Losing my mind in colourful Valparaiso

The bus arrived early in Valparaiso, 6.30am- early! The taxi driver dropped us off outside our Hostal, that much to our delight, didn’t open until 8.15am. Somehow over night our legs had ballooned and my toe nail was nearly hanging off. This didn’t make the situation any better, so we sat in the cold surrounded my stray dogs looking like weird , burnt bag ladies until someone kindly let us in.

6.30am we arrived…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cats sunburn was slightly amusing (love you Cat), she looked like a patchwork quilt of red red and red. Definitely not a day to sunbathe, so we did what we do best, ate food and drank. I had Cerviche, a cold fish salad followed by fried fish and more salad and a butterscotch Angel Delight concoction. This was after nearly having a heart attack from the false tsunami alert so we needed the sit down..

Because we couldn’t actually function due to elephant feet and sunburn we decided to just get drunk. At 6pm we were on Pisco Sour numero dos and moved on to multiple cocktails and a Jug of Terremotos! Yes a jug.You’re only meant to have one glass, let alone a jug, so after chatting up a guy Me:’Are you German or French?’ Him: ‘No I’m Swiss.’ To Cats entertainment, I somehow made it to bed. Waking up at 6.30am in a panic and no phone I made Cat WhatsApp me and we found it in the sheets. I wasn’t so lucky with my travelcash card and after wandering the streets asking irritable Chilean men if they had seen it, I gave up and we headed to the beach instead. Its OK we got cat a brolly and a birka style dress to cover up!

That night we were kindly treated to an amazing amazing meal at Fauna. A beautiful restaurant that looks out over Valparaiso and its harbour. I had given up not eating carbs so devoured the bread and roasted veg dip. The steak was unreal as was the Vanilla cheesecake! (Thanks Julie & Paul!)

The views are breathtaking and as we wandered around after the meal we discovered more and more street art. The place is so chilled and hippyish I felt like leaving my stressful life behind and camping up there instead.

We found a cute little cafe/bistro for hot choc and pie di limon (desert number two) where we were serenaded by a charismatic old man and his granddaughter who sang traditional Chilean folk songs. If this wasn’t dreamy enough we came across these guys at an outdoor wine bar.

As my Dad said when I sent him this video ‘every day should be spent like this’ and I agree, it made me reflect on life and where I want to be, and I think something has to give with my crazy stress levels, so after uni Yoga and meditation will be a main focus.

From the trip and speaking Italian every time I opened my mouth to reply to a Spanish question, I have decided that another goal is to properly learn Italian. Not half heartedly this time but properly.I always feel at home in Italy and whenever I am abroad I find myself wishing I was just in Italy, the place just makes me so happy and content. the only barrier is the language that stops me travelling all over.

Anyway Valparaiso helped me see where I want to head in life and as we headed back to Santiago I felt really emotional and realised how being stressed in life can really affect you health wise aswell as  everyone else around you. I vowed that from the minute I landed in the UK I was going to start sorting it, number one is listening to my fave Faye Louise ( see my previous post) who writes amazing blogs and makes me cry a lot. She’s always so right, we need to look after ourselves and realise life is too short to stress and not be mindful and enjoy the here and now. If you want to do something and you know it will give you true happiness, you have to let some things give.

I know I have strayed a bit from the experience in Valpo, but that’s what I have taken from the place, as well as the entire trip.Chile is a Country that i will definitely explore again, thanks for an amazing time Cat I couldn’t have done it without you! (no, really I wouldn’t have made it past Santiago Airport haha) Loves x

If you want any information of the places we stayed and how we arranged it all, feel free to drop me a line on the contact page below.

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The post Uni ‘Bucket list.’

Whilst I am procrastinating and not doing my project work, I have been planning all the things I will do in my free time when I finish uni.

Being the non stop, goal driven person that I am, (much like a hamster on a wheel) there is no option but to replace the uni hole with something else (less stressful). Here is a list of everything I have wanted to do for the last three years but havn’t been able to fit it in.

