Chillin' in Chile

All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready to Go

2006-12-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hey folks!
With some luck and a lot of scrambling I purchased all of the gifts that I needed to buy (there may even be one for YOU!) and packed all of my bags, pretty amazing that the last day is already here. After so much preperation and build up to Chile the time here seems like it went by incredibly quickly. I am definately excited to get back home, especially for the holidays, but it is also a bit weird leaving here. I've learned a lot here and made a lot of friends from around the world that I am sure I will keep in contact with. Thanks to everyone who kept up with the blog! It was a lot of fun to make (please don't tell people that I think blogging is fun) and I hope evryone enjoyed it! Take care during the holidays and be fantastc! Chao

Journey to the Bottom of the World

2006-12-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hey folks!
I'm back from my trip to sotuehrn Patagonia and it was a great way to finish out my travels in Chile. We flew into Punta Arenas, the southern most city (over 40,000 people) in the world and stepped off the plane to a landscape identical to what you would expect just a few miles north of the Antarctic circle. The land around Punta Arenas is completely flat and windswept. You can see so far that it seems like you can actually see the sky curving. The weather that far south changes about every 15 minutes from sun to rain to snow to hail always with a constant and loud wind. We went to a penguin sanctuary with over 15,000 Magallenic penguins (as seen in picture above, if I ever run for office I will use a shot of me with penguins to show how caring I am) before backpacking for three days in Torres del Paine, Chile's best national park. Torres del Paine is absolutely massive, it has lakes, giant peaks, caves, glaciers, and lots of hiking. We managed to do the 4 day "W" hike which hits up the higlights of the Gray Glacier, one of the largest glaciers in the world outside of the poles (as seen in above photo where you can also see how long my hair has become! If I stick it straight up everyone in the residencia thinks I look like this weird Chilean superhero), the Torres (towers) which are massive peaks of twisting rock and extreme vertical drops, and the Frances mountain range which features various lakes, glaciers, and mountains. The hiking was fairly intense and thanks to the changing weather we got pretty drenched in our tent at night but it was totally worth it. The vistas and the colors within the park are amazing and vibrant and the pictures do no justice to show how amazing this park is. Tonight is my last night in the residencia ad we are having a bit of a going away party for everone before they head back to their respective countries for the holidays. I still have quite a lot to do (including packing, yuck) before I head out tommorow so I'll post more tommorow. Chao for now!!!

The Last Hoorah!

2006-12-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!
Things have started to calm down a bit here. Pinochet is on his way to recovering, I am beggining to the think that he is a robot. As of yesterday I am officially done with classes in Chile and on Christmas break! The group flight back to the United States is today so most of the gringos from my program have left now. I'm catching a flight down south with two of my friends to Punta Arenas, the southern most large city in the world. From there we are heading on a 3 or 4 day hike in Torres del Paine, Chile's best national park complete with glaciers, volcanoes, and unusually high towers of rock rising up throughout the park. We are also planning on heading to Chile's largest penguin reserve. It's back to Santiago on the 15th and then I leave for the U.S. on the 16th, a whirwind trip!! In any event I'll post again when I am back in a week, have a fantastic week! Chao for now

Nunca Puedo Dormir!

2006-12-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!
Things are crazy here in Santiago and in the residencia lately so there has been a distinct lack of posts from me, yet another apology! Last night finished up the Teleton, a giant nation wide telethon that has been advertised for almost two months straight here. The event is huge and everywhere you go in Santiago there are Teleton organized parties to organize excitement for donations. Banks, McDonalds, Pharmacies, and all sorts of stores stay open all day and night for two days straight and give you the ption to donate every time you purchase an item. I'm pretty happy that it's over as I don't think I can stand another advertisement for it.
On top of the Teleton Chile had its biggest soccer game in over a decade a few days ago. Every year the best teams from all of Latin America's various soccer leagues play in a giant tournament. Chilean soccer, although well loved, is fairly bad but this year the Chilean team Colo-Colo (Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le, Colo-Colo es de Chile!) has made it to the championship games against a Mexican club. The first game of the two game series ended up in a 1-1 tie in Mexico but the next two days of solid partying in the streets and my personal favorite of driving around honking non stop would have led most people to believe that they won. The day of the game kind of felt like a holiday as everything except bars and restaraunts were closed and nobody is on the street. I'd hate to see the reaction if they lose, mass chaos. Speaking of chaos, this morning Augusto Pinochet (former dictator of Chile if you ignore news) suffered a serious heart attack and is currently in critical condition. At 91 Pinochet is said to have 16 known diseases, a fact that has kept him from prossecution for crimes during his presidency. If Pinochet does in fact die it will be interesting to see how Chile reacts as opinions to this day remain extremely mixed and emotional for Chileans.
Finally, (wooh this is a marathon post!) we've had some scary stuff going on in my residencia. Two nights ago while walking back from a friend's party, two of my Frnech friends who live in my house were hit by a car that swerved onto the sidewalk. After speniding a night and a day in the hospital, they are back in the house with neck braces, staples, mild spinal injuries, and a lot of cuts and bruises. Thankfully the car hit some stuff before striking them and although they are fairly banged up and extremely shaken up they'll both be fine. In the mean time we are all taking our turns as nurses and helping out the doctor that lives in our house! In any event, hopefully things get a little less crazy in my final two weeks. I finish up class on Wednesday and on Friday I leave for Punta Arenas (the southern most large city in the world) for a weak of touring Patagonia and southern Chile. I hope that everyone is fantastic! Chao for now.

