Wow, I am way behind now. I think it´s because these chilenos go til late, late in the evening, so I have no energy at the end of the day to keep up!
Saturday was a very nice day, slept in after our late evening (actually, 2 a.m. is early for chilenos on the weekend). Tim´s friend and study group member Pato invited us to his family´s home for lunch at 1:00. He is the one who connected us with Andres for this fabulous apartment. Pato picked us up, along with 2 other UNC students, Mark and Lindsey, and drove us out to the golf course community where he grew up. What an amazing home!! (The picture above is from his backyard, looking to the back of his house. From left, Lindsey Herman, Tim, me, Mark Iantosca, and Pato Ureta.) Rooms opening out onto patios, a seamless inside-outside transition. Beautifully landscaped yard with a pool, stepping right onto the 12th hole. Lunch lasted 4 hours - from our initial pisco sour to our final cafe. A meat pastry appetizer, salmon ceviche (a cold vinegar based salad with cilantro and tomatoes), king crab (they have another word for it) and palta (avocado), steak from the grill, and a raspberry flan for dessert. And I didn´t even mention the wines. ;) Good thing it did last that long to digest all that food!!! It was all delicious - the wonderful food, interesting conversation, and gracious host and setting made for a fabulous afternoon.
Andres, our roommate, came by after our meal. He showed Pato and the rest of us the club that he was a member of. It was amazing - more amazing than any country club I´d ever seen. 2 indoor pools, 3 or more outdoor, jacuzzis, tennis and raquetball courts, a spa, nice locker rooms, very modern gym, restaurant. Amazing. And it didn´t seem prohibitively expensive. It was high up in the mountains, gorgeous view. I thought that they may be building homes around it as there is a LOT of development to the north of the city (similar to surburban growth in the states, just different style homes.) However, they have a policy here that you cannot build homes higher than a certain point in the mountains, in order to maintain the views, but this club I guess was an exception.
We learn daily about the prosperity of chileans, however, I will be interested to get outside of the city a little more at some point to see other sides of chilean life.
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