Stomachaches and layovers

12/17/09
Yesterday was so hard. I was crying from the moment I woke up until now minus a few hours.
I woke up and hopped on a micro for my last trip to the university as a favor for my host uncle. I got interviewed and I'm going to be in El Diario Concepción on Saturday! The author and photographer are going to send me the pics and article. They were doing a general piece on students who studied abroad and needed some examples. I called Lindsay to join me as well for another student interview.

After that her and I ran around the artesanía on Freire street to get some last minute recuerdos and stuffs. She took a lot of videos and we literally ran around the town, and made fools of ourselves on the micros.  We got off at the Vega Monumental to buy goodbye flowers for our hostfamily. I gave them that when I came home and shortly after that Cata came over for almuerzo because she was coming to the airport with us.

I was super sick at lunch, unfortunately, and wasn't able to eat anything. What sucked even more was I hadn't eaten anything all day by the time we got to the airport. I was feeling like, Perú sickness coming back.
My crying was in spurts, more than constant I suppose.
After almuerzo I closed up my bags and didn't bother weighing them, I knew they'd be more than heavy. Vlado and Wladimir took my bags down the tiny stairs for me. We loaded em up in my mom's little jeep and waited till the time to leave. 
Saying goodbye to Vlado and Wladimir at the house wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, it was harder since Sarita and Cata were at the airport. I'd cry in spurts when I thought about memories.
When I said goodbye to my family's casa I started crying,
my host mom was trying so hard to calm me down "Oh but Cati, its not a goodbye, its a see you later!"
Then at the airport, things were a little tense because Triana didn't know when or where she wanted a picture together and eventually some of us decided to pass through security without waiting for Triana.
Before that I was just chilling with my mom and Cata.

I just keep imagining how much we're traveling! I mean I know we did it in August, but I keep coming accross maps and, wow, South South America back to North North America.  Just this morning, erm, last night also, we flew over Chile, Peru, Colombia, Cuba, and Florida.

Anyway back to the airport;
We've all been pretty composed, except for Hayley. Its just so weird going back.... We're in Miami now, and of course there is still lots of Spanish here, but using US currency is a little unfamiliar and hearing personel speak to us in English has been interesting. Everytime we want something all of us ask in Spanish first. For example I went up to a worker and said "Dónde está una casa de cambios?" And she had to ask me if I spoke English, haha. I'm going to be proud of that moment, actually.
OH how could I forget to say this:
I was bringing home two bottles of wine for Zach and for my parents and I got it confiscated in Miami customs :(
My host family guarenteed me I could, but obviously, they wouldn't know US customs. Oh well! I was only mad because I was the only one that got shafted. Literally, EVERYONE else got to put it in someone else's bag and not get in trouble. Me, on the other hand, since I was the first one to go through, they had already been processing the paperwork before anyone over 21 passed through :(:(:(
Like I said, OH WELL! Ive got plenty other gifts for them.
I'M SO EXCITED TO GO BACK!
AAAHHHHHH!
:D
But... I will miss Chile.
I have already skyped my host parents in Miami's airport.
Okay, time to find a casa de cambios and maybe some bfast. chao chao!

Last Full Day in Chile

12/15/09
Instead of packing my bags (don't worry, they're almost done) I'm sitting on the floor with my computer crying. I can't leave. I'm so accustomed to this life, and I prefer this culture over American culture any day. The reverse culture shock bullshit I learned about before coming, isn't going to be the bullshit I thought it was going to be.
Chileans have got it all right. All right.
Some randomg facts about them:
1) The concept of "nevermind" does not exist here what-so-ever. And if you try to explain it to them, even for those that know English, they'll never get it.  I like this idea; you can't just brush away something misunderstood or off topic. You don't ever do that. If someone didnt hear you and you try to brush it off, they'll push it until you share it.
2) Saying "I don't care" is possibly the rudest thing you can do. If someone asks if you want something and you say "Oh, I don't really care... I guess, maybe" They assume you're saying No, since you didn't say yes straight out. And then they get offended you wouldn't be straight up with them.
3) The concept of maybe doesn't exist either, its yes or no. If someone asks you a yes or no question, you absolutely positively cannot say "quizás" (the word for maybe in Spanish).  I can't think of an example right now, but maybe you get the idea.
4) If they offer you food and you refuse it, YOU ARE RUDE. If you're stuffed to the brim and your host mom offers you more corn, you have to take at least a few kernels or you could offend her.
5) Chileans never hold grudges. Unless its something really bad. If you're arguing about something, its  almost always solved in the day. They never like to go to bed angry, as they say. And tomorrow is always a new page, unlike a lot of people I know in the US.
6) They're families are SO CLOSE. NO matter what. They never say bad things about their family members either. And I've seen this outside of just my familiy as well. Mom's are always proud of their sons/daughters, no matter what. Even if they're mad at them that day, they won't say anything horrible about their children, ever. I adore the closeness of chilean families.  I never felt like I belonged to something so closely until coming here.
7) There are no secrets. No secrets. I don't think my host brother has ever not told anything to my host mom. And they swear all the time and its no big deal. They're just words to them.

I"m sure I've thought of more that I haven't wrote. These are my new green shoes I bought, sitting in front of the lake me and my mom went to 2 days in a row to tan and relax. I had the lovliest conversation with her... I don't know if I blogged about it, it was before Pichilemu. We talked about love, life, children, abortion, relationships, just about everything. We helped each other out, it really brought us closer than we already were. Afterward we hugged about 3 times and she kept saying "I had the lovliest conversation with my daughter today" and smiling.
Just 3 nights ago we discussed how we changed each other and what we brought into each others lives. And the changes that came and went, and those that will come.
I'm going to miss her so much. She's one of my best friends now. And I love that she has a mother's perspective on things.

Well. I must continue packing now. I'm weighing my bags soon (SCARY SCARY SCARY!) but I found out paying for overweight luggage is cheaper than shipping things, considering to ship a shoebox size box is nearly 50 bucks. *sigh.
The wine and 4 glasses/mugs I"m bringing home are really going to screw me... yikes.

Everything will be worth it though! I'm careful with my money always and I know that any money I spend on this trip is worth it, so I won't let the fees bother me. All the times I resisted buying something and all the times I shopped at Goodwill over the Mall will pay for the overweight luggage. Plus I didn't go on vacation to Pucón, so that saved money will pay for it too. There we go!

Like I said, back to crying and packing now.

Pichilemu, Santiago, and The Final Countdown :(

12/09/09
We met at the bus station for our bus to San Fernando at 10:40am.  We get dropped off on the side of a highway and had to walk about a kilometer to the bus station of San Fernando.  There we found a bus to Pichilemu... IT WAS SO HOT! We all had to get ice cream and water at the station.  The buses always make me think a lot and most of the time I write in my personal journal during rides.
(más tarde)
After we made it to Pichilemu and walked along the beach to find our hostel, as seen on the right pictures. IT IS LITERALLY RIGHT ON THE BEACH! It looks like a boat and its soooo cool. We dropped off our stuff and walked on the beach for a long time, eventually finding a restaurant to get some good seafood at for dinner. It was late so they were out of a lot of things that weren't seafood.  On the beach, we ran around in the freezing cold water, collected shells, and jumped around the rocks.  Saw some surfers out on the waters too!  It looks like a good place to catch some waves.  Watched the sunset a while before dinner.

