Perú! (and a Merry Christmas to all!)

Hola amigos,
I really didn't think I'd be catching up on blogging right now,with my sister here and all. But as of right now she is sleeping in until an indefinite hour, so I'd like to take the chance to catch up and do our trip to Peru justice instead of cramming into a one paragraph summary ten days later. So here goes the description now, which I will do my best to encompass the amazingness that Peru is in one post.

Day 1: Lima

We took a ridiculously early morning flight into Lima, to take advantage of our full day and one night there. This city proved to be eventful right away. Our taxi driver was an older man who weaved through the crazy side streets to "show us the real side of Lima.".Note:Taxis in Peru don't have meters. That means you have to do some serious negotiating over the price before getting in. It helps to ask a local a typical price beforehand, to have leverage for bargaining and to know you are not being ripped off. He also talked about how he lived in New York 22 years, before he was deported back to Lima...22 years! How does that even happen? I can't even imagine being kicked out of a place you start to call home. Anyways, Claire and I were definitely noticing how Lima is an edgier city than Santiago. Our hostel( Pariwana Backpackers), however was in a really nice area called Miraflores. It was gringo paradise...it kind of reminded me of a freshman dorm. There was a bulletin board with activities for each night (pub trivia, city tours,etc.) and a cafe to buy food. We took a map of the city and a metro brochure and took to exploring the city ourselves. We had lunch in a bohemian-esque district called Barranco, where I feasted on anticucho(cow heart!) and a Peruvian pisco sour (grape liquor, lemon juice, sugar, and egg whites). Note:One reason why Peruvians and Chileans don't have the best relations is the argument over what country pisco originally comes from. Quite silly really. Pisco is great and all, but does it really need to be a subject for a big feud?
After we strolled along the stone beach, watching paragliders overhead, before heading down to Downtown Lima a little bit....emphasis on a little bit. With the hoards of people, constant honking, and cars that assumed they had the right of way this place was too loco to stay in for more than fifteen minutes. At night we headed out on a hostel activity, which was a giant water fountain light show in a park. It was really random, but amazing because this park had a huge number of fountains.

On the beach in Lima

Plaza in Downtown Lima

part of the water-light show

Plaza in Barranco 

Day 2 and 3: Cusco
The difference between Cusco and Lima is night and day. Perhaps it's the high level of tourism here, the general attitude of it's inhabitants, or a combination of these elements but I have to say Cusco is much...calmer. Knowing we were doing the Inca Trek soon, Claire and I didn't exert ourselves too much here. That didn't stop us from checking out the local salsa club our first night ;). We also did an afternoon city tour and checked out tons of markets for shopping. Everything is cheaper in Peru and they actually bargain! Plus meals are a pretty great deal. A full plate of food, plus a drink can be 7 dollars or less, if you're willing to explore beyond the touristy places.

Plaza de Armas

Days 4, 5,6, and 7: Inka Trek!
Hands down best part of the Peru trip. Back in August, Claire and I signed up for the 4 day, 3 night Classic Inka Trail to Machu Picchu. The first day was tough. Claire woke up feeling really sick, most likely from something she ate (cheese is not as processed here...). I was internally freaking out a bit, wondering if we would actually do the trek! Our guide said if she couldn't make it through the first hour, we would have to turn back. But Claire is a trooper and we made it through our first day. On day two Claire woke up feeling a lot better. Still, we decided to hire an extra porter, to carry one of our bags, so we could trade off a bag throughout the day. Note:The porters are amazing. They carry at least 50 pounds, practically running up the mountain, some of them even in sandals. Most of them are farmers, who do porter jobs to get extra income. They were shy with us, because many didn't speak English, some not even Spanish. All of them spoke Quechua, an indigenous language. This saved our lives! It was literally over three ours of climbing steps, until we reached Dead Woman's Pass, with an altitude of over 13,0000 feet. Then came the descent, which was difficult in its own way. Talk about knee pain! Day 3 ended up being a half day, with a slow descent into our camp. This was also the last night of our trek, which was bittersweet. We had a total of 14 people, plus our two guides and the porters. Everyone got along well, and over a short four days we really bonded through this experience. At dinner this last night, the porters even baked us a cake! I still don't understand how they "baked" a delicious cake using some kind of pot and steaming method...
On the last day of the trek,we had a 3 a.m. wake up call, to make it to the final check in point before the other groups (there's about 500 people on the Inka Trail per day). Afterwards, we trekked about 2 hours before reaching the Sun Gate...which wasn't very sunny. There was still a morning fog coating the mountains below. We continued descending, where we finally got the first glimpses of Machu Picchu through the patches of low hanging clouds. Our guide was insisting that everyone do bird calls, "to clear the fog!" It was a pretty funny scene. When we made it around the final curve of our trek, we saw the classic view of Machu Picchu, you know the one from postcards. But it was better than any postcard. What the photos don't show you is every angle of this amazing place, with the ruins and the valley surrounding them. Plus having the trek leading up to the actual day in Machu Picchu (which felt rather short!) made me appreciate the story behind the ruins and the Inca Empire. Everything from their architecture from their method of communication (they used "runners"!) was just amazing to me.

Our group at the start of the trail

Top of Dead Woman's Pass on Day 2

At Machu Picchu on Day 4!

