Chiloé Island: July 4- 7

As a last excursion in Chile, my friend Jena and I traveled to Chiloé. Chiloé is an island off of Chile in the south. With very little planning, we traveled by airplane from Santiago to Puerto Montt. In Puerto Montt we caught a bus to get to the island, in which we had to cross water by taking a ferry. We had planned to spend our time in the city of Castro, which was in the center of the island, so a 4-hour bus ride we embarked on! The idea was to see Chiloé in less than 4 days and having done little research, no one told us it would be raining ALL DAY and EVERY day that we were there. Thankfully we are both adventurous people and enjoy the excitement of the unknown, because I’m sure anyone else would have been disappointed with the amount of rain. Nonetheless, we happened to stay in one of the most awesome hostels (it was a Palafito=house on stilts over water) and ventured out to explore during the day. We ended up in Dalcahue after taking a bus for a while and explored the small fishing village at the edge of the island for an afternoon. Here we tried “Curanto”, which is a traditional food of Chiloé Island consisting of various types of meats, shellfish, potatoes, and other “mystery pieces”. This was an experience in itself and probably the weirdest thing I have ever eaten. *The photo is worth viewing* Although, we didn’t feel our time in Chiloé was complete, it was a relaxing and interesting 3-day excursion. I want to go back!

Click on the "Chiloé" album to see photos here.

Oh how I will miss you

It's hard to believe in less than a month I will be returning to the states. It's unbelievable how time passes you by.. I already have a list created of all the things I have yet to do! Since I love lists, here is one:

Things I will surely miss from Chile:

1. fresh fruit and vegetables all the time
2. my host mother’s cooking
3. the friendly, caring people and their hospitality
4. gelato ice cream for 2$ USD
5. riding the micros (buses) everywhere
6. delicious bread!
7. someone to make my bed everyday (Thank you Erika!)
8. speaking Spanish but also speaking English without anyone knowing what I’m saying
9. guy friends carrying my backpack, waiting for the bus with me and/or walking me home at night (so sweet) =)
10. wine and its cost
11. spending hours in restaurants without feeling rushed to leave
12. hugs and kisses everyday
13. the complete lack of consciences of time
14. the immense beauty and creativity of this country
15. and of course, the staff of ISA, my host family and all the friends/amazing people that have made my experience here unforgettable

I'm not homesick yet. Is this normal?

Written at the end of May

I think I may have discovered I am someone who adjusts easily to change. In all honesty, there are not a lot of things back home that I couldn’t live without I’ve learned. Primarily, just people. Despite how “uncivilized” or how "third-world" people think Chile may be, I do have access to things and if not, there are usually substitutes. But these are the things I miss most:

1. my dog
2. bagels with cream cheese
3. real orange juice
4. convenience of having a car
5. friends & family
6. greenery & fresh air

The Culture of the Micros (Buses):

Here in Chile most people do not own vehicles and therefore, rely on public transportation to get around, including buses, colectivos (basically cheap taxis that drive you to your destination while picking up and dropping others off along the way) and real taxis. My primary transportation is the Micro and let me tell you, it’s nothing like my busing experience in Grand Rapids. First of all, you can catch a bus (of course if it’s the one that serves you) by standing anywhere on its route and simply flagging it down by a wave of your hand or sticking up your pointer finger. In other words, time schedules and bus stops do not exist. Physically, the bus stops exists and they usually do consist of many people waiting but what I’m trying to say is, you can stand 20 feet away from the stop and still flag the bus down to jump on. Although this method is convenient for the lazy person, it gets real old if you’re already riding the bus and we have to constantly stop and go every 2 feet.

However, the real excitement is riding the bus during rush hour or any time the driver feels like stopping for every single person in its route. (Note: There are several buses that have similar routes. In other words, they overlap each other and for this reason, it’s not necessary to stop for every person. Chances are there is another bus 2 seconds behind them that can pick the person up) Often times I think it’s a game to see how many people we can fit inside the bus and it doesn’t matter whose face you have your butt in or that the doors don’t completely shut all the way. The best part of this experience is trying to hang on while the bus driver travels at speeds nearly off the speedometer. And when someone pushes the button to get off, the driver breaks to a screeching halt and despite how “sardine-like packed” we are, there is enough room for everyone one standing to fall onto the person in front of them like dominoes. I quickly caught on to this “game” and learned to sit or stand as close as possible to the door so I could ensure my exit. I especially love riding the ones rollin’ to Reggaeton music and black lights. Oh how I am going to miss this daily excitement of my Chilean life!

