A week in Chillan

The week started out with a walk to Chillan Viejo which is where the center of Chillan used to be before it was flattened by an earthquake in the 1930s. It’s less than a mile from where we live and there is a plaza, a park and a small museum/cultural center. It was nice to see where Chillan Viejo was since I’d heard it mentioned many times. Later that day Sister Mimi was cleaning out the freezer and showed me three 9x13 containers full of frozen raspberries!! So naturally I went and looked up a recipe for raspberry crisp and made one to have with our dinner. It turned out great and hardly lasted 2 days! (I’d say that’s a sign that the others liked it too!)

Tuesday classes started again at Casa Ursulina (after the break for the independence day celebrations). In the morning there was a wool working class where the women spin yarn from wool. It was interesting and we helped get some of the wool ready to spin. After lunch we went out to the rural town of Piedra Lisa where every other week Sister Mimi and a couple women from the house take projects and teach the women different skills. They have been teaching weaving for a little while now and the women are getting quite good. They teach the class in a rural school that has about 18 students. Kym and I met the students and if we stay here in Chillan will most likely go out there and do activities with them. On the way home we road part way with one of the women in her two wheeled horse drawn cart. It was a fun, new experience.

On Wednesday I played in the Sala Cuna (daycare room) with all the little kids that come with while their moms go to classes. It was a lot of fun and we did a lot of different activities: coloring, playing with legos, reading stories, playing with dolls, etc. The kids are very cute and for the most part well behaved.

On Thursday there was a reflexology class. I went to see went it was all about and was made a “victim” meaning someone practiced the reflexology techniques they had learned on me and as a result I got a really nice foot massage :D In the afternoon there were classes for weaving, home decoration (wall hangings, embroidered cushions, etc) and policromía (not sure what the English translation would be but they take statues, boxes or other things, apply a layer of plaster and sometimes texture of some sort and then paint the object). I spent time in each of the classes and ended with weaving were they were celebrating one of the women’s birthday with the hugest cake I’ve ever seen! (it was not only impressive to look at but also very tasty!)

Friday morning we worked in the greenhouse (a very small one by the side of the house) with Ale and planted tomatoes, lettuce and green peppers. After planting everything we ripped up some cabbage leaves and spread them around our newly planted plants in hopes that this will keep the snails away! If this doesn’t work, the snails will get more of a feast than we will :( Later that day Kym and I went to town. We wandered through the central market and then went looking for shops. Oddly Chillan is filled with thrift stores that sell nothing but American clothes! The prices for the most part are good, I only got a light sweatshirt but envision myself going back in the future as I discover what my clothing needs are. After dinner we watched Forrest Gump. I had never seen it before and thought it was very good.

Yesterday we went to a mass for a priest (Raul) celebrating the 60th anniversary of his ordination. After the mass there was a reception where Raul said a few words and then gave this toast “Drinking makes you happy, when you are happy you don’t sin, and by not sinning you are saved… so if drinking makes you happy, and when you are happy you don’t sin, and when you don’t sin you are saved, LET’S DRINK!” After that the crowd burst out laughing! Apparently after his first mass 60 years ago, another priest gave this same toast. After that we went over to Maria Erica’s house for lunch. She teaches the baking class at Casa Ursulina and is a good friend of the Sisters. We started out with coffee and cookies right after we got there. A little while later came punch and little fried cheese empanadas, of course they made about a million of these little empanadas so each of us ate a lot! Then for the actual meal we each had a huge piece of fish, potatoes, salad and bread. Everything was delicious. After we had eaten our fill Maria Erica brought out ice cream. Of course I thought we were done at this point but I was wrong. She then came out with a Tres Leches cake so we each had a piece of that. Needless to say we pretty much rolled home after all that food !

This morning I woke up to the wind howling outside my window. The news had been predicting lots of wind and they were right! Sister Ruth made French toast for brunch. It was amazing plus I smothered mine in raspberries so it was extra delicious. In the afternoon we went over to the church about a block away from the house to wait for the procession that would be coming through town. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patron Saint of Chile and today there was a procession through town honoring her which ended in Chillan Viejo with a mass in the plaza. We started at the church and walked behind the priests and others carrying flags and a cross all the while singing and praying the rosary (there was a load speaker hooked up to a truck leading the group). When we got to the main procession route we waited there until the rest of the procession came by. Other churches had joined the procession along the way, each carrying banners and/or flags. By the time the procession came by where we were standing it was raining pretty hard. Most of the people in the procession did not have umbrellas but kept walking anyway. Unlike most of the others in our group, we did not join the procession but instead headed home after the end of the procession passed by.

This week I started running again. It has been a very long time since I have run on a regular basis so it felt great to start running again. This week I ran four times. Even though I was hoping to run more, it’s a good starting point. As soon as I get settled somewhere I am going to look for some other activity to join… something to get me out of the house and involved in physical activity and meet friends. Perhaps rowing, circus or tennis.

The pictures are as follows: making empandas (me), Casa Ursulina, the church we go to (we can't actually enter the building shown because it was damaged in the earthquake but it's a national monument so it will be restored, mass is held in a partially finished community hall next to the church), pictures from the procession, a typical picture from the artesania part of the central market in Chillan, Kym and I in front of a church in the center of town, pictures from the plaza in Chillan Viejo.

