PATAGONIA

So last week I went with Rotary to Patagonia for 4 nights. It was everyone who had been there in our August orientation, half of whom live really far north and I hadn't seen since then. We were 27 exchange students in total and we had a blast! The 9 kids in my district took a bus at 1:30 AM on Saturday morning from Chillán to Santiago and from there we went to Viña del Mar just for a few hours. We got to Viña around 10:30 AM and drove around, just getting out a few times for a few minutes to take pictures and then getting back on the bus.





<--All 4 exchange students here in Chillán--my brothers and sister. Top left to bottom right: Emil Larsen (Denmark), Tyler Gillespie (AZ) Kasey Peelen (AZ), and me!




Later that afternoon we went to Villa Alemana (2 hours west of Santiago near the coast) for a Rotary check-up. They gave us a small Spanish test, but it was basically 3 days of just sitting and talking and catching up with everyone which was awesome.



<-- This is my table at lunch at Villa Alemana








We got up at 4 AM on Tuesday to go to Santiago to catch our flight to Punta Arenas. When we got to Punta Arenas, we hit the ground running. We landed early in the morning and went straight to an animal "zoo" where we saw llamas and real penguins!

We ate at a fantastic restaurant which looked much more like someone's house. We had an asado of cordillero (lamb rib barbecue) and they had delicious homemade chocolates for dessert mmm.






<--We got to see them roast the meat before we ate it





We went back to our hotel, which was located just in the town center around 7 PM and had an hour or two before dinner to walk around and check out the town center.

The next day we hopped into our rented bus and our tour guide led us to a lookout point where you can see all of Punta Arenas with the ocean, and it was absolutely gorgeous! While we were there, a group of venders came up with folding tables and plastic bags full of handmade scarves, sweaters, hats, bags the whole tourist trap package.




<--View of Punta Arenas








After that we went back to the city of Punta Arenas and saw a cool museum about Chile's idígenas (native Americans), then to the most beautiful cemetary I have ever seen. That evening before dinner we went to the town center again and bought some more memorabilia before going back to the hotel.










<--Main plaza in Punta Arenas. This me and Emil in front of a statue of Hernando de Magellanes (Magellan).






Our third day we had to get up early and pack our bags and head off to Puerto Natales (a small town about 2 hours away from Punta Arenas) where we stopped off at a huge natural cave, called Cueva del Mildón, which is a natural national monument. After walking around the cave for an hour, it was back to the bus to head off to go see the world-famous Torres del Paine (Blue Towers) mountains which are absolutely breathtaking! We stopped to take pictures for about half an hour before heading to the beautiful Hotel Patagonia Explora for a delicious lunch.




<--Torres del Paine








Another bus ride later, and we were trekking across a beach with ferociously strong winds to get to another lookout point--only this time we were going to go and look at the glacier Perito Moreno that is actually in Argentina but could be seen off in the distance. I loved this part because after walking (or, staggering rather because of the wind) across a mile of beach, we had a mild hike up to the top of the hill where the lookout point was. There was a small speck of melted glacier just in front of us, which was really sad because it used to be a whole lot bigger ten years ago but the global warming has made it shrink badly. Our Rotary chaperones had brought a bottle of Jack Daniels up there so that all of us could have a taste with real glacier ice. Real glacier ice seems to be colder than real ice, but it is extremely clear, like crystal, and very pure.

Our fourth and last day of our trip was dedicated to driving to Argentina to see the glacier Perito Moreno up close. There was a little bit of drama because we had to show proof that we were living in Chile and not tourists (i.e. our Chilean ID cards and/or passport visas) because it was only $8 for Chilean entry and $22 for tourists.

After driving 6 hours to Calafate, Argentina, we headed off to lunch at an amazing all you can eat restaurant. I definitely ate all that I could eat, and it was delicious!





<--Me in front of the glacier Perito Moreno








After lunch we met up with our Argentinean tour guide and rode the bus over to the glacier. We got off and walked a path that winds down a huge hill so you can see the glacier at almost eye level, it was incredible!! It took about an hour, an hour and a half to walk the whole circuit and we stopped and took amazing picture after amazing picture.