12/10/09
Woke up and headed straight over to the supermarket to stock up on food. After that and eating we headed to Surf School Manzana 54.  They got us wetsuits, laughed as we tried to wiggle into them, and then walked us down to the beach for a jog and stretching.  Then our teacher taught us how to sufr, on the sand.  We drew surfboards in the sand and practiced pretend paddling... then, lifting up our chest, then getting up to standing position with our feet perpendicular to the board, weight to the front, and hands out for balance.  He made us pretend and jump on on the sand so many times that half of us started to get tired, haha.  Eventually we picked up our boards and walked over to a good place to enter the water.  It had been since Maui since I fought the ocea and I forgot how incredible it is!  I don't know how I"ve been living in the midwest all my life without it.  Chile was the first time my friend Christina even touched or saw the ocean!  Anyway we paddled out quie  a ways and immediately caught some good waves.  I stood up about 4 or 5 times in the beginning! I think in the end I was getting so tired and I ended up only managing to kneel, but nonetheless, I rode so many waves today! It was so damn fun!  They told us that when we fell we'd have to cover our heads to avoid being knocked out by the board.  I fell a buncha times but one time I resurfaced after a fall and popped up thinking "Whered my board go???" And right when I thought that it punched me right in the side of the head, right on my new piercing! I got tunnel vision and was so afraid I was going to pass out but eventually the feeling passed. IT WAS SO PAINFUL.  We stopped at about 2 unfortunately, but everyone was pretty tired anyway.  On my way out of the water, I was about 10 feet from a sealion, surfing along beside me.  I also saw a bunch of crabs running around the shore.  The guides laughed at us yet again as we all peeled off the shoes and wetsuits.  Now we're al showered and just chilling.  I'm the only one with much energy left and I'm considering taking a walk on the beach.
(más tarde)
While everyone was napping, Brad, Hayley and I went for a walk on the beach. We watched some risky chilenos jumping around on some huge rocks and untintentionally get soaked. Walking along the beach to the hostel I was running away from the water and my iPod feel out of my pocket... and into the ocean :(
For something to do and to figure out dinner, the boys and I went to the supermercado and I really only went to buy rice to try and save my iPod (Cheryl told me putting wet electronics into rice or kitty litter sometimes draws out the water and it could work again). Cheryl and Christina called us to say they wanted to eat out so we just went back to the hostel and looked at pictures and watched hilarious videos Brad and Evin took throughout the vacation.  After we met up with the girls again in downtown Pichilemu for dinner, we went back to the hostel and shared some drinks with the owners (who were from Spain) and also some people from England, Germany, Australia, and California. We were going to find a discoteca but we just stayed in the hostel instead, teaching each other dances of the world that we knew. One guy I met, who was from the states but living in Chile, looked EXACTLY like Will Ferrel and even had his same laugh and attitude. His name was Anton and the only thing he had that didn't look like Will Ferrel was his huge head of blonde curly surfer hair.
12/11/09
Today we woke up and headed over to the terminal to find tickets to Santiago.
We found some, and took off.
The only reason we were going to Santiago was to meet up with a lot of our friends we met who were studying there and to participate in the Santiago Pub Crawl, just like we did with Buenos Aires (the same people set it up in BA and then some moved to Santiago, started it up here.)
It was so great to see people and I met a lot of new great people from the states!
Erica and I want to road trip to the Grand Canyon next summer and some guys I met from AZ said I'm welcome to crash at their place during our journey.
I'm going to miss this country sooo much!
You can see the group shot of the pub crawl above, I don't know why my blog isn't working properly and I can't move them down here :(

12/14/09
Yesterday was my first whole day back from Pichilemu/Santiago and I was SO SICK! It was awful! I couldn't eat anything all day since my throat was so swollen, I had chills and a bad fever too. I don't know what was wrong with me! My parents were convinced it was the climate change from Pichilemu to Santiago to Concepción.  My mom gave me this miracle remedy for my throat though: honey with lemon. It worked like a charm, after that I was capable of eating dinner.
Also yesterday were the Chilean elections. My host family is NOT happy with the two with the most votes: Frei and Piñera. They were rooting for Marco Enrique Ominami, who is kinda an Obama equivilent in Chile, being young and making a lot of promises of change. A lot of people came over to watch the polls and Cata, my host cousin, got to hang out with me while everyone else obsessed over the politicians.  She and I made some bracelets and listened to music (she's 15) so of course we gossiped as well. Her and I made a date to go shopping this Tuesday at 11am. I'm excited to spend time with her, shes sooo adorable!
She also told me my Spanish had improved ten-fold since she met me in September. WOOP WOOP!


This is all for now. At 5pm some of us still in the area are getting together at Triana's apartment to celebrate December birthdays so I'm sure I'll be going to that. Before that maybe I'll try and go shopping, or pack, or both.
Yesterday I officially dragged out my smaller of the two suitcases and started organizing souveneirs in it. Almost cried!
I for sure did cry at dinner yesterday when I was talking to my mom and we were conversing about me going back, things changing, how we've changed each other, et cetera.

Time to get my butt moving! Its 10:30am!

10 days remain

Me chillin at the beach of Lago Chico

12/06/09
I just typed 10 instead of 12 for the month. Thats how far behind I am. I do NOT have enough time here! Classes just ended and I wanna do everything! I wanna LIIIVE here!
I chose not to go to Pucón (to the south) with a huge group because I wanted to spend more time with my host family. However, I find myself not occupied enough, and thinking way too much about going home... just getting lost in my own thoughts. Two days ago, Friday, I shopped for about 6 hours with Alison and we hardly came home with anything. I got two pairs of shoes, cute flip flops and lime green tennis shoes for about 13 dollars. It was fun to run around el centro, however, and we got a damn good deal on a meal of empanadas on O'Higgins. I was so pooped, I didn't even go out. Alison and I had plans for Saturday too, but she ended up wanting to stay home. I just bummed around most of the day, helped my host mom clean because they're remodeling their house, and chilled at the beach for a bit with her, like the picture above. It was actually at a lake, but it was really nice and the water was super clean.

I don't care that I'm missing out on what they're doing in Pucón, but a part of me wishes I went and spent the money anyway just to not be here, trapped in my head! I'm just so depressed, thinking about leaving, not wanting to go, yet so impatient to see Zach in the airport, see Erica in Milwaukee, see my new apartment, et cetera.

I've already cried about leaving. Every time my host mom and I hug or share a moment I just tear up.

I can't wait to go north to Pichilemu and Santiago: I'll be occupied. Those 5 days will fly, I'll come back, pack for 2 days, and suddenly be on a plane on my way home. I don't want to start that vacation and I do!
I've never been this conflicted in my whooole life!
At least I can promise myself I'm coming back here.
At the very least I need to see my chilean family again within the next few years.
I can't wait to travel more.
I was born to travel.

Its quarter after noon here. So far I went for a 25 min run and ate breakfast. I think my mom wants me to go back to the beach with her today and actually swim this time, but I kinda wanna do this biking thing with Patsy in the Plaza Perú. Its kinda like this promotion activity to get people to ride bikes places and also for other people to respect bike riders on the streets. I'm scared to ride my host brother's bike all the way to el centro! Its like a 35 minute bus ride! I just might try it though 0.o

10 days remain of my time here.....

Farewell... the end is near

My chilean mom and I... and Hayley in the background

12/3/09
About 4 months ago, a family let me into their life, took me in as their own. I thought they were so weird! They'd hug me all the time and pry about my day and how I felt. They wanted to take me every where and learn about me. They wanted to help me learn Spanish and encourage me to try new things and live life.
By now, they're MY family. Now I don't want to live without them. I'm going to miss them so much. So so much. Today was our last day of exams and tonight we had a farewell dinner and everyone's taking off to travel the next 2 weeks. It was so hard not to cry. Which is why I am now.
Sarita... has one of the best personalities I've ever encountered. She is someone I will always look up to. She is so intelligent, independent, caring, and kind. Not to mention, she's not materialistic. I'll never forget the lesson's she has taught me about the unimportance of materialism. Sara is just so cute too! She's so short she makes me feel real tall. And she's the best confidence booster... she always tells me, "you're so beautiful! no matter what you're doing or wearing; you're so unique and fun." I tell her I'm sad, she can cheer me up. I tell her I'm mad/upset, she'll let me vent till the sun comes up again. I say I'm hungry and damnit she'll be willing to run out side and pick all the veggies from the garden to make me a salad. A lot of times I'll be working on homework in my room and she'll come up with hot chocolate or a treat. Such a big sweetheart.
Wladimir, my dad, sometimes used to bug me, but now I know I'm going to be so sad when he's not around to tease me or tell me he'll do anything for me. He's kinda got that machismo attitude I don't like, but he's always treated me like his own daughter and deep down this guy is soft as dough, despite being a former Policía de Investigaciones.
Tonight I actually went to the dinner with Sarita and my aunt Sandra because my dad couldn't go. It was really sad, nobody got to talk to each other much. Saying goodbye afterward though... that was hard. This dinner was the last time our whole group will be together in Chile. Crap that makes me cry. This is really going to end, isn't it? Dreams do end I suppose. And I'll be back..
Evin, Brad, Alison, Hayley, Cheryl, Jessica, Alex, Christina, Lindsay... My new best friends.
I daydream a lot about St Cloud and being with them...
I think its time to cry a little...

EXAM WEEK. FML.

