Whoa

I just realized that I missed my two-month mark of being in Chile, which was just a few days ago. Definitely an exciting feeling. I am enjoying my time here, my family is awesome and classes aren't too horrible (sometimes even pointless), but at the same time I am looking forward to the day that I get to come home to my friends and family. There are some difficulties that I have experienced here, but nothing that I can't handle. The next three weeks are going to be relatively quiet and hopefully I can get ahead on my studies during that time because once they go by, I have a feeling that everything else will start coming pretty quick as that starts the sequence of weekend trips and family visits.

Between October seventh and December 11th when I return to Minnesota I only have two free weekends where I will get to laze around the house and play catch-up with anything that has gone by the wayside. October brings two weekend trips, one to Patagonia and the other to Pucón - both in the southern portion of the country. Then my final month and a half brings my loving family and amazing boyfriend for a week during which I have two final papers due and then two final weekend trips first to Machu Picchu at the beginning of November and then to Rio, Brazil at the beginning of December. So I guess that even though I'm not happy with my idle time right now, I should be taking advantage of it since I won't have the chance again later.

I'm hoping that just because the next two and a half weeks have nothing exciting going on that I'll still have things of interest to say in the tedium. If anything, I can try and post more pictures since I haven't really been doing a great job at that for you non-facebook users...

Fiestas Patrias (Independence Days)

This last weekend was a huge weekend for Chile. Every year on September 18th and 19th Chile celebrates their independence, (even though it's not actually their independence day...) and this year was the celebration of their bicentennial. As the 18th and 19th also fell on a Saturday and Sunday, the government declared the weekend of Fiestas Patrias to be a four-day weekend, giving Chileans the option to have Friday and Monday off as well. Me? I got almost an entire week off, all but one of my classes had been canceled last week. While it wasn't the same for all of my companions here, it was definitely something to be remembered.

Everyone celebrates Fiestas Patrias differently, most Chileans spend the days partying it up drinking seasonal beverages, eating lots of meat, and just enjoying the company around them. Some people go crazier than others, but it's all a big huge countrywide party. My family being the laid-back calm family that we are, spent the weekend much like we do back at home for the Fourth of July - family and barbecues.

Our week(end) started on Wednesday doing our shopping for the entire weekend as the big corporate stores legally had to close on Friday and Monday so we had to make sure that we had all of the bread, meat and drinks that were necessary for the weekend lest we had to go out looking for a small family-owned store to be open. Which on the actual days of the holiday you'd find very few people not out celebrating with their own friends and family if they had the choice. I finally got to go to the Feria (basically farmers market) where my mom stocks up on all of the fruits and veggies for the week on Wednesdays.

The barbecuing began on Thursday at my brother Mauri's house where we grilled up kabobs, ate empanadas and drank some wine to start the weekend off. Friday was relatively the same but at our apartment with my other brother Rolo and his three children, the menu for the day was beef, pork and chicken, a rice dish, some yummy baby red potatoes, and of course pebre (a salsa that reminds me of the bruschetta tomato mixture that goes on bread and crostinis) that goes on everything and anything you can think of. After a short rest and/or nap for us all we went for a walk along the beach and went to Bravissimo, one of the "best" ice cream shops around in the area according to my mom. It was definitely very good, but I don't think anything can really compare to Sebastian Joe's back at home.

Saturday I was given the option to go out to the country for another asado with my sister Maca and her friend Alej at Alej's uncles home where they have a lily plantation to sell to Chilean florists, or to go to the yacht club with my mom and dad for a celebration there. Since I live in the city and don't get many chances to go out to the country, I decided to go with Maca and Alej to meet her family. When we got there I was given a huge warm welcome, which is something that I really enjoy about life in Chile. We had a very similar lunch to what we had the day before with my family, so not a whole lot to say about that, but the "party" lasted for hours with the family talking, catching up and enjoying each others company as well as Alej's three-month old niece who was as bright eyed and busy tailed as you could get with a baby. So adorable. Anyway, when we left we were in a rush to get home in time to see the fireworks display that they were going to have off the beach in Viña, however we kept getting stuck in traffic with everyone heading back to the city for the display or to just get home. Which reminds me, back at home we say Minnesotan's don't know how to merge... just wait until you see Chileans merging on a freeway when the exit ramp is slightly blocked up. I also don't think they really know the meaning of traffic jam either, I've seen worse every day back at home - but it's all relative to perception, because it was weird to see my street all blocked up for miles when it's normally pretty clear. Anyway, I digress. We got back just as the first half of the fireworks were finishing up, as a surprise they had pretended that the fireworks ended after just ten or fifteen minutes leading to a great disappointment to many people, but after the five, ten minute break they started back up and suddenly everyone started running back to where they originally had been watching the show. Definitely a site to see - especially with the amount of people crowding the streets, parks and plazas.