Fiestas, Food and Fun

Last Wednesday we went up the street to the church where the abuelitos (elderly people or “grandparents”) eat lunch once a week. Previous volunteers have gone to spend time with them, chat and play games after they have lunch. They seemed like a fun bunch and if we decide to stay here in Chillan we will most likely spend time with them.
Later that day we went to a neighbor’s house because it was one of her daughter’s birthdays. Sister Mimi is her godmother and has a really good relationship with the family. When we got there the birthday girl (Camilla) and all her friends were playing Uno so Kym and I joined in. After awhile all the kids left and we sat around eating snacks and talking. It was a very low key party but it was definitely fun spending time with the family and getting to know them. Everyone was very nice and I look forward to getting to know them better.
On Thursday we went to town with Ale (a woman who helps clean and does other things at Casa Ursulina). She showed us where the important places are such as the post office, banks, theather, etc. We also went to the market and bought all sorts of good stuff: avocados, clementines, lemons, lettuce, artichokes, etc. It was fun to go into town and I look forward to going another time when it isn’t so crowded (everyone was in town preparing for the weekend’s festivities).
On Friday we went out to the campo (country) to visit a lady (Sandra) who attends workshops at Casa Ursulina in Chillan but spends her weekends in the campo. The town is only about 45 minutes away so it didn’t take too long to get there. On the farm there were a bunch of baby lambs, chickens, ginny hens and goats. Before lunch we walked around the farm, caught a baby lamb to hold and talked with Sandra’s daughter. After a huge lunch we all took a siesta which was very nice. After everyone had woken up we went back out to see the sheep and goats because it was time for them to come into their pen for the night. I thought it was really cute how the lambs cry out when they get separated from their mother and then the mom and baby proceed to play a version of Marco Polo until they find each other in the clump of sheep, it’s hard to explain but very amusing to watch! Before leaving we had onces- tea and coffee, bread with jam and cookies.
Saturday was a big day! September 18th is Chile’s independence day and this year is the bicentennial! Viva Chile!! In the morning we went into town and watched a parade. It was pretty much your average parade but with short presentation of La Cueca (the national dance) and lots of Huasos (Chilean cowboys). After the parade a big military helicopter flew overhead and dropped what looked like a ton of confetti but it was actually a bunch of bicentennial bookmarks. Later that night around 8:30 we went over to Carola’s house (same family we visited earlier this week for the birthday) to help make empanadas. Kym and I made lots of empanadas which was fun. Other people were busy making salad, potatoes and grilling meat. Around 10:00 or later everyone (at least 25 people) sat down at a huge table out back to eat. After 3 empanadas, a huge helping of mashed potatoes and salad I was ready to burst! It was all very good and I have to say they were the best empanadas I’ve ever eaten! It may have to do with the fact that these empanadas where fried whereas all the others I’ve eaten have been baked in the oven but I also feel like this dough was extra good and different from what I’ve eaten in the past. As soon as everyone finished eating the dancing began. There was lots of Cueca to begin with but later it was “free dance" time. I eventually danced a little and Kym and I learned (more or less) how to dance la Cueca. It’s not terribly hard but I can’t say I’m any good at it. After lots of talking, dancing and laughing Carola and her husband walked Kym and I home around 4:30 am. It was a great night and fun to meet lots of new people.

Below are pictures of the sheep and goats (the goats reminded us of the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff"!), dancing la Cueca (the little girl in pink has a twin sister and they really can dance!), friends from the party, Carola's relative dressed as a Huaso (Chilean cowboy), and Kym with her first empanada (she has pictures of me making empanadas on her camera but she is sleeping so those will come later...)

