A bit of an update...

Well...so much for updating more frequently. I'm just doing so much stuff, and , factoring in my overall laziness (I think the Chileans are rubbing off on me), I haven't been able to record my experiences for all of my readers to enjoy. I hope the three of you are ok with that. Well, as you saw from my last post, I was about to start the most impossible essay of my life...well, I finished it and, I'm not gunna lie, I was pretty proud of myself. I brought it in to Viviana (one of our super nice program leaders) and had her check the Spanish which she found to be quite eloquently written...or more importantly, intelligibly written. Who knows if I got the concepts right but at least the professor will understand what I attempted to understand and then translated into slightly coherent thoughts...yep, now it's over so I don't have to go through that again until...well, actually, I think the next one's coming up pretty soon (note to self: figure out what I should be reading).
Another thing I've forgotten to mention, though it has come about rather recently, is my enrollment in the "Orquesta Juvenil de la Catolica" and my private violin lessons (orquesta, as you may have guessed, is orchestra...I know how to spell). The orchestra is really fun and the people are really nice (sometimes it's hard to find outgoing, nice chileans...which I'll elude to later). We've had three concerts so far and I'm starting to get more comfortable with the music...I still need to learn a pizzicato piece that they always play at the end of concerts even though it's not on the program and even though they don't get an encore...whatev, we're in Chile. My violin teacher, Elias Allendes (yea, like Salvador Allende but with an "s") is a pretty cool guy and knows his stuff. We're working on lots of technical stuff, which is what I need the most work on, and I try to find time to practice as much as I can...although this also is hard to do when someone in your family is usually sleeping at any given time of the day. I still haven't learned how to play a Cueca (Chile's national song style) on the guitar or the charango...but hopefully there'll be time for that (speaking of...time is really flying down here...I can't believe I'm half way done!)
The next item of importance, with respect to my experiences of the past month or so...is the weekend backpacking trip I took in the "Parque Nacional de La Campana"...a really cool park about 40 min. from Valparaiso that has a special type of palm tree only found in Chile...and it doesn't just have a few...there was a palm tree forest that we walked through that made me think I was in some sort of tropical island off the cost of...well...it just looked like it could be from a movie I saw once. We went with some Chileans (of the variety that actually partake in physical exertion once and a while) and they were also one of the cooler, chiller Chileans I've met (I totally didn't mean to make a pun there...chill was the most appropriate word). This brings me to an observation I've made, and has been supported through other people's observations as well (including Chileans). Chileans are lazy. When I asked my dad why Chileans didn't go backpacking or...for that matter...walking any sort of reasonable distance...he simply replied, "son flojos". Flojo = Perezozo = lazy. When the three Chileans we were hiking with told us how they were received by other Chileans when they talked about backpacking, for instance, called "locos" (crazy) I was further convinced of the ailment facing all of Chile...or at least the region I was in. One of the Chileans we were hiking with, Matthias, said the word weon (a vulgar word added to the end of sentences or to be used when talking to a friend) the most I've ever heard a Chilean say it. We got along with them quite well.
Ok...so the update was a bit longer than I had intended...so I'll leave you with this and tune in next time for my Argentinean adventure of last weekend.

El norte, a bit of resfrio, and a super insanely hard essay...

