So, im sitting in the lobby of my hostal in Arequipa, preparing for the voyage home. I start in an hour, with a bus to the border of Chile, and will arrive in the states nearly two days from now. It shall be an interesting and exhausting journey, not without visits to friends and family in viña for a good portion of tomorrow. But all n all, i´m really excited to get home.
Some cool things about Arequipa-
It is surronded by giant snow covered mountains, and its quite hot here(70s or 80s?). also, the city is called the white city, because of the literal appearence of most buildings of white. They made of this type of stone called sillar, which is cooled lava from a nearby giant volcano (over 18000 feet). Its a pretty neat colour scheme.
Where I am staying, near the plaza de armas, there are a ton of cops and security guards. I havent felt so safe, since, well since I left Chile. Its pretty sweet. Also, there are a lot of female cops, almost half are women(of total cops, clearly). Quite an interesting detail, i'd say.
The Plaza de armas here, aside from being very picturesque, is really strange. It is Always packed with peruvians. People are everywhere, just standing around doing nothing. I´ve never seen some much random loitering in my life. The going theory is that every arequipeño uses the plaza de armas as meeting place, so its constantly full of waiting peruvians.
Food: Peruvian food has been far superior to Bolivian, but far more likely to cause sickness. Nothin too bad, but unfortunate because of its tastiness. Also, last night tried some Cuy, also called guinea pig. Twasn´t that tasty, nor did it have like any meat(I actually only ate a leg of bri´s cuy). A good experiance, but not really too delicious.
The ice cream was fantastic in Chile, and quite lackluster in Bolivia and Peru. Its a craving that will be solved by Avon´s myriad of ice cream shops.
Things dont really slow down once I get back to the states, which I´m pretty pleased about. I´ve got two weeks to spend at home with the mom and dad, eating delicious foods and doing all sorts of chores and speaking english all the time- then we're off to California to visit the ole brother for a week or so. Upon returning, I´ll have a less than a day at home, and then be off to the Merrimack for the final round. It should be good, i´m quite excited for the future.
Whelp, I´m off to the bus station. Chao ya´lls
-Brian
Final spanish saying: No veo la hora de llegar a mi hogar!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Headin to Arequipa
Heya alls,
Headin to Arequipa, on the coast of Peru(or atleast pretty close) for the last days of my peru-bolivia travelin. Sights to be seen/eaten: Colca Canyon, a wicked deep canyon, and ceviche, some sort of fish dish like sushi? Not sure, we'll see.
Went to Machu Picchu. Well, back it up. Bri and I went on a four day "Inca Jungle Trail." Now this is different than the well known inca trail, in that it comes to machu picchu from a different direction, and is quite a bit less expensive. Day 1! My favorite day, they drove us to the top of this mountain pass, at 4300 meters, which is around 13000 feet, and dropped us off with mountain bikes. We spent the next three hours descending this crazy mountain road. Twas nuts! I took a lot of pictures(to be seen once I get back to the states). We started up near a glacier, and ended in the hot jungle. One of my favorite moments on the trip.
Day two, hiked for eight hours along a mountain ridge, hung out with a monkey and some weird beaver like creature. Not too sure what that was. Said monkey called Martin enjoyed going into my cargo pockets on my pants and stealing my gloves. In my experiance with monkeys, they are both mischevious and hilarious.
Day three! hiked to Aguas Calientes, the critically disliked machu picchu town. We climbed a mountain opposing the M-Peach, for fantastic sights and ridiculous ladders. Again, better when shown with pictures.
Day four! Hiked to Machu Picchu, by far the most interesting day. We woke up at 3 in the morning for the tour hour hike, in the dark, to the peach. Got there at 515, ran through to wayna picchu(a large mountain near the peach, where only the first 400 are allowed to climb). I was 31, not too shabby! Anywho, took a spanish tour of the place, which was quite interesting. The city itself is pretty hard to get to, and the valley below is pretty nice. Apparently, they decided to build the city on top of a mountain because they considered the mountains a sort of connection with the heavens, as they,re huge. While impractical, its really quite beautiful. Also, no one knows the actual name of the city, machu picchu is just the name of the nearby mountain. Why it was built, and consequently deserted is up to much spectulation. Our tour guide seemed to believe they deserted it to protect it from the spanish, similar to "hiding precious jewels". Others claim it was founded as a hidden city from the spanish, and others claim it was deserted because the springs ran dry. Needless to say, its pretty crazy.
Ok, gotta run and catch the overnight bus. Have a good one dearest reader.
-Brian
Oh, and grammatical or typographical errors can be attributed to spanish keyboards and internet cafes. The peach is also an official terms these days, feel free to use it in public with professors and intellectuals.
Headin to Arequipa, on the coast of Peru(or atleast pretty close) for the last days of my peru-bolivia travelin. Sights to be seen/eaten: Colca Canyon, a wicked deep canyon, and ceviche, some sort of fish dish like sushi? Not sure, we'll see.
Went to Machu Picchu. Well, back it up. Bri and I went on a four day "Inca Jungle Trail." Now this is different than the well known inca trail, in that it comes to machu picchu from a different direction, and is quite a bit less expensive. Day 1! My favorite day, they drove us to the top of this mountain pass, at 4300 meters, which is around 13000 feet, and dropped us off with mountain bikes. We spent the next three hours descending this crazy mountain road. Twas nuts! I took a lot of pictures(to be seen once I get back to the states). We started up near a glacier, and ended in the hot jungle. One of my favorite moments on the trip.
Day two, hiked for eight hours along a mountain ridge, hung out with a monkey and some weird beaver like creature. Not too sure what that was. Said monkey called Martin enjoyed going into my cargo pockets on my pants and stealing my gloves. In my experiance with monkeys, they are both mischevious and hilarious.
Day three! hiked to Aguas Calientes, the critically disliked machu picchu town. We climbed a mountain opposing the M-Peach, for fantastic sights and ridiculous ladders. Again, better when shown with pictures.