<--Closer view of the glacier. Right to left: Alex (NY), Julie (Denmark), Jori (Canada), Emily (NY), me, Margaux (CT), Gina (CO), and Jess (IL). Everyone but Margaux and me are from the Northern district, so we hadn't seen them since arriving in August!




After viewing the glacier, we had half an hour left to shop in a tourist souvenir complex. Only our Rotary tour guides were a little vague on what time we had to be back in the bus, so we were about 20 minutes late leaving and everyone was really worried that we wouldn't make it to the Argentinean/Chilean border before 9 PM when the border closes. Luckily we made it, but we didn't get back to the hotel until about 11 PM that night and we were exhausted!

The next morning we had to get back on our plane to Santiago and it was sad to split up after spending so much time together. But the trip was amazing, and the only bad part was that it was so short!

Los Angeles!

This weekend I visited another exchange student from the States, Emily Hughes, who lives in Los Angeles, a city 1.5 hours south of Chillán by bus. I went on Saturday afternoon and had lunch with her family. Another exchange student from Connecticut, Taylor McCurdy, came over to hang out with us in the afternoon because he lives really close to Emily.

That night we had another asado(barbecue) with Emily's family and some family friends (it started at 10:30 PM) and then we went to Emily's brother's friend's birthday party.

We didn't leave Emily's house until 11:45 and we ended up getting home at 6 AM, which apparently isn't that out of the ordinary for them haha.

<-- This is me with Emily, Carolina, and her friend Fabiola at the party.

We went out with Oscar, Emily's 23-year-old host brother, and his girlfriend, Carolina. When we went to the party, there were about 20-25 people there, just hanging out, drinking, eating, and talking. However, because it was a Chilean party, we were outside and around 3 AM I started to get REALLY cold and so some of us moved inside to sit on a couch and talk, which was much better :D.

And while Emily, Oscar and Carolina got to sleep in the next day, I woke up at 9 AM to drive to Salto de Lajas to run in a race with Taylor and his classmate.




<-- This is Salto de Lajas where we ran the race.







I ended up coming in 3rd out of all TEN women who ran and first in my age group, so they gave me a medal and a backpack as prizes.

<-- This is me receiving my prize...they put me on a podium and gave me a medal and evertything!

<-- Taylor and me just after he finished running

That night, we three made an American breakfast for "once". "Once" is their dinner, and usually it is just bread, cheese, ham, tea, coffee, maybe some leftovers from lunch. We made banana chocolate chip pancakes, french toast, bacon and homefries. I made everything but the pancakes (mostly because I missed making breakfast food so much) and everyone really liked it, especially the homefries. Although I didn't add paprika because they had run out, so they weren't totally perfect, but pretty close.

Then on Monday morning, we all slept in really late. I slept in until 10:30, ate breakfast, and then slept from 11 to 12:30 (a feat for me), and everyone else in the house was asleep too. Emily's family had to go to the campo (country/farm) for her grandpa's birthday party around 1:30, so I went and had lunch with Taylor's family and hung out with him until it was time to catch my bus back to Chillán at 5.

Despedida de los Cuartos (Farewell to the Seniors)

In Chile, they combine prom with an all-night graduation party called "La despedida de los cuartos" and mine was last Friday night. It is essentially a prom, but they have it as a graduation celebration for the seniors and the juniors--technically--are the ones who throw the party for the seniors, so the seniors go for free and the juniors pay for themselves and for a senior. The party started at 10 PM and went until 4 or 5 AM (I left "early" at 3:45 AM).


I went to the hairdresser's with my friend Cata and went back to her house until our friends Vale and Vale (both are named Valentina, a very popular name here) picked us up and drove us to the centro to the building where we were having the despedida. Unlike in the US, there are no huge pre-prom parties where all the friends go to one house to take lots of pictures beforehand, we took most of ours on location before the doors opened.