Adventures in Santiago

Last week we had our first visit to the women’s center in Renca (a neighborhood of Santiago). I don’t have the information with me right now but they have workshops and other services such as social workers, counseling, etc. The focus of the organization is for women who have lived or are living violence. Part of our time there we went to the local feria (farmer’s market) and passed out flyers. I love to go to the ferias and see all the fresh fruits and vegetables :D Later that day we went to another part of town to a community center where Lia teachs a class to teens about HIV/AIDS. We also visited with a group of women who bake and sell bread weekly. They save their bread money to take a vacation. Of course we bought a bunch of bread and it was wonderful! On Thursday we had another free day which was great. After sleeping in we took off to explore the city. We got off the metro near La Moneda which is the Chilean equivalent of the White House. In a plaza behind La Moneda there was a circus show going on so we sat down and watched that for awhile which I really enjoyed! Later that day we went and wandered around the Bella Vista neighborhood and found Pablo Neruda’s house (famous Chilean Poet). We were both quite tired by this point (we had been walking around Santiago for nearly 6 hours) and didn’t tour the house but might go back another day. On our way home we stopped at Blockbuster and rented a DVD. This was an interesting experience… of course we don’t belong to Blockbuster in Chile (or the States) and so we had to sign up before we could rent a movie. Pretty much the only information I could give them was my name… I didn’t have my cell phone on me so I didn’t know the number for that and I didn’t know the address to where we were staying (smart I know…) so they just made up information and let us rent the DVD, hehe. The next day we went back to the jardin to teach English to the little kids. They were practicing dancing La Cueca for their independence day performance, it was adorable! This coming Saturday is a huge day here in Chile because it is their independence day, similar to our 4th of July but this year is the bicentennial so it’s a really big deal! After the jardin we walked around the neighborhood and hung up posters for the women’s center we had visited earlier that week. On Saturday we went over to Gretchen and Lia’s and were going to cook lunch but their floors were being repaired so we ended up going out for pizza and had a good time chatting. After lunch we hung out in the park and later went out to ice cream with Rachel and Chago, it was great to see them :D The next day we did laundry and went over to Gretchen and Lia’s and made the lunch we were planning on making the day before. We made pasta with pesto sauce, broccoli and salad. It actually turned out really good so we were all happy. On Monday we went back to the jardin. The kids are really getting good at animals, colors, clothing and members of the family. They really love singing songs like Old McDonald had a farm (Gretchen and Lia made up a translated version called Tio Sam) and playing games. One of their favorites is “Caminando por el bosque” or Walking through the forest. They put a bunch of toy animals, dolls or other objects on the floor and one kid walks around the circle while everyone sings a song, at the end an English word is called out and they have to pick up the right object. It is really quite funny and the kids love it! After the jardin we went over to Margaret’s house and made lunch. She does a lot of alternative healing for people in the community and has served as a mentor and resource for Gretchen and Lia. It was fun to meet her and we had a good time preparing lunch, even though we did manage to burn some of the rice, oops. Yesterday we spent a long time packing and cleaning up our stuff because we took the 12:45am bus to Chillan. We actually almost missed the bus because it did not say Chillan on it but it was in the same parking place as our bus was suppose to be and had the same departure time… apparently it was continuing further south past Chillan so it had that town listed because it was the final destination… another 10 minutes and we probably would have missed the bus which would have been bad because all transportation going south is pretty much sold out by now due to the independence day celebrations. Anyway, after about five hours of sleeping on and off we made it to Chillan and then took a taxi to Casa Ursulina. Our driver was very nice and waited to make sure we got in the house before he took off. Today consisted of lots of rest. For the past four days I haven’t had much of a voice… other than that I’ve been feeling fine but it’s been a bit annoying not being able to talk normally. Kym felt a little under the weather today and Sister Ruth is getting over being sick so all of us napped, watched tv and otherwise rested pretty much all day. We will actually get a good night’s sleep tonight so that should help. The weather has been a bit chilly and rainy over the past few days but it is suppose to be better for the rest of the week and through the weekend.

Picutres are as follows- the first 3 are of the circus show, the next one is of some decorations for the fiestas patrias on the 18th, then the ladies making bread, the second picture is of their "oven" which heats/cooks from the bottom and top, the next 3 are of the feria- food, holding a sign for the women's center and Kym enjoying a sopaipilla she bought, the green house is where we have been staying in Santiago, next are the little kids learning to dance at the jardin, then there is a picture of one of the metro stops we use a lot and last is a picture of a little playground- seriously these playgrounds are everywhere!

Week one

One week ago today I arrived in Chile, it seems like a long time ago yet every day goes by very fast. It has been a busy week! My trip to Chile was uneventful for the most part so that is good I guess… the only interesting part of my trip down was once we got to customs... The line for customs took at least an hour and the customs person tried to tell me that I needed to pay my reciprocity fee again (I paid it when I came for study abroad) but thankfully another guy convinced her that I was fine (I was told you only have to pay it once and it is good as long as your passport is valid). After that we went to pick up our luggage and my red suitcase had this red and white tape wrapped around it so I was very confused… when we went to scan our luggage they had to search my entire bag because the fruit/food sniffing dog had smelled something on/in my bag. They didn’t find anything because, well, I didn’t try to bring any food into Chile. For future reference if anyone goes to Chile- do not try to bring fruit or nuts of any sort into Chile! They are very strict as to what you can and cannot bring into the country! From the airport we went to the house of a Maryknoll Missioner named Judy. She served us pancakes (they were great!) and then we took a nap before heading down to Chillan for the anniversary of the woman’s center. Maruja (another Maryknoll Missioner from Vilches) drove us down to Chillan which is about 5 hours south of Santiago. Over the next couple days the Woman’s Center was very busy! For the anniversary of the center they have a big exposition where the women show the crafts they have been working on (knitting, felting, quilting, oil painting, crochet, etc). They also made and sold empanadas and lots of pastries :) The next day there was bingo (Chilean style bingo is different than in the US) and completos (hot dogs with mashed avocado, tomato and mayo- very popular here). It was fun meeting a lot of people from the community and getting to know Mimi and Ruth who run the women’s center. They are both Ursuline sisters from the US. One highlight of the woman’s center is that they have six cats!! I immediately made friends with lots of them and almost always had a lap-mate :) While in Chillan, we went to a radio station and they interviewed us (Kym, the other volunteer, and myself) about what we are doing in Chile, why we came, etc… we hadn’t even been in Chile for more than 3 or 4 days and we were already on the radio! After all the excitement at the women’s center we returned to Santiago and started following Gretchen and Lia around on their daily activities (they have been here for a year with the same program and will be here until December). So far we have gone to EPES (Educacion Popular en Salud) which is a public health organization, a jardin (preschool) to teach English and passed out flyers at a market. We also went over to the apartment of one of the other volunteer’s at EPES for an afternoon of Mafia (a game) which was very entertaining especially since it ended up being a bilingual game (there were 6 Americans, 1 Spaniard, 1 Canadian, and 1 Uruguayan). We have also been exploring a little on our own and getting accustomed to the metro and bus systems here. Today was a free day so Kym and I did a little shopping and just explored a lot which was fun especially since it was a beautiful day. We have had great weather so far! Most days it is in the 70s with lots of sun, the mornings and nights are quite cool but a couple layers of clothing is all you need :)

At the airport before I left

Kym and I when we landed in Santiago

At the women's center celebration

Sisters Mimi and Ruth presenting a cake for the celebration :)

Two of my cat buddies! The grey one is my favorite, best lap cat ever!