Busyness

I apologize to those who have been following my blog and my lack of updated. I've noticed my last post was in the middle of June and it's already nearly the end of July! I have different pieces that I had written but failed to post. So the following posts will include those... hopefully someone out there is still reading this and again, I'm sorry for my lack of updates =(

Coca Cola in glass bottles!

*I wrote this awhile ago and forgot to post it...

I probably sound like I am having serious culture shock here by some of the things I say. The truth is… I haven’t really experienced culture shock at all.* Chilean culture is different but I haven’t felt that anything is extreme or shocking to my brain. It’s more about the way they do things here are sometimes different and amusing. Even some of the littlest things are so exciting to me, such as Coca Cola in glass bottles! I remember getting excited back home when we found Coca Cola in the 6-pack glass bottles one time and here, Chileans receive their Cokes in glass bottles everyday! And what else that is so great, the glass bottles are RECYCLED! Yes, they re-use them. It’s always a good idea to pour your Coke into a cup instead of drinking from the glass bottle for this reason.

*The Meat Man: Ok well, there was one moment when we first arrived to Valparaíso. During the first week when we were being herded through the city as a giant group of American students, I witnessed a grotesque sight of a man carrying an entire bloody, cow carcass through the street on his back to La Carcinería (place to buy fresh meat). You could tell the cow had just been slaughtered and the meat was pretty fresh. As he came around the corner with the giant carcass on his back (I can’t even imagine how heavy it was), everyone cleared out of his way and I had to quickly turn away before throwing up. The smell, and of course the sight, was awful.

Doggy Genocide!

When I first heard this, I thought it was some sort of awful rumor and I thought “who would make this up in their mind?” With a history such as Chile’s, we have apparently resorted to killing dogs instead of humans! In my Spanish writing class I received an article over this event and was asked to give my opinion as an assigment. Apparently, this event was really going to happen! As I have already mentioned before, there are packs and packs of stray dogs here in the streets and in the event of the President of Chile coming to town, they plan to kill them so they won’t get in the way of the holiday festivities and parades. Now, what is even worse is that they round the dogs up in the nighttime and then kill them by injecting chlorine into their veins. I’m sure if PETA knew, they’d be all over this one. This tragic event has been set for May 21, 2009.

Two or so weeks later…
Fortunately I was in San Pedro on May 21, but upon my return, I noticed the lack of stray dogs in the streets. They really did carry out their plan of killing them. Not all of them, but a significant amount to notice that they went missing. I heard that they had taken the worst ones, which I guess was good since a lot of the dogs here are sickly and have a lot of health problems. The primary issue of the abundance of stray dogs is that as soon as a pet dog has a problem that requires medical attention, it is pushed out on to the street to live as most Chileans cannot afford to care for their pets. And there is no shelter where the dogs can be taken to.

May 20-May 26: San Pedro, Atacama Desert

What was originally supposed to be a weekend excursion turned into a week-long vacation. We made a mistake buying our airline tickets online, but a great mistake none the less! Since my birthday was Monday, I used that as an excuse to skip my classes and off we went to the desert in the northern part of Chile for a week. It might have been the best week yet in Chile for me. The weather was brilliant with sun and warmth, and the sights we saw were unbelievable. I honestly can’t describe most of the places we had visited, as they seemed surreal to me. As far as I can remember, I had never been to the desert before and was amazed to experience the desert of Chile for the first time.

We left Viña on Tuesday night, May 19, to travel to Santiago, as our flight left bright and early the next morning (Wed). We pulled another “sleep in the airport overnight”, though none of us actually slept. Our flight arrived in Calama, which happens to be the nearest airport. We then had to take an hour-long taxi ride to San Pedro de Atacama. After hours of no sleep and traveling, we arrived to our hostel in San Pedro. Of course, we had to stop and ask for directions a long the way as our taxi-driver (this cute little old man) didn’t know where our hostel was in San Pedro. San Pedro was so small, I’m sure we drove by the place a few times while trying to find someone to ask for directions. As we crawled into the hostel premises with our pack backs, we spotted hammocks and passed out for the day. We had found it necessary to rest before we decided to conquer the great Atacama Desert and naps in the hammocks were only appropriate at this time. This first day was mainly spent sleeping, being lazy and aimlessly wandering. Our next four days were then spent exploring the desert through a variety of excursions. I don’t really know how to describe all of the places that we had visited, other than the fact that they were ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I suggest you look at my photos to see for yourself because no words can describe the places I saw and even perhaps consider booking a trip to northern Chile in the near future =) I saw lagoons of all sorts, an abundant of rock formations and salt flats, geysers, small ancient towns, as well as unusual (for me) wildlife. We were able to experience most of the sights at their best; either sunrise or sunset. After 4 full-packed days, we spent our last day wandering around San Pedro and lazing around to soak up what last bit of sun we could. The entire “vacation” was ideal and beyond anything I had thought of doing previously.