View from Wayna Picchu(the peak behind Machu Picchu)

Day 8 and 9: Puno 
The day after our trek, we woke up to take a bus ride from Cusco to Puno, the folkloric city of Peru. It was a good thing this tour along the way was relaxing, because we were still beat from the trek. Our day literally consisted of sleeping on the bus, stopping for 30 minutes or so in a small town, sleeping some more, then arriving into Puno that afternoon. Our hostel was completely different from Lima's and Cusco's. This one was a tiny family owned one on a dirt road. The owner even made us pancakes for breakfast!
 The main reason I wanted to go to Puno was to see Lake Titicaca( yes, that's the name don't laugh...), the highest elevation lake in the world. The next day we took a short tour to the Uros Islands, a set of manmade islands. The way they are made is pretty amazing. They use blocks of compacted dirt as the floating base, with a certain types of reed weaved together to make the floor of the island. In fact everything appears to be weaved here...the houses and the boats included! Families who speak the local Aymara language live on the island. We finished with a ride on one of their weaved boats, which they jokingly named "The Mercedes Benz."
The rest of our time in Puno consisted of last minute shopping, a ride in a crazy motor taxi, and packing up for our overnight bus back to Cusco.

A model of an island

The "Mercedes Benz" we took a ride in

Day 10: Travel Day-Chao Peru :(
So after our overnight bus, we got in around 5 a.m. to Cusco. After swinging by our first hostel to get some bags out of their storage, we headed to the airport to wait around for our flight to Lima. Once we got to Lima, we had a four hour delay but it passed by so quickly. We actually ended up running into a guy that was on our Uros Island Tour and chatting about traveling for about 2 hours. Then, we ran into another guy from our hostel the first 2 days in Cusco. He joked when you're making "the gringo circuit," you start to running into the same people!
We finally made it into Santiago around midnight, tired, dirty, but already missing everything about Peru. It's a beautiful country, that's definitely worth visiting at least once in a lifetime.

Also late Merry Christmas! Claire and I ended up spending a relaxing Christmas in Santiago. We saw The Hobbit and couldn't help comparing it to our Inka Trek...o.k. so maybe the trek wasn't as perilous but still there are some definite similarities...
Next on the agenda? Valparaiso for New Years! Keep an eye out for updates! Chao for now!

Summer Preview!

Hello folks!
Well the semester is finally finally over! I have to say coming from the quarter system to a semester system is hard to adjust to, but I made it through the long weeks. It was defintely not the end of semester I predicted either. Unfortunately the Tuesday before last my laptop was robbed from a Cafe Literario, which is like a cafe with a library upstairs. I went to the bathroom and within one minute it was gone! It just goes to show that bad things can happen even when you study abroad and you can´t let your guard down for one second...even in a room with over 30 people and two security guards. That robber sure had guts! Everyone has been really helpful through it all. My professors gave me extensions on essays I had to restart, and my host family and study abroad center lent me computers. Plus my sister is coming Monday and bringing my dad´s old one for me. It´s never good timing to have a computer stolen, but in this case the timing could have been worse!

Aside from the whole laptop fiasco not much has happened since my last post. It´s been more goodbyes for the people staying only one semester, which are never easy. I´ve really enjoyed making American friends out of context and sharing this experience with them. It´s just something that will always connect us, ´´that semester in Chile...´´ Plus we all have elaborate, exciting ideas for reunions in the states...Vegas anyone?  Now it´s time to look forward and share my summer plans! All of them just kind of came together in the last 2 weeks, and there is actually a lot going on...

• December 10th to January 1st, my sister comes for a visit! We are gonna hang out for a couple days in Santiago before we head to Peru to do the classic Inca Trail trek. It´s 4 days and 3 nights   through parts of the original Inka trail, with the last day finishing in Machu Picchu. We had to book it way in advance, because permits sell out really quickly. That just means the suspense and excitement have been building for months! After we get back from Peru, we´re spending Christmas with my host family. I will definitely miss the at home traditions I´ve had with my family, but it will be special to share this holiday with a Chilean family and with my sister! And finally the peak of our adventure will be New Years Celebration in Valparaiso. We´re going to head over a couple days prior and meet up with my friend Andrea from my program.  We´re actually going to give Couchsurfing a try, because I almost had a heartattack when I saw the jacked up hostel prices. Sorry parental units if you are finding out this way. For those who don´t know what Couchsurfing is, it is an international, online community where travelers can build a profile and be a couchsurfer or a host. At first I was iffy when I heard about it, but a few people from my program have done it and only have positive things to say. This site doesn´t cut corners on safety either. Hosts and surfers can get reviewed, vouched for, and verified or reported to make it a safe trip.  So I did some searching for people who had those credentials, except for being reported of course! The person were staying with has apparently hosted a lot people from all over the world in the past for the New Years celebration.  It has the biggest fireworks show in Latin America, and it´s also one of the biggest in the world! It´s also really a popular event, with thousands of people on the beach and in the streets staying out all night and into the morning. And we have to catch the bus back  the morning of the first, so my sister can make it back for her flight out of Santiago that night. She will sure have a crazy end to her South American adventures!  
• January 3rd to 14th I signed up for a volunteering project through my host university and got in!It´s in Region VII, or the Maule Region of Chile, in a rural town affected by the 2010 earthquake. I don´t know all the details, but it strikes me as a Habitat for Humanity esque project. I honestly don´t know what to expect, because I´ve never done an extended volunteer project even in the U.S. I can´t imagine it not being a rewarding experience!   
• Rest of January to mid February A former EAPer recommended a site called helpx.net, where you can find volunteer work on hostels,farms,etc. in exchange for room and board. I got in contact with a family who owns some cottages in a small beach town called Maintecillo. I´ll basically be helping out cleaning the cottages, watering the garden, or other doing other jobs they need help with. Plus staying by the beach in the summer sounds great to me...what can I say, I´m a true California girl!
• mid to end of February My dad comes! We´ll meet up in Santiago, then we´re heading over to Patagonia to do the 10 day circuit hiking trip through Torres del Paine National Park. Just google it, it is absolutely gorgeous. I can´t even begin to imagine what it will look like in person!   

