Marcel(a) the Shell(a)

Before reading, you must watch this video.

Mads and I have a soft spot in our hearts for this awkward little shell. And we couldn't help but drop a couple lines from the video when we befriended our own Marcel(a) the Shell(a) this weekend during a trip to Valparaíso. Real Marcel(a) is a native Valpo-ian, fanatic puppeteer (see her some of her creations here), and simply a warm soul. I got her name from a friend who studied in Santiago years ago. It was such a delight to meander around with her in her "ciudad mágica" (magic city) for a few hours.

In honor of the free artistic spirit of Valparaíso, and in honor of the preferred writing style of our dear friend Sarah Estopinal, I'm going to describe our adventures without punctuation or capital letters. And I'll give you some pictures.

And remember, I have a Picasa where you can see much, much more.

colors. ocean. giggle fits. the impersonation game. snuggling. mint chocolate chip ice cream. coconut-manjar-banana kuchen. mosaic lampposts. "open-sky" museums. artsy cafés. pink flowers. pablo. witticisms and wisdom (in the form of poetry). graffiti. bright doors. serenades. cluttered chorrillana joint. alfajores (duh). juice box houses. puppets. playfulness. whimsy. heart-to-hearts with marcel(a). a kind hug in the end. and an invitation to return.

"Do I get the kuchen?"

"I think I do ..."

Flirting with Pablo.

Ah! What work it is to love you like I do!

Museum of the Open Sky. How narrow-minded of us to ask where the building was.

Senior pic!

Everyone in the restaurant knew the words to this song but us.

Leaving a little piece of ourselves in J Cruz (the restaurant, not a knock-off department store).

Networking is apparently big in the puppet world. We stumbled across a friend of Marcela's in the park who makes puppets out of other people's trash.

Goodbye, Valpo. We will return. And we're sorry we didn't visit earlier.