Aside from the mystery and beauty of the Atacama Desert, one of the most interesting aspects was the loss of electricity and lack of heat at night. The town would become entirely black and the only thing we could do was crawl into our beds under the covers to keep warm. And to look into the darkness… hear the silence of the desolate desert was the strangest feeling. (Especially, as I am used to the sound of dogs barking and car alarms going off all night in Viña) If you walked outside, you could look up and witness the clearest skies filled with a billion stars. Amazing!

I didn’t want to leave...

Street Art & Ex-Carcel in Valparaíso

In my Chilean Culture class we have been learning about the street art/graffiti that decorates (while conveying a message) the streets and buildings throughout Valparaíso. We had the opportunity to listen to Charquipunk, a well-known graffiti-artist here in Valparaíso, talk about his art and the history of graffiti in Chile. Then, on Thursday (May 14) we took a field trip to the Ex-Carcel that has been turned into a place where artists are free to express themselves all over the walls, displaying different murals. The Ex-Carcel is an old prison in Valpo where prisoners were jailed for many years. Here we met an ex-prisoner, who now works at the Ex-Carcel as a volunteer sharing his experience. His story was very interesting since he had been imprisoned for 13 years and at one point he had escaped. He described how him and 11 guys dug a giant hole that took 5 months to dig. He had escaped through the hole and was free for 3 months until they found him. I thought it was really neat to be given a tour by an ex-prisoner and to understand the experiences there through his own account.

To see the work of Charquipunk click here.

And to see photos that I took at the Ex-Carcel, visit my photo website.

May 8, 2009 Santiago Excursion: Dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet

Chile has an interesting history, but most notably a horrifying past between the years of 1973 and 1990. During this time period, Chile was ruled under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and tens of thousands of people were tortured and even killed. Many people were imprisoned and detained in the National Stadium in Santiago, as well as sent to concentration camps where they had “disappeared” (people do not know what happened to them). Most of Pinochet’s victims were accused “communists” or “socialists”, including professors, doctors, priests, students and activists. It is believed that over 3,000 people were killed in Chile during Pinochet’s regime and of course, thousands more were affected in some way. And the worst part... This would NOT have been possible without the support of the CIA and President Richard Nixon. Yes, that is right, the United States supported Pinochet and his human rights violations.

I didn’t know anything about this before I started learning about Chile. It is almost surreal to me as these events were not that long ago. I would need to write an entire essay with complete research to fully explain the history of Chile during this time period. As part of our program (ISA) we have had “charlas” or lectures/discussions over the Dictatorship of Pinochet presented by a history Professor here, in order to give us a better understanding of Chile’s past. Then, Friday, May 8, we took a trip to Santiago to visit a few different places including:

Archivo de Vicaría de la Solidaridad – Documentation & Archives of the Vicarage for Solidarity, including documents and information of what happened in different written forms.

Fundación Solidaridad – Here we had tea with the lady who headed this great organization that works with women in poverty. The women create different crafts by hand and then sell them in the fair trade store there, as well as ship to other fair trade stores in other countries.

Cementario General – The General Cemetery AKA “City of the Dead”, and it was just that. More tombstones than I have ever seen. Here there was a memorial with crosses representing the Disappeared during Pinochet’s regime.

Centro de Detención “Villa Grimaldi” – Here was the detention camp where people were detained and tortured illegally. Many people were executed here, as well. It is now a memorial park to remember the victims.

*Pictures of these places can be found on my photo website.

If you have 20 minutes to spare, this Youtube video helps to briefly describe what happened... here.

What season is it?

As it is getting warm there, it is getting colder here! When I first got here, the weather was beautiful with lots of sunshine and warmth. It was perfect after months of snow in Michigan. I was hoping this beautiful weather would remain throughout my entire stay here in Chile, but the last couple weeks have felt more like Michigan’s fall season. It’s currently May and mind is confused. It doesn’t know what to think as I walk through crunchy leaves, when the month of May is associated with sun and flowers. The weather here varies from day to day and even between Valpo and Viña. One day it is sunny and warm. The next day it is cold, cloudy and rainy. On these days, I look forward to the summer time of warmth and sun that I will return to.

