Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Christmas in El Tabo, Conclusion: No Rest for the Weary
(continued from Part IV.) We got back into the car to go back to El Tabo and that's when the phone rang...
It was Rodrigo's mom. She was inviting the three of us to come to their cabin for 'once' (pronounced [ohn-se], as in 'eleven' in Spanish). 'Once' is sort of like British tea time, only with a Chilean flavor, and it is very customary in Chile. She also wanted us to pick up Leandro and Uncle Nanu, who were going to watch the house while we were away.
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Though we still had a lot to do and it was late in the day, the last part of that request was a necessity, and since we were already in the same area where they were, off we went for 'once.' I have to say, Jorge was a real trooper, showing a lot of patience trying to find this resort, which was inland and upwards a bit. After several wrong turns, we finally made it.
The resort was actually a beautiful, quiet place located on a rustic hillside and nestled with lots of tiny cabin-like houses. It seemed like a vacation spot for the well-to-do, with manicured lawns and all of the houses painted in a uniform pristine white color. Rodrigo's family had rented one of these and once we found our way into the resort parking lot, we found them rather quickly.
In all, we spent about an hour with the family, with mom serving us the typical 'once' of cheese, ham, bread, and blech, tea! She chatted away about nothing and everything at once, and my only respite was a tour of the grounds by dad, which was nice!
By the time we were ready to leave it was already getting dark and cold and since we had a long drive in the morning (12 hours worth!), we knew sleep was essential, but getting much of it was going to be next to impossible. We dropped Rodrigo, Leandro and Nanu off at Jorge's and then he and I headed back to mama's to shower. It was already close to midnight.
By this time, I'd already had a couple of visits with Jorge's family, so I was totally comfortable and actually enjoyed myself with his mom, his sisters Maria Eugenia and Erika, and her daughter Massael, who were all wide awake and chatty. Two showers and a couple of cups of coffee later(Chileans LOVE their coffee!), we headed home to pack and try and get some shut eye, but not so fast!
Now I thought I was disorganized when it came to packing for a trip, but watching these two made my head spin! Chaos...utter chaos! I smoked a few cigarettes, checked my Facebook, called home, and sat with Uncle Nanu for at least two to three hours as Jorge and Rodrigo got their things together. By the time they had finished, it was around 3 a.m., and we then sat down for a glass or two of wine before heading off finally to sleep. Jorge had set the alarms for 5 a.m.! Christmas? What Christmas?
Check out the rest of this crazy, chaotic Christmas in El Tabo below:
Christmas Eve
A Christmas Morning Surprise
Christmas Lunch and a Visit to Patricio's
A Road Trip to Algorrobo
Stay tuned for some more of my Chilean Adventure coming soon.
It was Rodrigo's mom. She was inviting the three of us to come to their cabin for 'once' (pronounced [ohn-se], as in 'eleven' in Spanish). 'Once' is sort of like British tea time, only with a Chilean flavor, and it is very customary in Chile. She also wanted us to pick up Leandro and Uncle Nanu, who were going to watch the house while we were away.
'once'
Though we still had a lot to do and it was late in the day, the last part of that request was a necessity, and since we were already in the same area where they were, off we went for 'once.' I have to say, Jorge was a real trooper, showing a lot of patience trying to find this resort, which was inland and upwards a bit. After several wrong turns, we finally made it.
The resort was actually a beautiful, quiet place located on a rustic hillside and nestled with lots of tiny cabin-like houses. It seemed like a vacation spot for the well-to-do, with manicured lawns and all of the houses painted in a uniform pristine white color. Rodrigo's family had rented one of these and once we found our way into the resort parking lot, we found them rather quickly.
In all, we spent about an hour with the family, with mom serving us the typical 'once' of cheese, ham, bread, and blech, tea! She chatted away about nothing and everything at once, and my only respite was a tour of the grounds by dad, which was nice!
