I arrived back in Santa María to discover my parents and in-laws had both sent me packages...hooray for sweaters and long underwear!!! Especially since the cold in Santa María is such a different cold than the cold you feel nearer the ocean. It's more tolerable there. So thanks, family.
They also sent me a mountain of Reece's Peanutbutter Cups, and contrary to what I thought, everyone seems to like them (Diego, I was right--they ARE delicious!!! And Chileans like them! Ha!) I've been giving them away to my students as we play weather bingo in class. After they learn the vocabulary I'm going to teach them the song "Umbrella" by Rihanna. They should like that.
After I came home on Sunday my host mom and I went to San Felipe with my host mom's brother, his wife and son to wander through the plaza. San Felipe is celebrating the anniversary of its founding, and there are artesan booths galore, music blaring and people bustling all over. The city is celebrating more than 250 years of existence--it's even older than the U.S.
On our way home we had a hare controversy--a rabbit was trying to cross the road, and Edith's brother swerved to hit it as a joke, but he ended up killing it. Oof, there was drama! His wife was crying, upset that we had killed a living thing without needing to, the son was noticeably shaken, all the while the father is trying to defend himself that he hadn't tried to kill the hare, it was an accident. We stopped to inspect the damage, and the rabbit was picked up and placed bleeding in the trunk. I don't know what they ended up doing with it.
It's good to be back in Santa María, but my time here is about at its end. I'm sad to face leaving, I've had so many good experiences and met so many new friends. I will, however, be glad to get back to the heat of the last bit of summer.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Paseos in the Lake District
This week I've been touring around the Lake District in a southern region of Chile. On Tuesday we traveled along one of the lakes passing through the small towns of Llanquíhue, Frutillar and Puerto Octay. The towns are small and picturesque, set in the hills and trees surrounding the water. The countryside reminded me of Kentucky for the rolling hills, and northern Idaho for the roads, trees and rivers.
Yesterday Diego and I spent the morning in Puerto Montt. It's Chile's third oldest city, but a bit disorganized--it doesn't seem to follow much of a city plan. Buildings and roads seem to pop up at random. We walked around the artesan fairs, and took pictures of a great church on one side of the Plaza de Armas whose roof is made of copper and the walls of some kind of dark wood.
Today we drove to Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, by far my favorite part of my trip here. It reminded me a lot of Montana. The lake Todos los Santos is an amazing turquoise color, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls, forests, and the volcanoes that have been alluding me since I arrived here on Monday. The volcanoes are massive and amazing, but for the weather have been hiding behind rainclouds. They finally came out today, partially, behind partly-cloudy skies.
The area was colonized by Germans, so their influence is very stark. Names of towns, types of food, the structure of the houses, even names--Claudia, Diego's wife, has German ancestry. Apparently the Germans that remain are a bit racist towards those with indigenous blood, though that baffles me when there is such a mix that almost no one could be considered completely one race or nationality or another.
I am really liking the family I'm staying with. We have a lot in common, and I hope we will be friends for a long time to come. Diego likes to play Playstation and is a music and movie connoisseur. He is a heavy metal fanatic. He's also very good with computers (I've almost got him convinced that Mac should be his next purchase). Claudia is also great on the computer, and is into good alternative music. In the time when we're not touring I've been making CD's for them--I figure it's the least I can do for allowing me to stay with them. They were very excited to see everything I had on my laptop (thanks, Nash). They've invited Jason and I to come back during their summer (March) so we can really explore the countryside in good weather and hang out.
I was supposed to go back to Santiago today, but not surprisingly for Chile, all the busses were full and I'm not leaving until Saturday night. I'll arrive in Santiago Sunday morning, then take another bus to San Felipe, where I'll catch a "micro" to Santa María. All just in time to teach a full day on Monday.
Yesterday Diego and I spent the morning in Puerto Montt. It's Chile's third oldest city, but a bit disorganized--it doesn't seem to follow much of a city plan. Buildings and roads seem to pop up at random. We walked around the artesan fairs, and took pictures of a great church on one side of the Plaza de Armas whose roof is made of copper and the walls of some kind of dark wood.
Today we drove to Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, by far my favorite part of my trip here. It reminded me a lot of Montana. The lake Todos los Santos is an amazing turquoise color, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls, forests, and the volcanoes that have been alluding me since I arrived here on Monday. The volcanoes are massive and amazing, but for the weather have been hiding behind rainclouds. They finally came out today, partially, behind partly-cloudy skies.
The area was colonized by Germans, so their influence is very stark. Names of towns, types of food, the structure of the houses, even names--Claudia, Diego's wife, has German ancestry. Apparently the Germans that remain are a bit racist towards those with indigenous blood, though that baffles me when there is such a mix that almost no one could be considered completely one race or nationality or another.
