you know that song that always makes you smile...

"Banana Pancakes"

Jack Johnson

Can't you see that it's just raining
Ain't no need to go outside...
But baby, you hardly even notice
When I try to show you this
Song is meant to keep ya
From doing what you're supposed to
Like waking up too early
Maybe we can sleep in
I'll make you banana pancakes
Pretend like it's the weekend now

And we could pretend it all the time
Can't you see that it's just raining
Ain't no need to go outside

But just maybe, laka ukulele
Mommy made a baby
Really don't mind the breakfast
'cause you're my little lady
Lady lady love me
'cause I love to lay here lazy
We could close the curtains
Pretend like there's no world outside

And we could pretend it all the time
Can't you see that it's just raining
Ain't no need to go outside
Ain't no need ain't no need Mmmm MMmmm
Can't you see can't you see
Rain all day
And I don't mind.

The telephone is singing
Ringing it's too early
Don't pick it up
We don't need to we got everything
We need right here
And everything we need is enough
Just so easy
When the whole world fits inside of your arms
Don't really need to pay attention to the alarm
Wake up slow, yeah wake up slow
You hardly even notice
When I try to show you this
Song is meant to keep ya
From doing what your supposed to
Like waking up too early
Maybe we can sleep in
I'll make you banana pancakes
Pretend like it's the weekend now

And we could pretend it all the time
Can't you see that it's just raining
Ain't no need to go outside
Ain't no need, ain't no need
Rain all day and I really really really don't mind
Can't you see can't you see,
You gotta wake up slow

la campana!, by Sarah Moredock

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la campana = el descansador.

yep i climbed to the top of that. what up?!?

this one is a little more drastic. which it was.

oh la campana!!!!!!!!!!! habia tenido ganas de subirla por mucho tiempo pero no me di cuenta de que la es. es una montana. . .grande. juntamos en la oficina de CIEE a las 7 y tomamos la micro a las 7:30. comenzamos el ascensor a las 9:15 y no llegamos al cumbre hasta las 2 y algo. wow. descansamos en la cumbre por un rato y despues bajamos y el descenso fue mas dificil o mejor peligroso del ascenso! estuvimos en el parque por 10 horas! no llegue a mi casa hasta las 9:30pm. y llegue muerta. 7 kilometros ida y 7 kilometros de vuelta.

la campana. i had been wanting to climb it for long time but i didn't realize what it was. it is a mountain. a big mountain. we met at the office of CIEE at 7 and took the micro at 7:30, got to the park at 9 and we began the climb at 9:15. we did not reach the top until 2 or a little after. 7km pretty much straight up and then again back down. at least it felt that way. lots of breaks on the way up and only 1 on the way down. from the top you can see both the andes and the pacific ocean at the same time. it was AMAZING! but after 10 hours in the park i was ready to get home!

me and jasmin at the top! with a chilean flag. obvio. somos chilenas.

Hoy, me duele todo del cuerpo. todo....me siento como tengo ochenta y nueve anos. Today, the day after, my whole body aches.....i feel like i am 89 years old.pero todo vale la pena aunque no quiero hacerlo de nuevo!

day with jared and carra, by Sarah Moredock

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un dia con amigos de mendoza!

so dad and i met this lovely couple in mendoza - jared and carra - and they are living in south america for a year. we met them in the hostel one night when we were trying to decide which tours we should take. dad talked to them every night. hehe. hablador mi papi! but anyways, saturday night i talked to them about visiting valparaiso and vina because the were planning on coming the next weekend. (the needed to renew there visa and in argentina all you have to do is leave the country and then reenter.) soooo, this past friday 10/16 i met up with them! we went on a boat tour of valpo, went to the cementerio (which was closed), walked around some cerros to the miradores, and then went to vina. took their pic at the famous 'reloj de flores', walked through the Sheraton (and used there super nice bathroom haha!), and had once! what a great day! and they are such cool people!!! they have a blog/website: www.trekkingsouthamerica.com that you should check out. the got married a year ago october, quit their jobs and came to south america one month ago. so cool. maybe i could do that one day?!?!??????

