ITINERARY: Heading South

Here is my itinerary for the big trip! (Subject to Change!)

November 27th- 12 hour bus ride to Pucón
November 28th-December 2nd - Pucón, Puerto Varas & Chiloe
December 3rd-6th - Navimag between Puerto Montt & Puerto Natales
December 6th-16th - Torres del Paine, Punta Arenas, Tierra del Fuego, Sneaking onto an Antarctic cruise ... there should be a discount after one ran into an iceberg last week!!

December 16th I'll be flying back into Viña to re-pack my life and head home on the 18th!
Hopefully in those two days I will be able to update some amazing pictures : )

Wish me good luck and I'll be sure to say "hi" to the penguins for you all.

Al final

Ok, this is it ... the last big update!

Tonight I leave for my 20 day trip, yikes!! I am so excited and will have lots to share but for now I'm going to review this last week that I've had in Viña.

On Thanksgiving day I had my last exam in Econ, thank goodness ... and I just found out that my grade is high enough to not have to take another : ) I got an A on the second exam! It is very possible that gringo points were factored in but hey, I'm not complaining.


That evening COPA put together a going away dinner for our entire program and our host mothers. The dinner wasn't so great but it was amazing to have everyone together and to be able to celebrate what an amazing semester we have had. I had sent out an email two weeks before and asked if people had ideas for gifts for our directors .... well a lack of response meant that I decided to take over and just figured it out myself. Everyone was really great about pitching in a few luka (chilean slang for 1000 pesos = 2 dollars) and getting the gifts was fun. It did mean that the day of I was more or less running around like a crazy person. I was in Valpo by 9am to teach my english class about Thanksgiving but it turned out that they were on strike! So instead I made Thanksgiving day gift bags and passed them out around the office, procrastinating the inevitable studying for my econ exam : ) After the exam I had about an hour and a half to call everyone back home and get myself ready, well I was happy to talk to everyone back home even if it meant a bad hair night for the dinner.

The group picture is with my spanish class, there are only 5 of us which basically means that I have been able to speak twice as much as the other classes with 10 and 12 students and have also done twice as many presentations. I absolutely loved my spanish teacher, she was a little crazy but very sweet and always helped us as much as was needed.
















Of course I had to get a picture of Patty and I together! It was kind of strange realizing that Patty and I never leave the house together but it was nice to get out and celebrate with her. She of course bragged about me and I was glad to hear her say that her last student had left big shoes to fill but that I had been a great daughter.

On black friday, instead of going shopping ... I cooked!! my friend Sarah decided to have a bunch of us over for a thanksgiving potluck! It was sooo great and I made stuffing from scratch!! Grandma, you should be very proud. We are talking I cut loaves of bread into little cubes, did a bit of estimating on the measurements and came out with enough stuffing to feed 15 people! IT was a hit! And, I was sure to save enough for myself to have leftovers : ) : ) eeeh!! I love Thanksgiving food, it could seriously be my favorite meal of the whole year. It was so great to be in the kitchen and making something after having spent very very little time cooking for myself the whole semester. I hope in Copenhagen my family will be open to the idea of me maybe cooking once a week... I hope they like stuffing!!










































Saturday Rodrigo and I spent the day wondering around Valparaíso. It's amazing how much there is to see and I had felt as if I hadn't really explored much further than where I go to school.

I got some neat pictures and it helps to give a bit of a dialogue as to what Valpo is like.

A person could walk around the hills for days, luckily I convinced Rodrigo to just get on a micro to get closer into the city center.



















70% of the people who live in Valparaíso live in the lower class and a large percentage of those people live in poverty.

Walking around the hills makes me question how these houses would survive any sort of earthquake. They are all made by their owners with out any sort of organization or safety standards.



I was also a little disheartened to see a sign that said no dumping of trash alongside a hill littered in garbage. Of course two minutes after I took the picture someone came down from their residence and threw two big bags of trash right onto the mound that I took a picture of.





















































The view towards Viña and up the coast was absolutely beautiful from the hills we were walking. It really turned into a beautiful day and I was really fortunate to have the types of exams that I had ... the kind that require not so much studying : )

Until the next time -- chauu from Chile.

Concepción

I had a weekend away, the first one that I had taken without other extranjeros and a great chance to speak spanish the entire weekend. The only english I was surrounded by was the music, there really is more english music than spanish.