Notes from Chile

1. Chile is so diverse that you can visit everything: the desert, glaciers, valleys with vineyards, volcanoes, mountains, and even the ocean.
2. Chileans eat BREAD for every meal of the day. It is no wonder they are the 2nd greatest consumers of bread!
3. Along with bread, tea is a staple in the Chilean house. They don’t have dinner, but “Once” (or Tecito) instead that consists of bread with a variety of toppings (meat, cheese, avocado, paté. marmalade, etc…) and tea.
4. They do not have central heating like we do in the States, instead they use electric heaters called “estufas”.
5. A lot of people do not own cars and instead use public transportation.
6. The metro here is the cleanest metro I have EVER been on, including the metro station.
7. Ice cream here is really gelato, and the best ever. It is super cheap compared to the gelato in the states. 900$ pesos for a giant scoop=about 1.50$
8. Chileans talk SUPER fast and the lingo is unlike any Spanish you’ll ever learn in a textbook.
9. Chilean slang is called “Chilenismos” (words or phrases they’ve created). *This has made learning Spanish here far more difficult than I expected.
10. They put mayonnaise on everything, although the mayo here tastes different and perhaps, less fattening.
11. You always know when there is a Chilean soccer game on. The yelling and screaming echoes through the neighborhoods.
12. The division of classes is clearly evident, especially between Valparaiso and Viña.
13. Stray dogs outnumber the people on the streets. Sometimes they travel in large packs or try to start fights with other stray dogs. Beware and try not to step in the dog poop.
14. Parties don’t begin before midnight and don’t end until after the sunrises. And Chileans don’t just party on Friday and Saturday nights.
15. American influence can be seen everywhere.
16. Chileans identity themselves as Catholic, but its likely they are non-practicing Catholics.
17. Jumbo is the fancy Wal-mart of Chile, unfortunately.
18. Aside from Jumbo, you must go to special stores to buy all your products. The panadería for bread, carcinería for meat, pastelería for pastries and cakes, La Feria for fresh fruits and vegetables and more.
19. Chileans LOVE television and they watch all of the same television shows. (only another American influence)
20. Refrigeration is not the same concept as it is in the States. Eggs and milk can be found on the dry shelves in the supermarket.
21. Blonde-haired girls are prized here. The men in the streets will let you know. And most times it’s unflattering.
22. You should always tip the bagger at the supermarket. It’s likely they are not receiving a wage and most times its very young boys.
23. There are a lot of young couples with babies, since birth control and condoms are not as readily available as in the States. Abortion is not an option.
24. Rush hour is from 7pm to 8pm here.
25. It’s normal to see couples making out in the streets or parks.
26. The public education here is really bad. It seems as though most of the time the students aren’t even in school due to teachers striking and protesting.
27. Chileans are conscious about preserving water and electricity, but unfortunately could care less about throwing their trash on the ground.
28. In order to get hot water, they must light the “califant” in the house.
29. When out to eat, it’s acceptable to take a long time and you must ask for the bill when you’re ready to pay. This is because eating is a very social event here.
30. Time doesn’t exist here. Everyone’s always “running late”. Expect to wait for everything.

Smoking: It kills.

"In Chile, tobacco kills 16,000 people a year. The next could be you."

"Tobacco Kills. If you want to live, quit smoking." (*These quotes are issued by the Chilean Government and the Ministry of Health)

I’m not a fan of smoking. In all honesty, I think it’s disgusting. Of all the pollutants that we are exposed to in this world, why would one choose to put MORE into their body? I won’t rant about how much I dislike smoking, but it’s still something I don’t understand.

One of the first things I noticed about Chileans is that so many of them smoke! It’s uncommon NOT to smoke here and for this reason, I’ve become more accustomed to people smoking and being places where there are no rules against such behavior. I still choke when the lady sitting next to me on the bus smells like an ashtray or the smoke from the person in front of me blows into my face, suffocating me on the street. But, it’s a cultural difference that I have had to get used to. What amuses me about smoking here though is that the cigarette packages have this awful image of a man portraying the possible results from smoking. Not to mention all of the writing informing people of the health affects. My friend and I had to laugh the other day when we discovered that our university store/cafeteria doesn’t sell Tylenol of any sort, but certainly provides cigarettes for purchasing. Only food and cigs.