So there you go! I finally get a summer break seeing as my program started 10 days after spring quarter and I´m certainly taking advantage of it down here. I´ll try my best to keep the updates and photos coming. Chao for now!

Semester winding down/Thanksgiving

Happy(late) Thanksgiving! I realize that about three weeks have passed since my last post. The only explanation can be that Chile  has a calendar system where the middle  of the month don't exist,because once again I don't know how the time can fly by so quick. These past two months especially I have seen the beginning of the month come and then suddenly it's the end of the month!

Anyways, for Thanksgiving a friend from my program invited us over to her place to celebrate, potluck style. Her roommates are Chilean and Australian, so with them and the group of us Californians it was a nice little mix. I actually brought a Chilean-style salad, with avocados and tomatoes splashed with olive oil. For some reason lettuce isn't huge with the salads here. There were all the traditional dishes too, including a huge turkey and pumpkin pie. Oh, and there was hummus with the appetizers...I was very excited to say the least! Seeing as there were over twenty people in a relatively small apartment, it wasn't your classic sit around the table say what your thankful for deal. I was happy enough to have the classic food and friends!
The night continued with a dance party to reggaeton(a genre of Latin American dance music), which isn't your typical post-Thanksgiving meal ritual of bumming it on the couch in a food coma, but it was still a blast!

A simple Chilean salad

My (first) plate of good old traditional Turkey Day food

Meanwhile, the semester is finally wrapping up here. I had my last day of classes on Tuesday and our goodbye dinner was that night, which was more fun than bittersweet, especially since I've seen my good friends in the program everyday since then. It's not goodbye quite yet! My internship is pretty much winding down too. I just have my exit interview next week for that. The class I may miss the most is actually my swim class. Last Friday all the classes had a combined competition and I swam after coming right from class. Literally I wasn't even wet before diving in the water for the race...so needless to say it didn't go so well. Oh well, it was all for fun! And afterwards some classmates and I got lunch together. I have  obviously socialized with Chileans before, but to be honest and say this was the first time I hung out strictly with Chileans, no gringos present. I felt accomplished!
The rest isn't so much fun and games. It worked out that all my finals are essays, which makes it nice for making sure my work is clear and grammar-error free. The bad thing is I have a total of 4 essays to write(3 for classes,one for my internship) in the next week and a half, all of them being in the 7+page range. However, one of them is a partner paper and I'm working with an exchange student from Japan. It's funny how we end up speaking Spanish to each other, because it's a language we both share(although I'm pretty sure she speaks good English too).
I think it's appropriate that Thanksgiving fell close to the end of the semester, because looking back on the last 5 months I do have a lot to be thankful for! The places I've traveled, the friends I've made, the fulfilling classes I've taken, and just the fact that I have another 7 months to look forward to on this year long journey. It's strange, my return flight was changed the other day(for visa purposes you have to book a round trip, and December was the latest I could do at the time), which is a very concrete sign that my experience will eventually end. But, it's far enough off that I can't begin to think about how I'll actually feel when I head home. I may not even know then what to feel! Anyway back to the present... I imagine by the next post  I'll truly be done with schoolwork and I'll be looking ahead to the summer(whose plans are still a work in progress). Chao for now!
Some photos of the (almost) end of the semester...

With Ashley and Amanda, two of my good EAP friends  at the goodbye dinner

My swim class after the competition( our "profe" is in the blue shirt)

My good friend and fellow year-longer Andrea. Only 7 out of 44 of us are  extending another semester!

p.s. You may notice the  floral background change. It's appropriate because spring is definitely in full swing, with summer fast approaching! That means the North Face jacket and scarves are tucked far away in my closet! It also means very sweaty,stuffy bus and metro rides during rush hour...

Another Passport Stamp-Mendoza,Argentina

Hola Amigos,
I have seen the north of Chile, the middle, and some of the south. It seemed only right that I should actually venture outside of Chile. That's why this last weekend a group of 5 friends and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend(Thursday-Sunday) we had and take a bus ride through the Andes to Mendoza, Argentina.
Our adventure started on Thursday morning with an early departure that turned into a 9 hour bus ride. What really made it long was the border crossing. Everyone at the bus had to get off to get their passport stamped. But the beautiful views of the Andes we saw along the way were worth it.

My friend Andrea and I at the border

Before I jump into any recaps of the Mendozian adventures I wanted to point out a couple differences that stood out to me most over the weekend. 

 Argentine dialect: My host sister's husband is actually from Mendoza, so I've been exposed to the differences a bit. For starters, the informal pronoun tú(you), is replaced by "vos." The verbs are also conjugated differently. The last letter "r" of the infinitive is dropped, replaced with an "s," and an accent is added to the last syllable. So a sentence like "Tú vives en Argentina"(You live in Argentina) becomes "Vos vivís en Argentina." The only irregular verb conjugation used with vos is the verb "ser"(to be), which is conjugated as "sos." An example of this irregularity would be "Vos sos mi amigo" instead of  "Tú eres mi amigo."  Another  difference is how they pronounce the "ll." A simple example is "Me llamo," which would be pronounced Me YA-mo. In Argentina it is more of a soft sh sound, so it turns out sounding like Me shamo. I just think it's interesting that just one country over,the Spanish dialect can change so much! But let's just stay I'll be sticking to Chilean Spanish.

Meal time: After a whole weekend, my friends and I still couldn't exactly pin down the mealtime system here. Our first night it took some serious hunting to find a place open for dinner at 7:30 p.m. Another night we had no problem finding a restaurant at 10 p.m. The next day we were madly hunting again for a place to have a late lunch. After several of these trials this is what I've figured out...