i just almost left out the BEST PART!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SAW LOBO MARINOS (sea lions) ON THE BOAT TOUR!!!!!!!!!

p.s. grandpa tom and poppop....ya'll will really enjoy the photo album of this tour because there were like 5 ships in the port! i was thinking of ya'll the whole time!!!

un cuento

mi tiempo acá en chile está volando. my time here in chile is flying. y leí este cuento en mi clase de cuentos y pensé harto en él. and i read this cuento in my cuentos class and thought hard about it. oye, tiempo, para para mí, por favor. no quiero volver pero no puedo quedarme aquí. solamente me faltan 7 semanas. qué voy a hacer? aprovecho. Nada más.

Preámbulo a las instrucciones para dar cuerda al reloj

Piensa en esto: cuando te regalan un reloj te regalan un pequeño infierno florido, una cadena de rosas, un calabozo de aire. No te dan solamente el reloj, que los cumplas muy felices y esperamos que te dure porque es de buena marca, suizo con áncora de rubíes; no te regalan solamente ese menudo picapedrero que te atarás a la muñeca y pasearás contigo. Te regalan -no lo saben, lo terrible es que no lo saben-, te regalan un nuevo pedazo frágil y precario de ti mismo, algo que es tuyo pero no es tu cuerpo, que hay que atar a tu cuerpo con su correa como un bracito desesperado colgándose de tu muñeca. Te regalan la necesidad de darle cuerda todos los días, la obligación de darle cuerda para que siga siendo un reloj; te regalan la obsesión de atender a la hora exacta en las vitrinas de las joyerías, en el anuncio por la radio, en el servicio telefónico. Te regalan el miedo de perderlo, de que te lo roben, de que se te caiga al suelo y se rompa. Te regalan su marca, y la seguridad de que es una marca mejor que las otras, te regalan la tendencia de comparar tu reloj con los demás relojes. No te regalan un reloj, tú eres el regalado, a ti te ofrecen para el cumpleaños del reloj.

Mendoza, Argentina, by Sarah Moredock

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Mendoza, Argentina

(dad, you need to help me with your favorite poem. i tried, but i fear that i have failed miserably...)

En el cielo hay las estrellas,

en el campo las espinas,

en el medio de mi pecho el lago argentina

I think that Argentina might have cried upon the return of my father. Especially since it was HIS BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Argentina is a lovely place - clean, well kept, green, European, relaxed, full of BEEF. Our bus ride there left at 9:15 am and we arrived in mendoza at 5pm. What a lovely ride through the Andes! we were sitting in the 2 front seats in the second floor of a double decker bus while we were winding through the Andes. what a ride - the only bad part is that we had no airconditioning so it got burning hot at points and i thought i was going to die. nevertheless, we arrived.

Here is a picture of dad with our hostal:

The hostal was so nice! and we had 4 beds in our room and a private bathroom (which was perfect because i got sick on sunday!) and it was in the middle of downtown, which was perfect for shopping. After getting settled in we headed out to dinner at Las Tinajes at 9 where we were meeting up with my 5 amigas in order to celebrate dad’s birthday. Dad was in heaven because this place was an all you can eat buffet and they had a grill FULL of meat – parts of the cow I had never seen before like ribs. For dessert we had crepes specially made for us filled with bananas and manzanas (like bananas foster with a caramel glaze). BUT, even after dessert, Dad wanted another beef rib, so I stealthily got one and then we sang happy birthday to him! How fantastic.

Day 2– Dad and I woke up, had our breakfast that was included, and headed off to buy tours and see the city. We bought 3 tours – a tour of the Bodegas/ wineries, a tour of Mendoza, and a tour to Cañon del Atuel (their grand canyon where we could go rafting and do such adventurous stuff). So, after shopping and having lunch, we headed off with our tour to bodega Baudron and Don Arturo and then to place where they grow olives and make olive oil. Everything was very interesting, but I just don’t like wine that much, so Dad and I bought grape juice at Baudron. We drank it on Saturday and Sunday, and it was the tastiest grape juice we had ever had.

Here we are at Baudron, taste tasting vino!