After all the excitement from Thursday through Saturday we took a break on Sunday and spent the day lazing around the apartment enjoying the leftovers from Friday. On Monday we walked to the beach for the afternoon airshow and boat parade, which was exciting and dull at the same time. You can only watch so many of the same boats go by slowly when the only difference you see is whether it has a Chilean, Canadian, Argentinian or U.S. flag, but I enjoyed being out in the sun and getting a little color to my florescently pale skin. Afterwards we had a barbecued lunch again with Rolo and his kids, this time with a meal similar to Thursday's of kababos and sides. The day didn't last long after lunch this time because we were all pretty beat from five days of celebration. It's amazing how different types of sitting and relaxing can still take a lot out of you.

We are now back to our regularly scheduled program of life, classes started again yesterday and no one was really totally there since most of us had a pretty long weekend away from anything involving work or school. For me, I got go go back to my longest day of classes after a week off, and it started out with my dance class at ten o'clock in the morning. Not the best wake up, it's back to school call... Also, our calefont (water heater) broke on Monday morning and wasn't fixed until last night - so I got to go a couple days without being able to shower because no one wants a freezing shower. But it's been fixed, and my shower today - while it wasn't as warm as I like it, was still heavenly.

Mendoza!!!

This last weekend I went to Mendoza, Argentina with four of the girls from the CIEE program that I occasionally hang out with and we all had a great time. It is such a beautiful city, and once you get about twenty minutes out of the city I found the country-side appeal that I feel like I've been looking for ever since I got here. But it's one of those sensations that you don't realize what was missing until you stumble upon it. Anyway, our night started on the bus where we sat in the lower deck with the full-bed sleepers. We sat with three girls from France who were in back, and in the middle of all of us was an Argentinian soccer coach for a Chilean boys soccer team (all of whom were housed in the upper-deck of the bus with the semi-beds). We spent the first hour of the bus ride talking to him and got to know him a little bit, he was very nice and helpful to the extent that he paid for our two taxi's that took us to our hostel once we arrived in Mendoza at about eight or nine o'clock in the morning. He had given us an open invitation to come to lunch or dinner with the soccer team where we would get deeply discounted meals because the group was so big with the soccer team, however his phone number didn't work with Skype, and after two hours of searching for their hotel/hostel we never found it. But he was very understanding when we met up with him and the team again on the bus ride back to Santiago and said good-bye to us once we got there.

Friday was our first day in Mendoza and after we cleaned up a little bit at the hostel and got our room squared away and ready to check in to later on in the day we walked around the city to do a little exploring, figure out the money exchange and a little shopping. The girls were very interested in finding some nice boots there as their host-mom's here have been raging about boots in Argentina, but it seems like we didn't find anything all too special. Afterwards we took a walk to the biggest park in the city too meet up with Hannah's best friend who is studying at one of the Universities there and a couple of her other friends. There we just relaxed and enjoyed the warm weather and talked about the differences between the two countries and their cultures. We stayed with them for a couple of hours and then decided to head back to the hostel to check into our room and get ready to go out for dinner. On the way back to the hostel we walked by a small artisan fair that we decided to walk down and found a really interesting wire jewelry maker who made some beautiful pieces. I wish I had felt comfortable taking a picture of it to show you all but, that didn't happen. We got sidetracked there for awhile but finally made it back to the hostel and then to dinner where the workers at the front desk had suggested a pizza place around the corner and we got coerced by the hostess at the restaurant next door to come to their restaurant because it was cheaper. Didn't turn out to be such a bad thing as we found that they made some amazingly good french fries, so good that we went there for dinner every night just for the fries.



Saturday we did what I primarily went to Mendoza for, biking wine tour. We woke up a little bit later than we had planned, but the four places we stopped at were more than enough for us, and enough to pique my interest to go again someday down the line (hopefully plane tickets from the U.S. to South America will drop sometime in the next twenty years). Our first stop wasn't a winery, but an olive oil, chocolate, liquor and olive product maker. There was a short tour of the place and then the tastings. First was the oil that they make which was then paired with their balsamic vinegar - which was the best balsamic I ever had. For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of balsamic although I do use it. So if I like it enough that I actually buy a bottle of it, you know it's pretty darn good. We then tried the olive pastes, and spreadables that they had for sale in their shop and we ended with a tasting of their alcohol where I had my first shot and taste of absinthe. For a 150 proof liquor, I think I'll stay with the Bacardi 151, but it was still worth the experience and may try it again another point in time. Our second stop was a winery where we received a free tour of the vineyards and the places where everything happens. Nothing hugely exciting to note, although it was a nice experience. We then decided that it was near time to bike to the next place for lunch since we were hungry, and when we got to the place that the bike renter had suggested the owner told us that he was out of the meat for the meal - so stop number three was a bust. We were pretty bummed about that, until we reached the little winery that we did eat at and had the most amazing meal. It was pretty unanimous that it has made the top five meals of the entire semester so far. I had a traditional Argentinian lamb and potato meal that was very rich, hopefully I'll get the photo to show. After that we had dessert which we all ordered and shared some brownies with ice cream and tiramisu.