Restaurants close early afternoon and stay closed for a few hours. Late afternoon/early evening is tea time for Argentines, similar to Chilean "once", except they eat a lot of media lunas(croissants). You may see cafes open with people outside enjoying the springtime warmth, eating their croissants and having a cup of coffee. Then, at around 10p.m. all the restaurants go into full swing for dinnertime and are open till incredibly late.So basically if you're hungry between 2p.m. to 8 p.m., Mendoza is not the place to be. However, there are a plethora of tasty heladerías(ice cream shops) open all day to satisfy any misinformed traveler's hunger :) 

Now onto the fun activities...

Wine and Bike Tour

It wasn't a tour per se. We rented bikes all day from a company called Mr. Hugo's, where Mr. Hugo himself came out and greeted us. He then gave us a map with all the wineries, chocolaterías(chocolate factories), and olive oil factories around the 12 kilometer span. We started with a winery, where I tried Argentine's famous Malbec wine. Then, we stopped for lunch at another winery, because wine tasting, bike riding, and an empty stomach does not make a good combination!  After lunch we headed to an olive oil factory, where we had a sampling and a tour of the factory.I even got a little olive oil tasting certificate. We took a mid-day power nap under the shade of the trees outside the factory, then went onto another winery. Half of our group, including myself, decided to skip out on this one, because I was feeling pretty tired from biking in the springtime heat.We rested outside by the vinery, and my friends who decided to do the tasting brought us out some of the wine they got to sip on. I tried dessert wine for the first time, which I personally thought was too sweet. Finally, we made our way to a chocolate factory, only to find it had just closed. The rest of the day had been so fun though, so I didn't feel so bummed about this. I enjoyed everything about this "tour", even the parts where we had to bike past busy roads and put up with constant honks and shouts of "lola!lola!"(a catcall that translates "young lady! young lady!"). Plus I personally thought it was a great deal. Everything, the 7 hour bike rental, lunch, tastings, and tours ended up being about $25!

In route!

The whole group on the olive oil tour

Window Shopping&Parque San Martín

On the other side of town, there is a huge park in Mendoza where we took an afternoon stroll on Saturday. Along the way, we window shopped in the many artesian shops in Mendoza. We finally got to the park itself, which was beautiful. There were plazas with fountains, a giant water canal, and acres of green grass and flowers. By the end of the day we had probably walked around for 6 hours, which was unexpected exercise after biking a lot the day before, but equally enjoyable. 

Outside the gates of the park

Food

Yes food does deserve a separate section here, because it definitely was a big part of the trip. Meat is to Argentina what seafood is to Chile...really amazing! Plus Argentina has an Italian influence, so I got my pizza and pasta fix I've been missing the past few months. Mendoza also has a bunch of pastry shops, where they sell the infamous alfajor(yes it is pronounced like alpha-whore, which made for some great jokes during the trip). An alfajor is basically a soft, crumbly cookie filled with dulce de leche, often coated with chocolate. I'm not one to chow down on tons of sweets, but I could definitely have more than one of these in one sitting!

All and all the weekend was better than I imagined, and our group got along well. There was only a bit of an issue when I got a bit of altitude sickness waiting over two hours at the Argentine-Chile border on the way back, but luckily we had the nicest bus driver on the planet. He helped guide me to the front of the line to get my paperwork stamped, helped find me medicine to deal with my stomach ache, and made jokes to lighten the mood through it all. Chilean hospitality can make any situation better! 

And finally, I have to say this trip made me antsy to get some more passport stamps. Seeing the word "Argentina" in the clear blue ink made me feel accomplished and ready for more adventures outside of Chile. This country has a lot to offer in itself, but so does South America...and the world. Here's to crossing borders! Chao for now amigos! 

 

One Third Reflection

Hello Folks!
October wins the award for the fastest month here! Seriously,where did it go?Wednesday, the 24th officially marked 4 months in Chile.One third of my experience is done!Fittingly,this was also the day I finally received my student BIP(bus and metro) card.Only the foreign students who stay here for a year get them,because the whole process takes 3-4 months to get one. The Transantiago system, nor the international student program would be helping themselves going through the process with semester students, if they only use the card for less than 2 months. I have the benefit of using it eight more months, hooray! Basically with the BIP card, one "swipe" gets you a bus+metro+bus ride or other similar combinations  as long as you're heading in the same direction within a two hour window. So I swipe onto the bus in the morning, take it to the metro and swipe into the metro, and it doesn't charge me for both. Before it cost 560 to 670 pesos(about $1.20-$1.30), depending on whether it is "Bajo,Punto,o Valle"(Low,Normal, or Rush Hour). Now, it's only 190 pesos,less than 50 cents, all the time! This is a huge relief,because transportation costs can really add up quickly here. Plus, this is just another reaffirmation that I am truly in Chile. My friends who are staying for the semester are talking are counting down the days and I can't help thinking I could not imagine leaving at this point. I am sure that I will need this year to be here, to really focus on improving my spanish and just, well...living here! The new has worn off for me, but not the shininess. I don't think it ever will. Maybe I'm easily amused by everyday life. Sure there are frustrating days when  tengo ganas de dar una patada a algo(I really want to kick something!). But there is something special about starting to go through day-to-day life here,if I open my eyes to my surroundings a bit. I see the same singers on my morning and afternoon commutes to and from school.Right as I type this I can hear the man that always comes down my street in his cart bike blowing his little,musical whistle. I can trace certain bus routes in my sleep. Heck I've been even been asked for a directions, and gotten it right more times than not. (Do I look...no not look,maybe seem Chilean enough to know my way around here? Or maybe, people just figure you don't have to be Chilean to know the lay of the land. Either way it's somewhat of a compliment.)
Then of course there are out of the everyday life events that make me appreciate being here,knowing some experiences are location specific. I went to a Fulbright scholarship info session hosted by my program, and one of the Chilean Fulbrighters I met  is doing her dissertation here on migration to Chile. After chatting a bit,she told me about a Peruvian celebration that was happening that Saturday, called Señor de los Milagros(Lord of Miracles). I had never heard anything about this celebration,so naturally I went!Turns out it's a pretty neat story.In the 18th century Lima, Peru suffered a massive earthquake, and it was said the only thing left standing was a mural of Jesus Christ. So now they decorate an elaborate altar and march through the streets with this mural after the celebratory mass. The biggest celebration of this holy day is obviously in Lima,but Santiago's large Peruvian population makes it quite a big deal here too.My EAP buddy Emmanuel tagged along and, wow, we were in for a surprise! The mass, which was in the giant church in Plaza de Armas, was packed,so we stood the whole time. They sang the Chilean and Peruvian national anthems. Afterwards, we met up with Megan(the Fulbright student) and joined in on the procession through Santiago, where they carried basically a giant altar decorated with flowers. I didn't realize it would be so long, but two hours later we were still marching along. The best part was when people standing on a bridge above the procession released tons of balloons and glitter upon the crowds.