12/02/09
look how beautiful and green it is here! IN DECEMBER!
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW DECEMBER GOT HERE! HOLY CRAP!
Well this week has been full of exams, I obviously haven't been keeping up with my blogs, but hey, at least they got posted. I'm glad I wrote down what I did every day.
Exams have been stressing us out hardcore because we hardly did any work all semester and now they're pushing a ton of stuff on us. Well, I should make that past tense, I've only got 2 left and they're tomorrow. ONE MORE DAY OF EXAMS. That scares me! And only 14 days till my return flight? When did that happen?
I never want to leave, I love it so much, but at the same time I'm so excited to follow through with plans I've made, seeing everyone and such. And of course to move into my new apartment!
I can't decide if I AM or AM NOT looking forward to the snow, however.
For the last week and a half I have free of classes, I am taking a trip north to a city called Pichilemu to take surf lessons and then head up to Santiago for another round there before leaving.
That'll only last a few days, and for the rest, I'm happy to have put aside time to spend with my host family. I'm going to miss them so much. The chilean customs, their way of life, their jokes, and treats.
I could cry right now, I don't want to go so bad, but at the same time I wanna go home... not home home in Milwaukee but...
See. This obviously was going to happen. Its typical.
I'll stop.
Anyway, this weekend will be full of more bar hopping, shopping, and a farewell dinner with our families. Yes, I will cry at the farewell dinner.
One more thing: A girl from Chile who I have hung out with a lot is coming to St Cloud for spring semester and living in Lawrence Hall! I'm super stoked because that's the same building I'm working in for work study. I told her I'd show her around and help her out with anything she needs. Another thing to look forward to! :)

Perú continued, and afterwards

Aguas Calientes ^

11/18/09
Today we woke up around 6am due to shouting from other people in our hostel, but I kind of expected this since the only reason people coem to Aguas Calientes is to see Machu Picchu and you have to head out by 5am if you want to be one of the limited 400 people allowed to hike Waynapicchu like we did. We had to check out of the hostel by 9am anyway so we split up for the day, some people went to get cheap massages, some shopped, some ate, and I kinda wandered around by myself a bit. It rained in the morning but the rest of the day was beautiful. What luck we had with weather! Though, the sun actually bothered me quite a bit seeing as I got really badly burned up at Machu Picchu the day before. We all met up later to hop on PerúRail train to get back to Cuzco. This whole experience has been so incredible, I'm due to run out of adjectives very soon. Something I've been thinking about when it comes to Aguas Calientes is that this ENTIRE town runs off tourism. The town was most likely CREATED for the necessary tourism of Machu Picchu. The hostels, hotels, restaurants, artesanías, its all for tourists. Thats probably why sellers were so desperate to bargain with us: we're all they've got! Its weird to be leaving, I feel like this trip went so slowly, which is good, but opposite of what I expected. I'm getting a lot of anxiety, howerver, about all of the stuff I have to do when I get back to Conce. AAAHHH!

11/18/09 (yes, same day as the last one)
I just counted up all the injuries I acquired on this trip:
1. Giant bruise on my kneecap from falling out of a handstand in Lima.
2. Swollen aching ankle from jumping 10 feet down off a rock in Machu Picchu
3. My arms and face are awfully sunburned.
4. My bloody nose hasn't ceased since arriving in the high altitude.
5. Sore aching body from insane hike around Cuzco, then Waynapicchu.
6. Twenty-five or so painful bug bites between both.
---well. As they say in español: they were vale la pena.

11/19/09
This morning we had till 10:30 for our ride to the airport so some took off for more cheap massages, shopping, and others stayed in the room. I myself had a very blissful time in a hammock with my iPod and a kitten just on the patio of our hostel. The airport, however, was NOT so blissful.
We get there and someone who works there grabs Hayley's bags to carry them for her and then she had no money to tip him. After we check in , they told us that all of us had to get our checked bags searched. We literally had to step over the luggage scale into a back room where EVERYTHING got taken out of our bags to be inspected. I was a little livid because I wanted to keep it organized. After a fast talking peruvian went through my dirty underwear, sniffed my chocolate bar, and sprayed some of my deoderant into the air, I was permitted to go to my gate. Well I get there and I'm sent downstairs to pay some damn peruvian tax on flights. I assumed an airport would have a credit card machine, but I assumed wrong. I had to borrow 12 soles from Christina. Then we make it to security and they make me empty my pockets and take my jacket off my waist. THEN after my backpack goes through the x-ray machine, he asks to open it. He tells me to get rid of my hairspray. I gave him a confused look and he just let it go. The whole ordeal was just so stressful amongst the crowds of tourists.
Later:
After waiting out our 8 hour layover in Lima's airport, wego to pay the flight fee for this flight. Just to leave the country we had to pay 31 american dollars. THEN we go through security. ALL of us get our bags searched. Alison got her wine taken away, everyone is forced to chug their water bottles. Where we get our passports stamped, everyone who didn't have the original copy of their Perú entrance paperwork is forced to pay 5$ to fill out a new one. Our flight isn't on any flight tables anywhere and we had to ask around to figure out where to go.
At this point; we all fucking hate Perú.

11/21/09

Parque Desembocadura Today I went to the Parque Desembocadura with my host mom and dad. It was so beautiful! Last time we went it was in winter and it was cold and rainy. This park is where the Bio Bio River meets the ocean. You have to pay to get in, only for the maintenence of the museum, but that was very interesting too. Some guy traveled the world so many times and brought back so much stuff from around the world that his house located here in Concepción is worth so much money and now a museum, obviously. Pedro del Río Zañartu. That was his name. Look him up!

11/24/09
Today we found out about several exams and final projects and we all just needed to BLOW UP! Therefore, it was Christina's birthday, and we went out to celebrate. Did the usual round of bars by the university with a group of gringos and newfound chilean friends like Maca, Oli, and Camilo.

11/25/09
TODAY CHERYL FOUND MONOPOLY CHILE AND I NEED TO BUY IT! Her, Jess A, and Lindsay and I went to the mall for ice cream and shopping to relax after another long day.

11/26/09
Yesterday between our morning and afternoon class I had a very long talk with Lindsay and Jess A and it really opened my eyes to some things. My favorite thing in our conversation was something Lindsay said... "To me, happiness is, more or less, the absence of materialism." Though I'm sure its more complicated than that and happiness is a subject where, "to each his own," I truely think this is a large part of happiness. I've come up with many counter examplesof people I know who are unhappy thanks to materials lost or broken to them. I think the best example is my host mom. She is happy ALL the time. One day, klutzy me, broke a dish and I felt really bad, but she just reassured me: Don't worry about it! All I care about is that my family is safe, healthy, and happy. Are you okay? Are you safe? Good. Now why should I care about this plate again?
She is the best. I am going to miss my host mom sooo much.

11/27/09
Black Friday in the United StatesYesterday we had a potluck Thanksgiving dinner at my director's apartment. It was fun to cook and felt good to be together as a family, but of course it just wasn't the same. I ate my turkey sitting on the floor of a room she rented on the top floor of her building. Everyone drank the wine I brought so I didn't have any. The only thing that tasted like Thanksgiving was the greenbean casserole and homemade pumpkin pie.
I think the only thing that made me feel good was listening to Eric and Evin play their guitars all afternoon/night.

11/28/09
I went out again tonight, did the rounds again. I have a fabulous regular weekend routine that I'm about to break... how sad. Once again it was Go! Bar, Tercer Tiempo, and this time we made it to Knockout! The popular discoteca. I even got to meet up with some girls I had met on Tuesday night: Macarena and Marioly. They are sooo nice and so much fun, I just met them and I"m going to miss them. They didn't want me to leave and forget them so they gave me a random pair of blue earrings they bought on the street, haha. They're really cute though, I can't forget those two girls :)

Aventuras en PERÚ!

11/12/09
This morning we got into Santiago at about 4:45am (our overnight bus was super early somehow). Took a taxi to the airport to fly to Lima at 7:30am. All went well thus far and we arrived in Lima at 9:23 Lima time (an hour behind Chile). Rather than going to the hostel we booked in the barrio of Lince, our shuttle driver convinced us to stay in Miraflores instead because there was much more to do/see, and it was also much safer. Carlos, our driver, was so nice and even gave us a contact in Cuzco and said we can go to her for anything; she owns a restaurant in the main plaza there. He also gave us a lot ot tips about prices in Perú so that we'd know when we were getting ripped off. After he made us a spectacular deal with Lion Backpackers Hostel in Miraflores, we walked around to find the few attractions there we didn't want to miss. Took lots of pictures, ate some peruvian food, and finally went to this amazing prk with fountains and lights accompanying music. Check out this picture!

11/13/09
We woke up at 3am to shower, pack up, and ship out for the airport by 4am since it took a while to get there and our flight to Cuzco was at 5:45am. We rush there and check in only to find out that over Cuzco the weather was so bad that they weren't letting any flights in till at least 7am. We ended up waiting until almost 9:30 to take off for Cuzco. Took a taxi to Southern Comfort Hostel, and settled in before wandering over to the Plaza de Armas. Once again we had a very friendly cab driver who has a sister as a travel agent who ended up setting everything up for us including tours in Cuzco and Machu Picchu.

11/14/09
Today in the morning we just hit up the artesanías and did some shopping. In the afternoon we had a breif tour of the city of Cuzco and met some very nice Spaniards and Peruvians who we learned we would tour with tomorrow and also in Machu Picchu.