Day four! Hiked to Machu Picchu, by far the most interesting day. We woke up at 3 in the morning for the tour hour hike, in the dark, to the peach. Got there at 515, ran through to wayna picchu(a large mountain near the peach, where only the first 400 are allowed to climb). I was 31, not too shabby! Anywho, took a spanish tour of the place, which was quite interesting. The city itself is pretty hard to get to, and the valley below is pretty nice. Apparently, they decided to build the city on top of a mountain because they considered the mountains a sort of connection with the heavens, as they,re huge. While impractical, its really quite beautiful. Also, no one knows the actual name of the city, machu picchu is just the name of the nearby mountain. Why it was built, and consequently deserted is up to much spectulation. Our tour guide seemed to believe they deserted it to protect it from the spanish, similar to "hiding precious jewels". Others claim it was founded as a hidden city from the spanish, and others claim it was deserted because the springs ran dry. Needless to say, its pretty crazy.
Ok, gotta run and catch the overnight bus. Have a good one dearest reader.
-Brian
Oh, and grammatical or typographical errors can be attributed to spanish keyboards and internet cafes. The peach is also an official terms these days, feel free to use it in public with professors and intellectuals.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Puno and Lake Titicaca
So, currently in Cuzco now, doing a little writing before tomorrows four day tour of Machu Pichu and the Sacred valley. Should be fantastic.
But! A recap of recent events. Went to Puno, a pretty large city on the coast of lake titicaca, peruvian style. Food- much better than bolivia. General organization and cleaniness- superior to bolivia. Needless to say, I like Peru.
So, first part of a two day tour I went on in Lake Titicaca: We went to the infamous floating islands of Uros. Thats right, they float! They´re entirely made of reeds, which grow in abundance in the shallows of the lack. They vary in size(about forty in total, with over 2 thousand residents) and are pretty nuts to walk on, and comfy to nap on. They´ve got little huts on the edges, surronding a central ¨hang out¨ place, with rolls of reeds to sit on. Also, you can eat the reeds. They taste kinda like what you´d imagine, a generally bland veggie.
But, gotta run! I´ll be gettin´ up tomorrow bright and early for a bit o adventurin. Have a good one.
-Brian
But! A recap of recent events. Went to Puno, a pretty large city on the coast of lake titicaca, peruvian style. Food- much better than bolivia. General organization and cleaniness- superior to bolivia. Needless to say, I like Peru.
So, first part of a two day tour I went on in Lake Titicaca: We went to the infamous floating islands of Uros. Thats right, they float! They´re entirely made of reeds, which grow in abundance in the shallows of the lack. They vary in size(about forty in total, with over 2 thousand residents) and are pretty nuts to walk on, and comfy to nap on. They´ve got little huts on the edges, surronding a central ¨hang out¨ place, with rolls of reeds to sit on. Also, you can eat the reeds. They taste kinda like what you´d imagine, a generally bland veggie.
But, gotta run! I´ll be gettin´ up tomorrow bright and early for a bit o adventurin. Have a good one.
-Brian
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Intersting stuff
So I´ve got free internet here at this hostal in La Paz, so I´ll be damned if I don´t take advantage. Had a day walking around the city today, on a little walking tour we found in the ever handy Lonely Planet. Stuff noted:
Child labor is not against the law here. When we were in Uyuni, we were waited on by a ten year old kid, who was tending to his toddler daughter most of the time(quality of food not affected, twas delicious). It was a strange experiance. And in La Paz, children are a sadder sight. They are a lot of them begging, I was walking across a bridge here and there were two of them, probably no more than seven years old trying to play small guitars for money. And about every half hour a kid will follow us asking for money. I'm not really sure what to do in this situations, and I´ll spare you the phisophical discussion that goes on in my head while dealing with these poor children.
So they have little street shops for everything. really, everything. They´re are artesanias next to toliet bowl stands next to car parts stands next to food stands. Its crazy. And kinda cool. There aren´t any large supermarkets(thought there are large markets) or department stores. I can understand the appeal to a large ¨buy everything in one place¨ type of store a lot better now.
A friend here told us about a good India restuarant in town, and was quite correct. I am proud to say I´ve now eaten Llama Tikka Masala. And boy, it was tasty. There was none left at the end. Because I ate it.
Whilst hanging out with the frenchies on the tour in the salt flats, we communicated in only spanish. It was kinda neat if you don´t mind me sayin- they spoke french for mostly the entire time. But! When the switched into spanish, it was all clear all the sudden, i could finally figure out what they were saying and whatnot. Long story short, it was pretty similar to when i first came to chile with spanish and english. Though, of course, spanish is always a work in progress.
Oh also, at one of these street side vendors, I saw a stand for tatoos. Naturally, I thought, hey, they must have those henna tatoos things here. Quite the contrary! Upon closer inspection, there was a guy, tatooing the ankle of some girl, on the side of the busiest road in La Paz. Incredible. So that was a bit of a shock. I do not have any tatoos.
Whelp, i´m off to sleep, have a good one.
-Brian
Child labor is not against the law here. When we were in Uyuni, we were waited on by a ten year old kid, who was tending to his toddler daughter most of the time(quality of food not affected, twas delicious). It was a strange experiance. And in La Paz, children are a sadder sight. They are a lot of them begging, I was walking across a bridge here and there were two of them, probably no more than seven years old trying to play small guitars for money. And about every half hour a kid will follow us asking for money. I'm not really sure what to do in this situations, and I´ll spare you the phisophical discussion that goes on in my head while dealing with these poor children.
So they have little street shops for everything. really, everything. They´re are artesanias next to toliet bowl stands next to car parts stands next to food stands. Its crazy. And kinda cool. There aren´t any large supermarkets(thought there are large markets) or department stores. I can understand the appeal to a large ¨buy everything in one place¨ type of store a lot better now.
A friend here told us about a good India restuarant in town, and was quite correct. I am proud to say I´ve now eaten Llama Tikka Masala. And boy, it was tasty. There was none left at the end. Because I ate it.