Now I need to research the percentage of Chileans with lung cancer…

La Serena for Semana Santa

La Serena: April 9-12

This last weekend my friend Nicole and I traveled by bus for 6 hours (normally 4 hrs in your own car) to La Serena, in the northern part of Chile. We planned the trip on a whim since we had another 4-day weekend for Semana Santa (Easter holiday). We traveled overnight Wednesday night to arrive bright and early Thursday morning in La Serena. The first day we wandered around La Serena and visited “Parque Japones” (Japanese Park), a beautiful Japanese-styled park. The second day we went on an excursion to Isla Damas (Isla=Island, Damas=Women). We had to first travel by van through the valley and into some desert land to reach the coast (Punto Choros). Through the desert land we traveled at high speeds on dirt, one-way road (like two-tracking or something-I thought we were going to die several different times). It was hard to imagine that we were going to an island, when there wasn’t a drop of water in sight. We got to see some wild guanacos though! They’re kind of like llamas, I guess. But our tour guide told us “to look out for the guanacos” because if we see the guanacos, then we will get to see dolphins. I wasn’t sure (and still have no clue) how guanacos are related to dolphins but apparently, every time he has seen guanacos, he was able to see the dolphins in the ocean. Well, once we climbed into our little engine boat and headed out to sea, sure enough, we saw dolphins! They were jumping out of the water right next to our boat! It was so cool to see, as there are only 3-colonies of bottled-nosed dolphins left in the world and one colony is right here in Chile! We explored the ocean in our little engine boat looking for dolphins, sea lions, penguins, and different types of birds. It was so beautiful and we were able to see so much sea life. Eventually we made it to Isla Damas, where we were able to wander or relax for a little bit. The island is inhabitable by people and serves more or less as a tourist destination for these small day-excursions (although there were people camping in tents there! There is no food or water there though). You can swim or just walk around there. There wasn’t much to see, but the beautiful view.

The next day we scheduled another excursion (they were so easy and cheap and included a meal). Since La Serena is in the Valle de Elqui (Elqui Valley), we found it necessary to see the valley somehow. We traveled in another small touring van through the valley, where we frequently pulled over to look at the different crops that were grown throughout the valley. Making our way further north into the mountains, we visited a dam that they had created there as a source of irrigation for the crops. We also visited the small town of Vicuña, a museum/school house where Gabriela Mistrel (famous poet & activist) went to school, Pisco Elqui (a small town where the grapes for Pisco are grown. Pisco=popular/famous alcoholic drink of Chile), a Pisco distillery (where the Pisco is made & over 100 yrs old!), and then to a restaurant where all the food was cooked by sunlight! (←very cool & delicious!) In the evening when it got really dark, we went to an observatory called "Mamalluca". There in the north, the sky is so clear at night that you can practically see every star in the sky! It was absolutely amazing and we were able to look through telescopes to see the stars and galaxies even closer. We also got to see the moon (so close we could see the craters on the moon) and the planet Saturn! It was almost surreal and the whole experience felt like a dream.

I’m still amazed at how much we did and saw in three days. It was an awesome Semana Santa holiday =)

ConCón, Horcón, Zapallar and Roca Oceánica

April 4, 2009: Beach Excursion!

Yesterday I went on a beach excursion with my program. All of the places were just a little north of where I live in Viña del Mar. We first went to ConCón, where we climbed sand dunes and burned our feet in the sand doing so. It was worth it once we reached the top as the view was spectacular! Traveling by bus, we then visited the small town of fisherman and artisans, Horcón. Here we had only (I felt) a minimal amount of time to scarf down some fried seafood and cheese empanadas (I had a shrimp & cheese-best empanada yet!) and to explore the beautiful beach where the fresh fish are caught. After being herded back to our bus (typical routine with a 50+ gringo invasion), we were off to Zapallar. At Zappallar we had two hours to lay on the beach and it was glorious. Zapallar was nearly the equivalency of Hollywood or Beverly Hills, with giant houses that overlooked the beach owned by the wealthy. We forgot for a while that we were in Chile… After Zapallar, we headed back towards Viña. We stopped off at Roca Oceánica near Reñaca. We were able to see the sun set as we stood on the giant cliffs of rocks that overlooked the ocean. Oh, what a beautiful day it was!
*You can click on the picture to see it in a better quality*
Sand Dunes

Hórcon fishing Village

Zapallar Beach

Roca Oceánica

Roca Oceánica

¡CHI-CHI-CHI LE-LE-LE VIVA CHILE!

April 1-National Soccer Game

The soccer game was awesome. We traveled to Santiago to see Chile play against Uruguay at their national stadium. Our seats were great and were able to see all the action from all angles. I’ve never seen such high-spirited people at a soccer game and go as crazy as the Chileans do! Although, soccer here is the equivalency to football in the US, security was unbelievable. The entire stadium except a sliver was completely red filled with Chilean attire and spirit. It was unbelievable, but so much fun!

And the things they would yell to the opposing team… I’m not even going to repeat them here, but let me tell you, it was definitely a cultural experience. I enjoyed being there among the thousands of Chileans, yelling and cheering for our team. It was a great time and I imagined how the game was for those who were not there… the yelling and cussing echoing through the neighborhoods. Oh how I love Chile!

Few more favorite photos of Perú

...since I have hundreds to share...