Ok, time for my monthly blog update...wow time flies, maybe I'll try to update it more often because lots of things happen in a month here in Chile. I suppose school has long since started for you guys in the states...It's almost been two months of school here and I can't really tell if I've done too much seeing as though I have class once a week for most of my classes. Apparently we've done a lot in my "Modernidad y problemas sociales" class because we were supposed to have read a book and now write a 5 page essay on the topics discussed in class and in the book...which I couldn't even find on our syllabus! I think the Chileans in the class were even confused (that's bad!....usually it's only the gringos that are clueless). So the wednesday before my trip up north, class ends and the professor mentions nothing about the essay due the following week after vacation (by the way, the 18th of september is Chilean independence so they basically do nothing during that week but party and have asadas (BBQs) which is why I was going to travel up north). So the gringos and I ask the professor (who's actually the assistant because the real professor is in Santiago or something) what's up with the essay and she gives us an email address so we can figure it out (thanks!). Turns out, Claudio (our academic advisor) saves us and provides the essay question somehow. So that's good, but we still don't have the book that we were supposed to have magically known to read. I eventually get a copy of it but after a lot of hassle (I actually end up meeting an ex teacher's assistant on a street corner who has it and she explains a bit what I'm going to have to do). Chile is crazy and I don't know how I'm going to survive with their crazy way of not telling you anything. Good thing all my other classes are super easy.
Next, the journey to the north of Chile. I travelled with Caitlin, Jess, and Jeff, and the first leg of our journey was to San Pedro de Atacama, a good 24 hours (via bus) from Viña del Mar. Fun. We left Friday night and got to San Pedro at the same time (if not a bit later) on Saturday. I was tired and quite sick...turns out I had a bit of a cold/ head ache/ stuffy nose from hell/ the change in altitude didn't help (San Pedro is a good 2 Kilometers or so above sea level or 7,000 ft.). Needless to say, I was a bit worried on the outset of this vacation...afraid I'd have to be in bed while my friends were adventuring. Fortunately, Jess brought a bunch of cold medicine...she basically saved me! Sunday consisted of wandering around the quaint town full of tourists and looking for stuff to do. We found a cool gravel mound that overlooked the desert and Jeff gave us a geology lesson (he's really smart). Then we signed up for a tour of the Tatio Geysers the next morning which left at 4am...!!! So...I'm starting to get sick and now I have to wake up at 3:30 por la mañana...ay dios mio! Well, I did. And I didn't feel the most healthy, but the Tatio Geysers are supposed to be really super cool and beautiful (the highest in the world at 14,000 ft.!!). Now all we had to do was get there. Turns out they're 2 1/2 hours away and the road is the most bumpy road in existence! I thought the tour bus we were in was going to fall apart it was rattling so hard. My head was rattling about as hard (not fun!). But we somehow arrived without dying and indeed it is a beautiful place. It was cold so you could see the geysers really well and the mountain landscape just made it all the more beautiful. We ate coca leaves to help with the altitude (the same leaves you make cocaine out of....but not nearly as concentrated). They weren't that tasty and they didn't help my cold. We wandered around the geysers a bunch then piled back in the bus to go to some hot springs...!! They were really hot and me and Jeff didn't want to get out once we got in because it was still cold outside...we eventually did though...brrrr! On the way back to San Pedro de Atacama we saw some cool llamas and alpacas and weird deer looking things called vicuñas. Also a chinchilla-like animal that the guide compared to a picachu (I hate it that I knew what he was referring to). We got back and slept.
Tuesday, the 18th of September is Chilean independence day, and we experienced the Chilean desert to the utmost extent. We rented bikes and went to Valle de la Muerte (valley of death...how nice) and sand boarded. This was suuper cool and the landscape was even cooler. I've never been on sand dunes before...they're just like in the movies! During the afternoon we biked to Valle de la Luna (12 km of biking up a slight incline in the desert isn't the easiest task....) and saw the sunset. They call it Valle de la Luna because it looks like a lunar landscape...and they're right! (even though I've never been to the moon...I bet it looks just like this). We saw the sunset from the top of another huge sand dune and it was spectacular! We then biked back to San Pedro in the dark (in retrospect not the safest thing...but we had head lamps). Being so tired from our excruciating biking experience and given the relatively party-less nature of San Pedro de Atacama, we didn't do much to celebrate independence day...but it was a good day none-the-less.
Wednesday we chilled and then went to Iquique...arriving at 5:30am the following morning (I'm still kinda sick and this wasn't fun...but the nice hostel owner let us sleep on the couches until our room was available to check in at noon...!!). The same day, Jess and Caitlin went para gliding...suuper cool! I didn't only because it was $60 and the sky was cloudy...I'm definitely doing it some time though because it looked so awesome! Iquique i guess is renowned in South America for its para gliding and I was so jealous of our guides who take people flying for a living...what a cool job!
Thursday we hung out in Iquique, threw some disc on the beach and then slept in our very nice hostel (it actually had hot water and a kitchen we could use!). Friday we went home, thankfully I slept a lot so the 24 hr. bus ride was more manageable. Well, that's all and I congratulate you if you actually read this whole post....I'll work on shortening them...but that probably won't happen...o well. I should probably get to this essay now...I'm going to die!