Whilst hanging out with the frenchies on the tour in the salt flats, we communicated in only spanish. It was kinda neat if you don´t mind me sayin- they spoke french for mostly the entire time. But! When the switched into spanish, it was all clear all the sudden, i could finally figure out what they were saying and whatnot. Long story short, it was pretty similar to when i first came to chile with spanish and english. Though, of course, spanish is always a work in progress.
Oh also, at one of these street side vendors, I saw a stand for tatoos. Naturally, I thought, hey, they must have those henna tatoos things here. Quite the contrary! Upon closer inspection, there was a guy, tatooing the ankle of some girl, on the side of the busiest road in La Paz. Incredible. So that was a bit of a shock. I do not have any tatoos.
Whelp, i´m off to sleep, have a good one.
-Brian
Friday, July 10, 2009
A ridiculous day of traveling
Here's how it went:
Woke up at five at Lago Colorado in southern bolivia, and spent the day in the jeep driving to a few places, and then back to Uyuni, the major city in the north. We got back at seven at night- except for stopping for lunch, we spent the entire time in the Jeep. Went and got some dinner in Uyuni, then took a nap until 1, where we took the Wara Wara Del Sur, an 8 hour train that went to Oruro. Got in there at nine in the mornin, grabbed a bite to eat, wrote a blog entry, then took a three hour bus to La Paz, all the way in the northish of Bolivia. Got here at around. All in all, it was a 36 hour travel timespan. Craziness!
I'm currently staying in a hostal in La Paz called "adventure brew Hostal" or something along those lines. Its got all you can eat pancakes in the morning, free internet, clean beds (of course), and a free home brewed beer everyday. I think theres also a bar in the Hostal, but i've yet to look for it. All for six dollars a night.
Tomorrow we're going to be touring about La Paz, possibly getting a friend of Bri's to show us around. Its a pretty interesting city, snuggled up in a valley. And its at 11000 feet, give or take 200 feet. If I hadn't already spent four days at this altitude, that'd be an issue, but really startin to get along quite nice with it.
Ok, gotta run and eat!
-Brian
Woke up at five at Lago Colorado in southern bolivia, and spent the day in the jeep driving to a few places, and then back to Uyuni, the major city in the north. We got back at seven at night- except for stopping for lunch, we spent the entire time in the Jeep. Went and got some dinner in Uyuni, then took a nap until 1, where we took the Wara Wara Del Sur, an 8 hour train that went to Oruro. Got in there at nine in the mornin, grabbed a bite to eat, wrote a blog entry, then took a three hour bus to La Paz, all the way in the northish of Bolivia. Got here at around. All in all, it was a 36 hour travel timespan. Craziness!
I'm currently staying in a hostal in La Paz called "adventure brew Hostal" or something along those lines. Its got all you can eat pancakes in the morning, free internet, clean beds (of course), and a free home brewed beer everyday. I think theres also a bar in the Hostal, but i've yet to look for it. All for six dollars a night.
Tomorrow we're going to be touring about La Paz, possibly getting a friend of Bri's to show us around. Its a pretty interesting city, snuggled up in a valley. And its at 11000 feet, give or take 200 feet. If I hadn't already spent four days at this altitude, that'd be an issue, but really startin to get along quite nice with it.
Ok, gotta run and eat!
-Brian
Bolivia!
Ok, ok. I am slackin with postin, so heres some updatin.
Right now, I'm in Oruro, Bolivia, making this my sixth day of traveling? That seems about right. We, Bri and I, arrived here on this past sunday night, then went about 8 hours south to Uyuni, a town on the edge of the Bolivian salt flats. And then, we went on a three day jeep tour through the desert and flats with four frenchies, and one tour guide. Pretty nuts, cold, dry, and high.
Everything is so high here! Probably the most intense bus ride of my- well, one of the two most intense bus rides- was from Arica to Tambo Quemado, the bolivian border. We went from sea level to, well, its tough to be sure, but we were next to a volcano that was 6400 meters high. Twas crazy! Its been pretty high since then as well, we´ve been staying at 3000 to 4200 meters. Definitely can feel it, we´re staying hydrated and largely inactive in terms of hiking or such like that.
So Bolivia is really cheap. Like extremely. The first night here, I bought a plate of chicken, rice, and fries for a dollar. And then the next day bought a four course meal for two dollars. Now, Bolivia isn´t really known for its cooking prowess, but fried chicken is fried chicken. And I think the second day we ate cow stomach, but not sure on that one.
In about an hour we´re heading to La Paz, the highest capital in the world! Should be good. Other cool superlatives: Spent three days in the driest desert in the world! Went to the highest gysers in the world! Yeah thats about it for now in terms of superlatives.
Other things: While I could blend in in chile, it is impossible here to not look like an extranjero. I tower over all Bolivians. And i´m not quite dark enough either. For some reason, I´ve seen a lot of basketball courts here, never with people playing. I´m wondering who´s been putting them here as a cruel joke. Hilarious!
There aren´t many paved roads here, making the buses a bit interesting. But its all good. Took a train from Uyuni to Oruro today, which left at 2 am and arrived here at about nine. Pretty neat!
Theres a lot more to elaborate on, but gotta run! I will do my best not to "slack" as aptly put by elisha. Also, my spanish it improving by leaps and bounds.
-Brian
Oh one more thing, in Bolivia, its a legitimate business to open up public bathrooms and charge for them. Next to the train station there are literally four public bathrooms competing in a capitalistic manner. Interesting indeed.
Right now, I'm in Oruro, Bolivia, making this my sixth day of traveling? That seems about right. We, Bri and I, arrived here on this past sunday night, then went about 8 hours south to Uyuni, a town on the edge of the Bolivian salt flats. And then, we went on a three day jeep tour through the desert and flats with four frenchies, and one tour guide. Pretty nuts, cold, dry, and high.
Everything is so high here! Probably the most intense bus ride of my- well, one of the two most intense bus rides- was from Arica to Tambo Quemado, the bolivian border. We went from sea level to, well, its tough to be sure, but we were next to a volcano that was 6400 meters high. Twas crazy! Its been pretty high since then as well, we´ve been staying at 3000 to 4200 meters. Definitely can feel it, we´re staying hydrated and largely inactive in terms of hiking or such like that.
