Group Excursion - Curacaví, Pomaire, Isla Negra

I spent both Thursday and Friday night partying at a club called Goose, which unfortunately doesn't open until 12:30am, but was lots of fun! Both days I got in free (awesome!) by either a friend putting us on the list or having a pass! On Saturday I found out there is an upstairs bar for just girls where they drink free! So AWESOME! On Saturday I only spent money on water and a coat check so a cheap evening for me! We danced so much! The only bad thing about the club is they serve drinks in glass glasses so the dance floor ends up covered in shards of broken glass that I feel the need to constantly kick away. Regardless the club has great lights and screens playing the music videos for all the music they play and was tons of fun! On Saturday I finally rolled into bed at about 5:15am and then I got to get up at about 8:15am on Saturday for our group day-trip! Yikes! Can you say sleep deprived!? ^_^ Nevertheless the trip was lots of fun!

We started off at Curacaví, where we visited a chocolatería (chocolate factory) which was really small but super cool! We got to try practically a whole box of chocolates with some sweet flavors! These were all pretty much chocolate with a soft mousse-like center that was flavored in some exotic way. We tried a sweet basil, oregano (possibly my favorite, though someone did correctly mention that it reminded them of Subway), ají (pepper/chili, which wasn't really spicy at all!), cardamomo (cardamom, also delicious), limón del pica (lemon creme, really good), clavo de olor (clove, tasted like chai tea and christmas), mascapone (a sort of cream cheese in chocolate), and another mascapone with frambuesa (raspberry) flavoring! These were so delicious but a lot of chocolate to be eating after a night of partying! Here's the website of the chocolatería (www.brunatto.cl). Ps: They even had Kamasutra chocolate pieces with the figures in relief (sculpture wise). We then got on the bus and headed to the next place!

Tasting lots of yummy chocolates!

We next stopped at Pomaire, a small town that specializes in clay artisan stuff! Especially clay piggy banks! Basically this was just a stop to shop and spend money and thats what we all did! I bought a pretty scarf (yes I have bought about 6 since being here! ^_^ ), and a clay piggy bank for my host mom (by request), and one for myself. I also bought a pretty flower hair thing made of leather!

The final stop we made was in a town called Isla Negra (Black Island, though not an island at all). Here we visited another one of Pablo Neruda's houses (he has 3, one in Valparaíso, Isla Negra and Santiago). This one was designed to look like a boat and was filled with more of his eccentric decorations and collections. There was a large number of "mascarón de la proa" (figureheads, the figures on the bow of ships) that took up quite a lot of room! Once again the bedroom was awesome with a great bed and amazing view of the ocean! I'm really liking Pablo's eclectic style! ^_^ We then got on the bus and drove back home!

<3Annie