Once we got inside, all the teachers passed out alcoholic cocktails to all the students (even though you are supposed to be over 18 to drink and all the juniors are under 18) to toast to the seniors. After an hour-long "cocktail" we went to have dinner where they had some version of scalloped potatoes and steak with gravy. Even though they couldn't compare with my grandmother's scalloped potatoes, I was still ecstatic because it is one of my favorite dishes that I have never seen here before.

I spent most of the rest of the night dancing to reggaeton, which is all that they dance to here in Chile, like a latin version of hip-hop. Although it was a very different dancing setup because in the USA kids usually dance in clusters with their friends, all in a circle and so it doesn't really matter if you don't have a "partner" because everyone is all bunched together anyways.

But in Chile, it is REALLY strange not to dance with a partner (usually boy-girl but it's okay for a girl to dance with a girl). And since kids still want to dance close to their friends, 2 parallel lines end up forming of couples dancing instead of clusters all smushed together like you see in the U.S.

RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Weekend

This past weekend I went to RYLA in Las Mellizas, which is an upscale campground (our cabins accomodated 7 people and were equipped with a full kitchen and living area) just over an hour south of Chillán. All the exchange students in my district went as well as any Chileans who were involved in Rotary programs or were interested in being exchange students. Our bus left Chillán at 9 AM on Saturday morning and when we got to Las Mellizas at 10:15 it was already burning hot. We relaxed for about half an hour, had a little something to eat and drink and got situated in our cabins and then it was nonstop activities until 11 PM that night.


We divided into alianzas (teams) and competed against each other in various teambuilding games and activities. As you can see, my team was red (rojo) and they passed out square pieces of red material for us to wear...we look a little bit like girl scouts.

In between said activties we had charlas which according to the name (meaning discussion) were supposed to be interactive presentations about ROTARACT and INTERACT and YEP (Youth Exchange Program) and leadership, but they were like us fighting off sleep in a conference room while Rotarians gave PowerPoint presentations.

Even though the activities and the charlas weren't the most fun, I still had a great time hanging out with all the other exchange students and meeting Chilean teenagers from the area.



Here I am with two other American exchange students on Saturday night. After our dinner (at like 10 PM) ended, we all trekked back to the cabins and hung out. Taylor (CT) is living in Los Angeles and Kasey (AZ) is with me in Chillán.
I went to bed on the early side, like 3 AM but some of the boys told me the next morning that they went to sleep at 4:45 AM. This wouldn't be THAT bad, only our activities started again the next morning with breakfast--at 8:30 AM.


Unfortunately, my alianza didn't win the competition, the alianza amarilla (yellow team) won. However, one of the activities that we had to do in our teams was come up with a service project and the Rotarians voted on which one they would support and try to make a reality and my team won! We suggested that Rotary help build a playground for kids ages 2--18 in Santa Bárbara (a city near Los Angeles) equipped with a junglegym, basketball courts and soccer fields.






Me and another exchange student from New York named Emily (she lives in Los Angeles here) We were supposed to be listening to a presentation, but we got a little bored and decided to take pictures instead haha-->





After lunch it was time to say goodbye and we ended up getting home at like 5 PM. I went home and talked to my mom for a while and then we went for a 45 minute walk just chatting it was really nice :D

Santiago!

<-- Plaza de Armas in Santiago

This past weekend was a long weekend and I went to Santiago with my host dad's family and Nacho. It was amazing! We stayed in my host dad's father's house, who lives in the northeast corner of the city, and we arrived at about midnight on Thursday (or...technically Friday?) and Tata Miguel (my host dad's father) had a whole spread of bread, cheese, ham, and hot drinks laid out for us and even though everyone was exhausted, we stayed up until 3 AM talking and eating.

On Friday we drove an hour to go to the zoo and spent a few hours there walking around, looking at all the animals. We went to an animal show around 3 PM and the hawk that they were showing took off and flew RIGHT OVER MY HEAD! Thank God his foot was securely fastened with a cord otherwise he could have easily terrorized the whole audience!

On Saturday all of us except Tata Miguel went to Santiago center to go sightseeing, including my host dad's 2 little kids, 4-year-old José Miguel and 18-month-old Josefa. Without a stroller. Which meant that my poor host dad had to carry a hefty 18-month-old around Santiago and refused me every time I offered to carry her for a little bit so that he could rest. Since it was their Labor Day, Santiago was much emptier than usual (therefore much more conducive to touring with small children).