So Bolivia is really cheap. Like extremely. The first night here, I bought a plate of chicken, rice, and fries for a dollar. And then the next day bought a four course meal for two dollars. Now, Bolivia isn´t really known for its cooking prowess, but fried chicken is fried chicken. And I think the second day we ate cow stomach, but not sure on that one.
In about an hour we´re heading to La Paz, the highest capital in the world! Should be good. Other cool superlatives: Spent three days in the driest desert in the world! Went to the highest gysers in the world! Yeah thats about it for now in terms of superlatives.
Other things: While I could blend in in chile, it is impossible here to not look like an extranjero. I tower over all Bolivians. And i´m not quite dark enough either. For some reason, I´ve seen a lot of basketball courts here, never with people playing. I´m wondering who´s been putting them here as a cruel joke. Hilarious!
There aren´t many paved roads here, making the buses a bit interesting. But its all good. Took a train from Uyuni to Oruro today, which left at 2 am and arrived here at about nine. Pretty neat!
Theres a lot more to elaborate on, but gotta run! I will do my best not to "slack" as aptly put by elisha. Also, my spanish it improving by leaps and bounds.
-Brian
Oh one more thing, in Bolivia, its a legitimate business to open up public bathrooms and charge for them. Next to the train station there are literally four public bathrooms competing in a capitalistic manner. Interesting indeed.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Paintball and Horsetracks
Now these two past activities aren't really inherently Chilean at all. Horses were from Europe right?
Anywho, I went to the local horse tracks here with my friend, her host dad, and his friend who he constantly called "el viejo" (old). It was a pretty nuts place, got some pictures i'll put up, but really reflected the german influence here. Completely german architecture. So, here's how it works for those who don't know(which was me right up to this point):
You go in, entrance is free, and buy this booklet(costs 1 mil pesos, 1.50 american) which has a listing off all the races that are to go on that day. There are somewhere around 13 per wednesday and monday, each with 8-13 horses. There is a TON of information in these little boxes. My friends dad taught me all sorts of things to look for. Good things: race times, weights(of rider and horse), history, age, usual race lengths and so on. From there, the odds are shown on a tv screen, with the favorites being the lowest(for 1.7-3ish) generally. And man! There are so many different kinds of bets! I had thought you just chose who won, but no no there were a bunch of different kinds. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they mean in english, just the spanish names(ganador, quinella, trifecta, a tercera, a segundo, and so on) Pretty nuts. The minimum bet for a horse is 200 pesos, which is about 30 cents. I placed my first bet on "Need for Speed" which had 5.7 odds, at 200 pesos. And you know it, I won! Got back a mil and change; it was pretty fun, and a pretty awesome display of beginner's luck. From there I tried different bets, won some, lost more, and ended the day about 200 pesos on top. All around, it was a pretty fun time, and was like a big puzzle game, analyzing statistics in a mildly crazy environment. And pretty cheap as well. Next gambling experiance to be had- the casino!
Paintball was pretty darn fun as well- we met at 2:30 yesterday and got picked up in a truck. Literally, they put 30 of us in the back of a closed truck, drove us up some hill or something(couldn't see, it was a truck) and were dropped off in a field. Our teams were about 13-12 people each per team, our team was all semester students, and the other teams were mostly the month long summer semester students who just arrived. No I hadn't played paintball since early in high school, and even then I didn't play more than once or twice. But this was darn fun. A short chronical of the games:
First game: Me, and four of my buddies moved down the right side of the woods, with no interference from other teams, we made a rush for the flag, I shot some girl defending it, grabbed the flag, and ran back! We won(cause I'm so fast!) and I have no idea where the other team even was.
Second game: Much more intense, me and four of my friends got into an intense close combat battle around a bush, which ended in only me surviving with no ammo. Obviously, when this happens, I got up, and sprinting towards the other flag. Intense! Shots flying all around, I made it the flag, got it my hand, and got shot twice in the chest. Triumphant failure!
Third game: Overly boring, not too much happened, ran out of ammo, and then time ended the game.
So that was a good time.
Plans for this upcoming week. I am going to the Chile vs. Bolivia game on wednesday in Santiago. It should be quite intense, its a qualifier for the world cup. So I'm excited.
Nos vemos! -Brian
Anywho, I went to the local horse tracks here with my friend, her host dad, and his friend who he constantly called "el viejo" (old). It was a pretty nuts place, got some pictures i'll put up, but really reflected the german influence here. Completely german architecture. So, here's how it works for those who don't know(which was me right up to this point):
You go in, entrance is free, and buy this booklet(costs 1 mil pesos, 1.50 american) which has a listing off all the races that are to go on that day. There are somewhere around 13 per wednesday and monday, each with 8-13 horses. There is a TON of information in these little boxes. My friends dad taught me all sorts of things to look for. Good things: race times, weights(of rider and horse), history, age, usual race lengths and so on. From there, the odds are shown on a tv screen, with the favorites being the lowest(for 1.7-3ish) generally. And man! There are so many different kinds of bets! I had thought you just chose who won, but no no there were a bunch of different kinds. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they mean in english, just the spanish names(ganador, quinella, trifecta, a tercera, a segundo, and so on) Pretty nuts. The minimum bet for a horse is 200 pesos, which is about 30 cents. I placed my first bet on "Need for Speed" which had 5.7 odds, at 200 pesos. And you know it, I won! Got back a mil and change; it was pretty fun, and a pretty awesome display of beginner's luck. From there I tried different bets, won some, lost more, and ended the day about 200 pesos on top. All around, it was a pretty fun time, and was like a big puzzle game, analyzing statistics in a mildly crazy environment. And pretty cheap as well. Next gambling experiance to be had- the casino!