By the time we were ready to leave it was already getting dark and cold and since we had a long drive in the morning (12 hours worth!), we knew sleep was essential, but getting much of it was going to be next to impossible. We dropped Rodrigo, Leandro and Nanu off at Jorge's and then he and I headed back to mama's to shower. It was already close to midnight.
By this time, I'd already had a couple of visits with Jorge's family, so I was totally comfortable and actually enjoyed myself with his mom, his sisters Maria Eugenia and Erika, and her daughter Massael, who were all wide awake and chatty. Two showers and a couple of cups of coffee later(Chileans LOVE their coffee!), we headed home to pack and try and get some shut eye, but not so fast!
Now I thought I was disorganized when it came to packing for a trip, but watching these two made my head spin! Chaos...utter chaos! I smoked a few cigarettes, checked my Facebook, called home, and sat with Uncle Nanu for at least two to three hours as Jorge and Rodrigo got their things together. By the time they had finished, it was around 3 a.m., and we then sat down for a glass or two of wine before heading off finally to sleep. Jorge had set the alarms for 5 a.m.! Christmas? What Christmas?
Check out the rest of this crazy, chaotic Christmas in El Tabo below:
Christmas Eve
A Christmas Morning Surprise
Christmas Lunch and a Visit to Patricio's
A Road Trip to Algorrobo
Stay tuned for some more of my Chilean Adventure coming soon.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Christmas in El Tabo, Part IV: A Road Trip to Algorrobo
Once Rodrigo had cleaned and dressed, he brought me across the street from Jorge's shop to the 'artisan market,' where he sold his wares. The three of us, along with Jorge's mom, were going on a week long trip down south the next day and he needed to pick up some things for the stay.
The artisan markets are very popular in Chile. They're much like a flea market here in the U.S., only the wares are much nicer. Real artisans occupy the booths offering all sorts of unique items, from toys to homemade clothes (my Mapuche jacket came from Rodrigo's friend at the market.), jewelry, knick-knacks and much more.
The experience of walking through the market to Rodrigo's booth with him helped me see just how much of a sweetheart he really is. His place was towards the back, and we stopped at least three or four times because fellow artisans wanted to chit chat with him. One such vendor, Evelyn, was just getting ready to close her booth for the day and apparently she needed a ride somewhere from what I could discern from their conversation.
I was right. The woman needed to get to Algorrobo, a seaside town up the coast where her son was working in a restaurant. They were going to meet and make their way home. Of course, Rodrigo offered her the ride in Jorge's car, and once Rodri had gathered his belongings, we took a nice little ride up the coast.
Algorrobo is a beautiful, touristy place about a half-hour ride north from El Tabo. The entire ride up was filled with scenic vistas everywhere and spectacular views of the Pacific. Somewhere along the ride, Jorge pointed out the Pablo Neruda House, a place where he'd once been a curator in his younger days. For any of you who don't know Pablo Neruda, he was a famous Chilean writer and poet and Jorge has some pretty fascinating stories from his days there.
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I sooo wanted to stop somewhere along the way, and after we dropped Evelyn off, that's just what we did. A little bit past where we dropped her at the restaurant, there was this spectacular beach laid out in front of these resort-like apartments. Jorge had told me about the place because I remembered him talking about the world's largest swimming pool, which sat right there between the apartments and the Pacific. Unfortunately, the pool wasn't open to the public, but it was immense and a site to see!
Jorge parked the car and the three of us walked around a bit and took some pictures. We didn't stay long, though, because by then it was already almost 8:00 p.m. and we had more things to do. The next day was our trip down south and we still had to take showers (a luxury) and dinner at mama's, get home to pack, and get some shut eye before the long, twelve hour drive. We got back into the car to go back to El Tabo and that's when the phone rang...
to be continued...