These are all the pictures I have for now... I haven't been taking my camera everywhere but I promise I'll take more soon.

"Turn your heart inside out and dare to make a difference"

Hola,

In one week I will be leaving to start my 15 month volunteer commitment in Chile through the Humility of Mary Volunteer Service (the title of this blog comes from the "motto" of the volunteer program). It's hard to believe that summer is already over but I am very excited to start this next adventure! Many of you are wondering where exactly I will be going and what exactly I will be doing but the truth is, I don't know for sure. I will either be in Sanitago (the capital), Vilches (a more rural town) or Chillan (a suburb). On the map below, Chillan is near Concepcion and Vilches is between Santiago and Chillan.

Once in Chile my fellow volunteer (Kym) and I will spend a couple weeks in each town getting to know the community and the possible volunteer sites. Volunteer placements range from helping at a women's center to teaching English to young students to working with a public health organization and beyond. There are lots of opportunities so I'm sure we will be able to find many programs and organizations that fit our desires, skills and abilities. Time will tell where we end up and what organizations we will volunteer with- I will be sure to keep you all updated as we explore the communities and our possible volunteer sites.

I'd love to hear from you while I'm in Chile. Since I won't have a permanent home for the first 1.5 -2 months email (eebug87@gmail.com), skype or facebook would be the best modes of communication. I will update with an address once I have one :).

The end is near...