Feliz Dia de Gracias

2006-11-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hey folks!!
Happy Thanksgiving (or day after) to all of you! Even though its not a holiday here my American buddy Clark and I deceided to dedicate our entire day to cooking up a traditional Thanksgiving meal for everyone in our residencia. Our one requirement for them to eat was that they participate in the American tradition and come dressed as either a pilgram, a Native American, or a ninja (oddly no one ended up dressing up in any of these costumes, but we still let them eat). We bought a 16LB turkey 30 potatoes, 15 bags of croutons, and a plethera of vegetables to feed 20 people from our residencia. We had never cooked Thanksgiving dinner before so it was a terrifying experience but thanks to some of my mom's recipes and the internet everything turned out surprisingly well. In about 7 hours of work we made a tequila lime BBQ'd turkey, stuffing (no one had ever had stuffing or even heard of it before last night), mashed potatoes, fruit salad, spinach casarole, rolls, and gravy. Everyone seemed to thourghly enjoy it and no one is ill today so I rank it as a success! Hats off to everyone who cooks Thanksgiving dinner every year, that is some tough work. I'm off to jump over the border for the weekend and hang out in Mendoza, Argentina for some rafting but I'll be back Monday. Chao for now!

La Campana

2006-11-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks!
I purchased a cheap monitor to hook up to my laptop after the drop that destroyed the screen. Since I haven't been able to see anything I haven't posted anything in awhile, I've been slacking lately. This past weekend I took a two hour bus drive out of Santiago to climb La Campana, a 6500ft mountain with one of the most popular hikes in Chile. Charles Darwin (or Carlos Darwin as he is known in these parts) popularized the climb after he did it and wrote that at the summit you, "see Chile as it is on a map" wieth the Andes on one side and the Ocean on the other. This was probably true in 1884 when Darwin climbed it but now the ever present Chilean smog hides the ocean and only the costal fog can be seen. None the less the hike was awesome and extremely difficult. The last part of the climb didn't go over too well with the two of the three of us who were terrified of heights as it involved nearly vertical rock climbing with no equipment. When my friend Clark reached the top he accidentally sent a bunch of rocks raining down on our heads and flying rapidly towoards the heads of people watching below. Luckily everyone was able to dodge the rocks and harm was avoided. Today I went to the general cemetary here in Santiago with one of my classes to see the graves of various Chilean presidents. The average middle class Chilean doesn't buy a plot in a cemetary but rents a "room" in one of their lagre apartment like tombs. The buildings that house these tombs are nearly 6 stories tall with staircases and balconies to view the graves. After your renting period is up you are "evicted" and your family given the oppurtunity to extend the lease or clear the plot. Kind of morbid but also quite interesting! Anyhow, I'm off to go buy a turkey to cook for my residencia for dia de gracias. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving everyone! Chao for now

Real Men Drive KIA's

2006-11-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!
I know I have been terrible about posting lately, it's been a busy and fun filled past week and a half so I have a good excuse! My parents just took off two days ago after a week long stay here in Chile. It was prety fun being able to show them all around and we went everywhere from sea level to 9000ft! This was made possible by the mighty KIA that dad bravely rented to head to Vina, Valpo, and the Andes. You can see dad's absolute excitement in the above picture regarding the wonders of KIA(please note, optimal hilarity is acheived by zooming in on dad and the manly machine if possible). We also went a dinner dance show with traditional dances of Chile. I guess we all look distinctly non-Chilean as each of us was cruely chosen to participate in dances throughout the night, fairly humiliating although slightly comical also. All in all it was a lot of fun to see the folks and show them around, thanks for visiting mom and dad! It's back to routine now as I have a little over 3 weeks of school left followed by a week and a half of travel in southern Chile before I return home, time is definately flying. I hope everyone is fantastic, chao for now!

