Happy 30th Birthday Talluah.

“Would you like to have a sleep-in for your birthday, mum?” 

Sounds like a nice gesture doesn’t it?  Just so there is no ambiguity, 7:15 is now considered a sleep-in.

The day started with presents at the breakfast table as the girls and I had a big day planned for Talluah.  Talluah is now sporting some of great fashions from Valparaiso.  Though she would look fantastic in anything today she was particularly beautiful in her jacket made by a local artisan.

We met up with Boris this morning and headed out to Quintay.  If you’ll pardon the cliché, Quintay is a sleepy little fishing village forty-five minutes south of Valpo.  It was once a whaling station and there is a very small museum with photographs from the 1950s when the station was in its heyday.  The museum isn’t a highlight but it does allow you to get to some great viewpoints along the craggy shoreline.

Talluah is a keen seafood fan and Quintay offers some great fresh seafood.  Boris showed us parts of Quintay that we wouldn’t have found on our own, such as Playa Chica (Small Beach), which is in the opposite direction to Playa Grande.  We went out to Playa Chica to help walk off lunch but the day slowly changed from brilliant sunshine to a crisp breeze.  We headed into town to catch a colectivo but in winter they aren’t very regular so we waited for the next bus.  In the next fifty minutes the crisp breeze turned into a fog, which forced us to huddle in the bus stop.  When the bus driver opened the bus we ran to the warm vehicle.

Back at the apartment we sang Happy Birthday by the glow of a single candle on a lemon merengue cake.  Thank you to all the people who sent birthday wishes and helped out with the Spanish lessons Talluah was thrilled.