The Chileans are not early risers in the morning,
but then again it is not dawn until 8:00am - it is winter down here.
The Inaugural ceremonies for the new
Trewhela School is today, in the northern part of Santiago.
By 10:45 we needed to be dressed and on the
road for the ceremonies, but also ready to go to Valparaiso & Vina Del Mar
on the west coast of Chile for the weekend. Our host has a vacation condo in
Vina.
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| Street Performer at a stop light |
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| Trewhela School |
The ceremonies at the school were lovely,
(approximately 200 invited guests,) with kids preforming musical numbers
(mostly in English). This school and the one we visited in town, is privately
owned by our host and his 4 siblings.
The new facilities are modern and great - lovely classrooms, athletic
facilities, playgrounds, etc.
At this
moment the school has only Nursery through 3
rd grade.
Now with the new facilities they will be
continue to add a grade level each year.
It was an impressive facility.
After the ribbon cutting ceremony, there were
cocktails and heavy appetizers.
It was
surprising the number of people who introduced themselves to us in English –
especially local Rotarians and friends of our host.
During the ceremonies it was great that we
could sit with the daughter of our co-host – her English is great.
After the cocktails, and after the guest had left,
we went with our host a few miles to the home of his niece and family.
She is the oldest daughter of the oldest
owner sibling.
They built a beautiful
(USA $1 million) home on a golf course and just moved-in this past January.
The owners (except 1) and most of the cousins
were in attendance – It was a lovely family dinner. Only a few of the friends
and spouses of the family did not feel comfortable speaking English. Most
everyone had excellent English. The food was delightful, especially the
desserts!
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| Our Host'2 Niece's House |
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| The Four Siblings |
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| Dessert - As Good as it Looks |
It was 5:45 when we left for Valparaiso on the
coast, arriving there at around 7:20. During the drive through (tunnels) and over
the coastal mountain range, we saw large valleys with huge vineyards, and
wineries. As you near Valparaiso there are houses spread up and over the coastal
range of mountains, and up and down the coastline. It is a very populated area
– hanging on the coast.
Our host's
apartment is on the 18
th floor overlooking the Pacific
Coastline.
Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar
are now one large coastal city, however Valparaiso is Chile’s major shipping
port.
Tomorrow we will be having a tour of the whole
area.
It was 9:00 tonight when we left for the Casino so
our co-host could play some slots.
While
she was there, our host and we walked above the rocky coast.
The sunset had not been the best tonight – it
was too cloudy and hazy, but as we walked we enjoyed listening and watching the
waves simply crashing onto the rocks.
You can feel the immensity of their power, even in the dark!
All night we could hear the waves crashing on
the rocks – we slept well.
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| Sunset at Vina Del Mar over the Pacific |
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