Once we finished dinner we headed back to the house where we rented the bikes to turn them in and had a final glass of wine before heading back to the hostel. Later on I went to a big artisanal fair at one of the larger plazas a couple blocks away from where we were staying with Kariesha and Maddie to get a quick look at what they had there, so that we could return the following day with Courtnie and Hannah (who had stayed behind to rest/have dinner with her friend). The main thing of note for the artisan fair was the basket of kitten's that one of the vendors had with him that he was giving away. Cutest little things ever - and I wanted so bad to take them home with me, but I don't think that would work very well with customs or my host family... :(



Sunday was our last day there and was another lazy day. We had made plans to go to the hot springs, but decided upon waking up that it would be to difficult to do with three of us not having any bathing suits. Then we thought to go ziplining but we couldn't find the company to go there. So we just ended up buying some cheeses and bread and went to the park from Friday again to hang out, rest and enjoy the Argentinian air. After a few hours there we returned to the the large artisan fair and made our final purchases that we had looked at the night before or found that day and finished the day at our favorite restaurant in Argentina and had our french fries.



All in all the trip was pretty amazing, Argentinian's seem like the nicest, most helpful people in the world (just a little exaggeration for ya'll). Some things about the trip made me reflect on whether or not I chose the right place to study but I have come to the conclusion that both places have their pros and cons and that if anything I'll just have to do a summer study program in Argentina for grad school. Shouldn't be too hard of a deal for me, I'm definitely enjoying South America and want to explore it all throughout my lifetime so I'm going to keep all my options open for that and take any chance that I get.

Something that takes getting used to...

The one thing that has taken time, and is still taking time getting used to is the host family stay. I love my host family, I feel totally welcome and cared for here. But it's like I am caught in the middle between being a member of the family and being a prolonged guest in the house. Whenever we sit down to have lunch together as a family I am always served first, followed by my host dad and then whoever else is left between my mom, host sister Maca and her friend Alej who lives with us. But I also help clean up the table and set things right after we eat and then Maca, Alej or my mom wash the dishes, sometimes they leave them for the next morning or whatever, but they always do them. Also, when I say I'm being cared for, I'm REALLY being cared for. I'm in the habit of making my bed at home. Simply because I feel that it's nice to get into a bed that is all laid out and you don't have to work out all the twists in the blankets when all you want to do is put your head on the pillow and sleep. So, I've kept that habit up here, especially since there are about three extra blankets on my bed due to how cold it gets inside the house at night. Many times when I leave early in the morning for class, I come home to my mom having re-made it to look super nice. My mom always does the laundry, sometimes with the help of my sister but nonetheless, all I have to do is put my dirty clothes in the washing machine for one of them to sort out when it gets full. Then all of my clothes get folded up and left on the chair by my door for me to put away. Monday is normally cleaning day when the whole house gets cleaned, swept, etc. meaning my room is also included in this, and once again, I come home from class to everything being sorted out and looking nice in my room even though I keep it pretty tidy myself. There have been nights that I come home after once (ohn-say) which is basically dinner and my mom will be laying in bed hanging out and she will get up to make sure I've eaten, and normally I have - but she'll still go to the kitchen and grab me a little plate of dessert or an apple.

All of this makes me feel loved and well cared for in my family, but it's kind of hard for an independent girl who is used to doing her own laundry, making her own food (or at the very least plating her own dish up) and just tidying her place up when she finds the time for it. You might say that I'm loving not having to really do any of the work or chores around my house. While I might agree to an extent, it also is very unbalancing for the student with a U.S. mindset, because this is normal here. It's a very maternal society where the mom's are used to caring for everyone and doing everything, whereas back at home we work hard as soon as we can to assert our own independence.

