¡Another Update!

¡Hola a todos!

I apologize for the enormous length of time between my posts - but I am a bit lazy with regard to the writing and the Internet connections are not extremely fast for uploading pictures! However, things have slowed down a bit since my last post. My boss went for a 3 week trip to the United States, so I have been spending more time in the office and less time at events, although I have still attended a few :)

But first thing is first, let's backtrack through time a bit to that fateful day when I met Michelle Bachelet (the President of Chile!). Here is the picture, as promised!

Fernando Nilo, La Presidenta and ME!

I also made a friend at a networking event that I attended named Francisco and we went to one of the houses of the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda that is located in Bellavista, one of the neighborhoods in Santiago. Neruda had multiple houses, as he was strongly connected to the communist party and the benefits that come with a relationship of that nature. There are 2 other main houses in Chile that Neruda owned. The pictures below are from the house in Bellavista!

View from the street of the house (it looks smaller from the street that it really is!)

My friend Francisco and me at the Casa de Pablo Neruda

Lovely gardens at the house :) These aren't visible from the street!

Afterward we walked around the neighborhood a bit and looked at the cool grafitti and art that is all over the city! My favorites are below:

Flowers :)

Ahhhh!!! :&0

The next weekend I decided to venture out on my own and spend time in 'El Centro' where the political heart of Santiago lies. There are tons of museums and cool artesnal spots and a lovely park called La Plaza de Armas. You can also find many musicians tucked away in rustic street corners :)

There was a large gay/lesbian demonstration that I stopped by for a moment, with a rather manly woman singing songs:

Rainbow and songs :)

I also saw a shop sign as I was walking that I had to photograph for my comrades in Indiana:

:)

Also, I passed by the Universidad de Chile where there was a band playing in support of the student protests to make higher level education free for all:

Later on I found something to make me smile....Una campaña de abrazos gratis! (A free hug campaign!) That's right! There were random people on the street with 'free hug' signs, so I went up and received one :) Here is the happy fellow:

I also visited the Cathedral which is gorgeous! There happened to be a celebration the day I went with lots of music and costumes, so that was rather entertaining!

The best picture I took of the heart of the cathedral!

Lastly, as I was sitting in La Plaza de Armas and reflecting on life, I made another friend - a University student named Guillermo who is studying economics at Universidad Centro in Santiago. Here is a rather blurry pic!

We ended up visiting the Church of San Fransisco, which was much quieter than the Cathedral, but just as lovely:

The next day my lovely Chilean Mom and Maria went to a charming little village called Pomaire that is famous for pottery. I bought some cute little trinkets there that some of you will receive when I get back :) This town is also well known for huge empanadas (see below!) so I had to eat some of those too!

Lovely pots!

The huge empanada...yummm!!!

I thought these tulips were pretty :)

A potter with his wares :)

Then another week passed....and it was a little slow...but then the weekend came and I returned to Valparaíso and saw another house of Pablo Neruda that is located there! Here are some pics from that!

Me in front of the house :)

There was also a festival on Sunday in the park with some really cute kids dancing Cueca (the national dance of Chile)...here they are in all their cuteness:

Awwww!

I also stopped by the Congress, which was constructed by Pinochet. Interestingly, the Congress is located in Valparaíso and the Presidential Palace (La Moneda) is located in Santiago...this was the doing of Pinochet to make his mark on Chielan society. The Congress cost so much to build that no one really wants to relocate it - so things have stayed the same.

And then I went back to work (insert pictures of me working in the office last week). However, this week there was an event I attended on Friday at a castle! Castle Hidalgo to be exact. Yes --- it is a real castle and very lovely. The event was in honor of the publication of a book (2007 Sustanability Report) by a company (Codelco) that makes products and mines copper. Copper is an EXTREMELY valuable product of Chile and has many applications. In fact, one of the speakers at this event was a doctor who was discussing the health benefits of copper and how how more hospitals should use copper because it has been proven (and the EPA announced this year that Copper has many beneficial properties as well) that Copper will reduce sickness. In hospitals, where many people contract diseases in the hospital that they did not intially have, using more copper could be extremely useful. One of the presents they gave us as we left were socks made from copper :)

In the courtyard of the castle for the reception :)

in front of the castle!

Additionally, there was an AWESOME solar car (apparently the first in Latin America) that Codelco helped create. Check it out!

During this last weekend I FINALLY WENT SALSA DANCING! YES! My friend Guillermo took me, so that completely made my weekend! I also toured some museums in El Centro that are free on Sundays, so that was fabulous. More pictures to come of that when I get them uploaded.

Other moments of interest would be when all of the truck drivers were on strike because the price of gas is so high here...fortunately Bachelet was able to negotiate with them but it was fairly crazy. When I went to Valparaìso (last post), there were tons and tons of trucks lined up on the road in protest.

Life is good in general, aside from the slowness at the office during these past few weeks --- but that has been nice in many respects. My Spanish is improving, although rapid conversations still throw me off and my pronounciation still needs a lot of work :) for instance...last night I said the word 'carceles (jails)' and for some reason it was incomprehensible to the person I was speaking to even though I though I had pronounced it perfectly --- so moments like that are frustrating. But I am gaining confidence!

As for the apartment search, I am still looking! Several times I have almost found someplace that I really like, and then something happens and it doesn´t pan out. One problem is that a lot of places have a 6 month minimum for renting...however I am going to try one more place this Friday, and if it does not work out I will probably give up :(.

I am also VERY excited for a trip to San Pedro de Atacames that my lovely friend Rachel who is teaching in Concepción is planning (and I have done some minimal planning for this adventure). That will be July 18 - July 25!

Much love and best wished in everything to all of you! You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Laura :)

PS - I apologize if there are spelling or grammar errors...I will try and find time to fix them later! Also the formatting is giving me trouble, so sorry about that too! chau chau!