11/15/09
Today we woke up really early for an all day tour of the surrounding area of Cuzco. Yesterday and today our tours were/are in Spanish; which was fantastic practice for us and we loved to meet more native spanish speakers, however its going to be hard to retain the information we learned since it wasn't in English. There is this very nice older couple from Spain on our tours with us, a group of people in their lower 20s from California, one girl from chicago who is teaching in Buenos Aires, and many Peruvians. We trekked up and down at least 5 ancient ruins of the Incas. Of course, everywhere we went there was a giant artesanía. It kind of bothered me that everywhwere we went there were busloads of tourists. Nothing looked as natural as it could've been. I think the thing I hated most was the children and/or families dressed in colorful traditional dress who would say in English: "Please take a picture with me for money."
I just learned that a peruvian Tradition is to place little clay animals on their roofs to keep away bad things: I"ve seen many of those.
I've been chewing on coca leaves all day to help with the altitude sickness, and I'm drinking mate de coca as well. We've done a bit of hiking around and its definitely really hard to breath and my heart is constandly pounding out of my chest. Today has been amazing. I can't wait to go through the pictures again.
I did some shopping: bought an Incan Calender made of stone, stuff for my family, and a leatherbound journal. I enjoy our roommate, Natalie from England. She's been backpacking around the world for 6 months now and she's due to go back to England in 2 weeks after she sees Brazil and Buenos Aires.
Something didn't agree with me tonight because I feel AWFUL... off to the bed... hopefully not the toilet :(

11/16/09
At this very moment I find myself on one of the few trains from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes. I'm tired as usual, but very excited as well. I love looking out my window to see how close we are to the clouds. They're just perched at the top of the big hill next to me. Oh wait, thats a MOUNTAIN. I can't believe I"m in Perú, going to Machu Picchu. One of the 7 wonders of the world. Whats best? I'm only 19. I feel like I've got all the time in the world ahead of me. I'm loving life at the moment. I'm not sure it can get much better than this.
On another note, I cannot belive the poverty I'm seeing. Yes, I've seen it in other big cities such as Milwaukee, NYC, but here, its so bad, so different, and its EVERYWHERE. Nobody has clean feet or faces, almost anyone will ask a tourist for money. It amkes me want to cry when I see a group of children with a baby llama trying to get tourists to take pictures with them for money. And now, as I stare out the window of the train and watch rural families take care of livestock in barefeet, mile after mile, I just don't know what to think of myself. Its certainly teaching me, changing me, in more ways than one. I'm constantly reminded of the things I take advantage of.
I'm not flipping through a National Geographic anymore,
poverty is staring at me in the face.

11/17/09
Basically just had the best day of my life. We passedout early last night to get up at 4 am to hit up Machu Picchu. By 5am we were waiting in line with maybe 150 other people to take a bus up. We rushed in line to get tickets up to Waynapicchu because they only let 400 poeple up it a day. I learned about 1,100 tourists were up there just today. Its going to be closed in some parts in the near future thanks to dumb tourists not following guidelines; lots of parts need to be restored. I heard they want to shut the whole thing down for 2 years! I'm glad I went when I did. Words nor pictures can describe what I sw and did today. After a badly replicated cheeseburger and cusqueña beer, all of us passed out before 9pm.

11/18/09
TO BE CONTINUED!

Chiloé, Chile: A Penguin Hike & Kayaking at Dawn

11/05/09
Finishing off last night in Osorno, our hostel was really comfortable and only 7,000 pesos (about 14.00 bucks). We hit up a supermarket and bought ingredients to make soup, salad, and tacos. (And of course, vino). Turned out we went to bed early in order to get up early and possibly hit up one of Chile's most visited national parks near Osorno. However, this morning we found out that the fishermen were no longer on strike! Therefore we took off to the bus station to buy tickets to Chiloé.
On our way out, we walked through Osorno's main plaza with a sweet fountain and bull statue. We also saw two churches built in the 1500s. Finally, there were several wooden houses still standing from hundreds of years ago that we checked out. We walked through a cemetery, bought our bus tickets, and took off around 1:30 for a 4,000 pesos, 4 hour bus ride and ferry over to the island of Chiloé.
I really like the people I'm traveling with: Hayley, Alison, Cheryl, Brad, Evin, Al, and Jess. We all get along really well and the boys especially are soo funny.
I can't believe how much I've been traveling!: North, south, Chiloé, next week Perú, and soon it'll be December and I'll be in Iquique and maybe Bolivia. I love it so much though. The closer I get to going home the more I miss everyone, but also the more I don't want to leave.

11/06/09
Yesterday night we arrived in Ancud but the bus driver allowed us to stay on until Chepu for 500 more pesos, the city where our hostel is located. The owner of the hostel actually came and picked us up and drove us to the hostel called Chepu Adventures. We settled in, chatted with the owners, explored the vecinity, and then hit the hay. This morening we got up at 7am and took off for a 6 hour hike through the hills and bluffs. It started out with a boat ride over to the part of the island where we trekked. After kilometers of mud up to our knees, hill after hill, running through the ocean, we arrived at a point to see penguins in the FLESH! At that point it was only 11 in the morning. It was necessary that we hiked quickly in order to reach a point as early as possible because sometimes the tide covers the peninsula and its impossible to cross. The water was covering the penninsula but lucky for us it was only a foot deep or so. WE MADE IT! We watched the penguins for a while, took some pictures, and ate some food to rejuvinate. Then we took our time trekking back.
The scenery throughout the whole trek was so beautiful!
After we munched and napped after returning to the hostel, we took off for an asado (BBQ) and ate curanto, the official Chilote dish. Mashed potatoes, beef, chicken, longanisa (sausage thing), and shellfish were all cooked in the ground over rocks and logs underneath giant leaves and sod. It endedup being really god, to our surprise! The French and American couple from our hike in the morning were there too and we all ate the dish with wine. Heading home in the back of a pick up truck, we hit the hay super early, exhausted from the day's trek, and also to prepare ourselves to wake up at 5am.

11/07/09
Just before dawn, around 5am, we put on our layers once again and headed down to the main cabin/office for coffee before throwing on wet pants and water shoes. We geared up and soon found ourselves in kayaks going out against the current down a river just before sunrise. It was sooo beautiful when the sun finally did rise just behind a few clouds that morning. It was so peaceful and quiet in Chepu, Chiloé that it was nearly deafaning.
Alison and I took off in our double kayak and found ourselves very far ahead of everyone. We saw all sorts of birds only found in Chiloé and other peole in our group got to see sea otters. We were out there only until abut 9am. We came back, ate, packed, and took off, yet again, in the back of a pick up truck, to the main road in order to catch a bus to Castro, Chiloé. For 1,000 pesos we made it to Castro around noon and were able to run around, see thefamous palafitos (houses on stilts over water), churches, and downtown. Some of us went shopping, exploring etc. At 3:30 we hpped on another bus headed for Puerto Montt once again in order to commence our journey back to Concepción.
I have really had quite the vacation this past weeka and a half. I loved it, but I also can't wait to get back home to Conce!
I legitimately miss my familia chilena.

Lago San Rafael

WOW its been a while since I've blogged! Sorry to keep you waiting, if anyone's reading this :)

10/26/09
Today we had a surprise party for Sam, it was legit. We all hid in an upstairs rented room in Triana's apartment and when she walked in, we jumped up and yelled ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! After that everybody got together later that night to hit up Go! and Tercer Tiempo for some good times at the gringo bars.

10/27/09
My puppy, Knight, died today :(
He had a tumor and he was only 9.
I started packing for the south trip in my melencholy state.

10/28/09
Today I hung out with Hayley and some of her friends from church downtown. Vero and her sister Clara showed us some sweet secondhand stores in el centro, but they were full of american clothes, unfortunately. I'm actually convinced that this is where they send Goodwill clothes that get salvaged from the stores in the U.S. Vero was so nice, she bought us empanadas and ice cream. I also learned a lot of chilenismos from them. I was proud I was talking so well with Clara, Vero's older sister. I figured out that I speak better with certain people, I don't know why, but thats just the way it works. Also depends on how tired/alert I am. And even how long I've known the person.
Anyway later Karl and I went to check out the Vega Monumental next to our house. I had been there before, but he hadn't. We bought a ton of strawberries for only 500 pesos. Yummm

10/30/09
Today before leaving for the bus station (to ultimately meet up with the class in Puerto Montt for the south trip), Lindsay and I went downtown for the day to shop and just run around. We found a few huge artesanías where we each found some souvenirs for friends back home. We head to the bus station around 9 because we were taking an overnight bus to Santiago the next day. Unfortunately, a guy tried getting into my purse. I didn't know what was happening until Hayley told me. It was the first time I didn't have my eyes on my purse since being in Chile. I figured being surrounded by 7 people I was somewhat safer but I shouldn'tve let my guard down. I feel something tugging on my purse and I look down to see Hayley's hand on someone ELSE's hand INSIDE my purse and she's pulling it out. I was really flustered and confused, the guy stormed off awkwardly. Later on the bus I noticed he was sitting kitty corner from me, one row up! WHen we got off the bus in the morning he kept staring at me before I figured out that was the guy who tried to rob me and I glared at him and gave him the finger from afar.
Anyway on the bus, Alison and I talked about relationships with friends and family for so long since we couldn't sleep. I love that girl, we really click.