The video wasn't working :( Imagine sounds of drums,popping balloons, and singing!

So a week before this,did I know I would be spending my Saturday afternoon this way? Nope! But do I like the unexpected places life takes me here? Absolutely! So amigos, let's see where I'm heading for the next 8 months. Here's to the next 2/3 of the adventure! Chao for now!

Midterms(?) and Ruca Mapuche

Wow, for some reason it has felt like a long time since an update. Since my last post, I've been flooded with in class exams and take home exams, leaving me little time for much else. I guess I could call them midterms,but I feel like each class has a different structure to when they give tests. Some of my friends had exams within the first few weeks or month,while I didn't have anything until 2 months after the semester!It's so weird,because I'm used to the incredibly fast paced quarter system. The midterm for my Political Processes in Latin America was definitely the toughest. It basically ended up being 12 pages of analyzing the six political regimes of South/Central America. Writing it made me excited about how much I had learned,but at the same time it completely frustrated me. The professor, who is not from the U.S. like I thought before but from Canada,gave the option of writing it in English.He even said "I know you all came here determined to learn and practice Spanish,but this test is not the place to do it."That comment kind of annoyed me,but at the same time I understand how the T.A.s here want to do context checks instead of grammar checks.My class is full of foreigners,so I'm sure they've had this issue in past semesters.Even so, I opted for Spanish,because in our program our grades go through the program director,who has the final say. He'll take into account the fact that you wrote something in Spanish even when there was an English option. So it seemed worth it to me to suck it up and write in Spanish, not only for the challenge but  also for the possible grade boost. But anyway enough about studying and more about abroading...

Every couple of weekends my program offers all-inclusive day excursions to the first X number of people to reply to the email for the activity, depending on each one's capacity. So last Saturday my program brought a handful of us to a Mapuche house, or "ruca."  

For a quick lesson, the Mapuche are the biggest indigenous group in Chile.Their  name means "people of the earth," because mapu=earth and che=people. The majority of them in Chile are based farther south, with a population in Argentina as well. Luckily, this ruca is only about an hour outside of Santiago set up especilly for cultural presentations.I guess there are usually outdoor activities,but due to the crazy downpour, we were inside the whole day. I didn`t mind,because we had a warm fire and plenty of tea,coffee,and food the whole time. I had second breakfast there,which consisted of fresh fruit,rolls,and the best homemade sopaipillas in the world! Usually they are more hollow, fried circles of dough,about the size of the circle your hands would make touching your pointer fingers and thumbs together. But these ones were denser and had less of a greasy taste.Needless to say everyone went back for seconds,thirds, and ok maybe fourths.After breakfast we had a presentation on Mapuche history, which reminds me a bit of the Native American situation in the U.S. a.k.a. getting a very bad end of the deal on land and rights thanks to invaders and government. That`s not to say the Mapuche`s didn`t fight back. They had a few heroes of their own, like Toki Lautoro below. This epic photo was displayed in the ruca.

More recently there have been serious issues with the government developing on Mapuche`s land. The man giving the presentation was obviosuly very passionate about the issue,so I was getting a biased,but still very informative perspective. After that we learned more about Mapuche medicinal practices. What I found interesting was that they even have their own psychologists, for emotional support. They also showed us the Mapuche flag and described the meaning of each color and symbol on it. After that, even though I was still pretty full from breakfast, they laid out an amazing lunch for us. There was salad,some kind of pork, a bean stew, and  more sopaipillas...it was the perfect food for a rainy day! 

Inside the Ruca. This type of floor is not typical

Delicious lunch!

Our day finished with dancing,my favorite! We separted into two lines facing each other. Then they started playing these cool instruments and banging drums. We danced(actually it was more of a rhytmic hopping)towards each other, chanted, separated, then repeated that for about 5 minutes.We probably looked a little silly, because we weren't given much instruction. In the real dance(not our gringo version) they told us it can last up to 2 hours! 

