Long Weekend Getaway

Once I found out I was coming to Paraguay, Chile immediately jumped to the top of my vacation wish-list. I went to Santiago 5 years ago for my cousin Peter and Sandra’s wedding, and haven’t really seen or stayed in touch with them since. This weekend became a great opportunity to get to know Peter and Sandra better, and meet their kid, Michael!

I arrived in Chile last Thursday (after an overnight in the airport, my favorite, of course). I got in around noon, headed to their place, cleaned up, and then we were off! First stop was a delicious lunch at a Peruvian restaurant, where I tried ceviche (and liked it!) for the first time! Then I headed with Peter to Michael’s day care to pick him up. Not gonna lie, that is one cute kid! It took a while for him to warm up to me, but by the end we were high fiving maniacs!

Michael looking sharp is his new Ao Po'i!

Friday we had a lazy morning, and then headed out for a tour of the Chilean markets. One of Peter and Sandra’s friends is a tour guide there (www.foodychile.com), and we went with him. We saw a flower market, veggie market, fish market, and tried some local cuisine and drinks along the way. That night, I went with Peter to a MICROBREWERY! It had been a loooooong time since I enjoyed delicious beer, and we ran into a guy there who lived in Paraguay for a while and spoke a little Guarani!

Sandra, Peter and I

Terremoto. Why Chileans thought combining Fernet and ice cream would be a good idea baffles me...

Saturday and Sunday were more relaxed days. Highlights include WASHING MY CLOTHES WITH A WASHER, a fun and yummy lunch with Peter and Michael, enjoying delicious red wine, escaping a small mall fire (yea, that happened), drinking coffee & eating too much dessert, and lots of laughs.

Happiness in a machine.

In all honesty, it felt like it was the same as a long weekend getaway in the States. We kept the tourism low key, and it was the company I surrounded myself with that made the trip. Some friends asked me if it was awkward that I didn’t know them very well beforehand, and I thought about it… For many people the trip could have been really awkward! I grew up far away from Peter in the states and we are over 10 years apart, so had nothing in common with each other growing up. I am extremely lucky, however, to have amazing cousins who live interesting lives and are simply easy to be around. Hopefully they felt the same about having me visit!

I will leave you with this quote from Sunday just before leaving:

Me: Michael is being such a good boy right now!

Peter: Yeah, that’s because he’s busy sticking play-doh in his ears…

Little troublemaker...