Keep on rocking for the free world

2006-11-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hey folks!
It's a busy week ahead with my folks coming out on Wednesday and a few tests early in the week so I enjoyed a pretty mellow weekend in Santiago. Last night I had my second experience with concerts in Chile as I went and saw the Beastie Boys and three Chilean groups play at Santiago's urban arts festival. The Beastie Boys are still amazing (now in their 40's and graying quickly) and put on quite the high energy show. Between this concert and an outdoor concert put on by Chilean's Socialist Youth club earlier in the semester (basically a display of mullets and Che shirts) I am starting to notice some trends with Chilean concerts. First of all, Chileans will break into impromptu soccer chants whenever given the chance. Before the concert, after the concert, in between bands, and even after a song finished everyone breaks into their favorite Chilean cheer usually accompanied by wild but well timed jumping. Jumping is an important skill at concerts here as it is expected for every song, including ballads. It's kind of difficult to find a rhythm to jump to with ballads, so instead of listening to the songs I'm pretty sure they are just chanting soccer cheers in their heads for timing. Chileans also enjoy throwing things at the bands on stage during concerts, especially the bands they like. Generally you would think that you would not want to pelt your favorite band with hard objects in the middle of a performance, but at both concerts the most popular groups spent their time dodging objects. During the socialist youth concert plastic bottles were the weapon of choice. Last night they handed out glowsticks and the Beastie Boys looked pretty surprised spending almost all of their show juking and trying to catch the sticks. If you are a band that the crowd does not enjoy, or if something goes wrong during the concert, you don't get anything thrown at you, but instead you get a constant high pitch whistle from the audience. (this is the same for soccer games in which the best players from the opposing teams receive whistles of hate from the crowd when they handle the ball) I'm not planning on attending any more Chilean concerts (although Shakira just announced another Santiago date, an event so important that entire metros have been painted with giant Shakira heads) but if I do you can be sure that I'll be jumping high. Chao for now!

Vamos a la playa

2006-11-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
It's a week until my folks come to visit and not too long till I hop aboard a plane and head back home. Time is flying here but there have also been an abundance of good times so far. After returning from the desert my buddy Clark and I headed west to a tiny fishing village on the Pacific called Horcon. We had deceided that to save money fand long travel times to other places, we would head three hours to the beach and walk north for four days seeing where we end up every night. Clark got a wretchid food poisoning in Santiago so we ended up with only three days but it turned out to be an awesome time. Despite the amazing weather it's a few more weeks until the beach season really starts to get crowded so most of the time we were walking on huge beaches completely alone. We walked for nearly 3 hours on continuous beach the first day until coming to a cliffs jutting up from the ocean. The nearest town was an hour back so we didn't want to turn around and after looking around a bit we found some old ropes that were held into the ground with rusty nails to ascend the cliffs and cross over a hill. Some of the ropes were no good and clearly hadn't been used in quite awhile but with some creativity (and absolute fear on my part thanks to the heights) we were able to make it to the top and continue on to a nearly deserted summer resort town. Thanks to the off season we were able to rent a house for the night with 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, a giant family room, and a porch on the beach for less than 20 bucks! The second day started with similiar endless beaches as the first, filled with surfers and day trippers from Santiago. The beaches give way to strings of huge rocks with a crude path that snaked in and out around giant summer homes. We counted 5 private helicopters in all attached to the homes off of the path although all of the homes seemed to be empty until Summer kicks in, definately Chile at its richest. The path tapered out after awhile and we ended up on a peninsula with a tiny island about 50 yards off the coast filled with Humboldt penguins. Apparently over 2000 penguins reside on the island in extremely crowded and nauseatingly smelly conditions. (kind of like Santiago!) Despite the stench it was cool to see them wandering around so close. Our second day ended with another practically deserted beach town with crystal clear water and enormous waves. Since it's still the off season most of the people in the town were extremely friendly and eager to strike up long conversations with us. We met a lot of cool people with tons of interesting stories about the upper class Chileans and their beach holidays of lounging around in sweaters and loafers despite the weather. The town of Zapallar marks the end of the central province in Chile and after it the beaches give way to deserts and dramatic cliffs into the sea so it marked the end of our trip. In all we walked a little over 30 miles (not too much all things considered) and met a lot of interesting people along the way, not to mention I got amazingly tan and am now beutifully bronzed... I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween/Reformation Day/All Saints Day and that everything is well. Chao for now!