This visit made me realize how little I know about the Native American culture within the U.S. Sure there was the basic info from history classes, but the actual historical and cultural distinction between the tribes is honestly a blur to me. I feel a need to look into that more, partly out of curiosity and partly out of not wanting to be put on the spot without a clue. That has happened more than once. An example: my host mom asked me if the jail sentence is longer for people who smuggle drugs or smuggle people across the border. Yeah sure that's a pretty specific question, but it  still makes me consider that there may be information on the U.S. that I don't ever consider, but people here would expect to be common knowledge. Now I know it's true that studying abroad in another country is actually one of the best ways to learn about your own country! So go abroad mi amigos! Chao for now!

p.s. This is kind of unrelated to this post, but I just wanted to share a picture of an awesome dessert my host mom helped me make for a dessert party a couple EAP friends hosted. It was peanut butter,dulce de leche, manjar( the product of boiled dulce de leche), cocoa powder, and a splash of pisco all rolled into a cake and topped with more dulce de leche,chocolate syrup, and chocolate chips. Honestly this tasty creation took about 10 minutes to make and it was probably gone in about the same amount of time. 

Wedding-Chile Style!

Just when I think life in Chile is settling down, and maybe not every experience is new and shiny this country throws me a curveball. What is it this time? A Chilean wedding of course! My host sister's wedding definitely goes down as not only one of the most fun nights in Chile,but also a giant serving of culture on a copper platter(nope not silver, gotta stick with Chile's big export). I guess I could actually say this was a Chilean-Argentine wedding, since she did marry an Argentinian.On a side note, the story of how they met is actually really cute. They met at a costume party. He was dressed as Zorro and she was a princess. They even included that in the wedding invitation design,with little clip art  drawings of them in the costumes with their heads photoshopped in. Anyways, I'd say I've been to enough weddings in the U.S. to note some differences, one being time.All I can say is everything is later. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 7:00. Well, 7:30 rolled around and people were still mingling outside the church. Finally people took their seats and the ceremony started. Except for the fact that it was in Spanish, it could have been a U.S. wedding, with the ring bearer and vow exchanges. But looking into the audience I was reminded that it wasn't. There were a few extravagant get ups you wouldn't see in the U.S. probably.A woman with a flashy long flowered dress and a little fur coat.  Plus there was what I personally nicknamed the paparazzi crew. It was the guests, not the professional photographer, who were climbing over others and moving around different aisles and areas of the church to get a good shot of the action.I actually sat next to some guests from the U.S. who turned to me and whispered "It's like it's a show!" It was pretty funny to see them moving as a little pack during the opening march.
After the ceremony we headed to the reception at the Hyatt in a really nice area of Santiago called Las Condes. First there was a little cocktail/appetizer hour, and then everyone moved into the dining area. Oh by the way it was 10:30 p.m. or so when we were seated. I sat with the "jovenes" table, which was mostly the 20-something crowd. This is where I'd like to interject some self pride for the progression of my Spanish skills since I've gotten here. I found myself very at ease with the all Spanish conversation. Three months ago I would have been using a lot more energy to follow the conversation and not have any left to talk much. Here I could enjoy the meal(which was great by the way.smoked salmon salad,steak, and a mini dessert platter. yum!), interject in the conversation,and laugh for real at the jokes I actually understood. One of the guys at the table said I didn't have a gringa accent, to which I replied "Wow thank you! I don't believe you..but thank you!"
The meal finally ended at 12a.m. and then came the Argentine flavor in the mix. The couple's first dance was a tango! My host sister and her husband were amazing! Now I know what they meant earlier when they said they needed to practice more.Tango is an intricate dance!
Then came the dancing.I don't think there was one butt in a chair...everyone hit the dance floor! There was a great mix of current American music,reggaeton, and K-Pop...yup they played "Gangnam Style," the viral Korean pop song with the, um, unique dance. It was certainly something seeing the groomsmen all on stage performing it!
Then came some more crazy...sometime around 1 or 2 people on stilts and guys dressed as court jesters doing flips came out of nowhere! They started passing out silly hats and everyone put them on without hesitation. Then the whole dance floor,sporting their funny hats(I got a penguin by the way) formed a congo line which went between the legs of the stilt men!
The rest of the night was chock full of random, but memorable moments.I ditched my too small penguin hat at one point, where it was quickly scooped up by another guest. I said "chao" to my incredibly painful heels,danced on stage with all the gals, sang along to all the songs and English and what I could of the ones in Spanish. Then finally the night ended at 6 a.m. I made it!
I just want to finish this post reflecting on how happy I am that I decided to stay with my host family this semester. It's always a little awkward in the beginning, adjusting to the family's lifestyle and being comfortable around the house,but the cultural and language benefits are priceless. It's going to be different next semester, since I've already decided I'll be living in an apartment,so I can have two kinds of experiences. However, I'm glad I decided to stick it out with my family for this semester. I would encourage anyone who was going to study abroad to go for it and stay with a family,because you will be amazed at the cultural experiences that will come your way! A wedding is a pretty good example, don't ya think?

Fiestas Patrias Adventures Part 2-Pucón

The second half of the adventures during the week of Fiestas Patrias began in Pucón. Now I mentioned in my last post how Villarrica,which is only about 15 miles from Pucón, is definitely more of a locals spot. Well, Pucón is definitely more of a tourist hang out. We got to our hostel spoke two sentences to the owner in Spanish, until we realized he was most definitely gringo...from New Zealand in fact.He was super welcoming and invited us to the kitchen for a cup of tea while our rooms were still getting prepped. After getting all settled, our group decided to split up for the day, because some of us wanted to do different activities. A couple of friends and I decided to check out Huerquehue(Air-kay-way) National Park, to try out a trail called Tres Lagos(Three Lakes). The weather was pretty cruddy,overcast and drizzly,but we decided to go for it anyway. On the short bus ride up it started to rain...then it started to snow.We looked at each other like excited Californians who barely ever see snow and said "Wow really snow?!," When we got there,some Chileans at the trailhead warned us about the large amounts of mud and growing amount of snow. We had made it all that way, so we said "ok let's do this and see how far we can go." For a while the mud was tolerable and it was worth it to trek through,since it was so beautiful! I missed seeing so much trees and greenery in one place. About an hour in, we hit patches of snow, and a half an hour later we were trudging uphill through the mud and snow slush. After a while it was too much,even with two walking sticks. So unfortunately, we had to turn back before reaching the waterfalls and lakes the trail is known for. But if we had turned back any later,we would have probably been trudging through the worst of the snow. Right when we got back to the ranger station, it really started coming down! Here's some photos to document the adventure...

