Escape to Pichilemu before school begins!

Our Cabañas!

Hannah and Allyson hanging out in the downstairs of our cabaña...we think it was built for short people, haha

Kissing the board for good luck before we braved the waves!


Wetsuits are not so flattering...


I'm watching the pro

best. taco. ever.

'Bañado de chocolate'...ice cream bathed in chocolate...mmm!

The girls in Pichilemu: Me, Hillary, Allyson, Hannah

Pichilemu

Outside the back of Secreto

Arroz con mariscos (Rice with shellfish)...mmm!

Streets of Pichilemu

These 'taxis' were all over the place, so cute!

Windy, but gorgeous.

Hi everyone! How's that snow I've been hearing so much about?? I can't believe it, very exciting! And meanwhile, I'm 'glistening' (aka sweating with rosy cheeks) in the heat down here in almost 90 degree weather...


This past weekend, however, I did escape the heat, hustle and bustle of the big city! I went to a small beach town about three hours (by bus) away from Santiago called Pichilemu (pronounced pee-chee-lay-moo). Four of us decided to venture out to meet up with one of my fellow teacher's friends. We all had meetings with our principals at our respective schools on Friday, and after we got back to the hostel, we packed our bag and headed out! And you thought my travels down to Chile sounded like an adventure...wait til you hear this...

We hadn't made any arrangements for a place to stay until we got on the bus. I called a hostel listed in my Lonely Planet book, but unfortunately it was booked. The owner (from the U.S.) referred me to another place, but I had a bit of a hard time understanding what the new contact was saying in Spanish. All I knew was that I told him there were four girls and we would be there all weekend. He gave me the address, and we hoped for the best! Hey, what else could we do at this point?

We arrived in Pichilemu to find that the bus station was closing (it was around 8pm by this point), and there were no maps to be found. After a little while, we thankfully found a taxi, and I gave him the address of where we were going. Before we knew it, we were pulling into this absolutely adorable group of what looked like Swiss cottages. It turned out the man I was speaking to on the phone was trying to tell me he had cabanas! As you can see from the pictures above, they were very cute!

That night we walked around town and found an amazing taqueria (taco shop) for dinner and ice cream for dessert. After sleeping in Saturday morning (I finally had my own room, woo hoo!), we woke up to a cloudy beach town. Two of the girls were really excited about surfing in Pichilemu, so we decided to brave the cold, windy morning and head to the beach (which was black sand, by the way!). After about 30 minutes of peer pressure, the girls finally convinced me to try to learn how to surf. Can you believe it? We rented two boards and two wetsuits (it was freeeeezing), and each of the experienced surfers were going to take turns going out and teaching us novices. After the shock of the freezing water (the Pacific is NOTHING like the Atlantic at the end of the summer), I finally braved it into the water. I had quite a bit of wipe-outs, but finally made it up on the board for two successful waves! Once I got up completely on one foot, the other one slightly bent. The other I 'surfed' all the way to the beach on my knees. It was more fun than I expected! Unfortunately, no one got pictures of me on the board...go figure! I promise I did though...just ask Allyson, Hillary or Hannah!


Saturday night we went to a delicious seafood restaurant on the beach called 'Secreto'...it was delicious (my favorite was rice and shell fish) and pretty cheap. And as if it couldn't get better than good food and good company, there was a bonfire over-looking the beach later on that night. I almost felt like I was back in Charlotte! It made me miss y'all for sure!!

Sunday was beautiful, no clouds in the sky. We strolled around town a little bit, taking in as much helado bañado de chocolate (yes, that means what it sounds like...ice cream bathed in chocolate...and I couldn't get enough!), before heading back to Santiago.


What a spontaneous, yet fun weekend! Now that I'm back, I'm getting ready for school to start on Thursday...so stay tuned til next time!

Love y'all!

Peace and grace on your week and be safe in the snow/ice!
LG