Over the summer, Rodolfo and I took a slightly insane trip to Iloca. This beach town is about 6 hours from Santiago, thanks to an indirect route over small roads, and we went for a night. I do not recommend this.

Luckily, we were rewarded for our efforts. Although it was a bit cold, we got a spectacular sunset. As Lola and Luna, my in-laws’ dog, concentrated on the important task of digging holes, we humans admired the last rays peeking through the clouds.

Iloca isn’t exactly a resort town. It was very badly damaged in the 2010 earthquake, and even before that we weren’t talking 5-star hotels. It’s a quiet coastal village where people can rent cabins and just chill out, which is precisely what we did for each of the few hours we were in town.

Although I won’t be home and cuddling with Lola until the end of the month, starting this week things will be less hectic. Which means I can spend this time getting ahead on work in order to have plenty of time for puppy snuggles when I get home. Until then I’ll get by with pictures like this, of those moments that make the long journeys worth it.

The post Summer flashback: Iloca appeared first on Don't Call Me Gringa.

It’s safe to say that most of us have seen photos of this colorful little church, and in person it does not disappoint. The colors are just as vivid as on any postcard, but the surprise is inside. As I’d already visited the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, I wasn’t shocked to find the inside of Saint Basil’s Cathedral covered in bright paint, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.

Although I called this building little, the fact is that it’s only little in comparison to all of the giant buildings near it. Upon entering, I found myself winding through passageways and finding seemingly endless chambers, each more stunning than the last.

In both the Kremlin Armoury Museum and Saint Basil’s Cathedral, I saw examples of paintings framed in gold, often embellished with pearls and precious stones. You have to love that in Russia, even a bright painting isn’t enough by itself – gotta add that bling!

This room at the top of Saint Basil’s Cathedral was my favorite. Although it was cold, as the upper level is open, the detail work on such a grand scale took my breath away. A male a cappella group chanting added to the holy ambiance, and if it hadn’t been for my nose slowly losing feeling, I would have stayed up here longer.

I mentioned that my first view of Saint Basil’s Cathedral made me giddy and drove home that I was really in Russia. While I never tired of the view of Saint Basil’s from Red Square – or of photographing it from every possible angle – the chance to explore this iconic church from the inside was one of the highlights of my trip.

The story goes that Ivan the Terrible, who commanded Saint Basil’s Cathedral be built, was so impressed by the building that he had the architect blinded so that Ivan’s commission would remain his most beautiful work. Lovely. But while I obviously don’t condone architect-blinding, I can sort of understand Ivan. Because even after all these years, Saint Basil’s might still be the most beautiful building in Russia.

More in this series:
MockBa
A whirlwind Moscow tour
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior
The Moscow Kremlin

The post Beautiful Saint Basil’s Cathedral appeared first on Don't Call Me Gringa.

I am a sucker for cake. While I like many desserts, there’s something particularly satisfying to my sweet tooth about the texture of cake. This of course means that living in LA when Sprinkles brought the cupcake craze to town was equal parts delicious and dangerous.

When I started seeing gorgeous wedding cakes in my Pinterest feed, I thought nothing of it. My friend Tricia and her friend Amy were both recently married – I figured maybe they couldn’t let go of wedding planning, maybe they were having second celebrations in other countries. It was when I realized that Tricia and Amy were in fact the bakers behind these beauties that I started drooling.

These two gringas have now launched Santiago Sweets, and thanks to some well-chosen cupcake samples, I can vouch for their goods. I tried red velvet with cream cheese frosting, chocolate with vanilla frosting and chocolate with mocha frosting. I honestly am not sure which was my favorite. I *think* chocolate/vanilla gets the edge in part because of the pink flower design, but that mocha frosting is sinfully rich.

Santiago Sweets does wedding cakes as well as cupcakes, ICE CREAM CAKES (any guesses as to what I will be having at my next birthday party?) and cookies. Ordering is easy, just send an email to contacto.santiago.sweets[at]gmail[dot]com with your flavor preferences 72 hours before you want to enjoy. And with fun flavors like peanut butter, pumpkin and newly added ginger in addition to the classics, homesick gringos will find comfort in these goodies.

Now for the exciting news: if you’re in Santiago, this is your chance to win. Santiago Sweets is offering 4 prizes of 6 cupcakes each so that you can become totally addicted get to know their desserts. Enter to win below (click on over to the blog if you’re in a reader and just see a link) – I’m looking forward to daydreaming over the flavor combinations you guys come up with.

