Jenny Lynn Travels: A Brief Visit to the Coast and Other Weekly Going-ons (Oh! and Birds!)

Hello all! I am sitting here quite shocked to find that it has been over two weeks since my last post. I kept thinking about it because I have taken quite a few photos in the past two weeks, but I think that was part of the downfall! Anytime I'd think about writing a post, I'd remember that I needed to go through my photos first. I always have such a hard time narrowing down which ones to share! So what finally made me cave today? Well you see, I should be working on some Coursera stuff.... :-D

So last Thursday Will and George needed to take a trip to the coast to meet with their padrino (mentor) and I was able to tag along! It was an early morning and a long day, but it was lovely! We took a bus from Santiago to Concón, where Camilo lives. When we arrived, it turned out that he actually had an interview, but told us to eat some breakfast and feel free to explore until he returned in the afternoon. We walked to the beach, then took a coastal bus to nearby Viña del Mar. We did some more walking and exploring there and eventually ended up at a Starbucks where George and Will worked for a short while. While it's sunny in Santiago pretty much all day everyday, it's generally cloudy on the coast in the mornings. It was nice and cool before the sun came out!

The sunrise! I wasn't kidding about the early morning part :-)

The ocean near Concón

A beach in Concón

We walked along the coast a bit looking for sea lions.

Turrets anyone?

After exploring and visiting Starbucks, we headed back to Camilo's for an asado (barbecue). They talked business and I watched the meat cook! Meat (food in general) in Chile tends not to be heavily seasoned, so all that went on the large hunk of beef was some salt. As an appetizer we had Choripán (Chorizo y pan: sausage and bread) and some wine. The little sausages in the picture below were similar to a breakfast sausage (noms), and the larger red chorizo was a bit spicier, but still very mild. The main meal was plain rice and some greens with the beef. After eating, we caught our bus back to Santiago.

Meat!

On Sunday, George and I explored Parque Bicientenario in Santiago. It is a newer park, so there weren't quite as many big trees as I would have liked (it was hot!), buuuut I think it was my favorite park that we've been to so far. It was quite large, offered some nice views, and at one end there was a pond with flamingos, a snowy egret, black necked swans, koi, and I'm sure a few others that I'm forgetting. Also there were flowers, and we all know how I feel about flowers!

The view from the park back towards where we live.

Black Necked Swan: the largest waterfowl native to South America

That is a large creepy looking Koi....

Resting in a shady spot

Flamingos!

Snowy egret: Wikipedia tells me that plumes of the snowy egret were at one time in great demand by market hunters as decorations for women's hats, which caused a drastic fall in their population, but the bird's population has now rebounded.

I believe this is a yellow-winged blackbird, but I could be wrong. In any case, the flowers are quite lovely!

Aside from heading to the coast and exploring yet another park, I have been busy working on my Coursera class, planning Missy's visit, practicing Spanish, cooking, and reading. In the past two weeks I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Horns by Joe Hill, and yesterday I began Les Misérables. Admittedly, I might be reading a tad more than I should, but I am thoroughly enjoying it!

As for the cooking, I have fallen into a bit of a rut, but I blame George. He pretty much only ever wants stir fry, pasta with red sauce, tacos, or fajitas. I gave him a goal of finding one recipe a week that he'd like me to try making, so we'll see how that goes! Here are a few new food photos: