Palegoldenrod

I did so much in my last month in Santiago. Next week I am leaving Chile for Argentina and eventually to Bolivia for a few months.

Parties

I went to Grainne’s farewell at her house (nicknamed the Pisco Disco) and met some of the most awesome people in Santiago. Abraham, a very talented drummer who has now gone to England to compete for a scholarship to study music; Cristhian, a software developer / network admin who also DJs on Santiago Radio and other clubs – now gone back to Bolivia to visit his family for a while; Cris’ girlfriend Bio, an Italian with a great sense of humour and who is a lot of fun; Mauricio and Christian, whose professions are cinematography and who produce music videos among other things; Pablo, a photographer…. ah, so many cool people. Hi guys!

I partied at the Pisco Disco many times over the last month or so, including catching some of Abraham’s concerts with various groups. I had a lot of fun

Sight Seeing

Dennis and I went to the Pre-Columbian Museum in Santiago (don’t miss it) as well as the Museum of Natural History at Quinta Normal (missable… nothing special). We went for a walk through Quinta Normal park too which was nice enough, though nothing too spectacular.

I checked out Parque Arauco, which is really just a shopping mall and doesn’t reflect anything of Chilean culture at all, except the division between rich and poor.

I went with Rose to the Exposición del Cuerpo (Exhibition of the Body) where human bodies have been plasticised and sliced and diced and made available to the public. It was very interesting, though I also learnt that this particular exhibition has some questions raised over the source of the bodies used – some believe they may have been underhandedly acquired from asia.

Music

I enjoyed two symphonic orchestra concerts with my friend Dennis: one was the Santiago Symphonic Orchestra, one a combined concert of the Youth Orchestras from Munich, Germany and Chile. The youth orchestra concert was free at the Catholic University – there are so many free and awesome events in Santiago… Make sure you catch some of them!

I went to an Inti Illimani concert with Patricio and his family, to also support Pato’s cousin who is the percussionist in the supporting band. Both groups were great.

Dennis and I also went to a performance at the Goethe Insitut. We thought it would be some classical style music but it turned out to be “experimental” (a bit much for us).

I went with the Pisco Disco guys to some of Abraham’s concerts and also to an album launch to see Christian Carmona’s music video being displayed to the public for the first time. Excellent work on both counts.

Valparaiso

Dennis and I went to Valparaiso again for a weekend and were lucky enough to be there when the weather was perfect. It was sunny, a very slight breeze, warm (about 18 degrees or so) and we walked a lot and took some very cool photographs. Dennis is a great person to spend time with (very relaxed and easy going) and I really enjoyed this experience at Valpo.

We went to the old prison at the top of one of the cerros, which is now a public space for art and music. The vibe there was so strong and unique. A very special place. We also went out dancing on Saturday night in Valpo which was cool too.

I think Valpo is my favourite place in Chile so far, and if I come back I want to go there again. There are one million more photos from this trip on my Flickr page.

Mendoza

My visa was getting a bit tight so I went to Mendoza, Argentina for a weekend. The pass through the Andes closes every night in winter (and sometimes in the day in bad weather) so there are a lot of people trying to get through last thing at night. After a three hour wait at the border I got through and arrived in Mendoza at midnight, without having booked a hostel. Luckily I chatted to another traveller and went with him to a hostel nearby which was clean and relatively cheap, if not very quiet.

I wandered around Mendoza, feeling somewhat weird after all the familiar faces and action of the big city of Santiago. Mendoza is very quiet. I walked around quite a bit and was just starting to get comfortable when I returned to Santiago. Unlucky for me when I arrived at the bus terminal I realised I had forgotten to change my watch to local time and had missed my bus by half an hour (d’oh).

So I paid for another ticket in a microbus and when I arrived at the loooong waiting line at the border spoke to the conductor on my original bus (held up in in the line too) and changed to my original, more comfortable, warmer bus for the rest of the journey.

Jamming

I practiced both my violin and mandolin much more. Last week I took my violin up to Cerro San Cristobal and sat in the sun and played and sang for a few hours. To my surprise some people walking by stopped and sat with me and one guy started humming / singing harmonies. It was really cool – especially because I can neither sing nor play very well, haha.

I also jammed with my cousin a lot, with him playing either the chaurango or piano. I really love music even though I make it poorly (he is much better than me!).

Hanging out

I caught up with Rosemarie (what up, chica!) for shopping, talking, drinks, and everything in between; Dennis (of course), Patricio, the guys from the Pisco Disco (Cris, Abraham, Mauricio, Francisco and all the rest), Luis, Jorge, Diego, my friends at the Dublin Pub, Club 102 and the Ex Fabrica Club…. I had a lot of fun with you all.

Thank you for being so awesome – I will miss you.