The part of the hike that made me feel like I was hiking in  a fairy forest

Me in front of the lake

My friend Chang in the snow

I would have fallen so much without these sticks!

We left our initials, as a mark of our bravery!

Needless to say, it felt amazing to get back to the hostel,into warm clothes,and eat.

Day 2: Chilling Out

The weather was still really bad this day,so we slept in and used the day to explore Pucón. There were also quite a few artesian fairs here,plus a bunch of tourist agencies. After we were over exploring, we said our goodbyes to a big chunk of our group, who was continuing down south to Puerto Montt and the island of Chiloe.I wanted to save that trip for when I could dedicate more time to it, which I believe I do...there's the wonder of staying for the year! Anyways, the rest of the group and I stayed out of the downpour and had a hot chocolate and scary movie watching afternoon in our hostel. It was actually pretty fun, since we got to hang out with other hostel guests, which included a guy from Israel and a guy from Brazil. I even learned a little Portuguese...

Meu nome é Eliza. Eu sou de dos Estados Unidos. Eu gosto de comer.Eu quero practicar Portugues.

My name is Eliza. I am from the United States.I like to eat. I want to practice Portuguese. 

In some ways, Portuguese is quite similar to Spanish,but the pronunciation is also completely different in some ways. For example practicar in Spanish is pronounced like PRAC-ti-car, while in Portuguese it's softer, more like pra-she-car, with the C pronounced like "sh." Interesting stuff. 

Later that night our hostel owner Dave took us over to a local bar/restaurant to try "the best beer in the world," according to him. It was really good,but I also just thought it was cool how it was brewed an hour outside of Pucón, and made with the seed of a local Chilean tree. Wow only I can make it sound nerdy...We also had fun,because Dave knew a lot of locals so what my friends and I thought would be a half an hour stop in turned out to be two hours of chatting with Chileans. You honestly can't socialize any less than that amount of time here,but that just means you get the chance to actually have a good conversation. 

Day 3: Being extreme and hiking through more snow! 
Despite the bad weather, we were determined to do something! So a couple friends and I headed out to a trail Dave recommended to us. The weather was actually not too bad. I had too take off a bunch of layers,since I worked up a sweat going uphill the whole time!

All my layers!

Now, we may not have been hiking while it was snowing this time,but we sure were hiking through the snow! Let the photos do the talking...

My snowman Pablo

The "refugio" we turned around at

snow ball fights!

We decided to turn back after a couple hours to give ourselves enough time to catch our bus that night. Yup that night. So we got back, said our farewells to Dave-without a doubt one of the coolest hostel owners yet, and had an amazing hamburger(yay American food!) at a place called Volcan Burger(named after the giant Volcano Villarrica that looms over Villarrica and Pucon's skylines). Then it was a 10:15 p.m. bus back to reality...And reality it was. When I got home I basically started studying right away for my first "control" (midterm), which I think went o.k. It was obviously the fact that it was in Spanish that made it tough. At least my two other exams coming up will be take home! Here's to actually studying while I am abroading! Chao for now! 

Fiestas Patrias Adventures Part 1-La Fonda & Villarrica

 I decided to split up the past week into two parts, in order to give enough attention to Fiestas Patrias and my stay in both Villarrica and Pucón. Putting it all in one post would give it a rushed feeling,which is not what I'm going for. So let's start with Fiestas Patrias, or Chilean Independence Day Celebrations.Unlike Fourth of July in the U.S., Chileans celebrate their independence for a week, with their own traditions, the biggest which seems to be...
Fondas: The public parks all around Chile had "fondas" which are more or less community festivals. There's plenty of food including choripan(chorizo on french bread), empanadas, and sweets. Their are also music performances and dance floors where the you can dance "la cueca" Chile's national dance. My host family took me to a nearby fonda and yes I did dance the cueca!It involves dancing in pairs, in a half circle formation, with some foot movements/stomping, and a "vuelta" where you change directions. If it doesn't seem like I'm describing it well, it probably means I didn't dance it so well. My host mom's 12 year old nephew was kind of owning me actually. But now I can at least say I danced the cueca!

