So this weekend was great. We went to two places. First, we went to Cristina's friend's house in Totoralillo (her 1 of 5 houses in Chile!!). Second, we went to Patito's brother's house.
So first Cristina's friend's house. It is two hours north from Viña, and before we went Patitio and Cristina told me it was AMAZING. Yeah, didn't realize how amazing this place would be. Think of heaven on earth and BAM you have this house. The house was up on a hill overlooking the ocean. The back of the wall was all windows so you could just look out over the hill and just see the waves crashing against the rocky shore. In the living room there was a fireplace, and it was so cozy during the evening. The ladies were talking by the fire while I sat on the couch and read a book. It was wonderful. Then, at night I fell asleep to the waves crashing against the shore. The back of the house was one HUGE garden that went across the whole hill. There were tons and tons of pathways up and down the hill through this huge garden. There were at least 7 or 10 little sitting areas placed in little coves in the garden. They ranged from sitting areas to barbeque spots. The front of the house there was another huge garden. They had chickens, hens, and turkey's. They also had a mini bee farm. Also, the garden in the front of the house had a pathway that had a canopy of rose bushes. Also, down by the ocean there was a cliff. On this cliff they had mad a sitting area. It was in the shape of a half-moon. It was incredible. Here are some pictures
This is the view from the patio. This is a pool that isn't filled right now, because it is fall here.
This is the living area. In the back corner to the left is the dining table. This is where the fireplace was. It is to the right of this picture. The door leads to a hallway that has two bedrooms and a bathroom.
This is to the left of the previous picture. This is the main doorway, and if you go to the left in that little doorway, it is the kitchen. If you go to the left from where I am standing taking the picture (you can't see it here) there is a door that leads to the master bedroom that has a huge window looking out over the ocean. It also has stairways to two more levels. The first one is a tiny office and bedroom and the second level is a sitting room that has a lighthouse feel to it.
This is one of the many sitting areas in the garden.
One of the many paths
Cristina in another sitting area
This is the coolest part. This is a pool that gets filled with the ocean water. When the waves come, they crash over the stone sides and fill the pool and then flow back into the ocean. Magnificent, eh?
The house from the bottom of the hill
This where I slept. Two walls have HUGE windows as you can see. If you look out the window, you can see the ocean. I fell asleep to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
The front of the house.
Gardens...
The second place we went was out to the country. This is where Patitio's brother lives. He is 81 and a very well-known psychiatrist in Santiago. Yes, he is 81 and still practicing. He is pretty much awesome. He is an old man that looks like Santa Clause and acts like him too. He knows lots of English so that was nice. =) Anyways, the following pictures are his house. He built this along with the help of Patito about 50 years ago. It is a replica of a typical chilean farm house from two centuries ago. I think that the pictures will explain themselves. Note the roof!! It is thatched. Patitio says that rain doesn't come into the house at all! He said that the rain just flows right down the thatched roof. Amazing. Oh and also while we were there Patito's daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter of 7 years was there. They were all super nice, and it was great spending time there. I had the BEST empanada from a near-by restaurant. It filled me up for two meals, because it was just huge. While we were there we also went back into the property where the ashes of Patito's parents are buried. They had planted a tree over his father's ashes and they put roses over where the ashes's of his mother are buried. It was nice to be there. After that we went to this beautiful restaurant up on a mountain that was looking over the country-side and the ocean. It was a nice way to end the weekend. Here are the pictures:
<---Chileanpine trees
Even though I saw great places this weekend, I got really homesick. Yes, it finally hit. I was looking at the beautiful scenery and I just thought about how much my mom, dad, and Jordan would LOVE these places. My parents would have LOVED the scenery of the first place I visited and Jordan would have LOVED the antiques that filled this old farm house. Also, at the first place it had the smell of our cabin up north in it. It just made me think of home. However, God just led me to peace in His word and in prayer. He is good. I must say though, it is so good to be back in Viña, in my room, and having internet to keep in contact with back home.
I hope you enjoyed these photos!
God Bless,
Karina
p.s. I have noted a lot of food differences.
1. I am CRAVING real, ground coffee. They drink instant coffee. In the home, in the restaurants, in the cafeteria at the university, everywhere.
2. Their yogurt is very runny. It tastes delicious, and I love it, but it is more like a drink than a food item
3. They eat their cereal with the runny yogurt, not with milk. Once again, different but delicious
4. They eat cheese and lunchmeat for breakfast - interesting.
5. They have this weird liquid, fake sugar. They also have these fake sugar tablets that you can put in your hot drinks (coffee/tea). I'm not a fan of either.
6. They don't have dinner. They have once which is like a small snack with tea and coffee. It mostly includes everything they have at breakfast except the runny yogurt and cereal. This includes: bread, butter, cheese, and lunchmeat. At my house, though, we eat more of a variety of things at once. For instance, one time we had burgers =D It all depends on when and how much we ate at lunch (which is the main meal of the day)
7. They like bread. a lot.
