Mountians: Andes, hiking, food, homework...

Wow, it has been a VERY long time since I updated my blog. There has been lots going on, hence the lack of time to blog...

I'll start where I left off in my last entry.

2 weeks ago, I went to a cueca perfomance with my mom and sister at the theater in the center of town. Cueca is the national dance of Chile but they only really dance it for the Fiestas Patrias (equivalent to our Fourth of July). It was a free show so my mom and sister got there early and saved me a seat b/c I was working on a group project. When I got to the theater about 15 minutes before the performance the doors were shut and people were crowded around the entrance. They weren't letting anyone in, all the seats had been filled. I called my mom and she came down to get me. Eventually I made by way to the front of the crowd and was allowed in since my mom was there and already had a seat for me. The performance lasted 2 hours and featured cueca from each of the different regions of Chile. Each region has there own variation of cueca, according to my mom and sister. The next day we were suppose to have a cueca lesson at school but the instrutor never showed up.

On Tuesday I went with Kari and her host sister to trapecio. It is like gymnasts with a circus twist. First we did warm ups, then some arm exercises with elastic bands, tumbling exercises, trapeze and tela (not sure what it is in English but it is the green fabric in the photo). It is fun but hard. I have never done gymnastics before so it is all very new.

On Wednesday night some of us headed to Valparaiso for the fisherman's fogata (bonfire). It was pretty much a huge fish fry and cueca dancing. When we got there is was packed. We tried to find where you could by the tickets to get fish and ended up walking in circles for a long time and everyone was saying it was sold out. Darn! We ended up going across the street to a restuarant. It was a disaster. First of all, it took them an eternity to bring the menus. Then they were out of empanadas which is what a bunch of us wanted. We placed our order and 2 people got their food and we all got our drinks. Well, at least half an hour later the rest of the food hadn't shown up. It took awhile to flag down our waitress and then we were informed that they didn't have anymore potatoes to make fries and as for the fish we ordered who knows. We paid for our drinks and left. We met up with some other people from CSB/SJU who got to the fogata later than we did, aparently they had just enjoyed fish at the fogata and they got it for free!! I guess it wasn't our lucky night. We went and hung out a little more at the fogata and a couple of the guys danced the cueca which some Chileans so that was entertaining.

Part of the Chorrillos gang (Chorrillos is the neighborhood we live in)

The crowd at the fogata

Fish fry

Waiting for our food

Enjoying one of the two plates that actually came

A neat mural at the restaurant

Dancing cueca

Fiestas Patrias were September 18 & 19. Many schools have the whole week off but we had class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Our history prof told us that places usually close down on Wednesday afternoon at the very latest. The university closed at 1:00 on Wednesday but since we don't have class after 12:15 so we didn't benefit from this and only got Thursday and Friday off. On Thursday I went to an "asado" or bbq with my family. We went to a family friends house in Miraflores Alto (I live in Miraflores Bajo). Lunch started out with empanadas, they were pretty little and by the time the day was over, I think I ate 4 or so. They are delicious. Once the women were ready we all sat down to enjoy the feast: bread- of course, salad, potatoes, tomatoe, avocado, corn, mixed vegetables, beef, chicken, pork, ave (bird of some sort), choripan (my favorite- little red sausages that you eat on bread like a hot dog but a million times better) and probably more that I don't remember at the moment. Then it was time for tea and dessert. There ice cream and apple cake. I chose ice cream but later in the afternoon they brought out the cake so of course I had some too. After tea, we cleared the table and chairs away and got ready to dance the cueca. It was quite entertaining. My dad is very good at the cueca and danced a lot. The grandpa and dad of the other family were really funny and ended up making "instruments" out of some hubcaps and a toolbox- I'm pretty sure we were in a workshop or garage. The grandpa was really cute and liked to talk. After dancing it was time to eat some more- empanadas, meat, cake, tea... According to my dad, it was a day to eat, drink and have fun, perfect :)

I only have a few pics the asado and they are not very good- sorry I wish I had taken more but I forgot.