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu deserves it’s own post. The hundreds of photos I took while in Perú and at Machu Picchu do not portray the beauty that I witnessed with my own eyes. I can’t even find the words to describe how gorgeous and mystifying Macchu Picchu was. The beauty was unbelievable and to comprehend that people, the Incan’s, had created such a place so high in the Andes Mountains was surreal. All I can say is you have to go there!

We arrived to the park bright and early to ensure our entrance into the park. Due to my illness the day before and money, we didn’t do the hike up the mountain that everyone talks about. Instead we did hike to the Sun gate first (for those of you who know what I’m talking about). It was really foggy in the morning and one point started raining. However, the clouds would clear for a few seconds and we would quickly try to snap photos of the sights. By the time we were done with our hike to the Sun gate, the fog had cleared and we were able to see everything!! The sun came out and it was unbelievable.

As I mentioned before, we traveled from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes (town where Machu Picchu is) by train on Monday, March 23. We left early in the morning from Santiago and arrived in Aguas Calientes around noon. It was a 4-hour train ride as the train had to continuously change directions in order to change tracks and gain momentum to climb into the mountains. I really enjoyed the train ride (until I started throwing up) as it was an opportunity to see the true life of Peruvians in the countryside and in the mountains and the poverty that exists within Perú. As a foreigner and tourist, it was hard to see the people and their lives. To think that we were traveling on a train that runs through their neighborhoods everyday, blaring its horn, disturbing their daily activities (going to school or work-must wait till train completely passes through and while they are trying to sleep) and that they have probably never or could ever travel by to see one of the most beautiful places in the world. One of the Seven Wonders of the World. Since I was able to travel as a tourist and had the privilege to see Machu Picchu in all its beauty, the next time I go back to Perú I would like to go with a different motive. I’d like to go back as a volunteer to do social work there.

Beautiful Perú!

Perú: March 20-27, 2009

My trip to Perú was amazing! I went with three of my friends from ISA and we didn’t really have a plan, other than the fact that we all knew we going to visit Machu Picchu one of the days that we were there. We had made hostel reservations prior to departing but as far as any plans, we just left with a Southern American travel guide and decided we’d talk to people to see what and how to do things and if that didn’t work we’d have our travel book. On Friday we had to take a bus from Valparáiso to Santiago, where we would then spend the night in the airport as our plane departed Saturday morning at 6am. The Santiago airport and how we got there is another story. Nonetheless, we made it to Perú in the early afternoon and spent the afternoon wandering around Cuzco. Other than the two days we spent in Aguas Calientes and visiting Machu Picchu, we spent our time wandering around Cuzco. Cuzco was touristy and filled with backpackers, but it was also filled with culture and plenty of different places to visit. We visited several Artesian Markets and local restaurants and markets.

I absolutely loved Perú and would love to go back again someday. It is very different from Chile in many different aspects. It is not modernized to the extent that Chile is and is actually quite poor. In fact, everything there was ridiculously cheap. At one restaurant, we each paid 10 sol for a full course meal, which is equivalent to a little more than 3$. The economy of Perú is heavily reliant on tourism and that was quite evident as we walked through the streets, people would ask you to come to their restaurant or shop and try to give you a deal. It was really interesting! Peruvians there were always very friendly with us and willing to help whenever we asked. It helped that we spoke Spanish as they were more appreciative we could speak THEIR language instead of them struggling to speak English. We met a bunch of different people throughout the trip. The great thing about traveling is everyone is outgoing and excited to meet you. They want to know where you’re from and where you are going. It truly is a great spirit and never once did we feel scared or unsafe (of course we were smart about what we were doing so that helped too).

Homesick

For the first time, I really felt homesick. As you know this past week I went to Peru with some friends for the whole week. We had an amazing time (more on that soon!) there. Needless to say though, I ended up getting violently ill on Monday on the train ride to Machu Picchu. At first I thought it was altitude sickness, as I felt light-headed and queasy the higher the train climbed into the mountains. I threw up on the train and the miserable action continued the rest of the day after we made it to Aguas Calientes, where we had a hostel reservation. To make a long story short, I couldn’t hold anything down. I threw up 13 times and spent the entire day running from the bed to the bathroom. My good friends and the hostel staff were worried about me and called a doctor. As a real bonding experience, they all saw my bare white butt as I received a shot on the hostel bed (what a sight). Turns out I had food poisoning and was clearly dehydrated. Thankfully I was able to see the Peruvian doctor (who was quite friendly and made me feel comfortable in such an awkward situation but who cares about embarrassment when you’re that sick, right?) and we made it to Machu Picchu bright and early the next morning. Thanks to my Electoral (equivalency to Pedialyte, I’m sure) I didn’t die at Machu Picchu.

