Chile!

Chile was an amazing trip! We had really good weather, and the cabana was really nice as well. Austin's family friend, Raul, and his wife showed us around Santiago Wednesday and Thursday. They recommended a really good restuarant to us, and invited us over for lunch the next day. Santiago was a really neat city, and while it did have some poorer areas, some parts of the city were really modern and clean. They even have a subway system, which I didn't really expect to see. Raul's cabana in Vina del Mar that we stayed in was really nice as well, and it was in a great location. The Chilean port cities are really pretty because they are built up on the hills; it's definitely not a flat area. We could see the beach from our cabana, but it was probably more than a 30 minute walk there. The buses were really easy to use though, and it worked out nicely for us. The beach was called Renaca beach. This picture is actually taken in the city of Vina del Mar. We were able to lay out on the beach Friday afternoon, but at about 3:30, it became too cold again. The beach is really windy, so that made it difficult to stay warm! The beach was really pretty though, and the waves seemed so much bigger! I took a lot of pictures and will try to get them up soon. We took a day trip to Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso. He's a famous Latin American poet. His house was really neat and had a great view of the city. We got to eat some seafood too, which is hard to find/eat in Mendoza. I really miss seafood! We mostly just hung out and relaxed when we weren't out on the beach or walking around. Friday was definitely our lazy day. We consumed a lot of cereal & ice cream and played card games for hours upon hours. It was definitely a girls weekend-a huge slumber party.
All of my work is picking up, but I have my first final November 5, then I'm done with one class. The 12th, I finish another class. My spanish program class finishes the 21st, and my ceramics presentation is the 23rd! I can't believe it's almost over!
Presidential elections were today. It was a huge ballot in Mendoza because they were voting for governor, senators, deputies, and city officials as well. Their voting system is so unreal. First of all, they have paper ballots in strips of 6 blocks each in a strip. In this election there were 28 of these strips. Each strip is it's own party, but some parties combine together and for instance, one of the candidates for governor is on 6 different ballots. You can either vote straight ticket, or if you dont' want to, you cut each candidate you like from each strip and make your own ticket. It's so confusing; there are over 1000 people on the ballot just for Mendoza, or more. I will try to save some newspaper articles and sample ballots from Liliana.
Her birthday is the 6th, and we are having a "tea party" of sorts at Mariela's hotel. She said there are going to be 35 people there, and there will be games. I'm kind of nervous...I guess I have a week to prepare! Hope everyone had a great weekend! xoxo