On Friday we had our Thanksgiving dinner at my university here in Chile. As a group we organized the dinner- our director found some turkeys and got menus for turkey, stuffing and gravy and convinced some of the cafeteria staff to cook the birds for us. Each of us students was responsible for bringing either bread, drinks, vegetable, potato dish or dessert. Naturally I decided to bring dessert and made a whole flock of turkey cookies- they were a hit. They are not your normal cut-out cookie. What I did was open up a sandwich cookie, place a chocolate bon bon on one half, stand the other half up behind and use a candy corn for the head. Everything held in place with melted chocolate. Yum. Everyone could bring two guests so my parents came. Unfortunately we got at a table without many people. I hadn’t realized that everyone was claiming spots so we kinda got stuck with the left overs. The food was all good and there was certainly a wide variety of dishes. I loved the candied sweet potatoes but my mom thought they were interesting. She was very surprised that they were sweet, it never occurred to her that you would make them sweet. My dad wasn’t a fan of the pumpkin pie either. Luckily there was a wide variety of desserts that he could choose from but since I got pie I had them try it. All in all, it was a nice night and it was fun to see everyone’s family.
The past 2 weeks in general have been very uneventful. Lots and lots of studying L Two weeks ago when I went to my gymnastics/trapecio class we got a surprise. Instead of doing trapeze, tela and floor rutines like we normally do, we had class outside (there was a performance in the theater) and did danza aerea (air dance??). There were two rock climbing type ropes hanging over the side of the building. You had to go up the rope a bit using a device and then tie yourself in. Then you could do just about anything- flips, spins, cartwheels, hand stands, etc. It was so much fun!! This part of the class is offered every Sunday but Kari and I only go once a week and always on Tuesday or Thursday. I wish we had explored this optition sooner b/c I would have liked to do it.
My Chilean dad is a huge Everton fan (soccer team from Vina) so about 2 weeks ago we went to an Everton game. The game was to decide who would advance to the tournament. Of course Everton had to lose 0-3. Needless to say, my dad was not too happy. It was still fun. I cannot help but laugh every time I see the police at a soccer game. They are all decked out in army green gear and they look like teenage mutant ninja turtles.
As I was walking from the University to the center to catch a bus to service learning 2 weeks ago there was a huge protest/march going on right down the street I needed to catch the bus on and since there were tons of people marching there weren’t any buses running. I called the director of the school I volunteer at to try and figure out if there was an alternate way to get to the school but there really wasn’t. Luckily within 20 minutes the march passed and buses started running again, I made it just in time. Service learning has a good experience but it certainly has not been super easy. The kids can be angels one day and the next week they won’t listen worth beans. They certainly are cute though! Last week I had a Thanksgiving theme for the class and they enjoyed it especially since we spent awhile coloring turkey pictures. I’m glad I chose to work at Escuela Archi, it allowed me to see a whole different part of Vina that I otherwise would not have seen. This school is up on a hill in a more low income neighborhood. This part of Chile reminds me that Chile is still a developing nation. It is weird b/c the area I live in and the places I visit most often are like any first world country but then you go to some neighborhoods and it’s like you are in another country.
After much difficulty I finally made my travel plans for the end of the semester. This Tuesday I decided to be a bit rebellious and I’m going to Punta Arenas (pretty much the end of the world) with three other friends. We will be missing 4 days of class but I decided that was ok. We turned in our final literature essays on Friday (8 page research paper, glad that’s done!) and our enormous history final is tomorrow. My finals for cine and senior seminar are not due until the next week and I’ll have plenty of time to do them. Our cine final is actually a group project and my group is all going to Punta Arenas so we plan to work on it while we travel (airplane, etc). When the semester is over I will be going to Peru for a week. We will be spending a few days in Cusco and then I’m doing a 4 day Inca Trail hike with one of my friends, ending up at Machu Picchu. It might be a little intense b/c you walk 5 or more hours a day but it should be fun.
Last Friday we went on a group wine tasting excursion. We went to three different vineyards in the area, all under 2 hours away. There was a tour and wine tasting at each vineyard. I have to say, I’m learning to like wine more but it’s still not something I love. We had a literature essay and senior seminar essay due on this Friday, since my weeks just seem to escape me, I ended up doing the large majority of these essays on Thursday night, needless to say I didn’t sleep a whole lot and ended up sleeping the whole time we were on the bus on Friday. Somehow, I got wonderful grades on both my essays. I guess I can pull of good work at the last moment J When we got back from the vine tour, a group of us went out for pizza. Once again, we went to Diego’s Pizza and just for the fun of it got menus in English b/c the translations are so funny! For example, some of the pizzas include: onions attacked, cheese of the country, chicken of the sauce or buckets of tomatoes. I got a pizza called Gringo (a term used for any foreigner, perfect choice, I know). It was great! There was ground beef, red and green peppers, olives, onion, garlic, bacon and mushrooms. Yum.
This past week one of my best friend’s family came to visit. When we went to trapecio (gymnastics/trapeze) class we were showing them what we have learned and I realized that although it doesn’t seem like I can do a lot on the trapeze or tela, I really have improved. I was remembering back to my first class, let’s just say I wasn’t sure I liked the class at that moment, and I couldn’t even get more than a foot off the ground on the tela. Now I can go up and down multiple times in a row (25 ft tall?) and do 5-10 figures without help. I am really going to miss this class. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to find something like this class back in MN, and if I did, it certainly would not be $25 a month! I now wish I had gone more than one time a week. The class is offer three times a week but since I was doing rowing and sailing too, I chose to only go once a week. I have made lots of friends in that class and really don’t want to leave them. It is going to be a very bittersweet day when I leave Chile.
Thursday was my last day of sailing class. Kari, my friend that goes to sailing and trapecio with me, decided not to go because she had only written 2 out of the 8 pages for the literature essay due the next day. I had mine written but still needed to proofread. In the end I decided I had to go and I’m glad I did. It was a gorgeous day! I was the first one to arrive at the yatch club so I was just sitting around waiting. The instructor came down and was like “Emily, come on, the boats are waiting, let’s get going” which meant I had to start setting up the boats. I’d never done this before, well maybe once before but with a couple other people all working on the same boat. In the end I put the whole thing together and it was all correct. I was pretty proud of myself and the instructor was very pleased too. Luckily I did not have to sail alone, it can do it but for me it’s much more fun with a partner. I sailed with a guy named Daniel and he was very helpful. He’s obviously had more practice than I have. After sailing, Renato gave me a ride back to Vina. I’m always glad when he is there b/c a) he’s nice and b) he always brings Kari and I back to Vina so we don’t have to ride another micro. There have been days when I’ve ridden 6 or more micros plus used the metro a couple times.
Well, I had better stop writing b/c our history final is tomorrow and I’m severely unprepared. I had every intention to start studying awhile ago but then I spent all week working on my literature paper. Yesterday morning I wrote a cine essay and in the afternoon studied history. A friend came over last night to study but forgot her notebook so we didn’t get too far. Then she convinced me to go out and I didn’t get back to 4 am. And it was going to be an early night J It was fun but now I better study (I’ve only got notes since September 9th to study, plus 3 readings each about 75 pages long). That said, I have to apologize once more for not including photos but they take a long time to upload and I’ve been having issues with the application.