The grandpa and mom of the house we visited dancing the cueca

My dad and sister

The grandpa and my sister dancing

Some meat, bread and empanadas waiting to be eaten after the big feast

Choripan :)

Friday was more laid back. It was the armed forces day and there was a huge parade in Santiago. I spent a good part of the day reading for my literature class, it was thrilling let me tell you. After having "once" with my family I went to the Sporting Club with a couple friends were a small carinval type event was set up. Our first stop was the food vendors. There was a huge row of booths set up where they were selling empanadas, choripan, and antecuchos (shiskabobs). I got an antecucho and it was absolutely wonderful. I also helped my friend finish his empanada that he ordered but didn't want to finish. Then we wondered around looking at the stands selling everything from A to Z. We chose not to go on any rides and headed home.

Saturday started out pretty early. I left home around 7:30 to meet up with some friends and catch a bus to Limache. After standing on Avenida Alvarez for awhile we didn't see any buses going to Limache. The metro station opened up so we thought, perfect we'll just hop on the metro but the first train to Limache was in an hour and a half so that wasn't going to work. Finally we decided to cross the bridge to Uno Norte and immediately found a bus to Limache. From there we got on another bus to Olmue. Our destination: the national park Cerro La Campana. When we got to Olmue I got a call from one of my friends who was already there. They were going to start hiking in about 15 minutes. The rangers said they had to start soon if they wanted to do the entire hike and of course that was the plan. We hurried as fast as we could and made it just in time. The last group was still half an hour away so we ended up starting without them. (Every neighborhood travelled to the park together so there was three separate groups that all met up). We knew it was suppose to be a long hike but had no idea what we had gotten our selves into. It was a perfect day, sunny but not too warm. The majority of the trail was very rocky and uneven. With every step the view just got better and better. Once we got to a point where we could see the snowcapped Andes, we knew we had to make it to the top. Once at the top you could see the ocean to the left and the Andes to the right. It was awesome. It was a 7k hike up to the top of the mountain which doesn't sound like too much but it was not easy going. The first 5k took just as long as the last 2k. The hike up took 3.75 hours and the hike down 3.25 hrs. We were absolutely exhausted by the time we got to the bottom of the mountain. My legs were simply on autopilot, I couldn't really feel them anymore. On the way out of the park we encountered some stray cows, it was a bit frightening. A little while later we saw this huge, hairy spider on the rode. It look like a tarantula but I don't know if they have those here. Anyway it was creepy. Then we all piled on a bus and headed to Limache to grab some dinner. We found a little shop and got burgers and sandwiches. I got a burger and it was very good. Of course being in Chile, the burger came with tomato and avocado :) I have noticed that burgers here are not made with beef. It looks more like pork, whatever it is, it tastes good. Unfortunately this restaurant didn't have french fries and some of us wanted something to complement our burgers so we headed to a pasteleria. I got two pastries b/c I couldn't decide what to get. The first one was a sweet roll with manjar and chocolate jimmies on top. There must have been something else in it to or maybe a glaze holding the jimmies on b/c the top half had a different flavor to it. Unfortunately it looked better than it tasted. My second pastry was a manjar filled jelly roll. It was simple but good. We caught the last tren back to Vina at 10:30 and I got a little nap in before crashing at home.

