Tuesday, September 25, 2012

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! 






Saturday, September 22, 2012

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!




Sunday, September 9, 2012

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! 










Sunday, September 2, 2012

Why hello there!

Well, I haven't written in a while! I guess I have been more busy than I've realized lately. To be honest I have been a homebody the past couple weeks, just getting into the rythm of school and internship...and speaking of the internship, well, I had to switch to another organization. The first one I found actually didn't work out,because the hours would have been way to unpredictable/inconsistent.That doesn't work so well,seeing as the units I'm getting for it are based off a certain number of hours a week. It's kind of sad,but the woman in our study abroad office who organizes our internship explained to me that organizations that don't have a lot of money can't really keep set business hours.She helped set me up at another organization called Global Citizen, which assists migrants and refugees coming into Chile. I had my first day Wednesday and I'm really enjoying it already!Plus the location is great, two blocks away from La Moneda, or the Chilean white house(who knows, maybe I'll keep the tradition of having an internship by the White House alive when I return to the U.S. ;) )It's really interesting,but kind of intimidating. They put me to work right away, with very little instructions. I was literally given a video from their website, then told "Ok now write an outline for a campaign proposal for a more inclusive Chile"-and by inclusive they mean including migrant workers into Chilean society. I just went for it and wrote out an idea of what a campaign would need, such as objectives and strategies. When the woman who was supervising my work looked it over, I was holding my breath the whole time! Luckily she liked what she saw and said I was a good writer, which felt really good to hear.There is another study abroad student from another program working in Communications with me too. She's a journalism major from Syracuse.We got to get to know each other a little more at a Saint's Day celebration we had today through our organization. It was at a church in a poorer area of Santiago,because that's where a lot of immigrants reside. The last time I probably saw that area was whizzing by on my way from the airport my first day. This time I walked through the area a bit on the way to the church. One part was literally a shanty town with houses made of sheet metal. It just reminded me that less than an hour away from my nice neighborhood here, there are people living in these situations. However, the church grounds were really pretty and the service felt very communal, with lots of singing. The vibe definitely felt different from the church in Plaza Nuñoa, in my neighborhood. Another funny thing I noticed was there was no organized way of getting the communion. Everyone just stood up and went towards the altar, somehow managing to form a line in the hustle. But hey, everyone got the communion eventually. There just wasn't the structure of last row goes first,then others follow. After the service we had lunch in the patio outside and actually watched some traditional Peruvian dances, which is ironic because I've yet to see a full performance of Chile's traditional dance,the cueca. All of the costumes were brightly colored and it seemed like each dance was telling a little story.My favorite was almost a flirty dance, where the girls(who had the brightest floral skirts I've ever seen!) would skip in circles around the guys(with equally colorful vests), who would pretend chase them-in a cute,not creepy way obviously. That's the best way I could describe it, so I hope that paints somewhat of a picture haha. It was interesting to check out a piece of culture from another country while in Chile,since Peruvians are one of the biggest groups of immigrants that come to Chile. It also made me really excited about going to *drumroll please*...Peru! I'm set to do the Inca Trek this December with my sister, Claire. We had to book it really far in advance,because permits sell out fast and you are required to go with a company. I will be counting down the months! Anyway, back to present day... after the dance show Nicki(the other girl in my internship) and I walked back to the metro together, parted ways since we had different stops, and now I'm home relaxing. So that's a little update on life for now. Next weekend I'm going to a city called Valparaiso with the program, which is supposed to be kind of like San Francisco. It will be interesting to see if it lives up to that comparison. Chao for now!
p.s. If you're a gringa and you are dying to have Chilean classmates point you out as gringa, here's something you can do...Don't forget to carry your  nalgene water bottle in the side pocket of your backpack! Apparently my Chilean conversation partner and his friends think it's funny how the U.S. students are always sporting their oversized water bottles. Nice...even my need to constantly be hydrated makes me stand out as a foreigner.