8 days in the big bad teal bus

On Saturday I got back from a weeklong trip with the entire group. There were 40 people: 28 CSB/SJU students, our directors and their two small children, 2 Chilean professors and 6 Chilean students from UAI Santiago.
It is late so I’m going to give a relatively quick update
November 1/ Day one: The first day started out interesting. I set my alarm for 6:00 so I could get up, shower, finish a little packing, and have breakfast. Well, I must have turned my alarm off and gone back to sleep b/c at 7:05 my mom opened my door and told me it was 7:05 and that I must have fallen asleep. All I have to say is thank goodness for moms. My plan was to leave the house at 7:25 to meet up with all the Chorrillos people and walk to the center where the bus was picking us up. I rushed around, packed a breakfast of fruit and a jelly sandwich and soon was on my way. I went to the kitchen to say good bye and was surprised to see my dad up and dressed. He told me he was going to bring me to the center and was all worried that I hadn’t eaten breakfast. As he fed me a couple orange slices I told him I packed a breakfast and was meeting some people to walk to the center but appreciated the offer. After a big hug and kiss from both my parents I headed out the door with my big camping backpack, purse and bag of snacks.
I was able to sleep for awhile once we got on the bus. Our first stop was at a Coped gas station for lunch. My mom had packed me two huge sandwiches and fruit so I started in on that for my lunch. I had a little picnic with a couple other girls on the grass. This Copec was quite nice and even had a small playground. I was very glad to start out the trip with some sandwiches b/c by the end of the trip I think we stopped at every Copec between Vina and Chiloe. I’ve decided that we did basically three things on our trip: ride in the bus, stop at Copec either to go to the bathroom or eat and get to our destination with just enough time to find something to eat, sleep and leave again early in the morning. For such a long trip, we didn’t do a ton but we certainly covered a lot of ground.
After lunch I attempted to read Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I was suppose to finish for the Thursday before, oops, but before long I found myself napping once again. We also watched a movie called Sub Terra about the coal mine in Lota which we were going to visit the next day. I watched bits and parts of the movie but kept finding myself asleep. We arrived in Concepcion around 7:00 or 7:30, divided up into rooms and then set out to find dinner. I wasn’t particularly hungry since I had eaten the other half of my monster sandwich on the bus and some cookies but needed to get out and explore the town. We walked around for awhile and everything seemed to be closed. We finally found a Chinese restaurant and they said that since it was Day of the Dead things were closed down. The group ordered an 8 person dinner and I got an order of egg rolls since they were super cheap and I wasn’t very hungry. I believe the 8 person dinner could have fed at least 10 people… After dinner we went to Lider to stock up on water and snacks. Then it was back to the hotel for a good nights rest. I had a huge bed all to myself J
November 2/ Day 2: Andrea and I got up early to go for a run. We found our way to the river and ran for almost 40 minutes. Unfortunately around minute 3 I took a tumble and scraped my knees and palm but just kept going. I was a little bit of a bloody mess by the end of the run and still have some nice bruises on my knees. Nevertheless it was well worth it to get up and run. This was pretty much the only way to explore the towns we stayed at since we always arrived at night and left early in the morning. After packing up and showering it was breakfast time- two rolls with manjar and jelly, cake and tea. Breakfast was suppose to start at 7:30 but didn’t start until at least 8:00 so we ended up leaving late from Concepcion, this ended up being a chronic problem- leaving late that is, not breakfast starting late.
Our first stop of the day was at the mine in Lota. We got to tour the mine and a little mining village. It was neat. We all had to get helmets with head lamps on them. Going down into the mine was a little scary- we crammed into this tiny grate elevator and were lowered down into the darkness. One of the craziest parts about the mine in my opinion is that the part we toured was under the ocean! I enjoyed the tour and our guide was really nice. Matilda on the other hand wasn’t as thrilled with the whole mine experience and decided to cry for a little while but who can blame her, she’s only 4 months old. After the mine we went to a small museum and a huge garden that used to belong to the family that owned the mine. It was really pretty and there were a lot of trees and flowers I’d never seen before. On our way out of Lota we stopped at a little hole in the wall store to buy lunch- bread, meat and fruit. Then we were on our way to Villarrica. This was a long drive but proved to be entertaining. We got to watch some Pixar shorts and Cars- one advantage of having a three year old on the trip J The rest of the ride once again consisted of reading and sleeping. Once we finally got to Villarrica, I want to say it was 9:30, we divided up into groups of three or four and each went to separate cabins. This was crazy b/c each cabin could easily fit 6 people. Some of us were mad about this so we went to see if we could consolidate and save some money (hoping to get lunch money for the next day since we had to pay for all our meals) but we couldn’t get any money back since the reservation was already made, etc. Luckily they had a dinner buffet at the hotel so we all enjoyed that before heading back to our cabins. We hung out for a bit and then went to bed.
