When we'd had our fill of Chile's very European city, we headed west back to Valparaíso to spend a wonderful near-week with my host family. During our time there, Carlos and Andrés took us to Limache/Olmue, and a laguna near Valparaíso with koi fish big enough to devour a small person. Carlos introduced us to the newest members of the family (baby chickens!), Jay shaved his beard off, we saw pupeteers in central Viña, Bobi (the dog) bumped into people and walls because of the cone he had to wear around his head, Adela beat some Spanish knowledge into Jay, Andrés treated us to his movie and music collection, and much food was prepared and eaten. It was relaxing, natural, and absolutely wonderful to stay with them again, and Jay was able to communicate quite a bit, which was pretty darn impressive.
When it was time to leave, Adela, Carlos and Andrés got up at 4-something in the morning to drive us to the airport in Santiago and insisted that we must come back to Chile again soon (they've decided that 2011 would be good).
Sad to leave but glad to travel, we boarded our plane to Bogotá´s airport (which, by the way, blows US airports out of the way as far as intimidating security) for a few hours, and then to Mexico City: Third-largest city in the world, 1st-largest in the western hemisphere. Flying in just before sunset, we saw the whole city just sprawl out into the horizon without visible boarders... it's pretty intimidating!
We took a taxi to our hostel (dorm-style bedrooms, but huge, clean building in a great location next to a park and near metro and lots of restaurants in the Coyoacán area), dropped off our stuff, and went out to eat.
Wow. What a change from meat, potatoes, palta (avocado) and bread. I love my host family, and I do love Chile and most of the other cities we saw in South America, but the only time we really got varied or spicy food was in Santiago´s one Korean restaurant and at my host family's house. On our first night in Mexico, for about a dollar per dish, we got quesadillas (corn and flour tortillas to fulfil Jay's long-time cravings), tacos of cactus (nopales) and cheese, horchata (a milky-watery-cinnamon drink), guacamole, and a minitower of salsas and dips for our chips. We are in culinary heaven.
The next day (today), we walked around the historical center, exploring the cathedral, the national palace with its murals and botanical garden, and random sidestreets in the area. We're still working on final details with our Oaxaca language program, but for now we'll be staying in wonderful Mexico City, enjoying the absurdly-cheap and far-reaching metro system, and sampling lots and lots of fabulous food.
More details and photos to come, but for now...
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| Santiago, Chile |
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| Limache and Olmué, Chile |
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| Laguna, Chile |
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| Valparaíso, Chile |
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| Mexico City, Mexico |
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