10/31/09
We checked into the boat in the morning and had a few hours to wander around the port city of Puerto Montt. We hadn't ate breakfast yet so we picked a cute little café that overlooked the water called Café Don Carlos. While we sipped coffee and ate empanadas we watched the fishermen come in with their catch of the morning. Some of them brought the bags right onto shore, straight into the restaurant beside us, and threw live seafood into boiling water. Now thats fresh!
I bought some pretty sweet pants, they're red, yellow, and green striped. Lots of people wear them here in different colors but of the same material, but I"ll prolly just wear them to bed because they look like pajama pants. We also found a super delicious dried fruit store where we bought some tried papaya, kiwi, and raspberries.
We boarded the boat, settled in, and they fed us dinner. After all that, there was a party in the common room, but of course most of the gringos had drinks and dressed up for Halloween. Half the people on the boat loved us, and half of them hated us. I myself felt like I was on a nursing home since they were all pretty old, but that didn't make it less fun.
At one point I went out to look at the stars, but the lights on the boat were too bright to see much :(

11/01/09
In the morning Alison and I went to the top deck to watch the islands go by. It was really cold up there with the wind from how fast the boat was going. Alison saw seals and dolphins when I had went back inside thanks to not feeling well.
Another time I was out on deck, I met a sweet old woman traveling with her daughter, who just so happened to have studied in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin when she was studying English in college. I was really excited they knew where Milwaukee and Oconomowoc were.
My favorite quote of the day was at lunch with Alison: "You know whats a really bad idea? Peel an orange and then touch your fucking eye."

Later we got off the boat because it stopped in a small port town called Chacabuco. EVERYthing was closed because it was a Sunday. Did I ever mention that nearly everything closes down on a Sunday in nearly all of Latin America? True story.
Alison and I went back to the boat early and played giant chess on the back top deck.

11/02/09
TODAY WE SAW GLACIER!
When we woke up we were going past huge chunks of ice and it reminded me of the Titanic. In the morning they handed us all orange life jackets, we climbed down a long flight of stairs to little boats that took us over to the glacier. Since its nearly summer here, we couldn't get very close because huge chunks of ice were falling off it. It was so beautiful! Huge chunks of ice that had fallen into the lake were floating by, some of them 4 times the size of our boats, and they were the bluest blue I've ever seen. We froze our asses off in those little boats, not prepared for the rain/hail falling that day, not to mention the cold of the extreme south. At one point we saw sea otters playing around the ice.

11/03/09
We started heading back to Puerto Montt today but stopped in Aysén for a small town tour. There really wasn't much there besides three rivers that were called "dead" rivers. When we returned to the boat in the afternoon and left the port, the waves were starting to get really bad and I think about half of us on that boat were sick that night. We could hardly sleep the boat was rocking so badly, I felt as though I'd fall off the bunk. Out of inability to sleep, a few of us climbed up on deck to watch the waves: this turned out to be a TERRIBLE idea! As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, wind hit us like a hurricane and we nearly fell over! Karl and I held onto the railing for dear life and tried to sneak around to the front of the ship but it was literally impossible slash way too dangerous.
When we returned to the living quarters we ran into a guy on his way outside to yell at us to come in because it was way too dangerous.

11/04/09
Today we finally got off the boat in Puerto Montt and many of us went our seperate ways: Some of us were headed to Santiago and ultimately Buenos Aires, others stayed in Puerto Montt a few extra nights, some went to Bariloche, a southern Argentine town famous for chocolate, and then there was the group of 8 that included me who went to the island of Chiloé. Or, I should say, Had PLANS to go to the island of Chiloé. We went to the bus station to get tickets (theres a bus that takes a ferry across the straight to get to the island) and it turns out the fishermen were on strike and nobody was allowed to cross on the ferry today. Instead, we read up on Lindsay's and Cheryl's guidebook and chose to start heading north to Osorno. We were all pretty disappointed but we decided to go a little bit north at a time and keep checking on the strike in Puerto Montt. We found a decently cheap hostel for the night and just settled in, deciding to explore the city tomorrow.

Trip to the north, continued

17th of October -
We had to wake up at 8am to take off in the bus to an archeological site. The city had been excavated several times (sand would keep filling it up) and was fully excavated in 1982 but the archeologists stopped work on it because the natives were having moral issues about what they were doing. They preferred it left alone. Now, tourists are allowed to see a portion of it, obviously, since I saw it. Later we saw a museum and outside of it we saw a thermometer that informed us the heat was dangerously high that day. Stupidly, later, we all layed out in the sun and got crispy. At the museum, I followed around a French tour with my friend Jess A. and we practiced some French afterward. We walked back to the hotel from there since it was just in town and that's when we fried at the pool. The pool at our hotel was ICE. Literally it was so cold we couldn't stand it, and we were in the frickin desert. Later around 4:00 we took a bus over to El Salar de la Atacama which is a huge salt field. There was random bodies of water with flamingos. Over those waters and the desert salt we watched the sunset. Incredibly beautiful. You can see a lot of these pics on facebook. Not only did we watch the sunset, but we watched the lights dance on the mountains behind us and the Valle de la luna. Heading back to the hotel we went through the indiginous, non touristy part and saw a celebration of the Día de San Lucas. We get back to the hotel and I happen to acquire a bloody nose because it was so dry. I forgot to mention the hotel supplies us with bottled water every day because its so necessary and because we couldn't drink the tap water. They would'nt even let us use it to brush our teeth. I was wary to shower in it. This night, some people went to this rave in the middle of the desert, but I was too tired so I passed.

18th of Octubre-
Some people were just getting back from the rave at 4:30 am when we took off to go see the geysers and the sunrise. Our tourguide told us there were only 3 deaths there this year... but never told us how they happened. Lets just say we were all very careful. After that we went to natural hot springs. They weren't actually that hot, and they were very enjoyable in the desert. The water was so clean and fresh! I actually had forgotten my swimsuit somehow and ended up using Cheryl's sports bra and shorts. After returning to the hotel, most of us napped or shopped. When I woke up I got ice cream and then dinner (yes, the ice cream came first). At the restaurant where we ate we watched an U de C game. We were losing for most of it but ended up tying 1 to 1. Returning to the hotel we bought some stuff to drink and just started gathering in the sitting area outside the main building just chatting and playing card games. We ran over to a bar called Milagro for a bit but ended up just going back to the hotel. Apparently, the person who is supposed to buzz us into the enclosure was being lazy or was sick of us gringos going in and out so when me Karl and Jess B tried to get in, he wouldn't open the gate. Therefore, we all jumped the 7 foot wall.

19th de Octubre-
Slept in a little to recover from last night and all the hiking in past few days. Later in the afternoon we went to a salt lake in the middle of the desert. Now THAT was incredible! We could stick our entire arms out of the water and still floated like a cork. It was so easy to float because of the fact that it was full of salt, just like the Dead Sea. Another thing about the lake was that we could actually swim faster. The bad part about it was that eventually the salt stung our skin so bad, it hurt like hell and we had to get out. After drying off, we headed back to the hotel and chilled some more, it was kind of a lazy/recovery day. Alison, Cheryl, Jess A and I just sat in the lobby downing cup after cup after cup of coffee and tea and talking about life.

20th of October-
I ran out of money so instead of going shopping, I fried by the pool some more. More like Hayley and Alison fried, they were tomatoes by the end of the day. Tsk Tsk.
Nothing really exciting happened that night in Santiago. We went for a walk at night and crossed paths with some male transvestites who said "Qué rico" to Trevor, but that was it.

Thats the end of the north trip. I shoulda kept a better diary huh?

My favorite part about this trip to the north was that I got really close to everyone in my group. I really got to know a lot of people I hadn't hung out with much yet, and got closer to the one's I've been hanging out with a lot. Cobquecura did it too, and I'm sure the south will. I love it. I love being close to these people. I've made some friends for life, which I usually find difficult to do.

The night of the 24th, Karl and I saw the movie "Bastardos sin gloria" or "Inglorious Bastards" as it was released in the states. It was AMAZING but most of the movie was in French and German and we were therefore forced to read the Spanish subtitles, but they scrolled so fast, we lost a little bit of the movie's content I think.