November 3/ Day 3: Once again Andrea and I went running. This time Christin went with us too. Once again we were on a body of water and tried to run as close to it as possible. We couldn’t stay quite on the water’s edge but zig zagged through the streets to stay as close as possible. Villarrica was absolutely gorgeous! The lake was surrounded by volcanoes and mountains and it was amazing it watch the sun rise from behind the mountains. I really wish we could have stayed longer to explore and soak up the beauty. The whole scene was quite a surprise when we woke up. Since we arrived so late at night we had no idea we were on a lake or anything. Breakfast was very similar- 2 rolls with jam, rhubarb pie (I got 2.5 pieces b/c not everyone at my table wanted their piece J) juice and tea. After breakfast we loaded the bus once again- more reading and sleeping. And what do you know, after awhile we stopped at Copec to use the bathroom and have a snack. Who would have known? We made to Puerto Montt for lunch. This was an interesting experience. We were walking around looking for a quick place to eat and people everywhere were trying to get us to eat at their restaurant. Finally we found a small place that was not bothering us to come. Once we ordered the lady left. Interesting. She returned shortly with a few bags and began to make our meals. Pretty much she went shopping for what we had ordered. The place we were eating at wasn’t really a restaurant but more like a kitchen with four tables. I had a really good pork chop with fries and salad. On the way back to the bus we did a little bit of shopping but I really needed more time to shop. Our lunch was not fast like we had hoped and we only had about 15 minutes to shop and get back to the bus. I ended up buying a couple little wooden bowls. One the way to the bus we stopped and got ice cream cones- coffee ice cream dipped in chocolate= delicious. An hour later we were on a ferry cruising towards Chiloe. At this time it started to rain a bit but we all got off the bus and wondered around the ferry until we got to the other side. During the bus ride I had been working on a mini teddy bear for Matilda which I finished and stuffed once we got to our house/hostel. Corey and Christina (and Matilda) loved the bear! After driving some more we ended up at a “casa rural” which is pretty much like a hostel but it is someone’s big house. We unloaded and then saw a short presentation by two guys who sang a bunch of songs typical of Chiloe. It was very cool. We were then served dinner- roast beef, rice, potatoes, bread, salad and a flan like dessert. It wasn’t my favorite meal at all but somehow I managed to eat every last bite.
November 4th/ day 4: Once again Andrea and I went for a run. It was hard to get up especially since it was quite chilly outside. The morning was absolutely gorgeous and we ended up running along the beach for a long time. We met up with Amanda a little while later and finished our run with her. This morning was a struggle for the showers. Not all of them worked so there were 20 or so girls all wanting to shower in 2 showers. My shower started out with a spider on the floor and cold water. Luckily it got warm by the end. I was really hungry for breakfast and even though breakfast was once again jam, bread and rhubarb cake, I thoroughly enjoyed at least three of each. After breakfast we had to go get the guys who were staying at a different casa rural. It took surprisingly a long time to get there. The roads were not the best so we had to go pretty slow, especially since we were in a huge bus! The day was not very exciting. We went to two churches but one of them was closed for restoration. Wow, what a day. Then we returned to the guy’s casa rural for dinner. This night was curanto, a typical meal of Chiloe. Everything is cooked in a big hole in the ground. There was shellfish, chicken, pork, sausages, potatoes and these potato dumpling things that were very good. Everything is layered and then covered with burlap sacks, leaves and sod. There are hot rocks and maybe coals on the very bottom. It was a good meal but in my opinion too many shellfish. I ate a few but they were not my favorite so I stuck to the meat and potatoes. I think this was the first meal I have eaten in Chile where there was no bread. We certainly didn’t need it but I thought it was interesting since there is always bread. Since it was Election Day, everyone crowded around the radio to try and get some news but there wasn’t really anything on. After some tea and discussion, the ladies all piled back into the bus and went off to find another casa rural. It would have been nice to stay in the same place for 2 nights but I think it must have been booked already or something. About an hour and a half later we got to the first house but there wasn’t room for everyone. I ended up going to another house about 10 minutes down the road with the 3 Chilean girls and one of the Chilean professors. The house we stayed at was much smaller but very nice. The couple was super nice and gave us tea and cookies when we got there even though it was 11 PM. They were very chatty and showed us a slide show of Chiloe. Once again I got a hug bed all to myself J
November 5th/ day 5: Breakfast today included milk fresh from the cows, homemade “tortillas” (more like a dense flatter roll), homemade jam, cookies, rolls, and cheese. It was all super good, especially the tortillas. At first I started out with a roll with jam and then the tortillas were brought out and they were SUPER. I wish we had them more often but this was the only time. At breakfast the lady talked with us for awhile. It was very interesting b/c her and her husband hardly leave the house. They have 20 cows that they milk twice a day and a big garden. They don’t have anyone to look after things so they can’t leave much. Going to the store is a day long trip that they make once a month. If they run out of something in the mean time, they just go without. Even though they have lived there for a long time, they don’t know much of the island and it isn’t all that big. After more reading, sleeping, and talking on the bus we arrived in Castro were we saw another church closed for restoration, los palafitos (houses on stilts on the river) and went to a market. The market was great and I had been waiting patiently for this moment. I got a bunch of neat stuff but since have decided that I should have gotten a sweater. Pretty much everyone has one now and this market had a much wider variety than I have seen anywhere else and they were a good price. Susan and I found some cool yarn that we are going to use to make more teddy bears. Susan saw me knitting and wanted to learn how to make a bear and decided that it would be cool to make bears for the children in the hospital she is volunteering at. That is our project for the rest of our time here. After a lunch of pollo a lo pobre (chicken with fries, fried egg and fried onion, very healthy I know but hey it tasted good) it was time to get back on the big bad teal bus and head to Puerto Montt. Arriving around 9:00 we got our rooms and set out in search of food. First we went to the super market and I got yogurt, cereal and fruit. Then I went with a couple girls to McDonalds. They got food and I got a manjar ice cream cone. We headed back to the hotel and had a dinner party in one of the rooms.