Esquiar!!

Since it's been a good two weeks since the aforementioned activity took place (that of skiing...in the Chilean Andes) it's a perfect time for me to recollect and recount my experience. First, you must consider the fact that the only places I've been skiing (downhill skiing to be more specific) have been Wisconsin and Minnesota. Notice the lack of mountains inherent within these previous experiences. So, as one naturally can assume, I was absolutely amazed upon seeing, for the first time, a mountain on which I was about to ski (this state of amazement was experienced before I even set foot on the snow...one can only imagine, therefore, the state of absolute ecstasy upon actually skiing down a real mountain with no trees in sight, only powder, some winding trails, meandering throughout the vast expanse occasionally making visible a view to die for...except for when it overlooked Santiago which is basically a pit of smog...). So...all descriptive descriptions aside, this was the most amazing Chilean experience to date and arguably the most amazing life experience to date (in terms of adventurousness at least). But before I proceed any further, I suppose I should tell you a bit more about where I went and the adventures that took place before, after, and in between the act of skiing for what seemed to be a blissful perpetuity. From Viña del Mar (my current home town) myself, Monty, John, Christan, and Rachel took a bus to Santiago on Thursday night August 16th for the manageable price of $CLP 2,000 ($US 4.00). Upon arriving late that night, we stayed in Hostel Internacionale, a cozy hostel in downtown Santiago. We had a room to ourself which costed us $CLP 6,500 a night ($US 13.00). Monty, having talked to the friendly receptionist (succumbing to her feminine charm most undoubtedly) came back to the room with good news regarding a ski rental place just a few Metro stops from where we were. "Good job Monty", we said. The next day, clad in an assortment of warm outer wear (myself and Rachel in our under armor suits), we went to the ski rental place. Upon our arrival, we found it to be a hole in the wall establishment with pretty darn sketchy equipment and the same prices as the Travel Guide recommended Ski Total. "Bad job Monty", we said. So we paid too much for too little and clambered into the bus that would take us up the innumerable amounts of switch-backs up the mountain. There were some Australian tourists that seemed to be having a bad day and delayed our departure because of it. This being the case, we didn't get up to the mountain until 10:30am. The mountain was called El Colorado (creative, I know...like they're trying to compete with somewhere...) and it was pretty sweet, given my first time skiing in the mountains. I figured out that I'm not that good at skiing in powder...or rather my face figured it out after diving head first into the stuff. But I enjoyed myself emmensly. The next day was suuper mejor and we went to a reputable ski outfitter called Ski Total and got some sweet gear then proceeded to go up the mountain to a different resort called Valle Nevado which was also suuper mejor. This place was much more expansive with more exploring possibilities and my skis were better suited to navigate through the powder. I went up to the highest point of the mountain and it was so high up I was having trouble breathing! I usually ended up skiing by myself due to the fact that I lost the group rather often...only to stumble across them somewhere else..then lose them again. But watev....I had fun and am definitely doing this again!
We came back to Viña on Saturday, and after being away for 2 nights it felt for the first time like home sweet home. It was kinda cool after being in a "foreign" place like Santiago to come back to the place I was familiar with...which is weird cause I've only been living here for a month. I was also super sore and getting back in my nice warm bed felt oh so nice. Sunday would be recuperating day. Indeed it was, as I didn't open my eyes in the morning until 1:30 (I guess I should say afternoon then...). Well...I'm kinda lazy so I don't want to write any more...but tune in next time for another Chile update!