You must like Santiago Sweets on Facebook and leave a comment on this entry to participate (don’t just click that you did, actually do it, I’ll check!). You can tweet the giveaway up to once a day and like Emily in Chile on Facebook for additional entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Each prize is a pack of 6 cupcakes of assorted flavors to be redeemed May 25-26. Delivery included in Santiago Centro, Providencia, Las Condes and Ñuñoa – winners in other comunas must arrange pick-up with Santiago Sweets. To correctly enter using a tweet, make sure you use the retweet button in the Rafflecopter widget. And feel free to leave any questions in the comments.

The post Giveaway: Santiago Sweets appeared first on Don't Call Me Gringa.

As I’ve said, everything is bigger in Russia. So it shouldn’t have surprised me that everything in the Kremlin is huge. The buildings are all impressive, but it was the size of the complex as a whole that I only fully appreciated once inside the walls. The parts accessible to tourists allowed tempting glimpses of faraway corners, reminding us that this place is really a small city.

Moscow’s layout is a pattern of concentric circles, which grew larger as Moscow’s population expanded. The space that now makes up the Kremlin used to be the entirety of the city of Moscow and has been inhabited for over 2000 years. Did I mention that Russia has a ridiculously long and intriguing history?

One of the highlights of a visit to the Moscow Kremlin is the Armoury Museum. It was here that I began to appreciate that history, as I strolled through rooms filled with ancient artefacts. I also began to appreciate that the tsars had some serious style and that royals know how to give a gift – there are some INSANE gold and silver pieces that were sent to the Russian court from around the world.

After the great audio guide I had in the Armoury, I did wish that I had some kind of guide to show me the rest of the Moscow Kremlin. Plenty of companies offer tours, and I think you may be able to get a guide from the Kremlin itself.

I’m not totally sure because the website isn’t clear, and the woman who sold me my ticket would not answer my questions. The next Armoury tour was about to start, and instead of selling me a ticket for a later time she was very insistent that I go quickly to make that time slot.

You don’t need a guide to enjoy the beauty of the Moscow Kremlin complex, but if you’re interested in history I think it would make the experience even more interesting. I, meanwhile, simply took advantage of the photographic opportunities. As in much of Moscow, you’ll find plenty of beautiful churches…

And even on big buildings, the details haven’t been forgotten.

So, Kremlin verdict? Awesome. Far more than I expected, very big and pretty, pretty, pretty. Basically, it’s like everywhere I went in Moscow. And that’s a good thing.

More in this series:
MockBa
A whirlwind Moscow tour
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Beautiful Saint Basil’s Cathedral

The post The Moscow Kremlin appeared first on Don't Call Me Gringa.

This church ticks pretty much all the boxes: massive (it’s the tallest Orthodox church in the world), ornate, beautiful and old. Well, not really old. It’s true that back in the 1800s Tsar Nicolas oversaw the construction of a church that looked pretty much exactly like this in this exact spot. But this is not that church.

You see, Communism and Christianity don’t mix. Stalin wanted this prime real estate just down the river from the Kremlin for the Palace of the Soviets, which was to be a government building. So in 1931, the Soviet government demolished the Cathedral of Christ the Savior – after taking the gold used in the domes for the government coffers, of course.

The Palace of the Soviets never quite got off the ground thanks to WWII, and in the 1950s, instead of becoming a shrine to Stalinism, it became…a swimming pool. Hardly what either god or Stalin had dreamed.

In 1990, however, the Soviet Government had relaxed enough to allow the Church to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and in 2000, the current incarnation was consecrated. The interior is absolutely breathtaking, full of colors and even more gold, but no photos are allowed (others’ images here). On the one hand, I was sad not to be able to take pictures to share and look back on, but on the other, being forced to be present added to the serene and holy atmosphere.

Even from the outside, it is stunning, especially when its gleaming white and gold exterior is set against a deep blue sky. And while the main entrance is right along a busy street, making it hard to really appreciate the cathedral’s size, the back leads to a pedestrian bridge over the Moskva River which allows for easy contemplation.

It’s true that Moscow is a city full of beautiful churches, and simply by visiting Red Square and the Kremlin you’ll see several. But take the time to see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It’s truly gorgeous as well as having a pretty crazy history.

What’s the quirkiest church you’ve visited on your travels?

More in this series:
MockBa
A whirlwind Moscow tour
The Moscow Kremlin
Beautiful Saint Basil’s Cathedral

The post The Cathedral of Christ the Savior appeared first on Don't Call Me Gringa.