November 6/day 6: Once again we were able to run along the river. We were worried that it was going to start pouring on us but luckily the rain held off until we were on the bus. This morning’s breakfast was not quite as good as the rest. The jam just wasn’t up to par and the juice wasn’t so good either. Oh-well, you can’t always win. After a long time of driving we stopped at a Brewery for lunch and a tour. I ended up getting a mixed vegetable salad for lunch. I was going to get a burger at first but then decided I was craving something healthier. Unfortunately the salad was not really what I was hoping for and I should have gotten the chicken Cesar salad like the other girls I ate with. Oh-well. Anyway, I’m kinda glad (but kinda not) that I decided not to get a burger or a sandwich. They were enormous!! Each was like a frisbee but about 6 inches tall. It would have been really good but way more food than anyone should eat in one sitting. The tour wasn’t anything special and to someone who isn’t particularly fond of beer, I didn’t really care very much about all the processes and such. Plus our tour guide wasn’t very exciting to listen to. Our next stop was at an old fort. Much of the fort was gone but there was still one building which was a museum now, a bunch of cannons and a lighthouse. You could still see the foundation where there used to be a church and some other buildings. It was a quick, chilly visit. Then we all got off at a park. No one really knew why. We walked a little ways into the park and saw a bunch of sea lions on a raft. They were very entertaining and we thought that was why we stopped but then one of the professors kept going and there ended up being two museums hidden at the back of the park. One was like a science museum type with a bunch of dead animals and insects and the other was an old house with a bunch of artifacts and old stuff. Then it was time to go the hostel. We seemed to drive in circles for awhile and finally ended up at the hostel. This time some of us stayed in the hotel like part the rest stayed in cabins. I was in a cabin with 4 others. We had a small kitchen and living room area and upstairs were 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. It was pretty nice but the hotel part was nicer in my opinion. We got to Valdivia early by this trips standards and it was still light out when we went into town to find a grocery store. Once again we had a dinner party in our Cabin and watched some old music videos on tv. I was really tired and went to bed early.
November 7/day 7: I think pretty much every town we stayed at during the week was on a river. Once again Andrea and I went for a run along the river. We ran into 5 others running on our way back to the hostel. Somehow Andrea and I missed the sea lions that were supposedly super close. I saw the sign mentioning the sea lions but I guess I didn’t look into the river to see if there were any. My stomach was growling by the time I made it to breakfast. Today was bread with turkey and cheese and some sort of cake. Once again, not everyone wanted their cake so I was more than happy to help them out. The plan for the day was to stop at a market in Chillan for lunch. Somehow that didn’t happen. I guess there was a lot of traffic or something, I’m not really sure but I really wanted to stop at the market. That was the only thing planned for the day. My host dad just told me yesterday that Chillan is famous for their longaniza which are a sausage that I really like!! That makes me even madder that we didn’t get to stop. Instead the day consisted of riding on the bus for endless hours (reading, sleeping, watching the Bee movie and more Pixar shorts) and stopping at 4-5 different Copec stations for food and bathroom breaks. What an exciting day! Once we got to Curico it took about 5 laps around the same few streets to find our hostel. We were split up once again in too groups. Our hostel was very, very nice! After getting our room, Susan and I went in search of more knitting needles and yarn since we had been sharing one pair. We walked around for awhile and finally found this huge store that had just about everything you could ever want including lots of cool yarn and knitting needles. After our walk around town we decided that the people there like bikes, hot dogs and soccer jerseys since just about every other store sold those items. Next stop- pizza restaurant. The pizza was very good. I got pizza Espanola: ham, sausage, green pepper, tomato and probably something else but I can’t remember. Before long the Shouse Tourino family (our directors) showed up and another group of 6 from our group. Later, after Susan, Hannah and I, went to the grocery store we saw another group of at least 10 people from our group at the same restaurant. We went back to our room and had bananas and chocolate ice cream before going to sleep.
November 8/day 8/last day: I was originally going to run but as I was getting ready I got a text message saying that my running partners were no longer going to run, darn! So I went back to bed for awhile and then took a shower. Then it was breakfast time. Finally there was something differ- yogurt and cereal in addition to bread, jam, manjar cake roll, juice and tea. As I was taking off my back pack to give to the driver to load into the bus, I dropped my other bag I was carrying, crunch!! There went my glass jar of Nutella. What a sad day, I had only eaten half of it but there was no way to salvage the shattered jar L Santa Cruz was our destination. First we went to a museum that was really cool. There was a ton of fossils and old artifacts. Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time in the town so I couldn’t go through the entire museum. After exploring the museum we went to the plaza where there was a bunch of artisan stands set up. After looking at all of them a group of headed out to find a restaurant. We ended up finding a bunch of closed restaurants before finding our way to the main street and stopped at a panaderia. I was disappointed at first b/c I didn’t want another ham sandwich. Then I noticed that people were eating burgers, completos and sandwiches on the other side of the shop. I figured out how to order a burger and sat down to wait with a couple of the guys. Soon I was enjoying my burger with avocado and tomato, perfect! After finishing lunch we went back to the plaza to wait for the bus. People kept coming with ice cream cones and I couldn’t resist. I hurried off in search of ice cream and found a place right as they were closing but luckily I still got my ice cream. Then it was back on the bus, this time headed for home. I cannot tell you how happy people were to be getting home. Everyone was practically bouncing off the walls, actually they were dancing in the aisles. We all go dropped off at the teatro municipal in the center of town and went our separate ways. It was a beautiful and sunny day so by the time I got home I was quite warm. I was greeted with two huge hugs and kissed by my family and after unpacking and showering told them about my trip as we ate dinner.
Today things got back to normal: more reading, worked an essay, and went for a run. Not a thrilling day but I am glad to be back in Vina.
I guess this blog didn’t turn out to be too concise. Pictures are coming but I really need to go to bed since I have class in less than 7 hours, oops.