Paintball was pretty darn fun as well- we met at 2:30 yesterday and got picked up in a truck. Literally, they put 30 of us in the back of a closed truck, drove us up some hill or something(couldn't see, it was a truck) and were dropped off in a field. Our teams were about 13-12 people each per team, our team was all semester students, and the other teams were mostly the month long summer semester students who just arrived. No I hadn't played paintball since early in high school, and even then I didn't play more than once or twice. But this was darn fun. A short chronical of the games:
First game: Me, and four of my buddies moved down the right side of the woods, with no interference from other teams, we made a rush for the flag, I shot some girl defending it, grabbed the flag, and ran back! We won(cause I'm so fast!) and I have no idea where the other team even was.
Second game: Much more intense, me and four of my friends got into an intense close combat battle around a bush, which ended in only me surviving with no ammo. Obviously, when this happens, I got up, and sprinting towards the other flag. Intense! Shots flying all around, I made it the flag, got it my hand, and got shot twice in the chest. Triumphant failure!
Third game: Overly boring, not too much happened, ran out of ammo, and then time ended the game.
So that was a good time.
Plans for this upcoming week. I am going to the Chile vs. Bolivia game on wednesday in Santiago. It should be quite intense, its a qualifier for the world cup. So I'm excited.
Nos vemos! -Brian
Thursday, May 28, 2009
San Pedro Stories
San Pedro was certainly a less expansive, less bad weathered, and less crazy trip, but good just this the same. While the theme of Patagonia may have been hauling a large backpack up a rainy mountain, this one would be, relaxing in the quaint desert town of San Pedro de Atacama.
We spent our time here enjoying the sights on foot, bikes(which was definitely my favorite part), and bus tours.
First, the bikes. I enjoyed biking back in my high school and younger days, and man, these bikes were perfect. They were mountain bikes, of decent quality with shocks and disc brakes, with semi flat tires. For some reason, it was extremely easy to skid with these bikes, something I was really good at by the end of our trip. So fun! We went to some ruins, had to bike through some streams to get there, and such like that.
Got to go to all sorts of places you saw in the pictures. Quite neat. Met some two Isreali fellahs that me and a friends talked to for hours around a campfire, learning about their lives(they were 22, and were both captains in the army for four years). They appeared much older than I would have guessed, but I guess maturity is something that comes pretty quickly over there. People of the same age in the US, are on a whole, a lot different, and probably a lot less mature. I couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing for awhile, and I'm still not sure. The more people I talk to, the more places I visit, the more I realize how little I(and other people) actually know. (Not to pull a Socrates or anything)
In other stuff, my spanish is coming along decently. I constantly feel I should be working harder on it, and studying more, but I have learned alot. This being said, it still feels like I know nothing, because there are still the moments of not being able to express what I want to say. Except now I can't fully express my opinions in arguments instead of being unable to express how I would like more food. So coming along, coming along.
Giving presentations in another language is difficult!
Gotta run to a little shindig for a friend who is headed back to the states tomorrow, chao!
-Brian
We spent our time here enjoying the sights on foot, bikes(which was definitely my favorite part), and bus tours.
First, the bikes. I enjoyed biking back in my high school and younger days, and man, these bikes were perfect. They were mountain bikes, of decent quality with shocks and disc brakes, with semi flat tires. For some reason, it was extremely easy to skid with these bikes, something I was really good at by the end of our trip. So fun! We went to some ruins, had to bike through some streams to get there, and such like that.
Got to go to all sorts of places you saw in the pictures. Quite neat. Met some two Isreali fellahs that me and a friends talked to for hours around a campfire, learning about their lives(they were 22, and were both captains in the army for four years). They appeared much older than I would have guessed, but I guess maturity is something that comes pretty quickly over there. People of the same age in the US, are on a whole, a lot different, and probably a lot less mature. I couldn't decide if this was a good or bad thing for awhile, and I'm still not sure. The more people I talk to, the more places I visit, the more I realize how little I(and other people) actually know. (Not to pull a Socrates or anything)
In other stuff, my spanish is coming along decently. I constantly feel I should be working harder on it, and studying more, but I have learned alot. This being said, it still feels like I know nothing, because there are still the moments of not being able to express what I want to say. Except now I can't fully express my opinions in arguments instead of being unable to express how I would like more food. So coming along, coming along.
Giving presentations in another language is difficult!
Gotta run to a little shindig for a friend who is headed back to the states tomorrow, chao!
-Brian
Yo
Heya,
So never did actually talk about my teaching experiances here, which have been as follows:
First, let me say that I do enjoy it. Its fun, its something I am decently enough good enough(as in I speak English and enjoy talking to groups of people?) Is that whats involved? Well, not shy to get up in front of class of chileans. Anywho...
I teach all sorts of grades, but I try to go with the 8th graders as much as possible. The younger grades are kinda babies, literally, and while adorable and all that jazz, not really that interesting. So yeah, there are 36 8th graders in one room. Its nuts! I have never understood until then why there are carpets in all schools I have ever been in. It is SO much louder with tiles! On top of that, there is a central courtyard, in which all seven floors of the school face into, which is always noisy. (there are kindergarteners on the bottom floor in a sort of playground area) The windows to our classroom as for some reason generally open. Its a noisy place.
What I usually do: Not as much as the title "teacher" implies. The profesora that is there does the leading of the class, and me and my fellow gringo Catherine, help with pronunciation, spelling and such like that. For example today, the students had to write down what liberty meant to them(why is it that all basic language classes ask extremely vast questions?) and Catherine and I went around helping them generally translate what they wrote(in spanish to english, obviously). It was pretty cool, got to do a lot of hands on translatin! Which was actually pretty tough, but cool in the end. So yeah, I am more like a teacher's assitant, or a student teacher, which is probably expected since I have no previous teaching experience. So yup, pretty sweet. Also, about half of the girls in the class have a crush of sorts on me, and half of the boys have a crush on Catherine. Kinda amusing.
The weather of here is kinda crazy in that its not crazy. Its supposed to be winter in here, and while it feels cold, its really only 55ish. Its actually a pretty good temperature, as its generally "sweatshirt weather" for most of the days. And there hasn't been any real rain yet. People keep talking about it, saying its coming. I'm waiting.