All Adventured Out

2006-10-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hey folks!!
I'm back in Santiago exhausted from two awesome adventures first to the driest desert in the world of the Atacama and after on a walking tour of 6 fishing towns on the central coast of Chile. I'll write about the Atacama in today's post since it was where I started. This trip (contrary to popular blogging comments) was a study tour of Chile's northern cultures arranged by my study abroad program to the desert town of San Pedro. San Pedro is an oasis town of 5000 people literally in the middle of nowhere. The Atacama desert where San Pedro is located in has areas that have never recorded rain fall. Driving into San Pedro from the nearest commercial airport takes three hours in which you see no towns no petrol stations and little plant or wild life. The town intself looks like it is straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie with adobe buildings, horses and huasos (Chilean cowboys) roaming the dirt streets, and cantinas on every corner. Despite its desolation San Pedro has become a bit of a tourist destination for Chileans as a result of its access to some of the most amazing natural features of the country. In my five days there I explored the National Flamingo Reserve, the third largest salt lake in the world, high desert lakes surrounded by 10 volcanos, (one of which was erupting gas while we were there) the ruins of several pre-columbian forts, a northern culture museum featuring several ancient Atacamaan mummies, high desert hot springs, and a variety of sand dunes. The coolest thing we saw was the valle de luna (valley of the moon) a large valley that features terrain so similiar to the moon that NASA has tested multiple rovers in the area. The valley is distinguished by a range of jagged red peaks rising up from the sands of the desert that, when viewed at sunset, change to vivid shades of orange, pink, and red. The most impressive place to view sunset in the valley is on the grand dune, one of the world's largest sand dunes that stretches between the two different sets of peaks. The size and length of the climb discourage most people from making the trek but I did it with a handfull of other students. The climb was exhausting but after we crossed the dune I deceided it was the coolest thing I have done in Chile. The view of the Atacama desert framed by the colorful peaks and enormous volcanos is fantastic, I almost ran out of space on my camera trying to take pictures of it all before night fall. Our adventures with sand dunes weren't over though as two days later five of us tried our luck with sand boarding. Sand boarding looks simple, you attach a snow board to your feet and go down the side of a dune, however it proved to be much more difficult and comical. To get to the nearest dune to San Pedro we rented mountain bikes and were told to bike north for 15 minutes until we reached the turn off. I can assure you now that riding a bike through the desert is not an enjoyable thing. The 15 minute ride ended up being an hour trek in the blazing sun and required a lot of walking where the sand was too thick to bike. Your exhaustion continues when you finally do reach a dune as it takes about 20 second to board (or fall in my case) down the dune and 20 minutes to walk up it. Still it's a hilarious sport to watch as the falls are especially brutal and by the end of the day we were able to stay on a bit longer. I've deceided that dune riding should become the next popular ESPN sport with me as the spokesman, imagine it! The next day we returned to Santiago but my stay was only a few hours before I continued on to the coast with a friend to walk for as long as we could up the beaches. Stay tuned to hear about that trip, until then chao for now!

Gone Fishing

2006-10-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
I leave early tommorow morning for a week long trip to the desert of Northern Chile and possibly a couple of days in Bolivia. I likely won't have amazing access or time on the internet there so it will be awhile before another post. So check back in a few days for dazzling photos, amazing stories, and stunning details of my trip all right here on Chillin' in Chile!!!!

