This is basically what the Elqui Valley looks like - very green floor with lots of grapes and other fruits under cultivation. The "hills" as they call them here (being from Minnesota I call them mountains) are very arid; many of them are dotted with cacti:
(thanks, P, for the photo)Boy-child likes to climb the chirimoya trees - he gets a kick out of being in the country:
Girl-child likes to pretend she's a Hollywood star when poolside:
Needless to say, the pace here is rather slow compared with the U.S. I don't have as much to tell you as you'd probably like to hear. We did go into town today to purchase locally made ice cream, avocados and watermelon. We also ordered empanadas for Christmas which I will try to remember to photograph and post.I finished the sock I cast on at MSP airport - done in four days! That'll probably never happen again. The first of Boy-child's glittens has been cast on and I may have found a place to purchase local yarn. (When I asked about local stuff, a woman from southern Chile said it was wool from sheep - like that was a bad thing! I told her sheeps' wool would be just fine.)
We ate roast kid for supper (sorry Linda - another baby eaten) which was a first for me. It's a very traditional meal in this part of the country as goats are able to survive on those arid hillsides.
It's pretty much impossible for me to feel Christmas-y in summertime, but Girl-child did put up my in-laws' artificial tree along with a few decorations. We're playing Christmas music and the cookies I brought are very popular. But summertime just isn't Christmastime - makes it all sort of surreal.
3 comments:
We spent every holiday season with my in-laws in Florida from 1984 until the mid-90s. You get used to warm Christmases and palms.
There were jacaranda trees blooming in South Africa when #2 son and I went to play tourist with #1 son, who spent a semester there. He said they were annoying trees that dropped purple flowers all over the sidewalks, where they turned into rotting purple slime. I called them beautiful.
I don't think there is wool from anything BUT sheep, right? All the other animal fibers are hair, yes? The valley photo is wonderful-great contrast between the arid and the lush! Here everything is just white.
a frozen fish
Maybe when she thought sheep wool as unimpressive because... well, you said Vicuna is a near town... maybe she thought you might look for vicuna wool. I'd be impressed by both.
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