My much needed rest did not last for very long. 3.5 hours to be exact. On Sunday I got up at 3:30 so I could pack up for a day of skiing in the Andes. We were meeting at the bus station at 4:45 to go to Santiago. Seeing as it was 4:30 in the morning when I left my house, my dad decided to drive me to the bus terminal. On the way we picked up 2 of my friends. When we got to Santiago, the metro was not open yet so we piled into taxis to get to where our shuttle bus was waiting to take us up to the mountain. The ride to the ski hill seemed to take forever! I don't honestly remember how long it was but a couple hours at any rate. We knew we were getting close when we reached a point called the 40 curves. It was 40 hairpin turns up the mountain. The funny thing is, each curve was numbered, we got a kick out of that. Luckily none of us got sick on the way up but on the way back we stopped after the 40 curves for a fresh air break. We finally made it to the top of the mountain. Our ski resort was called El Colorado. First we put all our stuff in lockers and then headed over to the equipment shack. They had our boots waiting for us (we got a package deal that included tranportation from Santiago, lunch and equipment). I got some cool purple boots that were very comfortable. Soon we were out the door and ready to ski. It was a warm day and I was definately over dressed. After the first run I discarded the mittens and sweatshirt. (I still had on a couple shirts and a sweater) The first run was quite interesting. One of my friends had skied before but didn't quite remember how to stop, lets just say there were a couple classic wipe outs with skis and poles flying everywhere. Nobody was hurt so that was good. Once we made it down the hill I sent her to find one of our other friends at the ski school. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. The snow was skicky which made it easy to go slow and take it easy, just the way I like it. At one point, two other friends and I decided to go to the top of the hill/mountain. In order to do that we had to use the T bars, they are not fun. For all of you who don't know what a T bar is, it is a type of tow rope that has a t shaped bar, you rest your behind on one of the two sides and hold onto the middle and it pulls you up the mountain. I found it quite awkward to dismount. Once at the top, we thought we were done for. The view was amazing (snowcapped mountains all around) but the hill looked way steeper from this angle. Somehow we made it down in one piece and decided not to venture that way again. After such an eventful run it was time for lunch- burgers, chips and pop. The rest of the afternoon flew by and before we knew it we were returning our equipment. We ended up getting to the bus terminal an hour early but nobody had any energy to go explore so we just sat around and waited for the bus which ended up being late.

Once again I do not have many photos, this time b/c I did not bring my camera skiing since I did not have any zipper pockets to keep it in.

Before the first run

On Monday morning I found out that the little bit of sunscreen I put on before the first run wasn't quite enough. Well, maybe it was but I missed a few spots. My chin and the area between my nose and lips are just beginning to look presentable. They were red, blistery and peely and no amount of aloe seemed to help.

This week was much less eventful. I worked a lot on homework. Senior sem always requires a lot of reading and writting an essay. This week we were allowed more words for our prompt- like that was suppose to make us happy or something. Our profs are pretty picky about the word count. For literature this week we had to read a ton and write an essay. This class is always a bit challenging because the prof is very analytical.

On Thursday I went to sailing. Unlike the last time we went there was virtually no wind. We ended up learning about different types of Regatas and watching some video clips online and didn't actually get to sail. Oh-well, next time I guess.

On Friday, we took off right after class (12:30) to go to Santiago. Our first stop was the central market. It was pretty much just seafood and fish. There was a lot of interesting things such as octopus, eel and squid. There were a bunch of restaurants in the market and we walked around trying to decided where to go. Everyone was trying to get you to eat at their restaurant. At one point we pretty much had two guys fighting over our group, it was kinda intense. Next stop was the public library. We got a tour and then saw an exhibit on memory and the disappearances in Argentina. This goes along with what we have been studying in Senior Sem. The tour of the library was interesting. It sounds like public libraries are scarce here b/c the tour guide (librarian) said that by 2010 they hope to have a public library like the one in Santiago in each of the regions in Chile. After the library we went to an artisan community. The only problem is we arrived at 7:00 and most of the little shops were closed. At 8:00 it was time to leave for our final destination- the UAI campus in Santiago. We were going to watch the presidential debate. We were all given clickers and throughout the debate answered a series of questions. It was a bit caotic getting the whole clicker system up and running before the debate started. There were a lot of students there, at least one hundred I would guess plus other people just to wathc. Throughout the debate there were newspeople filming and taking photos. Some people said their families saw them on the news. Pretty cool. After a post debate discussion it was time to head home. I was able to sleep for awhile on the bus and got home around 2 AM. Luckily the bus dropped us off near our houses so we didn't have to find some way home at 2 in the morning.