Ministry and Mining

2006-10-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. I went four hours south for the weekend to the town of Linares with the WELS missionary here and his wife. The town has virtually no touristic interest but it was cool going on some of the home visits and meeting with Chilean families in more of the "working class" The conditions weren't shockingly horrific but we were still going to some houses with two rooms, 6 people in the family, dirt floors, and one light. The house we stayed in was without heat which wasn't terribly pleasent as there was the worst storm of the year this past weekend bringing temperatures into the low 40's. Santiago was pretty flooded when I left on Saturday and it only took 15 minutes of driving to get into the snow level. This is extremely late in the year to be receiving rain and snow here so even the Chileans seemed caught off guard. The next morning we had a minor earthquake, must have been earthquake weather!
On Sunday they took me to the local chapter of the American Association in Chile in which people from the United States get together twice a week to wear cowboy hats, speak english, and listen to country music. Within minutes of being there I realized it was going to be an unusual evening. There were about 40 people in the club, all identical with a classy looking wife and a mustached hat wearing husband in their 40's-50's. Every single person was from either, Texas, Nevada, Colorado, or Arizona. Turns out, every person that I met there is involved in the Chile's massive mining industry. American mining companies send their top people to Chile to work on major projects classified as anything over 1 billion US dollars. Throughout the night I was assured multiple times that mining is not half as bad as people make it out to be and that, "what people don't realize is, if you don't grow it, you mine it." Virtually every conversation between the men was about how many tons of earth some outfit was going to move this week to find copper (chile's number one export) gold, or ore. I was informed that you need to move 30 tons of earth to produce one ounce of gold but this comment was quickly followed with reassurance that it's not as bad for the environment as people make it out to be. Now I'm no expert on mining so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt but mining companies have left some pretty impressive holes throughout Chile, including the largest open mine in the world. Take a look! At the very least I was able to get some extremely spicy Chili at their event so I walked out a happy man. Hope all is well, Ciao for now!

Valdivia!

2006-10-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! I got back late last night from my four day weekend 10 hours south in Validivia. Valdivia is completely opposite from Santiago; small (by the end of our trip people were recognizing us in the streets), clean, friendly with people offering to drive us around and show us the sites, and fish filled. It lies on three major rivers the largest of which flows out to the Pacific. Becuase of this the Spaniards set it up as a major port in the late 1500's and placed 3 impressive forts at the point in which the river meets the Pacific. Despite a 9.1 earthquake (one of the largest in modern history) and tidal wave in 1961 that wiped out the entire town of Valdivia, the forts have survived fairly intact including every single cannon. You can tour the forts with little restriction on where you can go, what you can touch/climb on, and see. All three forts are on tiny islands that have amazing locations on cliffs overlooking the Pacific. The towns surrounding them are straight out of Big Fish, tiny populations, surreal houses, and fairly cut off from the rest of the world. (3 Chilean pesos to whoever can recite the poem that Norther Winslow writes about Specter) The market in Validivia consists of about 15 stands on the river that fishermen drive their boats up to and unload the fresh catch. Huge sea lions come up the channel from the ocean and jump up behind the fisherman to wait for the leftovers. These fishermen have the sea lions so trained that if a male was barking and bothering them they would chuck a fish head at the side of it's head and it would lie down. When the sea lions have had their fill they lie in the sun on the walkway in front of the stands, at times you literally step over the giants creatures! Another unusual feature of Valdivia was it's European influence. Valdivia has a large German population and even has a large Brewery of Kuntsmann Beer. (bier dast ist gut) I was actually addressed twice in a hyprid of German Chilean and there were 3 Lutheran churches in town! (Santiago only has two for 6 million people) All in all it was an extremely relaxing and scenic weekend. Hope all is fantastic, ciao for now!

More Travel!

2006-10-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I've got my fourth holiday since I have arrived here this weekend so I've got a four day weekend that I will be traveling for. I'm not even sure what this holiday is for, there are too many to keep track of! This time I'm heading south with a buddy of mine to a town called Valdivia. Valdivia is an old historical river town guarded by old Spanish made forts built in the 1600's. We are playing everything we do by ear but I think I should be back in Santiago Monday night. Have a fantastic weekend!

