I am one lucky girl. This weekend is fiestas patrias (independence day), which means that I get a four day weekend. I am not complaining and I think I have made very good use of my days off so far.

Truly, my weekend began earlier this week with some preparation. By which I mean, learning the Cuaca! (The national dance of Chile). We had an entire lesson on it on Thursday and it has proven helpful.

Then I really got the weekend going with some Chilean wine tasting on Friday and it was magnificent.

Picture an amazingly beautiful vineyard in the middle of Chilean wine country where everything is cheaper and it's legal for 20-year-olds to drink. Let's just say, it was delightful.

To top it all off, we had some lovely conversation. And Lauren decided she is getting married there, so looks like I'll be able to go back :)

Yesterday, I went exploring the cerros of Valparaiso. Noah, Rory and I decided to hike up to see Pablo Neruda's house and lucky for us the walk up there is a museum in itself.

After climbing the hills of Valparaiso, we went and found yourselves a futbol game in an oceanside stadium. It was complete with military men everywhere, considering that futbol games can get a little out of hand in Latin America. We thought we showed up on time, but during what we thought was half time, everyone started to leave. After a lot of uncertainty, we realized we had gotten there an hour during half time. So, it had felt like the beginning of the game when it was really half way done.

Then, my day continued with a authentic fiestas patrias street festival. I ended up helping mi mama's friend with her food stand. Basically, I had to be on top of my game because people were in great need of there guacamole, mayonnaise, and ketchup covered hot dogs and it was my job to get it to them while getting them the right change. It was quite something. I made friends with these really cute old women too and made time to do some dancing with mi mama.

Today, with no previous knowledge, I ended up going to a family party with mi mama. Obviously my Spanish needs some more work because I thought we were going back to the street fair and then we got on a bus... and it was the same bus that we took to Con Con (a town to the north where her family lives), so I thought we were going there... and then we got off in Vina del Mar and walked for a while. This whole time, I had no idea where we were going and I had told friends that I could meet up with them later so in my head I kept altering what I was planning to tell them. Everything worked out better than fine. We ate and drank delicious meat and Chilean wine for hours. Mi mama's best friend is awesome so we talked for hours.

Here is mi mama and I. You can see Leo, my brother, in the background.

Now, I am off to go meet Maya for some Dieziocho festivities!