Anyway, before the trip was over three of the four of us were all sick and all we talked about was eating some good food from home. We didn’t want to eat the food anymore in Peru due to how miserable we felt. To be honest, all we really wanted was some home-made chicken noodle soup (we bought packaged Ramen to try to satisfy that need) and to be sick in our own beds in our own homes instead of in some hostel bunk-beds. When I arrived home on Friday night and my host mom asked how our trip went, I informed her of my illness. To my surprise she made me chicken noodle soup and all day Saturday she took care of me. She made me dinner in bed and prepared some delicious herbal tea for me as some sort of medicine. Since we were returning from Peru to our host families in Chile and not back to the states as much as we wanted, this was the closest thing to feeling at “home”. And it was awfully nice…

Púcon

This last weekend we traveled 12 hours by bus through the night to Púcon with the organization. It was one of the best weekends I have ever had. We spent the weekend doing different outdoor activities as the town is a tourist-mountain town. We stayed in cabins where we could walk to the downtown area very easily. The first night the girls from my cabin and I cooked together and the second night we all went out for dinner to a classy restaurant that served the best pizza.

The day we arrived there (Friday) we went on a scenic tour, visiting different lakes and waterfalls. The tour ended with swimming at some natural hot springs. Awesome!

I went whitewater rafting and did canopy (zip lining) through the mountains on Saturday. Sunday I was suppose to climb this active volcano with a group, but to make a long story short, I ended up having a dream the night before about the volcano erupting so I had anxiety about going the next morning at 5am when we were suppose to leave. I would have loved to try trekking the volcano but it is hard work. Two of my friends went and made it to the top. However, they were about dead afterwards. Some students in their group didn’t make it as the guides felt they couldn’t go on for various reasons. (It was a big deal to do this. You had to have certain amounts of food and water. The group that went on Saturday didn’t get to go very far due to high winds. It was too dangerous) I probably would have been one of those students so it was better that I spent my day wandering the town and hanging out at the beach…

Now I am off for my adventure to Peru!

First Week of Class (and second too!)

My first week of classes was alright. It was a little stressful trying to find them and make sure I was in the right class and whatnot. It was like being a freshman all over again. Here in Chile, it’s normal to be 15 minutes late for everything so that concept helped. I really like my classes. I am taking all Spanish courses that focus on the language.

This last week was my second week of classes. I was really busy as I had HOMEWORK for the first time in a few months. However, it was real easy and nothing too time-consuming. The nice thing about my classes is that I don’t have to lock myself away and spend all night studying. It’s more about experiential learning, which is awesome. Yesterday (Thursday) in my Chilean Culture class we had to go out of the classroom and ask Chileans to give us definitions to words our professor had provided. The words were “Chilenismo”, which is the language here; different from Spanish. We had to ask them what the word meant and to use it in a sentence. Most of the words were provocative and inappropriate so that made for a good time. It was super intimidating and scary to approach other Chilean students in such a way. Most of them laughed at us since we didn’t know what we were asking in Spanish anyway. Haha It was fun though.

I really like all of my professors too. They already know our names! The professors here are so laid back. They wear jeans to class and answer their phones in the middle of lecture too. Definitely not what I’m used to but it definitely takes pressure off trying to be formal in situations.

First Week

Viña del Mar:

Valparaiso:

This past week was my first week in Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. I live in Viña with a family but go to school in Valpo. They are very close to each other but very different. Viña is more modern and touristy looking, while Valpo is more colonial and colorful-looking. I like being able to experience both because they are really different from each other.

Along with tours and school orientation meetings/business, I have been trying to adjust to a new culture. It’s really hard for me to talk in Spanish here. I feel as though I have forgotten everything I’ve learned and all that I have learned is invalid. They speak super fast here and drop the ends of half the words in their sentences. Half the struggle is trying to understand what they are saying… then how to reply in Spanish. Hopefully it will get better and my Spanish can only improve at this point.

My family is really nice and sweet. I’m privileged to live with them as they are quite wealthy. The house is huge and I have my own room and bathroom. The best part of the household is the food. Chilean food is known to be bland but the food I have been eating here is everything but bland! It’s amazing and let me tell you, I will never go hungry because she feeds me like there’s tomorrow. After a few days of packing me lunches, I had to ask her to give me less because I couldn’t waste it but couldn’t eat it all either…

We toured Valpo and Viña in order to get to know the cities. We toured downtown both cities, took a boat ride in Valpo, visited several different beaches/piers, Pablo Neruda’s house (second of three), and the Mueseo a Cielo Abierto (Open Sky Museum). All excursions were very interesting but were rushed so I hope to go back to the places on my own time.

