Join the Adventure!
Here we are at the Center of the World: 0 Latitude! Where we did experiments with water to see the Coriolis Effect: water whirled clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and just went straight down on the equator! We tried balancing …
We were quite surprised when our “Rosero” drink at the Plaza Grande Hotel in Quito was so thick that we had to “drink” it with a spoon. It was like having a sugary sweet, syrupy, fruit cocktail with barley in a mug!
In the US, police cars tend to be blue and white or black and white, and police stations rarely have a uniform color. But in Chile, the “Carabineros” (the police) drive green and white cars and are housed in green and white police stations.
One time, Asher took in his white toy police car with red and blue lights for Show and Tell. The kids at his school – Mackay in Renaca, Chile – asked him what it was because they had never seen a police car that wasn’t green and white!
The other interesting thing is that they drive around with their lights on ALL THE TIME! If they want to pull you over, they turn on their siren or step in front of your moving vehicle, point to you, and wave you over, as Ben found out the hard way. We were pulled over for not driving with our lights on in the middle of the day on the freeway!
We never realized how beautiful graffiti could be until we visited Valparaiso, the graffiti capital of the world! Sunday we went on a Graffiti tour of Valpo with graffiti artist, Al Ramirez, who explained the evolution of graffiti, with its various styles and world renowned …
Today we had a funny incident while Raquel and I were sitting at an outdoor café having lunch. We kept hearing a loudspeaker announcing performances for a travelling circus. In fact, we went to this Mexican circus about two weeks ago after seeing trucks with …
It is always fun to travel and see signs that we wouldn’t see in the US. Here are a few of our favorites:
Aliya, Asher and I (Ben was safe in Boston) were on the couch, snuggled closely watching youtube music videos, when a roar came from deep inside the soul of the world. The room began to rattle and the loud sounds of the “temblor” (what the Chileans …
We went on a spectacular tour (Tour 4 Tips) of Valparaiso, Chile with Raquel’s brother Jason, sister-in-law Norri, Jordan & Sammi. We had a great time riding on the funiculars and exploring the nooks and cranies of the streets of Valpo. We saw some amazing …
We learned an important lesson when visiting Pablo Neruda’s beach house, Isla Negra, about an hour south of Vina del Mar: Museums in Chile are closed on Mondays! But we were still able to get this glimpse of Neruda’s home where he wrote many of his most famous poems.
Instead of touring the inside of his house, we were able to explore the vista that inspired Neruda. The thunderous crash of the waves on the sea of gray rocks in front of Neruda’s house was truly moving.
We enjoyed a morning with Raquel’s brother Jason, sister-in-law Norri, and neice Sammi in which we explored the grounds around Neruda’s house.
Ben’s favorite was the star shaped pine trees around the property.
Ever wonder what happened to the inside of the toilet roll? We never did either . . . until we moved to Chile and saw this: Who knew what we had been missing our whole lives – the inside of the toilet roll! The first …