Today was another free day. Since it was Sunday I decided to go to Mass; I got up at 11:00AM to get ready for the 12:00PM Mass – thanks Jon for setting up the alarm. I went over to church with Pat, we got a little lost, but asked for directions from some Chileans on the street and they were very helpful so we got to the church no problem. The church is about 10 blocks away from the church, and is the largest cathedral in Vina del Mar. It was very beautiful on the inside; it was a little strange how they used the newer florescent lights though. The Mass was in Spanish and was about how Jesus is our shepherd and loves us; that he is the way and the light and the truth and the gate to heaven. The Mass was very similar to the one given at St. Paul’s in Pittsburgh; they had memorized stuff to say in response to the Father. A big difference though was the lack of books or hymnals to help the congregation sing.
After church Pat and I stopped at a nice bakery that we had seen on the way to church. I got a stick with caramel custard on the inside, a sugar cookie, and a puffball filled with custard; Pat got some soft cookies covered with chocolate and 2 other types of cookies that I did not get to try; all of the cookies were delicious.
After snack we went back to the hotel and met up with some people to go shopping. We went along the beach trying to find the mall; we were lost. I bought a lollipop along the way; here the lollipops are softer and bendy. After walking around for a bit, we found Carmilo walking in the street; we could not believe our luck of having randomly run into him; he gave us directions to the mall, and we found it easily after that. The mall was huge, 4 stories tall, and full of shops. They had a lot of the same shop in different locations, like 3 McDonalds, multiple Gatsby coffee shops, and other food places; unlike in the U.S. where there is only 1 of each store. They also had ice-cream stores all over the place. We did not buy anything at the mall, but we ran into the other students – they had left an hour before us. We went outside along the beach to look at the beach vendors. We found some cool stuff, but I did not buy anything; I plan on going back before I leave though. We saw some nice sand art; there was a whale, a crab, a mermaid, a Homer Simpson, and some other large sand sculptures.
After shopping we went to a nice pizza shop and got 2 large pizzas and a 2.5 liter drink for about $25 U.S. It was very good and very filling.
We went to Tierra de Fuego for dinner; it was a very fancy restaurant and good.
Lessons Learned: 1. Malls in Chile are much like those in the U.S., but they have multiple of certain shops at the Chilean malls.
2. Chilean Mass is just like U.S. Mass.
No comments:
Post a Comment