La Vida Escolar

¿¡Hola como estaipo!? Finally I'm writing an original post, gone are the lazy days of copying and pasting an out-dated email. Now that classes have started...yeah I know, August 1st is a bit early for me...I can talk about them and how cool they are! Since figuring out that it doesn't matter what classes I take, as Macalester will accept any of them towards my Latin American Studies major (makes sense I guess, since I'm in Chile!). So here they are: Mondays at 9am I have photography in black and white. My first photography class ever and so far it seems super cool! I just bought a camera down here for 70.000 chilean pesos which is roughly $140. Hopefully I'll be able to sell it when I'm done...or be so into photography that I'll cherish it forever. As of now, I know more Spanish photography terms than English ones. My next class on Mondays is at 3:40pm: Oral and Written Spanish...boring. Then after that it's Mountain sports! This is the sweetest class ever because we get to go out on trips and climb mountains and go camping in the mountains we've climbed. Today we practiced climbing an artificial wall in the gym of la Casa Central...or the main campus building. I made it to the top of the wall, quite surprisingly, and finally learned how to tie a Boolean knot...kind of. On Tuesdays I have my sole music class, ethnomusicology. Basically a long word meaning, the study of ethnic music. We're talking about Chilean indigenous music now and I think most of the course involves talking about the music of South America. Tuesdays are nice because Ethnomusicology doesn't start 'till 3:40pm (can anybody say "Dormir!"). Come Wednesday, I have two classes: Modernity and Social Problems, which consists of studying the effect of modernity on country's development...which tends to be kinda negative if you live in a lesser developed country. This class is very discussion based, which doesn't bode well given the fact that Chilean students discuss/ talk quite fast so I have to ask lots of questions and I don't follow the discussions all the time (hopefully this will improve). Just so you know, GDP (Gross Domestic Product), in spanish, is PIB (of course!). Next on Wednesdays is good old Oral and Written Spanish (otra vez) which is just as boring as it was on Monday. Then, Thursday arrives and I wait until 5:20pm to travel to Valparaíso to attend my class called Action and Solidarity" which is basically a class structured around volunteering in a local municipality school and planning activities for the kids. I'm a fan. For this class we will work once a week around the noon time, outside of class, at a school playing with kids mostly I think and not working too hard. After this class, I'm free 'till Monday (yes you have correctly deduced that I don't have classes on Fridays). So it's a tough here in Chile...but I manage.
Alright...one other thing, not so pleasing, that I've encountered while being a student in Chile, involves just how I get around the city, too and from school. Los Micros or Microbuses or short buses or slightly longer buses or what have you. First, the positive: should you be a student, it only costs 150 pesos to get on (150 pesos is like $0.29...so not too shabby). Now BEING that I'm a STUDENT it should cost me that very manageable amount every time. My student ID card ("tarjeta escolar" as they call it) is still being processed, however, the University has given me a very convincing, even laminated, temporary card. The Micro drivers clearly have not had a meeting to discuss matters such as these so I've encountered very inconsistent service. If you're not a student you have to pay 410 pesos...you could buy two empanadas on the street for that much (and those empanadas are pretty darn delicious!). I usually have to argue with the stubborn drivers, attempting to assert the validity of my temporary "tarjeta escolar", sometimes to no avail. Needless to say...I can't wait to get my real "tarjeta escolar"!