A conclusion to Patagonia! At long last, finally coming up with the end of the trip. The second to last day, we decided to take an 8 hour hike from our campsite to Glacier grey. The weather was terrible, pouring the entire day. Pouring hard. If we stopped for water for more than two minutes, we would start to get chilled. As my dad would say, "You gotta keep movin!" (Not a direct quote, just a supposed quote) So we got to the halfway point, a rather large hosteleria, resturant, and campsite. It was getting late, and we all know how miserable setting up tents in the cold, rain, AND the dark is, so we headed out pretty quickly. A little too quickly. You see, an hour an a half later, I studied the map a little more intensely than I did two hours back, and realized we were going in the wrong direction. Like, completely opposite. I won't go into defending the mistake we made, we were rushed and tired, and got an unintentional view of the torres. Now, after walking for a half hour back to the hosteleria in silent anger, we managed to put a good spin on the event, and by the time we got back to the hosteleria in a net gain of spirits. Our groups was a bastion of making the best of the situations.
A side note: I've come to find the saying "Every moment is what you make of it" to be entirely true. Some of the places I've been have been really interesting, some have been not so much- but all of them have been fun. Its just a matter of shaping your world! Its fantastic.
Anywho, so we get back, soaked, a little bummed about not seeing the glacier and such, and find this kitchen typea shack in the middle of the campground that was semi warm(hella lot warmer than the rainy outside). Over the course of the night, we cooked and ate there, made a bunch of friends from all over the world. Everyone was soaked, and everyone found the floor of the shack lookin pretty darn exciting. Long story short, there was like a two hour disagree/argument with the staff there ending with the following argeement: The women in the group were allowed to come into the hosteleria and spend the night for free(which costs about 45$, which is ridiculously expensive for chile. Or for college students.) and the guys had to camp outside in the rain. So, around 12 something, I set up my tent in the windy cold(the rain had luckily stopped) and slept outside. It wasn't so bad actually, I had the tent to myself since tim was staying in the hosteleria.
The next morning, we woke up early, and hiking to a mirador and saw the glacier, snapped some fotos you guys probably saw, and then headed back to the hosteleria, and to Puerta Natales.
Stayed in Hostel Nancy for the night in Puerto Natales, I had the most delicious beer I've ever tasted after finally taking a shower and relaxing. Twas great. For price comparison hostel nancy cost 5,000 chilean pesos, which is around 8 dollars.
The next day, spent some time in puerto natales, took the bus to puerto arenas, flight to santiago, bus to vina. Got in around 2-3 in the morning, exhausted! It was a great trip, fo sho.
-Brian
Spanish saying: "Me da rabia!"
So never did actually talk about my teaching experiances here, which have been as follows:
First, let me say that I do enjoy it. Its fun, its something I am decently enough good enough(as in I speak English and enjoy talking to groups of people?) Is that whats involved? Well, not shy to get up in front of class of chileans. Anywho...
I teach all sorts of grades, but I try to go with the 8th graders as much as possible. The younger grades are kinda babies, literally, and while adorable and all that jazz, not really that interesting. So yeah, there are 36 8th graders in one room. Its nuts! I have never understood until then why there are carpets in all schools I have ever been in. It is SO much louder with tiles! On top of that, there is a central courtyard, in which all seven floors of the school face into, which is always noisy. (there are kindergarteners on the bottom floor in a sort of playground area) The windows to our classroom as for some reason generally open. Its a noisy place.
What I usually do: Not as much as the title "teacher" implies. The profesora that is there does the leading of the class, and me and my fellow gringo Catherine, help with pronunciation, spelling and such like that. For example today, the students had to write down what liberty meant to them(why is it that all basic language classes ask extremely vast questions?) and Catherine and I went around helping them generally translate what they wrote(in spanish to english, obviously). It was pretty cool, got to do a lot of hands on translatin! Which was actually pretty tough, but cool in the end. So yeah, I am more like a teacher's assitant, or a student teacher, which is probably expected since I have no previous teaching experience. So yup, pretty sweet. Also, about half of the girls in the class have a crush of sorts on me, and half of the boys have a crush on Catherine. Kinda amusing.
The weather of here is kinda crazy in that its not crazy. Its supposed to be winter in here, and while it feels cold, its really only 55ish. Its actually a pretty good temperature, as its generally "sweatshirt weather" for most of the days. And there hasn't been any real rain yet. People keep talking about it, saying its coming. I'm waiting.
A conclusion to Patagonia! At long last, finally coming up with the end of the trip. The second to last day, we decided to take an 8 hour hike from our campsite to Glacier grey. The weather was terrible, pouring the entire day. Pouring hard. If we stopped for water for more than two minutes, we would start to get chilled. As my dad would say, "You gotta keep movin!" (Not a direct quote, just a supposed quote) So we got to the halfway point, a rather large hosteleria, resturant, and campsite. It was getting late, and we all know how miserable setting up tents in the cold, rain, AND the dark is, so we headed out pretty quickly. A little too quickly. You see, an hour an a half later, I studied the map a little more intensely than I did two hours back, and realized we were going in the wrong direction. Like, completely opposite. I won't go into defending the mistake we made, we were rushed and tired, and got an unintentional view of the torres. Now, after walking for a half hour back to the hosteleria in silent anger, we managed to put a good spin on the event, and by the time we got back to the hosteleria in a net gain of spirits. Our groups was a bastion of making the best of the situations.
A side note: I've come to find the saying "Every moment is what you make of it" to be entirely true. Some of the places I've been have been really interesting, some have been not so much- but all of them have been fun. Its just a matter of shaping your world! Its fantastic.
Anywho, so we get back, soaked, a little bummed about not seeing the glacier and such, and find this kitchen typea shack in the middle of the campground that was semi warm(hella lot warmer than the rainy outside). Over the course of the night, we cooked and ate there, made a bunch of friends from all over the world. Everyone was soaked, and everyone found the floor of the shack lookin pretty darn exciting. Long story short, there was like a two hour disagree/argument with the staff there ending with the following argeement: The women in the group were allowed to come into the hosteleria and spend the night for free(which costs about 45$, which is ridiculously expensive for chile. Or for college students.) and the guys had to camp outside in the rain. So, around 12 something, I set up my tent in the windy cold(the rain had luckily stopped) and slept outside. It wasn't so bad actually, I had the tent to myself since tim was staying in the hosteleria.
