Tuesday

I think everyone was excited for today because we got to go to Isla Negra to see one of Pablo Neruda’s houses. When we got there we split up into different tour groups – 2 Spanish and one English. I went in the first group; Ben was with us to translate, but it turned out that none of us really needed him to, which was nice because it saved him having to translate. The house was incredible, but unfortunately you’re not allowed to take pictures of the inside. One thing I noticed is that a lot of the stairs and the doorways are really small; it didn’t look like Pablo Neruda was an especially little person or anything, so that confused me a little. At the end of the tour we got to see where Pablo Neruda and one of his wives were buried. We had a lot of time before lunch, so some of us went back to the little stalls by the street (more shopping – crazy, right?). That didn’t take up enough time either so we got a big game of BS going, which was pretty tough considering the bench that we were trying to play on. At last it was time for lunch, so we went back to the café and got to choose meat or fish, rice or potatoes. I went with fish, clearly, and potatoes, which were both delicious. Something else that I’ve observed is that almost every restaurant gives you bread and butter before your meal. I know that there are a lot of restaurants in the U.S. that do that too, it just seems like here it’s almost every one! I’m not complaining, since I love bread – just an observation. On the way back we stopped to see the world’s largest swimming pool (yup, it’s in Chile!). It was absolutely huge – not very wide but really long. Apparently they sail boats in it. I have to admit that it seemed a little silly to have the world’s largest pool right next to ocean, but I guess a pool is a little more predictable, and perhaps more kayak/canoe friendly. After looking at the pool, some of us walked on the beach for a bit. I was wearing flip flops so I took those off and got my feet wet; unfortunately, a bigger wave came in that I couldn’t quite outrun, so my pants got a little damp (after having rolled them up). For dinner a few of us went to try Telepizza; ordering was an adventure because their menu is a little confusing, but I was pleased to find out that my Spanish was more than sufficient to deal with the confusing rules of pizza ordering.