Choque Cultural

The following post is mostly derived from yet another email because I still have to catch up after starting this blog a bit late. Also, I'm far too lazy to write a whole new post when I've already written on this topic. But, for the most part, the writing that follows consists of the small facets of Chilean life that, were I to be in charge, would be done away with. Here is an excerpt from the email sent on July 29th (yes I know...I'm far behind) :
"I'll try to type this email as error free as possible but my fingers are a little bit like ice cubes. ¿Por qué? you might ask....well, it's winter in Chile and Chileans don't have central heating in their houses. ¿Por qué? you might ask again, starting to wonder what kind of crazy country doesn't have heat during winter...well, in Chile (specifically Valparaíso, the main city where I'm living) winters are mild, usually never getting below freezing, and they don't last long. So it makes sense I guess since it's expensive to install and not economical to use (clearly a mindset far removed from some of us en los Estados Unidos). They do use "estufas", or small gas space heaters, but from what I've experienced (and am experiencing right now) they don't heat up very much space. Needless to say, you pretty much bundle up wherever you go, be it inside or out. [Back to the present day for a moment, I was walking to class in the building "Sausalito" where my mountain sports class is, and it was sunny and warm getting there, but as soon as the sun sets...brrrrrrrr! I was shivering on the way home] Well, enough on the weather, let me tell you something else crazy about Chile...well, maybe not crazy, but it's going to take some getting used to. Not to offend those of you who may smoke, but, should you partake in this most carcenogenic habit, you would be very comfortable in Chile. For the rest of us, it's quite an annoying phenominon. Every club or bar or house or appartment or street corner or alley way or...well that's a bit of an exaggeration, but A LOT of places one would want to go are pretty full of smokers which makes your clothes pretty full of smoke which makes you pretty smelly which makes you want to wash your clothes but your host mom doesn't wash them as often as you fill them with smoke so you wear the same clothes a lot until the smoky ones are clean (breathe). Thankfully my host family doesn't smoke (my 19 year old sister does at parties but don't tell her mom!) and there's no smoking inside the university (whew!) so I'll manage.
Ok, now that I have my two complaints out of the way, it's time to say that this country is amazing! I went up an ascensor the other day which is kind of like a cable car lift thingy and the view over the port was beautiful. Valparaíso is an old city so the architecture is really different and colorful and kind of haphazardly placed in perfect harmony which, when seen from above, is quite the sight. To top it off, there was an accordian player on the patio who really set the ambiance. Down below, there are infinitely stretching beaches and really cool looking "muelles" or piers that jut out into the harbor where you can see all the ships coming in and, at night, the sparkling city lights. There's one called "Muelle Barón" that's perfect for throwing a frisbee (Chileans thought me and my friend were really cool because I don't think they've ever seen ultimate players throwing frisbees before...either that or they were staring at us like we're some weird looking gringos...as I've come to learn, usually it's the latter). Another phenomenal Chilean treat is the wine, which, I might add, you only need to be 18 to drink. I went to a wine tasting expo and was quite impressed by (1) how classy I felt and (2) the wine was quite delectible. I also learned how to describe various types of wine in spanish which will come in handy down the road I think." So there you have it. Some of my first experiences in this vastly long, diverse, strange, country where they like their parties long (I mean loooong) their Pisco sour and their hot dogs ("Completos") covered in mayonnaise...ugh!

Mi familia

Now having lived with them for a week, I feel knowledgeable enough to write about my host family. As is common in most Latin American countries, most Chileans live with their parents until the last possible moment before venturing off into the real world of being married with kids and having a job. This seems to be quite intelligent given the fact that usually parents have more money than the average college student and job seeking graduate....not to mention that Chilean mothers are pretty darn good cooks. This being the case, it's not very strange that my 26 year old host sister, Carolina, still lives in the house. She works as a Nutritionist in a suburb of Valparaíso about an hour commute north. I also have a 29 year old sister named Patricia (hey, Mom, that's your name!) who has since moved out of the house, is married, and has a rather adorable 2 1/2 year old daughter, Josefina. The youngest of my siblings, Javiera, is 19 and goes to a University in Viña del Mar (the city I'm living in, right next to Valparaíso) and also studies voice at the Conservatory in Viña. She seems like she is cool, but she doesn't really go out of her way to interact in any shape or form with yours truly...I'll have to work on breaking the ice there. Now, my parents, Patricio and Julia, are a cool bunch. Julia works at home and does everything from washing clothes to making meals to cleaning my room...I know, I live a tough life. But most importantly, she's the more talkative of the bunch and we have some good conversations. A note to myself, however, is to listen intently to what she has to say because sometimes she gives me directions that will help me later in the day. Por ejemplo, yesterday I wasn't going to be home in time for lunch so she told me to look in the microwave for my food. Now, I just heard "microwave" so I assumed that I would be the one putting the food in there. When I arrived home to eat, all I saw was a salad and some fruit (hardly a very satisfying lunch, usually the biggest meal of the day for Chileans). I was slightly confused so I took the meager rations up to my room only to have Javiera remind me to look IN the microwave (needless to say, I felt stupid...though I did interact with Javiera...which was good I guess. We had a good laugh). Sure enough, there was my grande plate of pasta waiting for me eat. Now to figure out how to work a Chilean microwave...... My dad, Patricio, is usually working most of the day as a commercial engineer (don't ask what that means...I tried to have him explain it but all I got was that he works in a court room, but behind the scenes...yeah, it's still a mystery). Because he works late, I don't see him much except during the weekends. We've taken some good "father" "son" strolls around town where he lends me his wisdom of Chile. So, basically, my family's pretty sweet, I think some adjusting is still in order, but hey, it's only been a week. I just have to somehow figure out how to connect with the sis...we both play guitar!...I'll try starting there.