Something else that I recently noticed is that you need to be careful about the things you cook or recipes you choose to make while you're here. Something so simple that you just have tucked away in your kitchen back at home, doesn't even exist here. Like parchment paper. I've started a semi-weekly thing here with my friend Rachel to bake or make some food every Monday that we are home and not gallivanting around South America. This last Monday was our first one, and we decided to make these delicious looking brownie-like chocolate cookies that we found on a food blog called Brown Eyed Backer. Seemed simple enough because it's basically like making brownies, but dropping the batter to make the cookies - problem being it called for parchment paper. So instead of these little delicious cookies that look like brownies and taste like them, they turned out to be flat pancakes that scrunched up when you tried to get them off the pan. Even after it being greased up good. (Yes, improper grammar, there because I want it there). So we instead used the second half of the batch to make a small pan of brownies, layered some homemade butter cream frosting on them, layered the smooshed up cookies and covered it with more butter cream frosting. It didn't look the prettiest, but I know my family thought it was very good even though it just looked like a glob of brownie and butter cream frosting mixed together once I got it home. But now we know, when it calls for parchment paper - don't attempt to make it in Chile, wait until you get home. :)

That's pretty much all I have for now, we bought bus tickets to go to Mendoza, Argentina last night for this weekend so I'll hopefully have something about that when we get back next week. Then next weekend is "Fiestas Patrias" which is pretty much the birthday of Chile, and guess what? This year it's their bicentennial. So big party, and it's on a weekend. Meaning four day weekend big party with drunks all over spouting their love for their country. I'll have at least a little about that too in the next couple weeks.

Love you all!

~De

Now that I'm a year older...

I figure I should update a little bit today :)

I had been meaning to update this earlier this week but we just had our first crazy week where all the professors decide that the same week would be a great week for everything to be due. So I had two and a half papers to write (one half being a joint group project), my first business in Spanish exam based on a series of readings, and of course the normal course work of reading poetry and short stories in Spanish and interpreting those. That in itself wouldn't have been too horribly bad, but I also had my mind going in a billion different directions thinking about all of the current and future things that are big and important in my life. While I won't go into the details of that, suffice it to say poor Adam had to sit and listen to it all trying to keep up. In his words he was going 33 in a 35mph zone and I was going 80 in a 65 mph zone.

There is one thing that I had on my mind last week that is relevant to this blog and is quite important and exciting in my life right now, and that is travels. We have booked our plane tickets for a couple of the trips we've been planning in the next few months and are discussing a few others.

Next weekend it looks like we will be heading to Mendoza, Argentina. Right now it seems like a small group, but I really don't mind that. We're looking at about spending three days there, leaving Viña Thursday night and arriving Friday morning and then leaving Sunday night arriving back home on Monday morning. I don't really know the full details of the weekend, but the one thing that I will be pushing for is wine. Mendoza is Argentina's wine country, and they have this lovely system of bike wine tours that I will not let pass me by. Not much to explain about it because it's just as it sounds, you rent a bike and bike to a bunch of wineries, take tours of them and sample wine all while getting some fresh air and taking in the beautiful countryside and scenery.

Following that (for now), we'll be flying to Patagonia for a weekend in mid-October for a visit. My friend Mia is the planner for this trip and has found some pretty fun options for us to do. When we get there we'll spend some time exploring and busing to our lodging destination, and on the Friday that we get there we're going to go Kayaking and potentially horseback riding depending on our finalized plans. For the rest of the weekend we will be busing an additional hour away to stay in Torres de Paine where it looks like we might be renting tents and camping it out at the National Park. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Finally the last trip that we have booked for sure is to Peru - probably one of the trips I am most excited about. We will be spending the entire weekend at Machu Picchu and the other ruins around it. It's amazing that I have seen movies, documentaries and pictures of these places of the old empires (Inca, Maya, etc.) and now I finally get the chance to see it for myself. Unreal. If I had to choose one trip to do here, this would be it. Especially since the option to visit very likely won't be around much longer as it sounds like they will be closing Machu Picchu to the public for preservation purposes. I will make sure to take lots and LOTS of pictures of this.

We're still working on plans for Brazil, Courtnie and I are planning on staying in Rio. We were hoping to go the week/end of the 22nd of September but there are no flights available, so we still have to figure that out. We hope to still go to Buenos Aires, but that will have to depend on financial situations of everyone. Then there's Osorno still maybe, although I haven't spoken to my friend Manuel in awhile, and I'm pretty sure a bunch of people want to go up north to the Atacama. Again, another trip that I would die for, but we'll see what happens. I'll keep updating my travel plans as I make them and will of course share everything when I come back from them.

I think this is all that I can write for today without making this too long, or going into another subject. I will hopefully be updating again in a few more days. We're going to Rabuco tomorrow with CIEE for a day trip, so if there's anything exciting in that I will share it with ya'll.

As always I hope everything is going well. Love to you all.

~De