Concecpción is the second biggest city in Chile after Santiago and before Viña/Valpo. I took the overnight bus which made the trip really easy, I arrived really early though and Alfonso, my guide to the city hadn't slept much. I decided to go out for a few hours on my own, not really considering the fact that before 10am not a lot is open but it was pretty interesting to see the hustle and bustle of a new city so early in the morning. School kids in uniforms running to be on time, the morning traffic you would expect in any city and the gray clouds that I was hoping would melt away mid-day ... and never did.

I also didn't grasp the fact that I had gone 7 hours south and it was going to be colder. I have been so spoiled in Viña with sunshine every day and beach days just as often that I almost forgot to take a jacket with me. That first morning I walked to the city center which was only about 7 blocks from Alfonso's families house, walked around a bit and ended up sitting in the plaza Independencia reading Nicholas Spark's "The Wedding" in spanish : ) I realized that the day really wasn't warming up and decided to have a coffee in a cute cafe around the plaza and wrote a bit in my journal - don't be fooled, all I write in this journal is specific details of trips ... for some reason my rambling is really much better when I can type, lucky for you!



After a quick nap we had a giant Chilean lunch with Alfonso's Mom and Sister. After which I couldn't imagine that I would be eating again for the rest of the weekend! Alfonso and I headed to the Universidad de Concepción which boasts one of the only real campuses in Chile. By that I mean it has one central location for all of the University buildings versus what my University has which is many buildings all over Valpo and Viña. It was a pretty ugly day, very cloudy and even a little rainy but it was nice to get out and walk around especially with such beautiful scenery. It was like we were in the forest, except for the palm trees which apparently exist in every part of Chile! We ended up watching a rock concert that a few of Alfonso's friends were playing in and then heading to a local pub and restaurant, eventually ending up at a friends house before heading home to crash at about 2am.



You can tell with the next pictures that Saturday was absolutely beautiful!


I spent the day driving around greater conce with Alfonso and his Dad. The city itself doesn't feel very big at all but the small towns that border it are all so beautiful and in truth much more interesting.

We drove up the coast through the towns of Tome and Pingueral and had probably one of the best meals I've had in Chile at a really nice oceanside restaurant. We had an appetizer of seafood empanadas, Pisco sours, I had chilean sea bass with rice, and a little cafe to finish the meal. Of course when I went to give his Dad my share of the bill I was told, "Are you insane?" ... well it was far too generous but I didn't want to be too persistent because in reality the idea of a young girl paying like that kind of goes back to the deeply embedded machismo which is alive and well in Chile.

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to drive around, especially after realizing that where we were would not have been very accessible via public transport. That is one thing that I wish was easier even in Viña. Patty doesn't have a car and there are times I wish I could just drive up the coast or explore more around Viña and Valpo, luckily the micro (bus system) is pretty comprehensive, and because they come so frequently taking the wrong one isn't ever really an issue.

Ok, more about Conce ... that evening Alfonso put together an asado (barbecue) at his house with a bunch of his friends. It was really great to meet a big group of Chileans and be able to talk to them, and the food was delicious!! Of course we didn't actually eat until midnight, with the time it took to get the fire going (no gas bbq's here : ) ) and the late start we got, but it was so worth it! He had also invited three french canadian girls who were pretty fun, hard to understand ... the french accent with spanish is a pretty tricky combination ... but it turns out they are going to be on the same Navimag (ferry/cruise to Patagonia) as me! I also talked with one Chilean who's mother is German and has spent alot of time in Germany. He gave me some advice on where to travel down south and we chatted about Denmark.

The next day I decided to take the 11am bus back because I had work and so did Alfonso. His mom and sister tried to get me to stay which was soo nice and I just loved them. His mom said that it didn't matter if Alfonso had to work that we could do something together, just the girls. She told me to make sure next time I visited that I stayed for more time, I just wanted to wrap her up and take her with me!!! She was soo sweet!!

The bus ride was too long because I ended up going to Santiago first and then Valpo and then Viña ... 9 hours ... but it was really beautiful to be driving alongside the snow capped Andes the whole way, between naps of course I looked out : )

Hope you enjoy the pictures!! More soon.

Aftershocks

Yesterday around noon there was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in the north of Chile. There have been two deaths linked to the quake and a tunnel caved in trapping 50 workers. Luckily the workers were rescued and I believe they are all safe. I didn't feel the quake at all, some of my friends did but we are so much further south that I really didn't know about it happening right away.