Besides seeing that movie, I was incredibly homesick this weekend. With my dog on the verge of death, I just wanted to be home. I got so homesick, I hardly did anything but sit in bed, and/or on my computer. It was probably the worst homesickness I've felt since coming here. I got over it a little bit on Monday night when I went out with some friends to celebrate a girl's birthday.
Well, on Sunday, I did go to the mall with Cheryl for a bit, to try to shake it off. We talked a long time and went back to her house to cook American/comfort food: aka Mac and Cheese and peanut butter (not together).

The funny thing was the next day when I told my mom about what me and Cheryl did to feel better, she went out and found Mac and Cheese for me, and peanut butter too! That stuffs not cheap here.

I'm severely sleepless right now, and I wish I had more interesting things to say in this blog besides listing what I did each day. I apologize to readers bored by my narration.

I thought about how wierd it'll be to go home today.
I'm going to miss the micros.
And my host family. My host family a lot.
chilean cuisine, esp cheap fruit/veggies

Many times a day I make lists in my head of what I'll miss about this place. I know as much as I missed home here, at home I'm going to miss Chile just as much.

Wedding/Cobquecura/Santiago/Viña del Mar/Valparaiso/San Pedro de Atacama

On Friday October 9th I don't think I did anything exciting. On the 10th however, I watched the Chile game and witnessed them qualify for the world cup for the first time in 12 years and only the second time in 26! It was sooo funny, my host brother Vlado and my host dad were SCREAMING at the television the whole time! "CONCHA TU MADRE!!!", "CHUUUUCHA!" It was so funny I was laughing so hard. The whole time they were standing and shouting, little mamá Sarita was running around saying "Sshhh callense! Catie no le gusta escucharles! Callense Callense por favor!" God I love my host family.

After Chile won the game, we headed over to a church near downtown Conce for the service of a wedding I was going to with my family. It was my dad's cousin, Javier and his novia, Sylvia. I had met them before so it was even more exciting. On the way to the service and during the service, people were constantly shouting and blowing thier horns. Soccer celebrations here are HUGE. Obviously, soccers a huge deal here in general. I can't imagine what the wedding would've been like if Chile would have lost. They even mentioned it at the recepcion: thank god Chile won tonight! hahaha.
After the church we went to El Dorado hotel in el centro for the recepcion. It was so beautiful! I wish I had taken more pictures, but my camera was freaking out a little that night. So we ate and ate and drank and drank and danced and danced. They played so much music! Lots of dancy music in Spanish and English and I loved every minute of it.
A funny moment was when the food came. It was in three cylindrical shapes and I had no idea what it could've been without trying it. Vlado sees my skeptical facial expression, leans into my ear and says "what the fuck is that" in English and I laughed so hard the table looked at me.
At midnight that night we changed the clocks and lost an hour. I went home at 4am with my family, finished packing for Cobquecura, slept for about 2 hours or so, and then awoke to head to my profs place to gather to go to la playa by Cobquecura.

We arrived at our cabins. There were 3 cabins for us with 5 beds in each. First thing we did was head out to go see a traditional chilean celebration with large fires cooking meat and ponche. Some of us rode horses, lots of us made friends with the local country people. After that we returned to our small stay city and either hit up a restaurant or bought food from a supermercado for almuerzo. After that and being lazy, we started preparing the barbeque for dinner. We ate, drank, ran around the city, and eventually hit up the beach where we built a fire on the sand. There might have been a time where I was hanging out the back of a pick up truck but I wont go into detail. At the beach there were a bunch from our group, a bunch of chileans, blankets, a guitar, and the sea. I had such a good time! At one point a group of us ran down to the water and just screamed at the ocean. It was so exhilerating. Too bad half of us got soaked. Poor Alison lost her camera and flip flops to the ocean that night. OH did I mention the stars?! The stars were incredible! I have NEVER seen so many and so bright. If only my stupid camera could capture pictures at night!

The next morning most of us were dead to the world, but we got up around 10 and just started cooking and feasting. Our breakfast consisted of eggs, noodles, apples, manjar, and garlic bread: yummy.
Later that day we hit up another nearby beach and climbed many a hills. Once again, see facebook pictures! At this beach, Triana bought two live crabs to cook and eat later and they cost her ONE American dollar, for BOTH! That bay was famous for the seafood they bring in. Om nom nom.
The picture I posted on top of this post is from the second beach, isn't it neat?
At the end of this trip I was so behind on sleep, I slept every single time we sat on the bus.

Between Cobquecura and the trip to the north, we only had two days of class.
They went by so quick and nothing important happened! I hung out and packed for the north and soon I was gone again!

Viaje al norte= Trip to the north
By far the best week long vacation I've ever had!
We squeezed the money and hours out of every single day. The week felt more like a month to me. I think the part I loved the most was getting closer to everyone in our group, I feel so much more connected now.
IN GENERAL I'M SO HAPPY AND ITS FANTASTIC!
Pics are up on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=332439&id=660420332&l=372b622504

Day One: 15th of October:
We flew from Conce to Santiago and took a tour bus to Valparaiso, a coastal city almost directly west of Santiago where we got a small city tour and walked around some. That city is SO beautiful! If only there was more sun! There we saw one of Pablo Neruda's houses built in the 1960s or so, La Sebastiana. It had the best view of the city and ocean.
Returned to Santiago to stay in hotel/apartment things. They were super nice and we were stoked to be there. We went to the Unimarc nearby, a supermarket, and bought a bunch of food and wine for the night. I ended up staying up all night for no reason with Karl!

16th of October:
I got my stuff together and met everyone downstairs at 5am to get to the airport for our flight to Catama. We went straight over to the worlds largest still functioning copper mine called Chuquicamate. Después we had a descanso and returned to San Pedro de Atacama. We had the afternoon free so most of us ran around the downtown and touristy part of the city. Bought souvineers, watched the sunset, went to bed.

I have spent so much time blogging, I must go for now! I'll finish this another time. Thanks for reading!

Interesting things and Santiago

Leaving Buenos Aires was quite sad, I really fell in love with the place. More so than Chile. Like I mentioned earlier, we had huge problems leaving the country because none of us had our Chilean ID cards. Well, I was the only one who had problems getting back INto the country. It was ridiculous, I told the guy I didnt have my cédula card and he said "Well, how am I supposed to let you pass?" I explained to him that the three girls waiting on the other side for me didn't have theirs either but he didn't care. I just sat there till he stamped my stuff and let me pass with a gruff scoff.

Well the Monday we get back, we find out that since last Friday, students from certain departments on campus have been on strike and protesting. Therefore, students have TAKEN certain buildings. Literally, there are student-made signs that say "en toma."

Tuesday night I slept horribly and Wednesday night I paid for it. I told my host parents at 6 that I would wake up at 8 and eat own-say with them. Well, I woke up and thought to myself "wow, its fairly light out for 8pm." Then I looked at my phone and saw that it was 6:30... IN THE MORNING.

Thursday the first of October I went out with a buncha gringos, but I ended up getting really sick really early, so I went home. The day before, Alison and I decided we were going to embark on a random journey to Santiago. My mom took us to the bus stop on Friday morning and we took of on a bus at 12:30. We get there, and have NO IDEA what to do. I call my friend Sean and he tells us what we need to do. We hit up the metro with our bip! cards and make it to his appartment. We decided to just spend the night there since we had a place to stay cause his roommate was gone. He was a sweet view of Santiago, it was pretty incredible. I loved the name of his barrio: Ñuñoa.

Saturday we woke up so early and took off to explore the city. First thing we did was climb San Cristóbal to explore the Zoo and then to take a cable car all the way up to the top to see a giant statue of the virgin Mary. The whole reason that statue and a make-shift church is up there is because it was made for the pope when he visited Santiago years ago.
Sean met up with us a while later and took us to another famous hill in Santiago que se llama Santa Lusia and it was from the 1500s if I remember correctly. See facebook pictures as usual!

After that we found our hostel, RIGHT on the famous Plaza de Armas de Santiago. It was sooo beautiful! The plaza and the view out our window! There is a really old church there that is right next to a very modern building there and it just looked so beautiful. I wish I had better words to describe it.

Took a bus home Sunday afternoon and my mommy picked us up from the station.

Monday the 5th, we had a new professor in our Literature class and he was AWESOME. His name is José Rodriguez and I think I laughed the entire class period. He was also very smart and a great speaker.
That night I went to Cheryl's to watch the Packer/Viking game (which went HORRIBLY).

Oh I forgot to mention there is a hole in the o-zone layer here.
AND I also forgot to mention almost getting mugged when we were looking at the obilisk in Buenos Aires. Some guys came up behind us and saw us taking pictures. One of them started bugging Cheryl to take her camera. Eventually Cheryl shouted "NO!" And thats when the rest of us noticed what was going on, he had his hand on her purse! We yelled "No!" and booked it across the street. Cheryl was pretty shaken and this was before the Fantasma de la Opera show so we were all dressed up.