The next morning, we woke up early, and hiking to a mirador and saw the glacier, snapped some fotos you guys probably saw, and then headed back to the hosteleria, and to Puerta Natales.
Stayed in Hostel Nancy for the night in Puerto Natales, I had the most delicious beer I've ever tasted after finally taking a shower and relaxing. Twas great. For price comparison hostel nancy cost 5,000 chilean pesos, which is around 8 dollars.
The next day, spent some time in puerto natales, took the bus to puerto arenas, flight to santiago, bus to vina. Got in around 2-3 in the morning, exhausted! It was a great trip, fo sho.
-Brian
Spanish saying: "Me da rabia!"
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Atacama Fotos!
Yup, put up some pictures from my latest adventure, that being the Atacama desert as mentioned. Do enjoy the sights!
San Pedro de Atacama
That is all for now, I must go and shower. Gotta stay tidy n clean!
-Brian
Spanish saying I've been saying at the end of nearly every sentence, "...Si, sabes, cosas asi." (yeah, you know, things like that.)
San Pedro de Atacama
That is all for now, I must go and shower. Gotta stay tidy n clean!
-Brian
Spanish saying I've been saying at the end of nearly every sentence, "...Si, sabes, cosas asi." (yeah, you know, things like that.)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A comment on Chilean lifestyle
There are many similarities to life in Chile and the US, and some specific differences. Coming to Chile I was informed of the overall relaxed feel of the people here, and have come to find this relaxed feeling is pervasive in daily life. But its somewhat of a different type of relaxed feeling than what I am used to. For example: One of my classes here didn't start until a month into the semester, the intramural sports didn't start until two months into the semester, it took two in a half months to get student IDs, and so on. For things like that, I feel that is more inefficiency than relaxation, but thats probably just my "new england" "busy body" personality coming out.
And man, talking to my friends from all over the US, its a different world out there. To me, the space in between the coasts is a big mystery. Thats on my list to see, as it sounds a completely different world to what I'm used to.
If there is a problem in the US, even something minor, lets say like a bad smell on a random corner on the street, people complain, someone is brought in, and the problem is solved. Here, if there is a bad smell on the corner, people just deal with it and stop noticing(and don't mind it anymore either). It seems that in the US we have a very "fix the problem" attitude" but here they have a much stronger "deal with the problem" attitude. And interesting different that pervades much of society.
The city of Valparaiso is growing on me, each time I go there I get a better and better feeling of the city, seeing less of its dirt, and more of its culture. Getting a photo album up soon. The art in the city really is amazing, its tough to get a comprehensive collection of the city, as its kinda more of a style than a specific mural or two. Because there are thousands of murals it seems.
Also, I don't really notice the graffiti here anymore, almost ignoring it and seeing only the murals. Kinda cool. There isn't much that doesn't have graffiti. Buildings, walls, trash cans, rocks, trees, aloe vera plants, and so much more.
We had a chile versus extranjeros(internationals) soccer match the other night. You would assume it would be a blow out, right? wrong. We won the first game, 7-6, and then continued to plan a best-to-two-switch-out style game which was harder to keep track of winning. (there were three teams at the point, so whoever one the best to twos stayed on while the other switched) While I believe that we ended up winning more, our chilean friends have been talking trash that they won more. So its on again this coming week.
I, just as you, am surprised that we won. It was futbolito(meaning basketball sized field, five on five). We had two kids who played in high school on their teams, but the other three of us haven't played much at all. I guess what surprised me is their lack of "inherent" soccer skills as the stereotype declares. If chileans were to come to america, aside from the slaughter that would happen in baseball, I feel we could "naturally" hold a strong job with basketball across the board. As in, people who really don't play hoops, would be pretty good- or inherently better than those who are from Latin America. Perhaps I am just promoting stereotypes, but I'll do some more research and find out.
I went to a chilean soccer game today, Everton vs. hm.. a team from the south of chile. Everton is the team from Vina, a generally upper middle level team(as in quality and skill). They won three to two, it was a pretty fun experiance, and cost only five bucks or so. Similarities to american sports:
Dudes walking around selling stuff: while I didn't hear the typical "ice cold beer here!" yell, I did see the same type of vendors running around the stands. Also, there was no beer sold there. Also, not ridiculously overpriced, only a little bit overpriced.
Like in college football games, there were kids playing soccer(would be football in the us) in the space in between the field and the stands. An interesting symmetry.
Differences: There were a lot of cops there- and not just in uniform. They kinda of reminded me of Master chief from Halo- some(not all) wore full body armor, helmet and the works with a billy club that was attached to the wrist. Kinda intense, and pretty sweet looking. There were lots of cops there.
There were talls fences with barbed wire seperating the field from the stands. There were two sets of fences with barbed wire(and a row of cops) separating the away team fans from the home team. I saw a few people run over and yell something at the other team, but there were no real issues. And there were always a few master chiefs around anyway.
Soccer fans, at least here, were a bit crazier, but not ridiculously so as I had been lead on to believe. I'll definitely go to more games, its was a good time, and now Everton has qualified for the playoffs, so we'll see how far they go. Also, I think we're going to try to go to the Bolivia-Chile game in June in Santiago, so that should be a cool experience.
Plans for the future: Hmm... theres some sort of race in Vina this coming sunday I'm planning on running, not sure how long it is yet. Just be running for fun anywho. Que mas... nothing for now.
-Brian
And man, talking to my friends from all over the US, its a different world out there. To me, the space in between the coasts is a big mystery. Thats on my list to see, as it sounds a completely different world to what I'm used to.
If there is a problem in the US, even something minor, lets say like a bad smell on a random corner on the street, people complain, someone is brought in, and the problem is solved. Here, if there is a bad smell on the corner, people just deal with it and stop noticing(and don't mind it anymore either). It seems that in the US we have a very "fix the problem" attitude" but here they have a much stronger "deal with the problem" attitude. And interesting different that pervades much of society.