First we went to La Moneda (a.k.a. the Chilean White House). The weird thing about La Moneda is that it is right in the center of downtown Santiago and there is very minimal security compared to the White House--you only have to present your bag to a guard and have him pass a metal detector wand over you to pass through the courtyards that lie inside La Moneda.

Our next stop was the Supreme Court where all Chilean lawyers are sworn in after passing the bar exam. Because it was a holiday, we had the entire Supreme Court to ourselves!

After taking a small snack break and buying Josefa a new shirt to change into (because her old one had french fries and ketchup all over it) we visited the Cathedral and the Plaza de Armas, a truly beautiful place full of street vendors selling paintings and trinkets for tourists. By this time we were all exhausted and the decision to return to Tata Miguel's house for lunch was unanimous.

<-- The Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas

That afternoon while the younger children went with my host dad and his wife to a local park, Tata Miguel took me on a driving tour of "Nuevo Santiago" (New Santiago), a brand new and expanding neighborhood where the up-and-coming Santiago businessmen are building their houses. Nuevo Santiago is to Santiago as Beverly Hills is to Los Angeles, only Nuevo Santiago is in the process of being built. However, I think that Nuevo Santiago has a distinct advantage over Beverly Hills because it is right in the middle of the Cordilleras, the mountain range right next to Santiago.

Sunday morning I made everyone my favorite version of scrambled eggs: sauteed onions with garlic, scrambled eggs, basil, salt, pepper, and cheese. The Chileans had never seen eggs like that before, and were completely fascinated by them. However, I miscalculated and made way too many eggs, but luckily Tata Miguel was able to use my old scrambled eggs in the Chinese rice he made with lunch so they didn't go to waste. After breakfast, we went to Los Dominicos, a beautiful touristy place very close to Tata Miguel's house that consists of a quaint church and a small neighborhood of touristy stores that sell beautiful, quaint Chilean souveniers.

Weekend at Grandma's

This past weekend we went to my grandma's house in Coihueco, a town about 30 minutes from Chillán. When l got there at 10:30 AM on Saturday, only my grandma (who insists on being called "Lela" instead of "abuela" because "abuela" makes her feel old) and the nana Rita were awake. But within the hour, my 3 cousins who live with Lela got up and came to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Lela's house is quite big and therefore very cold. And since the kitchen is a separate building and always has a fire going, it is a very popular place to be and I spent as much time there as possible haha. I was very excited because I got to help Rita make the empanadas--she had already mixed the filling and made the dough, but l helped her assemble them and they were delicious (well, all empanadas are delicious).


Sunday was an election day in Chile and they have a "dry law" that says the night before an election, all places that sell alcohol (pubs, bars, and discos) must be closed. So on Saturday night instead of going to a disco with my cousin Rogelio, we stayed in and all 5 of us sat around the dinner table for 2 hours telling jokes and eventually they got so bad that we switched over to cards and I taught them the game "BS" (a.k.a. I Doubt It).

On Sunday we got up late and I went with my host mom, her sister and Lela to vote. When we got back, we had an asado (barbecue) and hung out for a while. Then around 4:30 all the smaller cousins and I piled into my host mom's 2-door SUV and drove to my cousin Tati's 11th birthday party.

At the party, there was a mechanical bull which, I am happy to say, almost every person rode. This includes all the aunts and uncles--a VERY funny sight. This is my host brother on the mechanical bull, Ignacio (nickname Nacho, yes, like the food). At the party, there was an insane amount of food. Chileans love food and love to celebrate with lots of food, but this had more than the average party. There were chips and cookies all strewn on a table and then my aunt served us completos, pizza, beef, chicken, and cake. A marathon day of eating.

We left the party early because we were all pretty tired, and when I got home I knocked on my friend Valeria's door (who happens to be my next-door neighbor) and we went out for a walk and then sat in her room and talked for a few hours. By that time it was 10 PM and since it was a school night l went back home and collapsed into a deep, deep sleep.