 7am. Good times were had, for sure!

I really want to put pictures up because I have so many cool ones of Iguazu Falls (ok, I seriously have like 200 pictures of waterfulls and butterflies...they were everywhere!!) and lost of Buenos Aires too. I loooove it here...

Tomorrow we are going to Mendoza, about 14 hours by bus heading west. Apparantly they are famous for their wine there. Ooh, that reminds me, I have to have a steak before we leave here!! Argentina is famous for its bife.
(Ok sidenote: This guy showed me a picture of a steak he had eaten the night before and it is like 2 inches thick and half a foot long. He said he ate the whole thing and it was the best steak he had in his life. Woooo!)
Anyway Mendoza is supposed to be beautiful and there is a lot of outdoorsy stuff to do there...water rafting, para-gliding, rappeling. Yay!

Hope all is well in the States, I miss all my peeps and wish you could see what I see! I promise to put up pictures soon 'cause I know you're all holding your breath!! I don't miss the weather there though...guess what I'm wearing right now? Yep, short-shorts and a tank top. I am going to be so black when I get back...woohoo!!

Con amor y paz,
Shannonita