Vamos Chile

Last Wednesday I went to my first professional soccer game. It was Chile vs. Colombia. I am pretty sure Colombia was suppose to win but Chile dominated and won 4-0 :) Soccer is the favorite sport here, and in the vast majority of Latin America, so the crowds were absolutely amazing. I don't think the cheering ever stopped. We all know a few Chilean cheers by heart now! We all went to the game decked out in our cheap Chile jerseys that we bought at random places on the street. Ever since the beginning of September there have been tons of vendors selling Chilean flags, traditional outfits, etc because September 18-19 are the fiestas patrias (like our fourth of July). It is a huge deal here and everyone is getting ready. There are red, white and blue (Chile's flag is red, white and blue) streamers popping up everywhere. A lot of the buses, taxis, stores and stands have streamers and or flags on them. It is really neat to see all the spirit and how excited everyone gets. Back to soccer- Upon entering the stadium they were handing out thunder sticks and these funny red hair hats so by the time we reached our seats we were more than ready to cheer on the Chilean team. We arrived about 2 hours before the game started, I'm not sure why we got there so early but oh-well. We got to watch the end of a women's game so that was neat. When the men came out to warm up we noticed that it was raining in the distance feeling pretty lucky that we were not getting rained on. About 5 minutes later we were getting drenched!! It poured for a good half hour, making sure we were thoroughly wet just in time for the sun to set. Nevertheless we had a great time. The game flew by in a flurry of cheering, getting covered in confetti, eating candied peanuts, manjar treats and huge turkey/tomato/avocado sandwiches.

On Wednesday I also went to get my Chilean identity card. After class, a friend and I headed to the Registro Civil. We took our numbers and sat down. They were on number 13, we had 51 and 52. Since we had a bit of time to kill and were hungry we headed to a pasteleria we had passed/smelled on the way. I got a pastry that was probably as big as my head and worth every bite. It was two disks of sweet bread with manjar/dulce de leche in the center. I have found my new favorite dessert!! Luckily we didn't have to wait very long upon returning to the station. The whole process was easy- give them a few forms, address, phone #, take picture, get fingerprinted and cough up some pesos. I am not a fan of fingerprinting- you are left with ten sticky, smelly, black fingers. They gave us some lotion stuff and a tiny paper to clean our fingers but that only went so far. I definately went straight to the sink when I got home. Now we get to go back on September 30 to pick up our cards- a bday present from the state of Chile :)

On Thursday Kari and I made the journey to Con Con for sailing. On the bus ride there we noticed that there were white caps on the ocean. Last week it was certainly not this windy. All we could think about was how we were going to capsize the boat. We were kinda hoping that we wouldn't have to sail and would just have classroom instruction today but when we got there the instructor said we were going out. As we climbed in the dingy Kari and I grinned at each other- Uh-oh, written across our faces. It was going to be a wet day. Luckily for us, the instructor decided that we should just watch for the day since it was only our second time. We were saved. Three of the other guys, who have been sailing for awhile, all tipped multiple times. I can't even imagine how cold it must have been. Hopefully next week will be calmer so we can actually sail.

On Friday morning we met at the bus terminal at 7:00 AM to go to Santiago. It was difficult to get up at 5:45 on a Friday morning when I am used to having class 11:00. When we got to Santiago, we hopped on the metro and went to the Fundacion Vicaria de la Solidaridad. It was formed during the military coup to give aid to the victims. The foundation now has archives on over 45,000 citizens they helped/ were victims of the coup. Before we knew it we were off to visit Villa Grimaldi- Parque Por La Paz (peace park). The park was a torture site during the coup but now has been turned into a memorial. It is protected so they cannot destroy it, so the memory cannot be forgotten.