I'm leaving this evening to spend the weekend in Concepción which is 8 hours south, luckily I have already visited the north of Chile and don't have to risk heading back.

Hoping all is well and sending my best --


http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/15/earthquake.chile/index.html

Zapallar and more Viña

La Laguna of Zapallar

Approximately 1.5 hours north of Viña by bus, a sleepy resort town that borders 5 other beach destinations. My friend Sarah invited me to celebrate the birthday of a Chilean friend she had introduced me to. I was more than happy to spend a couple days out exploring another city and have a really good chance to speak plenty of spanish. Also, I didn't have to worry about any of the planning and that was quite a relief : )

We left friday afternoon with way too much food and a cake the size of a small child, at least. Sarah's chilean parents had offered her their cabaña in Zapallar after we had found that the prices were a little high. This was incredibly kind of them and it meant all we had to worry about was food. That night we walked around the town a bit, realized that we were probably the only tourists in town (still early in the season) and started making pizzas! Sarah had brought all the ingredients and it was a lot of fun making the pizzas ... less fun figuring out the over situation. I haven't really written much about the use of gas appliances, including heating of water within houses but let's just say it takes some getting used to. Everything you have to light with a match once you've turned on the gas. This isn't really hard but our problem in the cabaña was that no gas was coming on, that we could tell therefore the matches weren't lighting the oven. Long story short ... we had cold pizza. Cold, uncooked pizza.

Well, we had cake also so not all was lost. Delicous home made cake with manjar ... Yum.

Please refer back to the "Irene is gaining weight due to this magical treat in Chile" entry for a manjar description

What I loved most about this area was the amount of flowers everywhere. I'm all for the kind of weeds that they have growing out of their front yards because they are beautiful. Of course not all of the flowers were weeds but there were wildflowers everywhere and it just felt like spring everywhere. Most of the houses were clearly summer getaways and there didn't seem to be many people in town but it really helped to just keep the weekend very relaxed. In viña going to the beach means searching for just the perfect spot between two chileans making out and a group of school kids still in their uniforms. Zapallar was very peaceful and after we checked out the beach, realized the wind was too much we went for a walk through the neighboring town and along the beach. There was a surprising amount of free land and I wonder how long it will be until places as serene as this place will be overcrowded with high rises and dominoes pizzas ... like Viña.

Hopefully the next time I'm back a plot is still available because I could have definitely just stayed!

A shot from the beach of La Laguna

The cute little cabaña that Sarah's parents let us stay in! Overrun with wildflowers and weeds, but perfect.

Viña del Mar ... my home for only a few weeks more. I decided to spend a slow sunday afternoon with my Chilean friend Rodrigo and we walked around to some of the sites that I hadn't seen yet. The second picture could quite possibly be the exact same picture of something I've sent you on a postcard, apparently they are proud of this clock made into a bed of flowers. Kind of more of a novelty than a city landmark ... but I suppose if Valparaíso has Pablo Neruda's house then Viña has to have something. Basically some beautiful views and a really nice day out in the sun. It's scares me just a little to think about the winter that I am headed towards, especially on such nice days.

The view from Cerro Castillo ... one of probably 100 hills within Viña and Valpo

This picture I am a little proud of because I stood in the street long enough for a breeze to come by and the flag to wave. It is the official residence of the President of Chile, for when she comes to Viña! So of course I had to get a bit of patriotism in the shot. Viva Chile!




















Saturday night before Rodrigo's birthday party my friend Jess and I headed to Valpo to check out a neat cafe. What we found when we got there was a fire in the center or the city. We got out of our bus and immediately saw the smoke and realized that the fire couldn't be far. As we kept walking towards the cafe we could tell that we were walking in the direction of the fire. Luckily we weren't in the midst of much smoke but with sirens blaring we knew that it was pretty serious. Instead of finding the fire we knew it would be safer to get into the cafe where we would be out of the smoke. When we left the cafe nearly 2 hours later the fire was still going strong and we saw firefighters running across the streets with hoses, we crossed the street and realized the fire was literally one block away. There was still fire coming out of the windows and hoses in every direction. We didn't stay long to watch and I read the next day in the newspaper that it was a YMCA, which is really too bad and it was a really beautiful building as well.

La Serena

The day after halloween we all got on a bus and headed north to La Serena. It was a sleepy ride but absolutely beautiful scenery as we drove along the coastline.

