26. Wednesday 17 March 2010

In the meantime we have already been 5 days in New Zealand.

It is awhile back since I have posted something on the blog and that has nothing to do with a lack of inspiration. The reason you could read in the post just before this one. In New Zealand Internet goes on copper wires, and after Chili with its super fast and overall free wi-fi is this an enormous difference. We shall try now and then to post something.

And then further with our story: VALPARAISO

After a day longer in Santiago----the bus was not going because of the earthquake----we left for Valparaiso where we had rented an apartment. Following is a photo of Giri by our front door: photo

Valparaiso is a port town built on 45 hills (keep that number in mind!!). We discovered that while we with our 20 kilo backpack and suitcase on wheels stumbled to our apartment. The hills are dotted with small colorful houses that look like block boxes stapled together. Also there are about 15 elevators in the city, cars that bring you to various hills.

View from one of the hills: photo

A square in the town: photo

Valparaiso i also in another manner special. I had my 29th birthday there.

That morning I woke up and thought: "it is my birthday". Also Geert, like a good "husband", did not forget. I was treated very special and received a breakfast that was like a feast including a cooked egg, grapes, breads, hagelslag (!) (Note from the translator: hagelslag is a chocolate type of topping for on bread and is a Dutch specialty. I can't really translate that to English except it's like tiny little pebbles of chocolate (milk or dark) and it goes on a slice of buttered, preferably white, bread and is DELICIOUS.) and cake. Also the crown was not forgotten. (Note from the translator: in Holland, the person having a birthday is often given a crown to wear and/or his or her chair is decorated with balloons or other crepe paper and such as that.)

Special for my birthday they opened up "La Sebastiana" again. This is the house from Pablo Neruda (him again) in Valparaiso. Until yesterday it was closed because of the earthquake. we went there and it is, just as "La Chascona" again very impressive. The man was a real collector and as soon as he saw something he liked, he had to have it. The whole house is filled to the brim with paintings, special furniture and all sorts of things like music boxes, a wooden merry go round with horses, and a figurehead from a ship. Also he had a different sort of feel for humor which also is very often noticeable in the house. An example hangs in the living room ---a painting of a woman from the "who knows which" century. On the wall across from that painting he has a similar painting from a man hanging in order to help the woman to not feel lonely......

We could not make photos, only from the view. Here you see his bedroom: photo

More photos from the house you can see here because we could not make them ourselves.....

In the evening of course there had to be a feast. We moved to the apartment above ours, that was much bigger. Bart--the owner--gave a BarBQ because of surviving the earthquake, the departure of a group of people that were living above us and naturally also for my birthday. Drink flowed plentifully, food was more than enough and it was a "leutig boel" (cannot determine a good translation of this word although I suppose they mean it was a really nice time). Also Haley (the Canadian that we met in Pucon and was living for a time in Valparaiso) came to the party. Finally, there was a birthday song sung and I had to blow out candles........

A few days later we flew to Los Angeles, where we stayed for 5 days because we could not get a direct flight to New Zealand. Over our stay there, later more information.

Placed by Irma on 17 March 2010
Labels: candles, copper wire and elevators