We ended up taking too long on this tour so when we got to the center plaza we ended up having a 10 minute history lesson by our history prof instead of an hour. Our next stop was El Palacio de La Moneda or the Chilean equivalent to the White House. We could not be late. Before entering we had to give them our passports and go through security. It was kinda intense. There were guards everywhere you looked. At one point while we were wainting, the guards at the front door changed. It was interesting to watch. Their movements are so stiff and straight. Once we got in, we took a short tour. Starting in the court yard, then the chapel and then a few other rooms. Our tour guide was a short funny old guy which made the tour fun. By this time most of us just wanted to get to the hostel and rest but we had one more stop left.

The Pinochet Foundation was our last stop of the day. Right away they served us cookies and coffee- this pretty much made up for the fact that we all wanted to be at the hostel. After our snack we watched a video and then listened to a guy who was a general during Pinochet's rule, during the time of the coup. It was very interesting to hear his side of the story- quite different from what we have learned so far. Finally we boarded the bus and once again went to the metro. We got on a rode for 13 or so stops.Way too many when we were all hot and hungry. Then we walked a couple blocks to the hostel. After dumping our backpacks we headed out in search of dinner. Being able to leave our backpacks behind was amazing. We had been carrying them around all day long. I'm not sure what all I had in my backpack but it was certainly too heavy. (I'm glad I don't have tons of heavy books to carry around this semester) I went to a little restaurant with 4 other people. Three of the girls got sandwiches, another got pizza and I had chicken and salad. We don't eat a ton of meat here so all I really wanted was a big piece of chicken and that is what I got. After dinner we went to Santa Isabel (grocery store) to get snacks and drinks for that evening and the next day's adventures. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a little store to get ice cream bars. Mine was pistachio ice cream covered in chocolate and pistachio pieces. It was good. It was one of those things you just had to try b/c pretty much every street corner has an ad for this ice cream. It is a strange ad with a lady wearing lime green lip stick and eye shadow. Back at the hostel we played cards and talked for awhile before going to bed. I was in a room with one other girl. She got the queen sized bed and I got a bunk bed all to myself, hehe.

This morning I woke up to the lovely sound of traffic and proceded to flip flop for the next hour and a half before heading down for breakfast which was luckily different than my usual bowl of cornflakes and fruit. The hostal provided us with piles of crackers, meat and cheese, bread with jam and cookies- yes cookies for breakfast. Naturally I devoured it all, not knowing when or where my next meal would be. Oh and of course I drank about 5 cups of tea. Our first stop today was the central cemetary. It was enormous!! Our literature prof gave us a walking tour and said it was about 30 acres. The cemetary was really interesting. It is so different from any cemetary in the states. Many of the graves and like these little houses or chapels where they bury whole families. Others are walls filled with slots. There are also grave sites like we have in the states. The cemetary is almost like a city with different neighborhoods because the different types of graves are clustered together forming distinct "neighborhoods."

After the cemetary it was time to get back on the metro. We made our way to Barrio Bellavista (a Bohemian neighborhood) where we were turned loose for an hour to have lunch. A group of 6 of us went to a restaurant with typical Chilean food. Two of the girls got pastel de choclo like we had in Pomaire, two others got empanadas and fries (the hugest plate ever), another got a sandwich and I got two gaint sausages with fries. Little did I know the side of fries was going to be the size of Texas. I just remembered having this type of sausage (cannot remember the name) at the asado and in Pomaire and loving it. I also was in the mood for fries, what a healthy lunch, I know. Somehow I ate it all, I wish I had taken a picture. All the portions at this restaurant were huge. The two girls who got choclo could easily have shared one and we should have just shared my fries between everyone. I was still extremely full when I got back home 6 hours later. After lunch we went to La Chascona which is one of Pablo Neruda's houses. He was a famous Chilean poet. The house was really cool but you were not allowed to take any pictures inside :( After the tour we were able to wander around for awhile. I went to a few little artsy shops and then sat in a park and chatted. After another long metro ride we hopped on the bus back to Vina and I slept the whole way.