Now that I gave some attention to Chile's biggest holiday, here comes my travel adventures,starting with the first day in Villarrica...
On Monday night I met up with my friends at their apartment where we headed over to the bus terminal to catch an overnight bus to Villarrica. We left at 9 p.m. ish and got in by 7 a.m. ,meaning I slept pretty much the whole time, except for when our bus made mid-night and early morning stops along the way.It was still pretty dark when we went to find our bed and breakfast. Unfortunately we hit a bit of a road block early on in the trip. After waking up the B&B owner to check in, we found out he never received our reservation! We used his computer to show him that hostelworld.com sent us a confirmation, but he proceeded to tell us that they took their listing off over a year ago. He explained how they didn't want the tourism and they we're just a little old couple who didn't know much about technology(oh yeah his wife came out in her slippers and robe). We were also told that there was probably no space in other places, since it was Independence Day(September 18th). So we went back to the bus terminal to wait for our other friend's bus that was scheduled to come in an hour or so later than ours. On a whim, we asked the front desk guy if he knew if there was any space at all for 6 people in town.Turns out he knew a lady who had a cabin free and he called her up on the spot...wow we sure lucked out! Plus it was cheaper than the other place would have been. The rest of the day was relaxing and not so action packed,but it was a nice change from the constant buzz of Santiago. We strolled through artesian markets and watched some dance performances in the town center. Now I know why my guide book said that Villarrica is where the locals live while Pucón is the tourist spot(more on this place in part 2).The town was just full of bed and breakfasts that were definitely not listed on any hostel websites and there was only one tour office in the whole place,compared to Pucón's one on every corner(again more on this place later). Instead there were just packs of locals spending the big Independence Day in a pretty relaxing manner, hanging out by Villarrica Lake flying kites and eating candied apples which were sold everywhere.

One of the many kites being flown on Independence Day-another little tradition!

Me in front of Lago Villarrica-so beautiful and tranquil 

That evening some people in our group headed out to these "hotsprings, " which from the pictures looked more like indoor pools to me with some waterfalls. I didn't feel like throwing down money to do an activity I wasn't really into, so I stayed behind with another girl Taylor who actually goes University of Wisconsin, but she knew some of us California people through a class. We hung out in the of the bed and breakfast, figuring out on what we wanted out of study abroad, our impressions of our time in Chile so far,and other conversation topics that come up only when you have the amazing opportunity to live in another country.The owner came out and chatted with us for a bit, and when Taylor mentioned not feeling well, he immediately offered her soup-that's Chilean hospitality for you! While we were eating our soup the owner's dad came in, a sharply dressed,charming old man and talked to us to. When Taylor mentioned she was from Chicago, he said(in broken English) "I went Chicago...two months...mil novecientos cincuenta y nueve(1959)" and proceeded to tell us about his experience as a boxer. Apparently he went to Chicago for the Pan American Games. And it turns out he won bronze in the 1956 Olympic Games in Australia! He even pulled out his medals from his competitions to show us. I would have never know such a soft-spoken Chilean man in this small town was an Olympic boxer. Just goes to show how people can always surprise you! He was also pretty fun to talk to,because he kept talking to us in very broken English until his daughter said, in a joking yet slightly irritated tone  "Papi, por favor habla con ellas en español!" (Dad please, talk to them in Spanish!). I appreciated his interest in  practicing,but you can only get so far in a conversation when all he can repeat is "I have 82 years" while pointing to himself. By the way, I wikipedia-ed him and sure enough there he was, bronze winner 1956: Carlos Lucas Manríquez. There's my experience with a Chilean celebrity! 

So maybe it wasn't exactly how I expected to spend the actual Chilean Independence Day,but who says the unexpected can't be fun! Look out for my adventures in Pucón in Part 2. Chao for now!

Valparaiso-La Jolla del Pacífico

Yesterday I was so happy to get out  and breath the cleaner air of Valparaiso, a beach town and hour and a half outside of Santiago otherwise known as "La Jolla del Pacífico(the jewel of the pacific)"Just to list it off our day went a little like this...

• Driving around to scenic points and snapping photos. Like these...

The port

Not a scenic pic, but a nice group photo

• Eating a filling,but tasty lunch consisting of all seafood-score! That's how you gotta do it in a Chilean beach town. I had an empanada de mariscos(seafood), with some kind of scallop and mini octopus...the tentacles  took me for a shock after my first bite, but I still enjoyed it! Next came a big piece of fish(don't know the type. I need to study up on my seafood) and rice. It still had all the bones,but it was so deliciously flaky that it wasn't too tough to eat. 

Empanada de Mariscos

Pescado con Arroz

• Ditching the tour bus and working off our lunch on a two hour walking tour. Despite my major food guagua(baby-pronounced wawa) I had to carry along with me this was my favorite way to see the city. 

Now I mentioned in my last post how some people have compared it to San Francisco,CA a bit and upon arriving I could see some similarities.So I'll just show you with photos...

Steep stairs

Trolley-esque buses

more steep, artsy stairs

steep/narrow streets

Rows of charming,colorful houses

This is old fashioned looking,but it's actually less than 20 years old

Oh and there's the obvious fact that they're both port cities(see the first photo!) So I  noted some similarities,but Valparaiso definitely has it's unique charm and history. This city actually dates back to the 19th century and has been an important stopping off point for ships/trade center since then. A lot of the buildings aren't as old as the city though, because many were destroyed in a huge earthquake in 1906.The oldest building we saw was a church, that I believe dated back to 1882.Also,our tour guide noted how nice houses here can cost close to a million dollars...yikes! However, he mentioned how the rich people who live here accept that since the streets are so narrow and houses are packed in on the hillside, they have to park their cars not in a nice garage but on the street. Also, the fancy houses aren't separate from the rundown ones. They're all together in the mix, which is just what the people accept and are used to. He referred to these factors kind of as "hidden costs,"because if you want to live in a really nice house in Valparaiso,you have to accept this kind of neighborhood. Those were just some little facts he mentioned that stood out to me.

The church that survived the earthquake

After our tour we went to Emporio de la Rosa, an ice cream shop which actually has a store in Santiago too...so of course I had to compare :).I got manjar(similar to dulce de leche and insanely popular here) with chocolate chips. Then it was on the bus and back to Santiago. For the short time we had in Valpo(the short, slang term) I'm glad we saw so much. However, I will definitely plan on coming back for some more extensive exploring!