The 6th of October I did some work-study stuff for Luz, basically doing her job for her.
During a break Karl and I bought this NASTY veggetable of the street: BAD IDEA.

The 7th a bunch of us met these two 20 year old guys from Germany on the street. Johan came up to us and said "Americans?!" and we talked for a bit. Him and Ian met us at Go! and Tercer Tiempo that night for some drinks and they were so excited to find people who could speak English (their English is better than their Spanish).

THURSDAY the 8th I booked tickets to Cusco, Peru to go to Macchu Picchu!
Today has been super lazy but I really needed it.
Soon I need to stop eating and work out more.
The end.
I'm FINALLY caught up with my blog! :)

Argentina continued...

Saturday we walked ALL OVER Buenos Aires. Since the taxi's are so cheap, we had the hotel call one of those and we asked him to take us to the tourist attraction with all the different colored houses. We all forgot the name of the place (La Boca) so we just described it to him. Well the idiot took us to the wrong place and we were like, well now you know what we're talking about, since we explained it again, can you take us to La Boca? And he's like, nope, sorry! And took off.

Well he left us in a pretty sweet place, there was a feria artesania going on (art fair) and there were stands set up by tons of people selling handmade things. I was happy to know they were legit and not stuff shipped over from India. It was a little expensive for me, but the girls bought some stuff and it was fun to walk around and get to know people. After that we thought we could walk to La Boca but since its the poorest barrio in Buenos Aires, people advised we take a taxi.

La Boca was pretty sweet, its solely a tourist attraction though. There were more artesanías and people trying to take our money as usual.

There is a free museum in Buenos called "Museo de Bellas Artes" so we checked that out. It was sweet, I saw a lot of famous paintings like "the reading boy" and works by Picasso, Monet, etc. Then we hit up this café that we were supposed to get discounts for through our travel agent but the idiot gave us expired vouchers. The food was still good though and it was our first meal without wine haha.

We returned to the famous cathedral by la casa rosada so that Hayley and Cheryl could take more pictures of it. Alison and I waited outside and found a celebration accross the street. Cheryl and Hayley re-joined us and we found out it was "Buenos Aires celebra a Chile." It was basically Buenos Aires celebrating Chile! We felt at home again, haha.

Well we get back to the hotel and haul Hayley's computer to the lobby so that we can look up more information about the pub crawl that night. Hayley is pulling the glass table closer to the chair so that she can put her computer on it but she didn't realize it wasn't attached! It shattered and the poor girl was just having a bad time already! La pobrecita, everything bad was happening to her :(

After getting dressed up and pretty we head over to the bar where the pub crawl starts, "Nacional." We were pretty early but we paid and got our wrist bands and started off with some classy wine. Soon people started to show up and we met some pretty great friends. Two of the girls we met there were actually studying in Santiago and happened to be in Buenos the same weekend we were. Their names were Caitlyn and Laura. Caitlyn was from Colorado but Laura happened to be from Brookfield, Wisconsin, about a 10 minute drive from my house there! Incredible coincidence. They both go to a private school in Missouri, if I remember correctly. The rest of the people were mostly from the states, the organizers of the crawl themselves were from Georgia.

In summary, we went to three bars and then took a bus to one of the most popular discotheques in Buenos Aires called Crobar. Ah-mayz-ing. I had crazy deja-vu when we were there, I swear I had dreamed about it before. We got to skip this huge line AND get in for free with the crawl, so that was fantastic. We stayed there till SEVEN IN THE MORNING. I finally sucessfully partied like they do in South America, WOOT!

CONTINUING....
Sunday we forced ourselves to wake up at 12 so we wouldn't waste the day and we dragged our crabby asses to the world's most famous cemetery: La Recoleta de Buenos Aires. Very fittingly, it was raining that day. I saw tons of graves of famous latinamerican writers, poets, presidents, ex-presidents, and figures there. The most famous buried there is Eva Perón who is a huuuge figure in Argentine history who really helped out the poor. Theres a musical about her called "Evita" if anyone is interested.

We treated ourselves to a nearby café for a late lunch where we found out two of Hayley's 100 peso bills were fake (about 40 american dollars she could've lost). The waiter touched them for about 2 seconds and said he couldn't accept them. That day we found out that counterfeit cash is a HUGE problem in Argentina. Something we probably should've researched before coming. The worst part about that was she got them at an ATM in front of a bank. If we had known they were fake we could've brought them in and asked for help but we had no idea, they were so well done. (I took a picture, I think its on facebook.) After that we found another very legitimate artesanía fair where we all bought handmade things for very cheap. Hayley kept trying to use her fake bills, but everyone knew they were fake and we kept getting lectured about how tourists have to be very careful. At that fair I bought a sweet bracelet, a knitted shirt, and a necklace for my mom made of the official stone of Argentina, the rodocrosita.

Walked back to hotel, shopped on Florida for the last time. We bought Hayley a map she wanted since all the bad luck happened to her, and then took her to a tango show. Cheryl, Alison, and I shared some wine and enjoyed the night.

Argentina, and then some

Obviously I've been too busy to keep up with this blog.
Good and bad thing.

Well. The night of Wednesday the 23rd of September, Cheryl, Alison, Hayley and I took off for Santiago. We took an overnight bus at 11 and got there a little after 5am.
We get to the terminal in Santiago and even though my mom gave me a general idea of where to go, we really didn't have the slightest idea.
Ended up we had to cross the street to the other side of the bus terminal to find a bus that would take us from the bus station in Santiago to the aeropuerto. Since those buses didn't run till 6:15 and our plane left at 8am, we just found a cab and took that, it might have even been cheaper than the bus we would've taken.

Get to the airport, get our tickets/boarding passes, decide not to go to Uruguay anymore since it would've cost us 60$ and thats half a plane ticket already and we had already paid.

We go through the place where our paper work is processed and realize we don't have our cedulas (cards that say we're chilean students for the time-being). They almost didn't let us leave, but thankfully we had started the registration process the week before and we merely needed to pick up the cards. Thus, they looked up our information and let us pass.

We get to Montevideo and are glad we decided not to stay there. The airport was a JOKE. We literally started laughing. There were 8 gates TOTAL. And we had to climb down onto the tarmac, it wasn't connected to the airport. We get into the building/structure and I'm looking for an Uruguayan flag for my host dad, when I realize there are exactly three stores in the entirety of the airport and none of them have flags nor anything Uruguayan. It was seriously so disappointing. I mean, I'm sure if we would've ventured out to Montevideo's downtown it could've gotten more interesting, but the airport didn't even have anything besides Uruguayan pesos. In which, those are my only souveniers.

Getting out of the airport in Buenos Aires, there is supposed to be someone waiting for us through the travel agency we used who has a taxi to take us to our hotel. Well theres only one woman holding a sign that says "Adison Fos" which we can only assume was meant to say "Alison Fox", one of the girls on this trip with us.
We climb into the classy cab and get a tease of the city as he drives us to our hotel.

Before we even settle into our rooms we meet with a woman who worked with our travel agent and she gave us some vouchers and coupons to use around the city. She also set up our City Tour for the next day. Gave us some maps and sent us on our way.
Dropped our stuff off in our rooms before we hit up the local grocery store to buy some food to keep in the rooms like fruit and bread. I think the best part of that night was the juice-box wine. They were grown-up juiceboxes (see facebook pictures, if those ever decide to upload). It was a relaxing night to blow off some steam of the stress of traveling.

Friday morning we wake up around 8 to take a bus tour at 9:30 of Buenos Aires. Though we could've seen what we saw ourselves, it was a good idea to go with the bus tour because then we more easily figured out how to navigate later. I think all of us fell in love with Buenos on day one.
After that we walked around to some sights that were close to our hotel, for instance, the street with all the shopping (Florida) and the obelisk. Walking by a theater, we saw tickets available for El Fantasma de la Opera (yes, the Phantom of the Opera) and decided to buy tickets for that night. After we bought our tickets we got a little dressed up and hit up Café Tortoni where the food and wine was spectacular. Not to mention the waiters were really formal and the place sparkled dispite it being a decently priced café. The sandwich I had was like gormet grilled cheese, deeeelicious.
After that, walked over the the theater to see El Fantasma and after that ended the night a little early.

To bed for now, To be continued...

No tengo nada tiempo libre.

GOOD NEWS!
I changed my keyboard to an international setting and now I learned how to make accent marks! Instead of copying and pasting from Google translate I just have to do key combinations :) I'm pretty stoked about that, I feel smart.

Funny story my host dad told me the other day: A past gringa's real dad asked him how old he was but doesn't speak much Spanish. He said ¿Cuantos anos tiene? To you, that probably looks right,but he missed a crucial tilde above the n. He should've said ¿Cuántos años tiene? Instead of saying "How old are you?" He asked Wladimir "How many anus's do you have?"