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Check out the first three parts of Christmas in El Tabo:
Christmas Eve
A Christmas Morning Surprise
Christmas Lunch and a Visit to Patricio's
The artisan markets are very popular in Chile. They're much like a flea market here in the U.S., only the wares are much nicer. Real artisans occupy the booths offering all sorts of unique items, from toys to homemade clothes (my Mapuche jacket came from Rodrigo's friend at the market.), jewelry, knick-knacks and much more.
The experience of walking through the market to Rodrigo's booth with him helped me see just how much of a sweetheart he really is. His place was towards the back, and we stopped at least three or four times because fellow artisans wanted to chit chat with him. One such vendor, Evelyn, was just getting ready to close her booth for the day and apparently she needed a ride somewhere from what I could discern from their conversation.
I was right. The woman needed to get to Algorrobo, a seaside town up the coast where her son was working in a restaurant. They were going to meet and make their way home. Of course, Rodrigo offered her the ride in Jorge's car, and once Rodri had gathered his belongings, we took a nice little ride up the coast.
Algorrobo is a beautiful, touristy place about a half-hour ride north from El Tabo. The entire ride up was filled with scenic vistas everywhere and spectacular views of the Pacific. Somewhere along the ride, Jorge pointed out the Pablo Neruda House, a place where he'd once been a curator in his younger days. For any of you who don't know Pablo Neruda, he was a famous Chilean writer and poet and Jorge has some pretty fascinating stories from his days there.
I sooo wanted to stop somewhere along the way, and after we dropped Evelyn off, that's just what we did. A little bit past where we dropped her at the restaurant, there was this spectacular beach laid out in front of these resort-like apartments. Jorge had told me about the place because I remembered him talking about the world's largest swimming pool, which sat right there between the apartments and the Pacific. Unfortunately, the pool wasn't open to the public, but it was immense and a site to see!
Jorge parked the car and the three of us walked around a bit and took some pictures. We didn't stay long, though, because by then it was already almost 8:00 p.m. and we had more things to do. The next day was our trip down south and we still had to take showers (a luxury) and dinner at mama's, get home to pack, and get some shut eye before the long, twelve hour drive. We got back into the car to go back to El Tabo and that's when the phone rang...
to be continued...
Check out the first three parts of Christmas in El Tabo:
Christmas Eve
A Christmas Morning Surprise
Christmas Lunch and a Visit to Patricio's
John's Music World
With each new year comes new change, and I am making a big one here at John's World. I've decided that ultimately this blog has been just too varied in its posts and perhaps I need to be a little more focused on what I write about here. Over the past four or five years, I've been writing about all sorts of things here on John's World, like roller coasters and amusement parks, memoirs, travelling, items of interest, and most of all, music.
Well, I've decided that perhaps the same people who like to read my personal posts do not necessarily like to read my posts on music, and visa versa. I've been thinking that maybe since I do post so many items on music, including Song of the Day, album and song reviews, and top ten lists, maybe I should begin a new blog dedicated to only music. So that's what I did.
Beginning today, January 2nd, 2015, all music-related items written by me will be posted to the all-new John's Music World. So if you're a fan of my music pieces, then click on the title to bring you over there and if you happen to have a Google account, please subscribe. As for the WordPress mirror site to John's World, for now I'll be continuing the way I've been doing. Remember, John's Music World is still a work in progress, so be patient as I begin to make it what I want it to be...
Well, I've decided that perhaps the same people who like to read my personal posts do not necessarily like to read my posts on music, and visa versa. I've been thinking that maybe since I do post so many items on music, including Song of the Day, album and song reviews, and top ten lists, maybe I should begin a new blog dedicated to only music. So that's what I did.
Beginning today, January 2nd, 2015, all music-related items written by me will be posted to the all-new John's Music World. So if you're a fan of my music pieces, then click on the title to bring you over there and if you happen to have a Google account, please subscribe. As for the WordPress mirror site to John's World, for now I'll be continuing the way I've been doing. Remember, John's Music World is still a work in progress, so be patient as I begin to make it what I want it to be...
John's Music World
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