I am really liking the family I'm staying with. We have a lot in common, and I hope we will be friends for a long time to come. Diego likes to play Playstation and is a music and movie connoisseur. He is a heavy metal fanatic. He's also very good with computers (I've almost got him convinced that Mac should be his next purchase). Claudia is also great on the computer, and is into good alternative music. In the time when we're not touring I've been making CD's for them--I figure it's the least I can do for allowing me to stay with them. They were very excited to see everything I had on my laptop (thanks, Nash). They've invited Jason and I to come back during their summer (March) so we can really explore the countryside in good weather and hang out.
I was supposed to go back to Santiago today, but not surprisingly for Chile, all the busses were full and I'm not leaving until Saturday night. I'll arrive in Santiago Sunday morning, then take another bus to San Felipe, where I'll catch a "micro" to Santa María. All just in time to teach a full day on Monday.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Making up with Santiago
Yesterday Sara, another volunteer Martha, and I, did some more exploring around Santiago. We walked around the Bellavista neighborhood, a bohemian part of town with artesan fairs, shops, music, and one of Pablo Neruda´s houses. We were in search partly of the famous lapizlazuli, one of the minerals that´s mined here in Chile. Sara found herself a ring, Martha a necklace and earrings, and I've been collecting various pieces of jewlery to give away as gifts. I also found some great postcards displaying anti-government murals painted during Pinochet´s regime, before they were destroyed.
Sara and I have now seen 2 of the 3 houses Pablo Neruda had here in Chile. This one´s name is La Chascona, named for his third wife who apparently had crazy hair. "Chascona" is a slang word that means "bad hair day". All three houses were built to model ships; Neruda loved the ocean and ships, though he was terrified to be in a ship on the ocean. To his friends he explained it in these words more or less: "Why go out on the ocean, when you can get just as seasick on land?" Neruda was a facinating person, someone to look up when you get a moment. He was a poet rock star--because his poetry was so accessible and because he was so friendly and charismatic, he was immensely popular with the people in Chile. He could draw 80,000 people to a poetry reading, and really, who goes to poetry readings??
After lunch we went to an artesan fair...I don´t know what it is about artesanía, but I just can´t get enough. I taught a woman in one of the booths the names of her jewelry in English, and got flirted with at another booth ("pinchar", it´s called here in Chile) as I was buying some necklaces for souvenirs. We had fun, and no one tried to steal anyting from me, so I suppose Santiago and I can be friends again. Tentatively.
Sara and I have now seen 2 of the 3 houses Pablo Neruda had here in Chile. This one´s name is La Chascona, named for his third wife who apparently had crazy hair. "Chascona" is a slang word that means "bad hair day". All three houses were built to model ships; Neruda loved the ocean and ships, though he was terrified to be in a ship on the ocean. To his friends he explained it in these words more or less: "Why go out on the ocean, when you can get just as seasick on land?" Neruda was a facinating person, someone to look up when you get a moment. He was a poet rock star--because his poetry was so accessible and because he was so friendly and charismatic, he was immensely popular with the people in Chile. He could draw 80,000 people to a poetry reading, and really, who goes to poetry readings??
After lunch we went to an artesan fair...I don´t know what it is about artesanía, but I just can´t get enough. I taught a woman in one of the booths the names of her jewelry in English, and got flirted with at another booth ("pinchar", it´s called here in Chile) as I was buying some necklaces for souvenirs. We had fun, and no one tried to steal anyting from me, so I suppose Santiago and I can be friends again. Tentatively.
Leaps of Faith to Puerto Varas
Let me preface this blog entry with two pieces of key information about Chile: 1) Everything is done at the last minute. Everything. 2)One of the best ways to get around is to know somebody, or somebody who knows somebody. I sometimes feel like I´m in a Jane Austin novel, touring the country and visiting "acquaintances" wherever I go.
The second leg of my 2-week winter break became a little complicado...I had been planning to do some more traveling up north this week with my host family. At the last minute, though, they were not able to travel after all, and I had to think fast to make some plans. As much as I enjoy Santa Maria, I wanted to take advantage of an entire week to see other parts of Chile. My options were limited, and I had to make a decision quick while I was still in Santiago, because traveling anywhere from San Felipe is a bit limiting. I was thinking of buying a bus ticket north to San Pedro de Atacama, where a few of the volunteers I knew (including Sara) were going. The problem was that they had bought plane tickets and had hotel and tour reservations, and in order to go I would have to go by bus, a 24 hour ride, and try to find a place to stay and get added on the tours.