This last week we also registered for classes, which is another story in itself. I don’t think they could have made it any more harder for us and before it was over, I think we all wanted to cry. We are restricted by the classes we can take but they also had put them back-to-back, as well as overlapping them all. So, there was not a lot of flexibility to schedule and not to mention, the campus buildings are scattered all over Valpo and Viña so you have to allow time in between classes to get from one building to another by bus. Since I am volunteering, I plan to only take 3 classes (still 14 credits) and tried to schedule them so they were all in the same building or at least directly next to each other. We start classes tomorrow (Monday). Wish me luck as I try to find my way around carrying a Spanish dictionary….

Santiago: Feb. 26-Feb. 29

Santiago was really cool. It was quite an overwhelming experience there. We had arrived after a 12-hour plane ride from Texas and had less than an hour to get to our apartments, clean up and prepare for the several hours of touring the city. It was quite a rush, and without much sleep, I just wanted to go to bed. But we were in SANTIAGO, CHILE, no time for sleep.

The weather in Santiago was very humid and smoggy. I didn’t bring the appropriate summer clothes for this weather only because its important to blend in, not stand out, especially as an American… Santiago is very polluted, mostly because 1/3 of the population lives in the city. But I was surprised at how clean the streets were- more clean than some cities in the United States that I have been to.

While in Santiago we visited:
Cerro San Cristóbol
Took a Teleférico Ride to view the skyline
Palacio Presidencial La Moneda (The Presidents Palace-but she does not live here)
Paseo Ahumada
Plaza de Armas
Mercado Central (Central Market)
Viña Cousiño Macul (Wine tasting tour!)
Barrio Bellavista (“The Beautiful View” where we had lunch one day- Bohemian-feel neighborhood/plaza area)
La Chascona (One of three homes of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda)
Cerro Santa Lucía (where Santiago was founded)
Pueblo de Los Dominicos (arts and crafts shops)

The entire weekend in Santiago was overwhelming. In between tours, we had orientation meetings to prepare for living in Chile, as well as going to school. It was a ton of information to absorb but it was definitely really nice to have as I imagine some international students do not have such a great organization as we do to prepare them like this. We were all getting to know each other throughout the weekend as well. There are about 50 kids here in Viña del Mar and Valparaiso studying abroad with ISA. I was amazed at how many American students chose Chile… it was/has been fun getting to know everyone. Immediately I connected with my roommate (only for Santiago) Nicole, and we befriended a few other girls who we hung out with the whole weekend. Sunday evening, February 29, we boarded a bus to meet our host families… I was so nervous, yet so excited.

Visa in hands

Yes! Indeed I do have my Visa in my possession!!* Finally! Despite the implications of applying for a Chilean Visa (including documents proving I am not a criminal!), the event of appearing in person (in Chicago) to claim it was ridiculously easy! In fact, we showed up a half-hour early and was in--signed paperwork, fingerprinted, then waited-- and out with Visa in hand before my actual appointment time. Amazing. 

Now, only two weeks! I need to stop counting time as I have a frightening list of things yet to do before I leave. I have received information of the family I will be living with and they sound like everything I have hoped for and more =) I'm stoked. 

*For those of you unaware of Visas, its actually a sticker (a very expensive sticker!) with all of my information pasted inside my passport. Thankfully I already had  my passport so no problems with that. 

One month...

In exactly one month (February 25!) I will be embarking on adventure that I have dreamed of since I was in high school. Upon being accepted to study abroad, the journey has begun with months of preparation including appointments with everyone, writing scholarships, reading/learning about Chilean culture, booking airline ticket and of course, endless amounts of paperwork. (I feel as though I’ve killed a forest somewhere with the amount of paperwork and documents I have had to fill out!) Despite a few frustrations in trying to obtain my visa, the process has been surprisingly smooth and I couldn’t be any more pleased. ISA (the organization I am going through) has been amazing and I am thankful for them- they are very informative, organized and most importantly, very friendly! Thank you ISA!!

Mentally I am more than ready for whatever lies ahead of me. Since the end of my semester at GV in December, I have been irritable to leave. Without a job or homework to occupy my mind, Chilean thoughts and dreams have kept my brain functioning. This two month+ waiting period is killing me as I long to be somewhere warm, immersed in unfamiliarity and newness, having to learn “the ways” all over again. Words can’t describe how excited I am for it all.

The Chilean Consulate in Chicago called me Thursday to inform me that my Visa is complete and I can now make an appointment to pick it up. After what I had to go through to apply, I was surprised at how quickly they completed processing my visa (about two weeks).

At this point the only things left to do are…

- receive Hepatitis B shot (Thursday morning)
- pick-up Visa in Chicago (soon)
- continue practicing my Spanish =)
- gather and pack!

So for now, I will continue waiting until February 25 arrives and think about what lies ahead of me…