1) Yoga
I have tried and tried to fit it in but it always clashes with my uni lectures and work. Come June i will be on the look out for the best classes in the area to re align my body (and mind) and get the old core engaged.

2) Meditation
Comes hand in hand with Yoga. They say 20 minutes is all you need, and having tried it previously, I feel it is the only thing that manages to slow me down and get any where near relaxed. Definitely on the to do list for June.

3) Kick Boxing.
I used to do Thai kickboxing for years up until I was about 18. My boss practices various martial arts and he always inspires me to get back into it. It is the one sport I really loved and stuck at. It is also very therapeutic as you can imagine! You get to kick and elbow people after a bad day-whilst keeping fit! Perfect!

4) Read an actual book.
When you work full time and study on the evening there is no time to read – without feeling guilty that there is work that should be done. I can’t wait to sit on a summers evening and read a bit of fiction with a cuppa and not have to make notes and a bibliography.

5) Watch TV series and Films.
This follows on from reading. When there are deadlines looming, an hour could mean another reference or 500 words. The new HOMELAND series is waiting on my sky plus… Roll on June.

6) Socialise. Socialising is for Friday and Saturday nights at the moment( when it’s not the holidays). Wednesday wine time is something I need to rekindle, but whilst the fun time projects and lectures are on going, the units have to be consumed at weekends only. (6 months to go)

7) Just sit and do nothing . We all know that’s not going to happen, even after uni so let’s just skip that dream.

8) Concentrate on my Blog.
If I am going to be frankly honest, Pressups and Prosecco will no doubt be the centre of my life, even after the project has finished. I love a challenge and building my blog is a personal and interesting journey into how digital and social marketing has changed the way we communicate with each other. It’s also part of my job as a Marketing Coordinator. Those who know me will tell you that I buzz over anything blog/ marketing related so it will be exciting to be able to really focus on the blog and see where it can go!

9) My Career.
This is the be all and end all. I can’t wait to see what the future holds at Agile (my current employer), especially when I can throw even more of myself into the role and really work my little socks off to carve myself a nice little life for the future !

10) Go to the beach every day .
I can’t not have a 10th point. So after uni I really just want to focus on being the best I can be and if I don’t feel it some days- I know the beach is just a stones throw away.
If you live by the sea- then you’ll just get it .

10 things you only realise when you’re single…

Singledom. It can be seen as daunting, exciting or down right terrifying. When you’re so used to being part of a team, going back out into the world as a single individual is a bizarre feeling.  It’s almost like you’re 18 again, you can drink freely, go wild, do what you like and answer only to yourself.

You also realise there are some things only single people get (sorry guys this mostly applies to the girlies!)……

1) So for years you had a ‘live in’ fake tanner to help you reach that impossible area right in the middle of your back. Now you just walk around with a weird smudged back.

2) But the guys are just as relived that they no longer have to put up with the odour of stale fake tanned bedding.

3) Prosecco time is all the time. No boyfriend to stay in with= no home time.

4) You never fill up your screen wash, because you don’t know how and you might get dirty nails, even if that means you spend half of the year squinting through a muddy screen until a mate helps you out.

5) There is no such thing as the bank of {insert said ex-boyfriend name} anymore. Yes, that actually means buying Mac Lipstick with your own money.

6) Taking up the entire bed because IT’S ALL YOURS, the only downside is, its bloody freezing without a human radiator.

7) Cooking for one is so much easier, so now, when it comes to cooking for more, your brain doesn’t know what to do any more….!

8) Yeah of course you can have my number…just because you know, I’m single and- WOOO!

9) Focusing on your career is even better single, because you know what, you can just get a job anywhere in the world, you only have to worry about number one now, and yes, there is life after work, it’s called, the pub/gym/friend’s house.

10) You have a ridiculous amount of spare cash from not going out to all those ‘new’ restaurants and splurging on weekends away. Now it just goes on travelling, partying and erm clothes.

Thanks to my single girls & (guy) Theanna, Hannah & Mart for keeping me entertained with their hilarious suggestions… not that I could ever post half of them online. Haha!