But another option came up suddenly, as they tend to do here in Chile. While Sara and I were in La Serena last week we met up with one of the teachers at the school she works at in Catemu. Upon hearing that my host family was unable to travel, Marcia offered to call her nephew in the south of Chile who works at a tourist agency to see if she could get anything set up. I didn´t hear from her until about 7:30 last night, when she called me and said that everything was arranged, I could travel to southern Chile and stay with her nephew Diego and his wife. All I had to do was confirm with Diego and get a bus ticket. So I confirmed with Diego and got dropped off at one of the many bus stations in Santiago to see if there were any tickets available to Puerto Montt leaving, oh, RIGHT NOW. Of course the woman at the ticket window said no, not till tomorrow...except these few seats left on this bus leaving in an hour. So off I go into the unknown, to see a part of the country I´ve never seen before and to stay with people I´ve never met. Spontaneous as I am, this was all still really, really disconcerting.
I spent 10 hours on a bus, in a special seat that converts into a bed. I woke up and was dropped off in Puerto Varas, a little town outside of Puerto Montt, where Diego picked me up. He and his wife Claudia are about my age, and they have two children, one 10 and one 9 months old. They are exceptionally kind and attentive. Tomorrow in the afternoon we plan to go out and they´re going to show me the sights. Diego is also going to bring some information about tours home tonight, and I can see what interests me.
It all worked out, but I have to say that by the time I get back to the U.S., I may be more of a person who likes to make plans. In advance.
The second leg of my 2-week winter break became a little complicado...I had been planning to do some more traveling up north this week with my host family. At the last minute, though, they were not able to travel after all, and I had to think fast to make some plans. As much as I enjoy Santa Maria, I wanted to take advantage of an entire week to see other parts of Chile. My options were limited, and I had to make a decision quick while I was still in Santiago, because traveling anywhere from San Felipe is a bit limiting. I was thinking of buying a bus ticket north to San Pedro de Atacama, where a few of the volunteers I knew (including Sara) were going. The problem was that they had bought plane tickets and had hotel and tour reservations, and in order to go I would have to go by bus, a 24 hour ride, and try to find a place to stay and get added on the tours.
But another option came up suddenly, as they tend to do here in Chile. While Sara and I were in La Serena last week we met up with one of the teachers at the school she works at in Catemu. Upon hearing that my host family was unable to travel, Marcia offered to call her nephew in the south of Chile who works at a tourist agency to see if she could get anything set up. I didn´t hear from her until about 7:30 last night, when she called me and said that everything was arranged, I could travel to southern Chile and stay with her nephew Diego and his wife. All I had to do was confirm with Diego and get a bus ticket. So I confirmed with Diego and got dropped off at one of the many bus stations in Santiago to see if there were any tickets available to Puerto Montt leaving, oh, RIGHT NOW. Of course the woman at the ticket window said no, not till tomorrow...except these few seats left on this bus leaving in an hour. So off I go into the unknown, to see a part of the country I´ve never seen before and to stay with people I´ve never met. Spontaneous as I am, this was all still really, really disconcerting.
I spent 10 hours on a bus, in a special seat that converts into a bed. I woke up and was dropped off in Puerto Varas, a little town outside of Puerto Montt, where Diego picked me up. He and his wife Claudia are about my age, and they have two children, one 10 and one 9 months old. They are exceptionally kind and attentive. Tomorrow in the afternoon we plan to go out and they´re going to show me the sights. Diego is also going to bring some information about tours home tonight, and I can see what interests me.
It all worked out, but I have to say that by the time I get back to the U.S., I may be more of a person who likes to make plans. In advance.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pisco Elqui
Today Sara and I decided to take a half-day trip to Elqui Valley, which, of course, turned into a day-long adventure. We should have known. We bought tickets to leave at 11:30 am and got back at 7:00pm.
The Elqui Valley and the surrounding towns are famous first and foremost for the vineyards and the grapes used to make the Chilean liquor pisco. Up in the mountains there is a very picturesque valley with miles and miles of vineyards. We ate lunch today at a pisco distillery so Sara could sample the pisco, while I enjoyed my fruit juice blend. We walked the plazas in some of the towns along the way, took pictures of churches (so many churches!) and visited artesan booths and shops.
We also visited the Gabriela Mistral museum in Monte Grande--she is a very famous Chilean author who was the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (check out some of her poetry when you get a second). She is also famous for being a school teacher and an advocate for education. She had an incredibly tragic life and had very few people that she loved, but her poetry reveals a side that many didn't see in person.
We got back to La Serena just in time for "onces". We decided against going to the cafe in the mall just down the street because we've been there twice and there are a couple of waiters who think we go there just for them. So we went downtown to have a sandwhich and some hot chocolate.
Tomorrow we travel back to Santiago. My host family was planning to come up north next week, but I think those plans have fallen through. So I'm not sure yet what I will be doing for the second week of vacation. Sara will be going even further north to San Pedro de Atacama. I think we'll spend tomorrow and Sunday in Santiago, though, and see another one of Pablo Neruda's houses. Besides, Santiago and I need to make peace since she stole my camera.