popcorn and pig pots

Last night I decided to go to a movie called "se busca" with another girl who lives in my neighborhood. We hopped on a bus and went to the mall, getting there just minutes before the movie was suppose to start. We rush up to the third floor only to find out we were at the wrong theater. There are two theaters in the mall, really I think they are two malls that are connected by a skyway only that happened to be locked since it was 10:00. Eventually we made it to the second theater and bought our tickets. Upon walking into the theater I immediately smelt what I thought was kettle corn... and to my delight, my nose was right! Kettle corn at the movie theater- what could be better. Upon walking into the movie we see a bullet flying towards us (0n the screen of course). Little did we know that the movie was about an assassin fraternity, lets just say the previews didn't really tell the whole story. It was a good movie, just a bit more intense than we expected. Taking the bus home turned out to be an adventure. We got on a bus that said Miraflores (b/c that is where I live). The only problem was is that it was coming from Miraflores, not going to Miraflores. Anyway, we ended up in Valpo, had to get off for about five minutes while the driver took a smoke break and then he picked us up again. In the end we got an hour long tour instead of a direct ride home.

On Friday afternoon, I made banana bread for my family. About a week ago we were talking and somehow banana bread came up. They had never heard of it before and since it seems like a staple in our household and as CSB I decided to had to make it. It turned out well, maybe a little overdone but they loved it!! Next cooking/baking adventure- peanut butter cookies.

Today the whole group went to Pomaire. We left at 10 am and returned around 8 pm. Apparently I mis-read our itinerary because I thought Pomaire was half an hour away when in reality it was at least a two hour bus ride. The ride was beautiful but long. Pomaire is a neat little town that is simply overflowing with pottery- pots, pots and more pots. It is all insanely cheap too, I wanted to buy everything but decided that filling my suitcase with piggy banks, pots, vases, plates, turtle shaped planters, chicken cassrole dishes, etc might not be the best idea. Pig pottery was absolutely everywhere, not exactly sure why but apparently they must be important in Pomaire. I did end up buying a pig sugar dish, for a whoping $2.

After wondering the streets for awhile we headed to a restaurant for lunch. It was an amazing meal but I could hardly walk out of the restaurant b/c I ate so much. We started with the hugest empanadas ever (turnover filled with diced meat, onions, olive, raisins and a piece of hard-boiled egg) They were very good, much better than the little cheese empanadas I had at the shopping mall food court.

Next came the pastel de choclo (a typical Chilean summer dish. Ground corn and meat, chopped onions small pieces of chicken, pieces of hard boiled egg, olive raisins - baked in clay or regular oven. Similar to a shepherd pie). Once again very good. This was probably my favorite part of the meal.

Then came the parradillas- the hugest amount of grilled meat you have ever seen! These can be beef, chicken, pork or sausage. Ours today were all pork (chops, ribs, etc) and sausages, going along with the pig theme I guess. After three or four different kinds of meat I was feeling quite full. There was also salad and amazing rolls to go with the meat.

To everyone's surprise we were not done once they cleared away the parradillas. We still had desert!Personally I was hoping for something chocolatey but instead we got mote- cooked dried peaches and stewed barley served as a drink. Not my favorite but all the chileans (some profs from the university and the bus drivers) loved it.

After lunch we went to a pottery studio where we watched a short presentation about how they make pottery from begining (digging up the dirt, making the clay, etc) to end (firing and glazing). Then we watched a guy make some bowls and a candle holder. He was amazing!

After the quick demonstration, we all got to hop on a wheel and make a bowl. With some help from our expert, most of us succeeded in making a bowl, vase, or ashtray.

My bowl (I had a little help)