Andean Skiing Adventure of Fun

2006-10-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to mark off an event that I was high on my priority list when I arrived in Chile, skiing in the Andes. I had intended to go skiing sooner but when I got sick it got put on the back burner. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to as we have now entered spring here in Santiago but alas on the last weekend that the resorts are open I made it up. The skiing was good but completely spring conditions with slush, warm weather and rocks. (skiing now is like skiing in April in the United States) Skiing in the Andes is completely different from any resort I have been to in the U.S. For starters the Chilean tree line is relatively low and the altitude of the resorts are extremely high so the resort had absolutely no trees. The only thing marking the various runs are wooden fences constructed on the slopes lower on the mountain however the higher you go the more free you are to ski where you want. We were skiing at a resort called El Colorado which has a maximum elevation of just under 12000 feet. The highest summit in Tahoe is just barely 10000 at Heavenly. Since it is so late in the season the lift to the summit was closed but I deceided to hike from the next closest lift. (resorts here encourage you to hike around and go where you want) The elevation had not bothered me until I reached the top, light headed, winded, and somewhat nauseous. Who knew two thousand feet would make such a dramatic difference! In any event it was a great view and a good ski down, I even managed to find powder even though it hasnt snowed in 10 days so the hike was well worth it. All in all I thourghly enjoyed the day apart from the drive there and back. The local ski bums purchase 15 passenger vans and charge to drive people up every day from Santiago so they can support their ski habbits. It takes only an hour and a half to get from Santiago to El Colorado despite a climb of over 8000 feet. The road is extremely steep and features dramatic swithbacks almost the entire time, not a combination I am too fond of. I was terrified when we arrived but luckily I was able to sleep on the way back. The strangest part of my day was waking up in the van to the Beach Boys singing Barbara Ann in Spanish on the radio. Everybody now, "Oh Barbara Ann tome mi mano!" Anywho, even though I loved skiing here I think I would take Tahoe or Colorado any day as the resorts have a lot more terrain and a lot more variety. Hope everyone is fantastic, ciao for now!

Things you won't see in the U.S.

2006-09-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!
I'm still not 100% from being sick but I am feeling much better and have a lot more energy, seems like the Argentinian cold of death is finally on its way out. Other than that there's not much news here hence the lack of posts so I'll take this oppurtunity to start my things you won't see in the U.S. series! First up is this advertisement at my bus stop from the Cuban tourism office. The sign proclaims, "Cuba; Now Closer!" For $900 USD I can fly direct to Havanna Cuba and kick it with Castro, I'm intirgued! More things you won't see in the U.S. to follow. Ciao for now!

Dr. Feelgood!

2006-09-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

I was able to get into the doctor today, a day earlier than expected thanks to some calls by the USAC program directors. It was a fairly comical experience with the doctor's poor english and my poor spanish combined. This was highlighted by his diagnosis in which he said in a regretful manner, "You have...I don't know how to say this..." This is a quote that you never want your doc to say as it is undoubtedly followed by shocking and terrible news. He sat for almost a minute frowning as I sat in horror before he explained to me in Spanglish that I hae a bacteria infection. Needless to say I was fairly relieved to find out that I don't have the Avian Bird Flu and will be healthy in less that six days, hooray for modern medicine!

Happy Holidays

2006-09-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

The last two days I've had off school for Independence Day (yesterday) and Armed Forces Day (today). The break was a nice oppurtunity for me to get healthy again...an oppurtunity that I completely missed as I am still sick. I think I'm going to schedule a doc appointment for Thursday as I've been sick for 10 days, kind of unusual! I don't feel terrible I just have constant and unchanging cold symptoms, how bothersome.
Yesterday I asked a few Chileans for a recomendation on where to check out the festivities of the day. They directed me to a park saying that it was an authentic celebration and that was definastely true as I was the only non-Chilean I saw the entire time. Chilean Independence Day doesn't involve fireworks but these huge street fairs with lots of food, chicha (an indigineous fermented beverage), vendors, and some extremely bizarre carnival games. The games are fairly normal (throw a dart and pop a balloon) but the prizes are extremly strange. Pretty much every booth had a prize consisting of cooking oil, or various forms of alcohol. In fact, one game consisted of a giant wheel with coresponding numbers that were placed on giant bottles of beer, chicha, pisco (a chilean brandy), and wine. You were guaranteed to win some sort of alcohol. Today was much less eventful with most people staying home until the military parades in their respective neighborhoods. The parade I attended was fairly short and equated to people loudly applauding high kicking soldiers wearing funny hats. Unfortunately the parade was at night and most of my pictures didn't turn out, so use your imagination. I'm off to continue with my favorite hobby until I'm healthy, sleeping. Ciao for now!

Vina and Valpo

2006-09-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!
I've been slacking on my posts here sorry about that, my only excuse is that I am still sick! This is my seventh day with the Argentinian cold of death and it is still pretty unenjoyable. A word of adive, (Never let anyone sign your checks! first person to name that quote gets 1 Chilean Peso) never get sick in a foreign country, it's a bummer. In any event, it's a long weekend here for independence day and I don't have school until wednesday so I should be able to get healthy again.