Speaking is coming to me soooo much better now. I must have just talked to my host mom for two hours straight and only struggled with a few words I had never learned. I love that I'm able to explain the concept and then they can teach me the word I lacked. The best thing is that I don't hesitate anymore. I just jump right in. They looove to talk here, love to chit chat, love to fill the silence with any chitter chatter in their mind. I don't sit and figure out what I'm going to say anymore, I just jump in. I'm also not afraid to ask for directions, talk to store personel for help. I can't leave this country.

Something that freaked me out yesterday, that some of you might have noticed I tweeted about, was the moon. I was doing homework hardcore (for once) and I looked up and noticed a sliver of light through the lace/drapes of my window and noticed it was the moon. I realized that its the same moon that you see in the United States. It really pulled me back home for a second, made me feel not so far away. I started thinking about the differences between here and home, the climate, the people, the relations. Its just crazy how there are different worlds within this world.

I love the culiquitaca dance/song. I'll have to videotape it one day and show everybody.
Cata taught me, Catalina. The one I met on the dieciocho holiday. She's such a sweet heart! You might have noticed a bunch of pictures of me and her on facebook, haha, her idea. Poor girl was so bored. I had no nail polish nor magazines (she's 15). I always got confused when people called for her because they'd say "Catita! o Cata!" which sounds really close to "Cati! o Catita!" jaja Actually they use the same nickname for the both of us: Cata o Catita.

Wellllll, I've got my bus tickets to Santiago... which leaves... TONIGHT. Holy shit. Thats exciting! I cannot wait to leave my computer here for 6 days. I hate being so attached to it. I don't mean to be, I'm not inseperable from it, but I always find myself on it. And getting distracted from tareas haha.

What else to say.
I'll have a hell of a lot to blog about when I get back from Buenos Aires I know. Until then!

Dia de fiestas patrias

YESterday I went to Dichato and Tome with Sean (my friend from SCSU who up and moved to Santiago in June) and his friend Dan (also from SCSU but a different year). We took a bunch of random buses to get there. Pretty much watched the sunset over the beach. It was fantaaastic/beautiful. Had Escudo, vino, and the freshest empanadas de manchas (razorclams) ever. Can't wait to get back there too, like Lota. Theres just so much to see/do. On the way there we saw this park with a bunch of fake dinosaurs that I totally need to see.
After the beach we hung out in a house of Dan's friend in Dichato. She was really nice and excited to speak Spanglish with us.

Entonces, el dia de fiestas patrias
Well today started out kinda boring, it was hard to get going and speak Spanish, especially with Hayley around. If there is another gringo around I just lose all confidence and rely on them. But the day got better. After lunch we socialized, danced some cueca, drank some delicious ponche.
My mom, aunt, cousin, other aunt, dad, Hayley, and I were all learning to dance in my room. They taught me some more of the cueca and a while bunch of other Latin American dances that were really fun. After that, Hayley and I tried to teach them the Electric Slide and the Cha Cha slide. I have to buy some CDs down here and burn my mom those songs, she loved learning to dance them!

I'll see you in hell, Pachabel

Busy Bee.

I've just been so busy I haven't been able to blog much! Aahhh and these last few and next few days have been/will be especially packed.

One thing I forgot to mention about skiing was that there was one point that I took the lift to the top of the mountain and I wasn't able to ski down. Therefore I took off my skis and slid down on my butt. For probably about 200 feet or more and again but in shorter incrimants. I really wish someone would've gotten a picture, it was sooo funny! After a while some really petit woman came sliding down next to me and said in English "Thanks for the idea! I can't ski this one either!" haha

Well Saturday after skiing my whole body just ACHED like hell. Buuut Cheryl, Hayley, Alison and I needed to get to the travel agency very early to square away our Argentina trip. We made it to Turismo Gestur in the morning. Paulina was the agent who helped us plan the trip and she was very nice. We found out she had hosted students from California before so she was able to speak really clearly for us.

What ended up happening was she couldn't book our hotel for the next day therefore our trip got bumped back to the 24th of September. But that wasn't bad news at all: for 100 dollars less we get to stay an extra night and also stop in Uraguay for about 7 or 8 hours. The whole package deal we got for 360 dollars included: plane tickets, four nights at a hotel, transportation from airport to hotel, breakfast every day, ticket vouchers to some discotheques, and a city tour. We are all SO STOKED!

On Sunday and Monday me and Lindsay hung out a lot and did .... next to no homework, haha. My dad liked talking to her a lot so that didn't help much, but it was nice he wanted to talk with us. Lindsay and I watched this movie called The Linguists which you can watch for free at http://thelinguists.com. Its SO SWEET, and I recomend it to everybody.

Monday night though there was a welcome dinner for international students at la U de C and I met some really nice people from Germany, Mexico, and France. They served us vino tinto and empanadas, my favorite :)
Unfortunately I didn't get any last names nor numbers so I'm not sure when I'll see them again, but I have a feeling some other gringos did and we'll see them on the bar strip soon.
After that welcome dinner we went to a bar called "The Beer Place." Yes, it has an English name. Its really close to campus. There we just socialized some more, obviously ordered beers, and just had a good night.

I went to bed at like 3 or 3:30 because I was talking to people online, and I had to get up at 6 to make it to campus by 8 to go to Lota. Lota was AWESOME. We only had to pay about 500 pesos to get there, pretty cheap. First we had a presentation at this school and helped some students practice their English. Then we saw a semi-boring museum. After that we got to walk through this INCREDIBLY beautiful park in Lota right on the beach. I'll have to wait for others to post pictures and steal them because after the museum my camera died, unfortunately! We ran around there like a bunch of kids. Loved it. I know for sure I'm going back someday before I leave.

After eating lunch (of which I ate a salad and split a bottle of vino tinto with other gringos) we went down to some legitimate mines. It was so cute we got to wear the lights on our head and ride a swinging cage all the way down into the mines. The tour guide was kind of boring so Jess and I amused ourselves by somewhat splitting off from the group and exploring places we weren't supposed to.

I was so pooped after that I fell asleep on the bus ride home! Which is something I usually can't do. I'm still tired now, but I need to finish up some homework due tomorrow for Ostrias class. After his class I'm going to the travel agent again to really set in stone this trip since there was problems with my credit card last time.

After THAT tomorrow theres a big party on campus where everybody gets wasted and dances the cueca! Apparently its huge tradition and all the students go. I'm pretty stoked! My brother might come too. Hasta luego.

I SKIED! ME! I SKIED!

I'm sooo sore! But skiing was SO WORTH IT!

The whole group of us, minus a few, had to get up sooo early to make it to the university so we could all take a bus up to las termas de Chillan. We all got there before 7 and I think we left by 7:30 or so? Anyway, about 2/3 of the way there we stopped at this small shop to rent ski and snowboard equipment for really cheap. It was only 6 mil pesos (12 bucks) for poles, boots, and skis. Everyone loaded up their stuff again and eventually we made it. The ride to las termas de Chillan took about 2 or 3 ish hours total I think... could've been shorter if we weren't on a stupid micro.

Well we got there, ate some food, geared up, paid half day and half price for our lift tickets (11 mil pesos or 22 dollars) and soon I found my self strapped to two skis holding two poles and not the slightest idea how to use them. Several times I asked myself what I got myself into...

Eventually Cheryl taught me how to ski: toes pointed in to stop, squat kind of like you're almost going to sit in a chair, keep balanced, et cetera.
After several runs, I got the hang of it! There were a bunch of long and winding trails we could take, and also some straight down simple ones.

There was one point where I was with Allison and Patsy (a chilean student who accompanys us sometimes) decided to take a lift we had never taken before. So we hopped on and sat. And went up... and up.... and up.... and up.... and up...
We kept going and all we could say was "Ohhhh mierda.... ohh mierda.... ohhh mierda... vamos a morir... vamos a morir...." (Translation, Oh shit, we're going to die.)
We get off the ski lift at the top and look down to our future death. IT WAS SO HIGH and we could have gone higher! The view was SPECTACULAR though! Outrageously beautiful! My camera was nice to me today too and WORKED well! SEE FACEBOOK FOR THOSE SHOTS, SOOO BEAUTIFUL! It was all sun today so I got all sorts of wonderful light and we could see so far from the top....
I'm so glad I did this, it was so insanely worth what I spent. It was only about 35 dollars for the whole day and thats pretty decent for a ski resort!

Words just can't describe, unfortunately...

The ride home was HELL but I don't even want to talk about it because the day was so wonderful :)

CAN'T WAIT TO PLAN MY TRIP TO ARGENTINA TOMORROW! I'm getting up super early to meet Cheryl, Hayley, and Allison at la plaza en el centro.