Christy and Ashley's Visit

We got to the airport on time, but this time we came prepared with books and zen micros in hand. It was a good thing we brought them, because we ended up needing them. Christy and Ashley's plane was late, so we simply went back to the car and read and listened to music. Luckily, it wasn't as late as Aunt Sally and Nana's plane, but it still was about an hour. They got in and we had our usual happy reunion. Then we took our drive through the downtown part of the city along with a Roxy/Sarah tour. We got back to the apartment and really spent the whole day resting, Christy had a cold and had had a rough time on the plane. We decided to keep this trip near Santiago, so we wouldn't have to do a whole lot of sitting in the car. The next day we stayed home for the first part of the day, Amelie, John, and Melinda came over and Christy and Ashley were very excited to meet the famous Amelie! (and you too, of course, John!) Christy, Ashley, Sarah, and I had tea parties on the deck of our balcony. Sarah and Ashley were our butlers.


That afternoon we went over to the market and to Cerro Santa Lucia, where we climbed to the top of the hill and got a great view of Santiago. And Christy, Ashley, and Carol, got their first experience of a jam-packed metro ride! The next day we stopped by the Mercado Central, and the main plaza, where we met mom for lunch and got to see a street artist perform.

The next day, we headed for Valparaíso, which is about a 2 hour drive from Santiago. We found our hotel, a totally awesome and modern hotel! Then we went to eat at a restaurant my mom had eaten at when she came to Valpo last July with the other Fulbrighters. It was an awesome place, and you can leave a picture of yourself on the wall. Afterwards, we headed out for ice cream. Then back to the hotel. The following day in beautiful Valpo we went over to Pablo Neruda's house, he was a famous Chilean poet and a collector, his house was full of little trinkets. After introducing the Kmeics to the poetry and eccentricity of Pablo Neruda, we headed down to the docks and had a really good lunch on the water, watching all the boats get unloaded. Our last stop was the beach in Viña del Mar, the neighboring town. It was a little too cold to go into the water for me and Christy, but Ashley and Sarah went in. This is a picture of them after getting out of the water, who made the better choice? When we got back to Santiago, it was dark out and we got to see a lunar eclipse.

Their second to last day in Santiago we went to a different house of Pablo Neruda's, we had already seen it, but it was fun to see it again with them. I'm glad that they got to see the second Pablo Neruda house. The last day we found a palace that we got to go in and see, and there was an exhibit on knights armor, which was fun to see. We had a great time with Christy, Ashley, and Ms. Carol! I was soooo glad that they were able to come and visit us, in our second country!

For more pictures go to:http://picasaweb.google.com/roxrd520