A bit of a summary

As you're reading this, the events described in the proceeding paragraphs have come and gone it seems like forever ago. But alas, I've only been in Chile for a week and four days. Given the late start of this blog (how irresponsible, you say) I present to you now a brief summary of my time in Chile thus far, a time so brief, but rife with adventures as I begin to explore this new, but vastly grand, and indescribably long country called Chile (a note: Chile is not pronounced, as many gringos would have it, like the popular restaurant establishment, Chili's. It is in fact pronounced: Chee-lay). I would like to start with the most dubious adventure as of yet, that of course being the flight (or lack thereof) that got me to Chile (but actually didn't get me to Chile). The following is an excerpt from an email I sent to some friends recounting the ordeal: "I should be in Chile right now, if you were going by my original flight ticket. Thanks to a most inconvenient "weather radar malfunction" my first flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta was delayed about 3 1/2 hours (perfectly coinciding with the layover time I WOULD have had were I to arrive in Atlanta at the scheduled time). So yes, long story short I missed the connecting flight to Chile and had to stay in a rather mediocre hotel (it was a suite room though) last night. Now I'm sitting at gate E28 most earnestly awaiting my new flight...which leaves in just under 5 hours (exactly a day after the original one was supposed to leave). So come 10:05pm tonight I should be on my merry way to Santiago, Chile (though it'll be a rather subdued state of merriment given my experiences within the last 24 hrs). Upon arriving in Chile, I will meet up with the students on the group flight (conveniently (but not for them) having been canceled yesterday as well....guess you can't trust American Airlines either). Then off to orientation in Olmué which is a small rural town on the outskirts of Santiago." You can tell I'm in a much more relaxed state at the moment. That was a most stressful day. After the flight fiasco, I met up with the group at the Santiago airport. They were also a tired bunch so we didn't say much to each other and slept most of the way to Olmué. It was surreal when I woke up in Olmué because I hadn't seen how we got there (for I was in an irreversible state of slumber) so as far as I was concerned there was nothing in between the airport and this mysterious quasi-resort hotel smack dab in the middle of what I was going to learn to be the "Cordillera de Los Andes". The next day we took a horseback ride through the town so I was better acquainted to this, now slightly less mysterious, place. We also hiked around the Parque Nacional de la Campana, which is a park at the base (and at the top I guess) of la montaña de la Campana. It's a pretty majestic mountain and I really want to hike to the top...but that's for another day. A guide told us about the history of the place and about the rare desert and forest vegetation that grows on different sides of the mountain because of the way the sun shines on it. So, that pretty much concludes the events that occurred in Olmué (oh yeah, and we had orientation where they basically told us "ladrones" or thieves were waiting around every corner waiting to take all of our personal possessions at the slightest glimpse that we weren't paying attention to our every move). This is only slightly true, it only really applies if you're a gringo walking down a dark street at 3am by yourself and are drunk...at least that's what my host family told me. Well, there's still more to say, but I don't feel like writing more right now so tune in later.