Wonderlust
So, many of you may be wondering why the title of this blog is wonderlust, well it is my new favorite word in the English language! Being in Chile, one of the things I’ve realized is just how delicate and beautiful Spanish is. It is a much more complicated language than I’ve come to realize. Also, I didn’t know that English was one of the Germanic languages of the world while Spanish is a romantic language, so I have had a Chilean friend told me that to them since they don’t speak English, when my friends and I speak English it is almost indistinguishable from German! That surprised me mucho!
Back to wonderlust though, it is the theme of this journey for me, its definition is- a desire to travel, to understand one’s existence. The more I see of the world, the more I come to realize just how little I actually know and will ever know of the world. It’s quite ironic really. Being here has been really hard, 6 months is the longest I have been away from home, ever! I’m stepping out of my comfort zone, and really putting myself in a foreign world.
Anyway, this past weekend my class traveled to Isla Negra! About 1 hour from Santiago to the coast, it is a beautiful, little, colorful, dusty, impoverished town that is fully stocked with roadside stands of empanadas, fried fish, and helado (gelato!) There is where we got to tour one of the homes of Pablo Neruda himself! Pablo Neruda is one of the world’s famous poets and by far the best well known in Latin America because he is from Chile. His house was absolutely magnificent. Right along side cliffs with the ocean waves slapping up against them all day long, dark wooden floors, a collection of ancient Mayan Decoration and oriental rugs, porcelain bathtubs and stone walls throughout. If I ever had the chance to live there in the early 1900’s, constantly surrounded by the beautiful Pacific, white sandy beaches, Andes Mountains and the best seafood of my life- I would be able to write beautiful poems too. 🙂
Here is a little piece of one of my favorite Neruda poems- “I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her. Love is so short, forgetting is so long.”
I will try and add a few pictures too of the house on this blog because it is so beautiful, but if I can’t figure it out which is likely, then just check my facebook!
After the tour we had an amazing almuerzo lado del mar (lunch next to the sea). It consisted of vino blanco, salmon, clams, garlic shrimp, bread and olive oils, and to top it off chocolate and pistachio gelato! Muy Rico! After our amazing lunch we walked along the beach and took lots of pictures, and just a quick 5 minute walk down the beach was the world’s largest pool! It was unbelievable. There were sailboats in the pool that is how big it was! We didn’t swim in it because it expensive but we did get a workout just walking around it haha.
We had a long exhausting weekend that’s for sure, and it felt good to come home and catch up on sleep! It is summer here though so there is always something to do! Saturday night my friend Eva and I went out to our first discotheque! It is the equavilant of a dance club here, it was pretty fun but weird for me also.
Today we had another long day of school and then we went out to eat for lunch all together and ended up talking for hours, we are true chileans 🙂
Oh and this morning we had ANOTHER earthquake!! It is quite loco just how many we have had, but it wasn’t a big deal just shook the apartment for a minute! I guess I have to start getting used to that.
Tonight our friend Miguel who studies at Loyola is having a small fiesta with his family and we are all invited! So that should be a fun time, I am off to do some more homework on my porch over looking the mountains. 🙂
Miss you all so much!
“As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.” -Buddha