Pomaire & Isla Negra

Hello my dear friends and family!!


Today I am feeling a bit under the weather, probably due to my exciting and long day yesterday.  However, it is all for the best since I am taking the time to relax, answer emails, and update my blog for you all - including pictures.  Yay!!  Anyways, so my exciting (and long) day yesterday... USAC (my study abroad program) organized a day trip for all of us to Pomaire and Isla Negra. 


First, a little background info:  Pomaire is located about halfway between Santiago and the coast.  Founded by the Quechuas, who emigrated from Peru, this little village is home to amazing clay pottery.  Enormous flower pots as well as other varieties and sizes of containers, pots, and vases are everywhere.  Although much of the pottery is painted, typical pottery is of either a clay-color light brown or a darker brown.  Pomaire is also known for its amazingly sturdy cookware as well as piggy banks.  Many vendors sell little clay pigs the size of a bean, which are supposed to be good luck.  Furthermore, Pomaire is home to the world's largest empanada, although my host mother claims their empanadas aren't very good and their cazuela (a type of soup, more or less) is much better.  After spending the day in Pomaire and trying both their empanadas and cazuela, I would have to agree with mi madre chilena.  And although I would have loved to take quite a few things home with me for gifts etc., I left Pomaire without a darn thing.  However, I think that's for the best - transporting fragile pottery isn't the easiest thing to do.  But I can always go back if I change my mind since it is only 45 minutes to an hour outside of Santiago by bus.


After watching artisans spin amazing pottery, wandering the vendor-filled streets, and trying their typical food, we hopped back on the bus to head to Isla Negra, a small town located on the Pacific Ocean famous for being a favorite place of Pablo Neruda.  Neruda, probably the most famous Chilean poet and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, had three homes, one of which is in Isla Negra.  A stunning little stone home on the edge of the sea filled with all types of international treasures from Neruda's time spent abroad as a diplomat.  The view was absolutely stunning.  And the smell... wow, the air smelled so fresh and wet, unlike the air in Santiago, which smells of smog and other things.  


All in all it was a great day!! And today, my host family and I prepared paella with chicken and seafood.  It was absolutely delicious!  Take a look:

Well, after writing this post as short as it is, I am exhausted.  So I am going to go fix some lemon and honey tea and rest awhile before dinner.  I hope you all are doing well.  I miss you tons!

Saludos cariñosos,

Sarah