Monday, August 16, 2004

my first trip

we (the students in the program) went to valparaiso and viña del mar yesterday. unfortunately, it was a rainy day - it didn't rain too hard, but it didn't stop until 20 minutes or so before sunset. because of this weather, the city, particularly valparaiso, which is probably the most important port in chile, was not particularly beautiful. the city is built on the 42 or so hills that surround the bay, and supposedly resembles san francisco. many of the houses are painted bright colors - if i lived there, and every winter day looked like yesterday, i'd paint my house bright pink and green too, just to see if it made me any happier. we visit one of pablo neruda's three houses - la sebastiana - which is built on top of a hill, and supposedly has the best view of the city. there are a lot of windows with great views, including the huge one next to his bed overlooking the pacific ocean - "El océano Pacífico salía del mapa. No había dónde ponerlo. Era tan grande, desordenado y azul, que no cabía en ninguna parte. Por eso lo dejaron frente a mi ventana" - what a view it must be right after you wake up. his house is architechtually amazing, and would be a great place to live. just seeing it makes me want to design a house, or maybe just read some of his poems.

the weather was a little nicer in viña than it was in valparaiso. we walked along the beach, and had tea in a nice little restaurant on the beach from which we could watch the surfers. how nice. on the bus back, we drove along the coast for as long as we could, and watched the beginings of sunset on the ocean, something i've never seen. while this was going on, in the east there was the biggest rainbow i've ever seen - we could see both ends and the whole arc in between. if only i'd remembered my camera . . . looks like i'll just have to go back.

oh, almost forgot. friday i went to see some international symphonic orchestra - it only cost $1.58 with the student discount. i wasn't going to go, but when i saw they were playing "a night on bald mountain," i just had to go - such a good song, and they played it well. there weren't many people there, but that just meant i got to sit on the ground floor. it was nice, probably not as good as CSO, but i couldn't see any difference. i'll probably go back.

for now, i'm watching the olympics - swimming, now gymnastics. and it's just about lunchtime, so i'm going to go.

chao.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How wonderful!!! But how could yopu forget your camera......you can't possibly be my son!!!

Mom

Anonymous said...

How wonderful!!! But how could you forget your camera......you can't possibly be my son!!!

Mom