The Faller's Go to Chile!

The Faller’s Go to Chile (your first of many weekly installments to come).

The Faller’s have arrived, and Chile has welcomed us with open arms! The people, the views, the food, and the hotels are all wonderful! Pictures can probably describe these better than words, so my writing will be brief, but I promise more thoughts for the next time. My personal highlights of the trip so far: 1) Rafting down the river Trancura with our jolly guide, Carlitos. 2) Eating Shrimp and Saffron Risotto at Hotel Antumalal. 3) Visiting the fish, fruit, and vegetable market in Valdivia. 4) Fishing on Lago de los Santos. 5) The Faller sitcom car ride from Fruitillar the rest of the way into Petrohue. 6.) Eating at Como Agua para Chocolate in Santiago. 7) Watching Dad make friends with the local cat by feeding it half a chicken breast in the artisan town of Pomaire. 8) Wine tasting at the Vineyard, Undurraga. 9) My midnight raspberry fruit juice date with Dad. 10) Family review of vacations past, which lasted until the manager kicked us out.

Funniest Moments:

Matt: Appearing as a pin size yellow dot, kayaking on lake Villarica, while the rest of the family sought refuge under the balcony of our hotel to keep out of the torrential downpour.

Dad: Walking around the hotel with two gutted fish we had just caught and dubbed Tina and Tim Troutling. They were very tasty for dinner.

Merry: Being plunged underwater after the rafting guide had tricked me into “playing a fun game” that required me to kneel in the bow of the boat.

Mom: Repeating over and over again in Spanish, “the frying pan! The frying pan!” while I was trying to explain to the chef how she wanted her fish cooked.

A summary of the itinerary:

Monday Feb 15^th: I join the rest of the family in Santiago, and we catch the afternoon flight to Temuco. Then a rental car gets us to the lake town of Pucón.

Tues Feb 16^th-Weds Feb 17^th: Kayaking, rafting, and sightseeing in Pucón. We stayed at Hotel Antumalal.

Thurs Feb 18^th-Friday Feb 19^th: Trekking and Fishing in Petrohue, on Los Lagos de Los Santos. We stayed at Hotel Petrohue.

Saturday Feb 20^th: Drove to Puerto Montt and caught the afternoon flight back to Santiago to see one of Pablo Neruda’s houses, La Chascoa. (La Chascoa is what Pablo Neruda called his mistress and third wife and means the messy-haired woman in Spanish.) Then Mom and Matt are back to Los Estados Unidos.

Sunday Feb 21: Dad and Merry explore Santiago! Walked through Santa Lucía which has a fantastic fort and park, continued onto el Palacio de la Moneda, and stopped for a coke in La Plaza de Las Armas (main square). Then we hit the Pre-Columbian museum, Santiago’s National History Museum (which was way better despite what all the literature tells you), and headed back to the hotel for ice cream and a brief siesta. An hour later we take the metro out to Los Dominiqos, which is an artisan craft area, and then later that evening went to the restaurant Como Agua Para Chocolate (yes, like Isabel Allende’s book).

Monday Feb 22: Dad and Merry go to visit Viña Undurraga in the town of Talagante, 34 km (21 mi) southwest of Santiago. We also stopped by the town of Pomaire (another artisan town known for it’s pottery).

Tuesday Feb 23: Goodbye hugs for Dad, and I’m off to Arica to start my study abroad program!

Mom and Matt caught two trout in Petrohue which we endearingly named, Timmy and Tinna Troutling...and then we ate them.

Where does the rainbow end? Petrohue, Chile over my left shoulder

Let's be honest, it wouldn't be a real vacation if I didn't get fried.

Mattikusupula: Rare Giant Chilean Mountain Sloth

Taking in "nature's pallete" near Pucón, Chile at Hotel Antumalal, which I highly reccommend.

Valencia 2010

So before the Chile adventure starts, (and it has started and it is wonderful) I need to play a little bit of catch-up. At the beginning of last semester I was talking to my Spanish Independent Study Professor, Chris Swafford, about what on earth a 21 year-old kid does at home for all of January and most of February while all of her friends are off at college. I´m so glad I brought the subject up because we came to the conclusion that she goes to stay with Chris and the Earlham Program in Valencia, Spain for two weeks. I´ve hiked in the northwestern part of the country (Burgos-Santiago) as well as studied in the central southern area of (Madrid-Ciudad Real-Cordoba) and on the Island of Menorca, but I have never been to Cataluña and the Barcelona area. I refuse to pick a favorite, they all have their own charms. However, I will say that this trip has made it clear in my mind that I will have to live in this country for at least two or three years at some point. You´re all welcome to come visit :)
My favorite part of the trip (academically speaking) were the art museums and places of interest around the city. In Barcelona and a few surrounding towns, we saw the Picasso Museum, a Miró Museum, the Dahlí exhibit, and several architectural feats by Gaudí (a house he designed for himself is pictured above.) They were all fabulous, but my recomendations would be to skip out on Picasso and hit the Miró and Dahlí exhibits. Also, if the weather is permitting the park by Gaudí (Guell) was very cool and offered some beautiful views of a sunset over Barcelona.
My friend Lo, happened to be on the Earlham program while I was visiting and we had a great time roaming around Barcelona´s nightlife together. This is a fountain a little to the North of ¨Las Ramblas¨the happening district in Barcelona.


Back to the city of Valenica, above is a picture of the city of the arts and sciences. Valencia is trying to revamp itself with a modern/futuristic style, and with the architecture and museums in this quadrant of the city they definitely succeed. I cannot decide if I was more impressed with the outside or the inside of the museums. I should note that this wavering is probably biased, the two current special topic exhibits at the museum of the sciences are genetics as well as drug history coupled with brain chemistry. (That´s basically everything my major encompasses in a couple thousand square feet...I had only planned on staying an hour and a half and ended up staying 4) Hanging out a Valencia´s beach with the Earlham gang. It was too cold to go swimming (unless your name is Andrew...), but we definitely enjoyed catching some sun, writing our names in the sand, and eating BK shakes and fries (which are much better than BK in the USA, fyi) on our beach blanket.

Busting out a Blog

So as I pack for Spain/Chile, I've been juggling a couple different worries around in my head. The principal one at the moment being how on earth am I going to stay in touch with all of my friends and family while I'm abroad? Clearly snail mail isn't going to cut it, e-mail seems kind of lacking in visuals, and not everyone has a Facebook they are willing to share (and no offense but I don't quite want everyone checking in on everything I've been up to on mine either). A blogs seems like the best way to keep most of you in the loop, so I'm going to try it out. I'll be posting some initial stuff from the end of the year just to work out any kinks, but the real Chilean adventure will start on Valentine's Day in Santiago, Chile with the rest of the Faller Family. I'd love to hear any comments or criticisms on content and design and please, please, please let me know if you're having any problems viewing the blog.
Love you all and please write!
Merry