I think this is funny because 'Entre Dos' means inbetween 2 and we indulged in these lovely Alfajores together - entre padre y hija. they were soooo good too.

Here we are at Don Arturo:

Day 3, 10/10 – This morning Dad and I were once again frantically shopping before our 3pm tour because we decided to buy leather jackets for the whole family – me, Dad, Mom, Hannah, and Rebekah – and there were like 10 million stores that sold leather jackets. We at lunch at this food court place and got the parillada para dos – a mini grill full of meat (1 piece of chicken and the rest cow parts), French fries, salad, 2 drinks and bread. I ate the piece of chicken, and dad ate the rest. Why am I telling you this??? Because this lunch was the cause of my illness later today…after our nice city tour (on which dad kept falling asleep whenever we were sitting in the bus (there are pictures)). We went all over Mendoza in our tour – old Mendoza, new Mendoza, the monument on top of the cerro, the huge park right outside of the city and La Cabaña, a chocolate factory. Dad and I were very antsy though to get back and purchase the jackets that we had picked out, so we rushed to the stores as soon as we got back. And what do you know….we successfully bought 5 jackets J

We then went to the grocery store in order to buy stuff for dinner and food to pack for lunch the next day. When we were checking out, I began to feel very ill – like pass out kind of sick which turned into feel like going to throw up kind of sick. So, we made it back to the hostel, I laid down, and dad cooked our eggs and made our fruit salad for dinner. But, I couldn’t eat anything, so dad ate all 6 eggs and the fruit salad. This wasn’t good because we had already bought our tour for cañon del atuel the next day which left at 7am!!!

Here we are at the lovely food court. the wall was painting like a winery:

Here is the greasy grill of meat and french fries:

During our city tour in the huge city park:

10/11 – At 7am when we were supposed to be leaving for our tour, I was sick in the bathroom. So, dad and I went back to bed – he wasn’t feeling well either due to all the dinner he ate, my fault – and we had a very laid back day. We were able to walk all around the city, relaxed. Dad got a killer ice cream cone with pistachio and strawberry ice cream. And we found a weird car that desperately needed a Sy-Klone pre-cleaner on it. There are pictures of Dad with both – the ice cream and the car.

Our conclusions about Mendoza – GORGEOUS city, and I would recommend it to everyone. Clean, green, lots of trees. People mopped there sidewalks and took great pride in their things. Also, there were no stray dogs unlike Chile. Very European and I felt like I blended in a lot better. I would go back.

10/12 – Today we headed back to the bus terminal for a very long trip home…it took 12hours to get home. 12! We were on a single story bus, which was better and not as hot. But getting back into Chile took forever! We were in line/going through customs for 3 hours. I was able to get the rough draft done for my teatro ensayo due on Thursday, so that was good. When we got home, we got Dad packed up and ready to head home.

10/13 – Dad and I had a nice lunch at Americas – the very first restaurant that we ate at and enjoyed so much. I then delivered him to the bus station for his 4:30 departure.

Overall, Dad and I were really blessed by our time together. We got to do some good talking. AND, most importantly, I got some good daddy hugs which I had been severely lacking.

daddy - day 4 las dunas! (35 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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desierto daddy

fuimos a las dunas! and it was soo great to have dad there because las dunas are very hard to explain. so from now on i will just let him do it >:)

he actually video taped some of it so that is good.we really enjoyed ourselves and then we walked down the dunes to this cool rock monument thing on the water. we explored and sat and ate a snack. then we took a micro to Concon. the city north of Renaca where the dunas are. we found a place to have lunch and then got empanadas to go because concon is known for there empanadas (of shellfish really but since we dont eat shellfish we just for one of olives and cheese and one nepolitana (cheese, oregano, and tomato)).

yea. then i went to class (boo!), came back, and . . . yeah called it a night.

daddy - day 3 la sebastiana, by Sarah Moredock

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daddy loves la sebastiana . . .