The Elqui Valley and the surrounding towns are famous first and foremost for the vineyards and the grapes used to make the Chilean liquor pisco. Up in the mountains there is a very picturesque valley with miles and miles of vineyards. We ate lunch today at a pisco distillery so Sara could sample the pisco, while I enjoyed my fruit juice blend. We walked the plazas in some of the towns along the way, took pictures of churches (so many churches!) and visited artesan booths and shops.
We also visited the Gabriela Mistral museum in Monte Grande--she is a very famous Chilean author who was the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (check out some of her poetry when you get a second). She is also famous for being a school teacher and an advocate for education. She had an incredibly tragic life and had very few people that she loved, but her poetry reveals a side that many didn't see in person.
We got back to La Serena just in time for "onces". We decided against going to the cafe in the mall just down the street because we've been there twice and there are a couple of waiters who think we go there just for them. So we went downtown to have a sandwhich and some hot chocolate.
Tomorrow we travel back to Santiago. My host family was planning to come up north next week, but I think those plans have fallen through. So I'm not sure yet what I will be doing for the second week of vacation. Sara will be going even further north to San Pedro de Atacama. I think we'll spend tomorrow and Sunday in Santiago, though, and see another one of Pablo Neruda's houses. Besides, Santiago and I need to make peace since she stole my camera.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The Penguin Reserve
What Sara and I thought would be a tour for a few hours only turned into an all-day event. The same tour that was supposed to pick us up yesterday afternoon at 4:00 picked us up at 8:30 this morning and brought us back at 5:00pm. It took us an hour and a half to get to the port, winding through the desert and small towns on gravel roads and up in the mountains. Once we were there, we put on our life jackets and got in a large boat with no top and motored around Choros Island. It was beautiful, and we saw lots of sea lions and only a few penguins because it's winter and they're nesting. Then we went to Damas Island and hiked around for an hour looking at the birds and rock formations and collecting large sea shells. The return trip in the boat back to the continent was much more chilly and wet from the wind and the spray from ocean waves--not the best combination for the middle of winter, but what were we doing on a boat tour in July in Chile in our right minds anyway??? After we got our land legs back we headed to at a little restaurant for a lunch of shrimp and cheese empanadas and grilled fish. Delicious. Everyone on our tour fell asleep in the tour van on the way back, despite the roads. Sara and I were exhausted but happy by the time we finally got back to the hostel. We're going to recoup for a while, then go out for "onces" and get some hot chocolate. Pictures will be forthcoming on my Facebook.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Vacation: 3rd Day in La Serena
Today we were supposed to go to the Penguin Reserve at 4:00. However, because it got a little overcast and chilly, the tour was cancelled. The thing about Chile is that you have to be flexible. You don't plan, you have possibilities. Nothing is ever certain until you're doing it. It seems that many Chileans are like that, too--you have an idea of what you want to do, and then you wait to see if it happens. We were told that the tour will happen tomorrow at 8:00 or 8:30, if the weather cooperates.
This morning while waiting to go on the tour Sara and I did some more sight seeing around town. We visited the Cathedral, a museum of religious art, and two artesan fairs. We're becoming quite the connoisseurs of Chilean crafts. The funny thing is, wherever we go everyone talks to Sara in Spanish, not me. Sara's family is from Iran, so she is easily mistaken for hispanic. Wherever we are, I ask the questions and the people tell Sara the answers. Apparently no one believes that the gringa can speak Spanish!
At one of the artesan fairs we were accosted by the workers of several restaurants. They go around recruiting people to eat at their restaurant. At one point Sara and I were surrounded by 6 or 7 woman shoving business cards at us and trying to convince us that their food was the best. Sara is convinced none of this would happen if I weren't blonde. Poor Sara, she has no peace with the tall American.
Tonight we're going to go out for tea, then we're going to check out a Tango bar. Could be awesome. Tomorrow, penguins (hopefully).
This morning while waiting to go on the tour Sara and I did some more sight seeing around town. We visited the Cathedral, a museum of religious art, and two artesan fairs. We're becoming quite the connoisseurs of Chilean crafts. The funny thing is, wherever we go everyone talks to Sara in Spanish, not me. Sara's family is from Iran, so she is easily mistaken for hispanic. Wherever we are, I ask the questions and the people tell Sara the answers. Apparently no one believes that the gringa can speak Spanish!
At one of the artesan fairs we were accosted by the workers of several restaurants. They go around recruiting people to eat at their restaurant. At one point Sara and I were surrounded by 6 or 7 woman shoving business cards at us and trying to convince us that their food was the best. Sara is convinced none of this would happen if I weren't blonde. Poor Sara, she has no peace with the tall American.
Tonight we're going to go out for tea, then we're going to check out a Tango bar. Could be awesome. Tomorrow, penguins (hopefully).
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