After class on Friday I headed out with my Catalan buddy from the Residencia to the coast. It's about a one and a half hour bus trip to get to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, two of the more popular beach towns in Chile. We arrived in Vina which is more of the resort type community and toured around a bit. The highligh of Vina is supposed to be this giant old luxurious casino that overlooks the ocean. We went to check it out and at the door they wanted an admission fee. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like an interesting idea for a casino to charge you before you enter. We deceided that we didnt want to pay them to lose money so we just toured around the city more. That night we stayed at a "hostel" for 4 US bucks. This hostel was actually a room in this old woman's apartment, it was kind of creepy. Luckily we survived the night and the next day went to Valparaiso. Valpo used to be Chile's most important port prior to the building of the Panama Canal (A man a plan a canal Panama) but has since become extremely run down, poor, and crime filled. Aside from those three factors Valpo is a very interesting place. The city is builts over a handful of very steep hills covered in extremely colorful houses. All throughout these hills are ascensors, which are these crazy lifts that were built in the late 1800's and early 1900's to haul people up and down the hill. The majority of these ancient funiculars are still operating and wating to plummet unsuspecting tourists at rapid speeds to the ground. Surprisingly, both of our ascensors managed to transport us safely to the top and gave us pretty cool views as shown in the above picture! The next two days should be pretty cool back here in Santiago with parades and military demonstrations just a few blocks from my house to celebrate the holiday. Ciao for now!

Boca Photo

2006-09-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

Boca Introductions, Loco!

Don't Cry for Me Argentina!

2006-09-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! I am safely back in Santiago after an awesome trip to Buenos Aires. In the 5 days we were there I think we saw every important thing of the city. We saw Eita's tomb, the government buildings, an Argentinian tango show, the widest street in the world, the Argentinian Obelisk, and a Boca Junior soccer match! (one of the coolest things that I have ever seen) Boca is Argentina's most loved soccer club and play their games at the Bombadera, a giant stadium that can hold over 80,000. We were able to get tickets for the important ReCopa, a championship game that features the best two clubs in South America. We arrived two and a half hours before the game and the stadium was already almost full. By game time the fans have worked themselves into a complete frenzy by singing Boca's fight songs and jumping up and down in unison. As the team is introduced people light fireworks and colored flares and the stadium looks like it is on fire. Then they unroll a giant banner over the craziest section that covers over 5000 people. The opposing fans stand in a small section surroinded by barbed wire and police in full riot gear. The games was non-stop chanting and singing and Boca won 2-1 as to avoid rioting.
The tango show was an exact opposite of the Boca game but was also a highlight. For $20 USD we got a 3 course meal, all you can drink wine, beer, and soda, live music, and a live tango show. Apparently people paid double what we did for the tickets so it was pretty awesome! The down side to all of this is that somewhere in Argentina I picked up a killer head cold. I'm pretty dead right now (our flight left at 6 AM) and I need to be better by tommorow for class so I'm off to sleep. Hope everyone is fantastic!

Buenos Aires

2006-09-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I leave Santiago tommorow night for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Friday is a day off for me and we are allowed 3 travel absenses so instead of staying here for the long weekend I'm going to use a couple of absenses and travel to Argentina with two guys from my residencia. We got really cheap air fare and can stay in hostels for about 5 bucks a night, should be a good time! In any event I'll be basck in Santiasgo on Sunday and will let ya'll know how my first trip here goes! Have a fantastic week!

Downtown!

2006-09-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

It was another eventful weekend in Santiago! (I have a feeling I am going to be having a lot of them) Both weekends now we have headed to the Plaza del Armas which is pretty much the center of town. It's the site of the first congress, Santiago's central church, the former presidential residence, and has a lot of historical ties. On the weekends people descend upon it for street performers, vendors, artists, and completos. Today's picture is of a group of performers that have become famous for their rapid spinning and timed drumming. They come frighteningly close to you and seem to have little control over where they are going, so it's kind of scary. I think you can find videos of them on youtube if you look around a bit. (I could just post a link but then I have to find them, way too much work) The coolest thing that you can find in the Plaza del Armas is the giant healing snail. You kind find these booths set up on most street corners in the Plaza that sell creams made from rare giant snails to heal acne, boils, headaches, hangovers, bad vision, unwanted spots, moles, and unpleasant scents. These snails are (and I kid you not) about the size of my fore-arm. I'm hoping to hold one and take a picture with it next weekend, I assure you it is utterly revolting.

Mayo

2006-08-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

While I'm at it, enjoy the Mayo!

