Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."

Well... life definitely took a turn towards busy this past week or so due to the visit o my mom, sister, and grandparents. I had a lot of fun traveling with them and showing them Valdivia, and of course just getting to spend time with them. Although it did make my life a little crazy as I tried to go to classes, do homework and be tour guide :). It was worth it though and definitely bittersweet to see them all go (I now am much less busy but miss having them here!)

Anyways, I'll try to highlight some of our events from the week for you, and put some pictures up on Picasa for you to look through if you have time. We met in Santiago Friday morning after all traveling from our respective places (mom and petey from MI, gma and gpa from Ecuador, and me from Valdivia). Needless to say we were all a little tired from traveling all night, and this was only counfounded by the fact that they hadn't been able to find the right taxi from the airport (but they did find one at least) and Mikayla had managed to grab the wrong suitcase! After getting that sorted out (rather easily and quickly thankfully), some showers, and naps, we met Carissa Elenbaas (random connection from Byron) and she gave us a tour of the city in exchange for a suitcase of much needed things we brought for her (including a laptop since she lost hers in the earthquake/tsunami... if you want to read more you can go to her blog http://carissaelenbaas.blogspot.com/2010/03/earthquake.html ) Anyways, we managed to get to the cathedral, plaza de armas, the fish market, el palacio la moneda, and cerro san cristobal, along with stopping for a fairly traditional chilean lunch and some delicious pizza at night.

Overlooking Santiago from Cerro San Cristobal

Saturday we headed to Valparaíso and Viña, definitely my favorite part of the trip. Both cities are super cute with their own different, but somewhat similar personalities. We took a boat tour of the port in Valpo (it's a huge shipping port), and of course rode some funiculars (for you Amazing Race fans!) and got to see the beautiful colors of the houses and hills in Valpo. Sunday we mainly spent in Viña walking along the beach and eating a delicious brunch! Eventually we headed to the bus station for our 13 hour overnight ride to Validivia....

Valparaíso

Me and Mikayla in front of Castilla Wolff

In front of the flower clock in Viña

When we finally got to Valdivia (my home town), I got them settled into their hostal before heading "home" to unpack my stuff and go to class! In the afternoon I met up with them and gave them a small tour of the city before going to class again and then meeting them for dinner at a delicious pasta place close to my house.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both pretty relaxed which was nice for all of us after traveling so much! We spent a lot of time walking around and shopping at el mercado municipal for souveniers, and of course ate lots of delicious food! Tuesday night and Wednesday night were especially fun. Tuesday we had "once" (dinner-ish) with my host family. It was fun to talk in broken english and spanish and translate between everything, and both of my families enjoyed getting to know the other! Wednesday, we went to La Cervecería Kunstmann, which is a must-do here in Valdivia. We went with some of my friends from the University (all of whom speak english!) and had a lot of fun eating pichanga (one of my new favorite foods, french fries with lots of different meat, and sometimes avocado and tomato) and drinking one of Chile's most popular beers.

With my host mom Viviana

At La Cervecería Kunstmann

Thursday we went to Pucón where we saw the Volcano, the beach, did some more shopping, and went on a canopy tour, which was definitely another highlight of the week. Not only was it a blast to zipline from tree to tree, but the scenery was beautiful!

On our canopy adventure!

Volcán Villarica

Friday was their last day in town. I met them for lunch at another local restaurant that had been recommended to us and we split 2 giant burgers. They finished up some shopping and then we took a boat tour along the river to a more remote part of Valdivia where they make Chicha (fermented apple cider) and to a really old church. It was a nice relaxing way to end their time in Valdivia. Greg and Rachel joined us too which was fun and we all went out for pizza afterwards! After that they made one last stop at the grocery store to pick up some food and drink "souveniers" before heading over to the bus station. The bus was on Chilean time (about 30 minutes late), but they eventually got loaded up and began their long journey home (they should have recently landed in GR).

Overall, it was a really great trip. It was so fun to show them my life here in Valdivia and even more fun to see them become more comfortable in a different culture. Learning about different cultures, especially hispanic ones is something I'm passionate it about so it was cool to see them start to appreciate this culture as well. They even all were speaking various levels of spanish by the time they left!