As I see more and more of Chile I am continuously being reminded of Oregon and they really do share alot of the same landscape. There is just an amazing mix of geography, especially being in the central region between the two extremes. For example ... I live on the beach, and there are plenty of palm trees but there are also different types of pine trees. The rolling hills remind me of northern california and of course it should ... we share the same fault lines along with the pacific ocean : )




















Ok so on to La Serena. This first picture which is clearly a ridiculous amount of food basically sums up the first night that we had. We were all split up into Cabañas, 5-6 people sharing a mini house : ) Deciding to make the most out of the time we have left as a group we all decided to pot-luck the first night! Fruit Salad, curry rice, mashed potatoes, cobbler, nachos ... basically a bizarro mix which somehow worked together ... because we all miss cooking for ourselves.


I guess I didn't really consider this before coming as to one of the things that I would really miss doing but wow, it's really hard to always have food made for you. Especially when I would never think of telling Patty that I didn't want to eat something she had made me. The other day I made peanut butter cookies and it was soo nice to just be able to get in the kitchen and do something!


Our second day - while we were still digesting - we were given a free day to wonder around the city or lay at the beach.















The city was really beautiful, much more colonial then other Chilean cities I have seen. There were also a lot of beautiful churches, a nice artisan market where I picked up some things to bring home (only for those who have kept up on my blog of course :) ), and a surprising japanese garden. The next three pictures are from the Valle de Elqui, a valley about an hour and a half inland of La Serena.















For our second day we started with lunch at a restaurant that makes food with only solar power. The food was, well ... cooked all the way through, not particularly spectacular but still a novelty to have these little solar cookers. We also had an amazing drive through the valley and spectacular views of the landscape. The view from the solar restaurant.
















I don't think I've mentioned anything about Pisco in my previous entries ... it's the national drink of choice for Chileans, and Peruvians interestingly enough. It's a type of liquor distilled from grapes. Usually mixed with coca cola or lemon lime. My thoughts on Pisco are that it's not bad but if I were to drink as much of it as the majority of the Chileans I know ... I'd be sick of it. Well, we went to a Pisco factory after lunch ... you knew I would get there eventually ... It wasn't particularly a fantastic tour but we had a little taste test and I found a birthday present for my Chilean friend Rodrigo.
















On the last day we were all ready for a nice relaxing day with a long trip back on the bus ... first we had a stop at a national park located outside of La Serena. This fox pictured was one of 5 that were basically hunting around the picnic sites for scraps ... yikkkkes! They were never further than 20 feet, nice and cute ... and lethal! Ok, so other than the foxes ... we waited an hour for our guides to show up, something that our program director was less than pleased with ... and we made our way up the hills of this park into a naturally formed rainforest, of sorts.















There are persistent clouds which form a blanket over the ridge of one of the hills/mountains and the condensation from the clouds creates this type of rainforest. It was pretty amazing to see how the entire plant life changed within a matter of minutes, really within a matter of a few hundred feet. I'm not sure if you can tell by the pictures but it was a pretty neat experience and I think very few places like this exist. This kind of shows the type of plant life in the basic on this ... whatever this is ... and the clouds to the right on the hills, that is where the rainforest is.

Halloween

Apparently Halloween has only existed in Chile for the last 10 years or so ... very slowly catching on according to my program director because of US movies and TV.

Well, that didn't mean I wasn't going to dress up in my cat ears! I quickly learned though that it isn't really a holiday for the older kids or anyone close to college age ...

It was definitely a gringo night, with a whole lot of my program friends and then a bunch of international students. There isn't a whole lot to tell, we all went to a friends house, which of course was costume only to enter or they could provide costumes (read: gory t-shirts) ...

My friends all dressed up and a few were expecially funny ... my friends Eliza and Lauren as Chileans which meant they spoke with all the Chilean slang and wore barrettes in their hair along with wildly bright colors. My friends Jess and Monty who both dressed up as Michelle Bachelet, Chilean President, and both did a pretty incredible job of pulling it off. At first I was worried if they were going to get hassled by other Chileans but she isn't so popular so it would kind of be like dressing up as George W in 2005.

We all decided to go to a popular dance club in Valpo and after Lauren somehow got us all past a block long line we danced the night away : ) The best part of Halloween in Chile being that they celebrate All Saints Day on Nov. 1st and no one has classes or work. Our program headed to La Serena for the weekend and had a really great time but I will have to wait to upload pictures ... technical difficulties.

Until then ... off to see more ...