Vamos a la playa

Thanks for all of the birthday well-wishes from all you well-wishers. I indeed had a great birthday here with a lot of family that came over for a barbeque on Saturday night of the 21st. I guess it was supposed to be a surprise birthday party even though my little cousins talked about it non-stop for a week and the cake was obviously in the fridge but they dutifully waited until midnight to uncork the champagne and let the festivities begin. Some of my cousin, Jose´s, friends came over too and one played the guitar for us from 4 am until I called it quits at 6:30 am because I was exhausted. The next day some Tias, cousins and myself did the have-to trip for Santiago up a large hill in the middle of the city with a huge statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Since we were with little ones we took the steep miner´s cart thing to the top and back, plus I already did the hike on my last visit here and I didn´t really feel like testing my capacity for passing out again in the 33 degree celsius weather, "now it´s my nausea". The view of the city was great and as you can see, we were a very happy clan.

Today my tias and I made one more final trip to the beach, this time to Valparaíso/Viña del Mar which is just west of Santiago. We did the miner´s cart thing again to the top of a hill to check out the scene over the port and some touristy browsing. Then to this huge garden/concert arena place in the middle of the city where they have an annual 5-day festival in February that apparently every Chilean attends every year. Since it was a lull time we got to walk the grounds, see cool trees from all over the world and tour the museum. After this we sprawled out on the beach until we couldn´t stand the heat and took cover under the shade with these tasty pineapple/icecream combo delicacies straight from heaven (only 2 bucks). I include a pic of me on the beach in case you don´t believe that I am actually living the life. If you ever find yourself in the area, I definitely recommend this city.
Alright, so tomorrow night I head back to the great northwest (cue the countdown music). Although I will remember my family and the places here fondly as I have recorded them in this blog for you, I am ready to head home to drink some real coffee, see some familiar faces and actually talk when I have something to say instead of letting the conversation pass by while I try to find the right words with this elementary vocabulary. Thanks for following me through this journey and I hope to see or hear from everyone once I am back in Seattle. Que lo pases bien.