NOT!

dad couldn''t figure out why Pablo Neruda is such an icon here in Chile. granted - he received the nobel prize in literature, but even Rebekah can do that! we did enjoy playing on the see-saws outside of the house though!

and while we were inside we met a lady, older lady - like 70, who is studying in santiago this semester (for free because she is de tercera edad). different. but super cool. so we got to talking (or dad got to talking) and we ended up hanging out. we walked to el museo abierto de grafiti y walked down the cerro together. then we went to a feria/artesenia en valpo and she bought some stuff and i bought flowers for my mom!

here we are with mister pablo . . .

we then returned home and had a nice lunch with my family! sopa de asparagus, pastel de choclo y papayas para postre . . .y mis brownies for REAL dessert after the papaya. HAHA! Dad also showed my family my gymnastics video! apparently i hadn't told my family that i was a gymnast before....i thought i had but now i am realizing that i don't think they actually understand me the whole time. anyways, the LOVED it! and now my brother has it on his ipod. yes. i am famous.

we then went to church and dad got to talk to John and Cathy Rugg! i am sooo glad he is here!!!!

peace.

daddy - day 2, by Sarah Moredock

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day 2 - explored valparaiso and the coast of vina!

we started in south valpo. went up an ascensor and landed at el Paseo 21 de Mayo. we then went to the Museo Naval - a huge museum and dad really liked it - and stayed for like an hour and a half. i thought of my grandads a lot as we were at a navy museum and there were about 5 military ships in the dock that we enjoyed taking pictures of.

we then went back down the ascensor and walked through the plaza. there was some big promotion going on for a television station (there are pictures of a mass of people in red and white and they spelled out 'tvn' with their bodies which is the name of the station).

we then went up another ascensor to Cerro Concepcion and walked around. we ate lunch at another spectacular place between Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre. after we finished exploring the cerros we returned to vina where we took pictures at the Reloj de Flores, the Sheraton, Castillo Wulff, the casino, and then got dad an empanada on the way home. funny story: we were at castillo wulff and i walked up the stairs to the mirador while dad was still fascinated below by the waves. all of a suddenly dad flies past me on the stairs and says "theres a whale!!!" so i follow him and looked at where he was pointing and it was definitely . . . a rock. not a whale. oh dad.

we also stopped at Lider on the way home to by some groceries and dad was absolutely taken a back by the 100 aisles in the supermarcado. so much so that he made me take a picture of it.

great day. but we were exhausted.

daddy! day 1 (91 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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daddy's here!

dad arrived in santiago at 7:48am friday morning. i woke up at 4am in order to be at the bus station at 5am and arrived at the airport at 6:45am and waited til 8:30am to meet dad. we then proceeded to take a bus from the airport to the bus station and then from the bus station to vina. we arrived in vina at 11:20 and to the hostal just before 12. we then went to my house to drop off the entire suitecase (just for me) full of goodies and then walked along the beach and found an awesome restaurante to have lunch - bread, salad, main dish, dessert, and fresh squeezed juice - all for just $2800 and $3400 pesos which is about $5 USD and $6.50 USD. and it was sooo good!

Museo Fonck

we then went to Museo Fonck where we saw an exposition of shrunken heads!

and here is one of the heads...........how disgusting right?????? and it even explained how they did it. gross. but it reminded me of the harry potter movie!!! i kinda wished it would have talked to me bahaha.

La Quinta Vergara

la quinta vergara is a huge park and also hosts the Museo de Bellas Artes, which is shown here in the picture. we basically just walked around and went through the museo. at this point we were very very tired and headed back to the hostal afterwards. (it was about 5pm and i had been up since 4am on 2 hours of sleep!!!!!!)

a little more valpo, by Sarah Moredock

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exploration valpo.

valparaiso is such an awesome city! we spent about 5 hours exploring it on friday, the 25th of september, because none of us have class on friday!!! we went into a cathedral, the plaza, 2 of the main cemetaries, a museum of a cartoonist, and popped in and out of a few stores and artesanias.

the cemetaries are really cool because there are in/ on top of a cerro, or a big hill, and they are really old. just look at the pics :)

and the cartoonist was fun too because the video we watched at first didn't have words, it was just the cartoon characters, so we were so glad that we finally found a universal sense of humor!!! its the little things in life.