Santiago; City of Smog

2006-08-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!
School is going well, the classes are pretty easy but I already have busy work in Spanish. I feel like Spanish worksheets keep me from going and and actually learning through using my Spanish, this study abroad thing would be a lot cooler without school! (Just kidding mom and dad) Today Pastor Erikson (the ELS pastor who services Santiago) and his wife took me out to lunch and up to their house which is in the hills about the city. This was an interesting experience because I have only been able to see the hills twice the past week. The smog is so thick here that it is nearly impossible to see the mountains from anywhere in the city. Apparently, it was a bad idea to put over 6 million people in a valled surrounded by massive mountains! Thanks to some rain and a higher altitude however, I was able to take some decent pictures of Santiago from high up. I've included this helpful photo that I took to give ya'll a better idea of how spread out the area is. My commute to school takes anywhere from a half hour to 45 minutes every day but the metro ride is pretty enjoyable. It is by far the cleanest public transportation I have ever seen. I have only seen trash on the metro once and within 5 minutes someone swept it up, it's almost kind of annoying. This is becoming a rambling post and I am quite tired so for now Adios!

First day of school, Skeletor, and 007

2006-08-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well summer is now officially over as I have one day of school under my belt. Classes seem pretty relaxed here and I don't think they will be very difficult which it indeed good news. Being in school here makes me feel like I am in 5th grade again. The desks are extremely small, you can write your essays by hand, and we go on field trips throughout the year. All I need is a Heman lunch pale and I am set. ("Heman! By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!" That line always makes me think of the opening service that Apostles Lutheran School used to have which would close with Pastor Mahnke saying, "By the power vested in me I declare the school year open...Heman!") I'll keep today's post short but I will let it be known that my name is nearly impossible for Chileans to say. My professors today called me Bogahn, Voghan, and Vaugone. Everyone in the residencia thinks my name is Bond which is hilarious for them. I'm off to do some homework (blah) but I hope everyone is fantastic!

Completo fattening

2006-08-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!
Orientation from the USAC program is over and I am on my own now! Things have been going very well and I am meeting a lot of people. I've been exploring around the city the last two days with this guy from my USAC program and a Spaniard who has lived in my residencia for 3 months. The nights here are extremely late. People don't eat dinner till around 9 or 10. The clubs are all empty till around 1 and are most crowded around 2, most people don't go home until around 4. This has made for some exhausting evenings and it is definately not a habit that I'm going to pick up. Chilean food is also something that I don't expect to follow too much. I'm sure you have never seen a Chilean restaraunt in the states, and there is a good reason for that. Not all Chilean food is terrible, but most of it is really disguisting. Today I had a Completo, a dish that you see on every street in Santiago. A completo is basically a hotdog smothered with a heap of peeled tomato (Chileans peel everything even if it isnt neccesary), onions, and a disguisting amount of mayo. The people here use mayonnaise like it's salt. They sell it in giant bags in the grocery store attached to a tiny box of crackers. All in all the Chilean diet is pretty grody! I think that by the time I leave I may actually give in and hit up some "American" restaraunts.

El Primer

2006-08-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Buenos Dias and greetings friends! Welcome to my blog (yes nerdy I know but also highly convenient) Chilin' in Chile. I figure that instead of having to e-mail everybody the same stories and progress I would use a blog to let ya'll know how my semester in Santiago is going. It's been a busy first two days in town. We arrived yesterday morning at 7 AM and went to a hotel for our orientation. We had a lot of free time so a group of us that had origionally met in San Francisco deceided we would walk half an hour to the nearest mall to figure out how to get cell phones. Unfortunately, the enitre group was terrible at Spanish and only me and one other girl were able to communicate and succesfully figure out a plan. That was an awesome intro to the country to be able to communicate and get what I want with little effort. Reality kicked in today however and I realized that I don't really know that much Spanish. Most of the kids on the program are staying with families but that creeped me out (sounds like a horror movie waiting to happen) so I chose a residencia which is kind of like an extended stay hostel (a horror movie that has already happened). As everyone was meeting their families at the hotel I jumped in a taxi to head to the building. I got by fine in the taxi but as soon as I arrived at the residencia it was as if I had never even heard spanish in the first place. The woman who met me spoke very quickly and with a thick Chilean accent which is confusing as they don't often use the "s" sound and drop a lot of endings to their words. Very quickly she realized I was terrible at Spanish, however I could understand well enough to tell that the rest of the time we spoke she would toss in the occasional gringo insult. My room is small with dimensions similiar to that of a prison cell and even features bars to keep me in as seen in the above photo. In any event I'm doing wonderfully and I've enjoyed Chile so far!