The city of Valparaiso is growing on me, each time I go there I get a better and better feeling of the city, seeing less of its dirt, and more of its culture. Getting a photo album up soon. The art in the city really is amazing, its tough to get a comprehensive collection of the city, as its kinda more of a style than a specific mural or two. Because there are thousands of murals it seems.
Also, I don't really notice the graffiti here anymore, almost ignoring it and seeing only the murals. Kinda cool. There isn't much that doesn't have graffiti. Buildings, walls, trash cans, rocks, trees, aloe vera plants, and so much more.
We had a chile versus extranjeros(internationals) soccer match the other night. You would assume it would be a blow out, right? wrong. We won the first game, 7-6, and then continued to plan a best-to-two-switch-out style game which was harder to keep track of winning. (there were three teams at the point, so whoever one the best to twos stayed on while the other switched) While I believe that we ended up winning more, our chilean friends have been talking trash that they won more. So its on again this coming week.
I, just as you, am surprised that we won. It was futbolito(meaning basketball sized field, five on five). We had two kids who played in high school on their teams, but the other three of us haven't played much at all. I guess what surprised me is their lack of "inherent" soccer skills as the stereotype declares. If chileans were to come to america, aside from the slaughter that would happen in baseball, I feel we could "naturally" hold a strong job with basketball across the board. As in, people who really don't play hoops, would be pretty good- or inherently better than those who are from Latin America. Perhaps I am just promoting stereotypes, but I'll do some more research and find out.
I went to a chilean soccer game today, Everton vs. hm.. a team from the south of chile. Everton is the team from Vina, a generally upper middle level team(as in quality and skill). They won three to two, it was a pretty fun experiance, and cost only five bucks or so. Similarities to american sports:
Dudes walking around selling stuff: while I didn't hear the typical "ice cold beer here!" yell, I did see the same type of vendors running around the stands. Also, there was no beer sold there. Also, not ridiculously overpriced, only a little bit overpriced.
Like in college football games, there were kids playing soccer(would be football in the us) in the space in between the field and the stands. An interesting symmetry.
Differences: There were a lot of cops there- and not just in uniform. They kinda of reminded me of Master chief from Halo- some(not all) wore full body armor, helmet and the works with a billy club that was attached to the wrist. Kinda intense, and pretty sweet looking. There were lots of cops there.
There were talls fences with barbed wire seperating the field from the stands. There were two sets of fences with barbed wire(and a row of cops) separating the away team fans from the home team. I saw a few people run over and yell something at the other team, but there were no real issues. And there were always a few master chiefs around anyway.
Soccer fans, at least here, were a bit crazier, but not ridiculously so as I had been lead on to believe. I'll definitely go to more games, its was a good time, and now Everton has qualified for the playoffs, so we'll see how far they go. Also, I think we're going to try to go to the Bolivia-Chile game in June in Santiago, so that should be a cool experience.
Plans for the future: Hmm... theres some sort of race in Vina this coming sunday I'm planning on running, not sure how long it is yet. Just be running for fun anywho. Que mas... nothing for now.
-Brian
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Futbol en Chile
I forgot to add this:
I semiaccidentally tried out for the University of Vina Del Mar futbol team. So, things that I have learned from this experience. I am in good enough shape to play with them, they weren't really faster, actually weren't at all. But, I didn't have cleats, so I was sliding all around the field, and couldn't turn. Nor could I kick the ball very well. But hey, it was a good time, playing soccer with chileans! So I'm not planning on playing on the team(I technically can't be cut because I'm an international student) but I'm not gonna plague them with my horrible footin' skills. There are less competitive soccer games twice a week that I'll be going to instead.
Also, nicknames I earned whilst playing soccer:
Gringo: This was a given, though I didn't get called this a lot thanks to my slightly taller chilean appearence. My friend Orion was exclusively called this.
Flacco: Translated to "skinny" or "slim" this was my primary nickname, which I will be takin as a compliment.
Succio: Translated to "Dirty" this does not have the same positive connotation as it does in english(as in, That dude is dirty at hoops!) but is more like "plays dirty." This is crap, because A: I was called this before I actually "played dirty" and when i did "play dirty" I only threw elbows where elbows had already been thrown. So I refute the legitimacy of this nickname.
Ok, I have to go back for the desert, pictures and more stories on wednesday!
-Brian
I semiaccidentally tried out for the University of Vina Del Mar futbol team. So, things that I have learned from this experience. I am in good enough shape to play with them, they weren't really faster, actually weren't at all. But, I didn't have cleats, so I was sliding all around the field, and couldn't turn. Nor could I kick the ball very well. But hey, it was a good time, playing soccer with chileans! So I'm not planning on playing on the team(I technically can't be cut because I'm an international student) but I'm not gonna plague them with my horrible footin' skills. There are less competitive soccer games twice a week that I'll be going to instead.
Also, nicknames I earned whilst playing soccer:
Gringo: This was a given, though I didn't get called this a lot thanks to my slightly taller chilean appearence. My friend Orion was exclusively called this.
Flacco: Translated to "skinny" or "slim" this was my primary nickname, which I will be takin as a compliment.
Succio: Translated to "Dirty" this does not have the same positive connotation as it does in english(as in, That dude is dirty at hoops!) but is more like "plays dirty." This is crap, because A: I was called this before I actually "played dirty" and when i did "play dirty" I only threw elbows where elbows had already been thrown. So I refute the legitimacy of this nickname.
Ok, I have to go back for the desert, pictures and more stories on wednesday!
-Brian
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Quick news!
Ok, its late, but here's whats been going down lately:
Taught english at Colegio Numancia, a school in Valparaiso to 4th 6th and 8th graders.
Bought a sweet hiking backpack!
And right now, well tomorrow, I am going to the desert north, a town called San Pedro de Atacama. Sites to be visited: Valley of the Moon, Death Valley, largest copper mine in the world, highest geysers in the world, Incan fortress and more!
More news and expansions on said topics(especially teaching) when I return!
Have a good one.
-Brian
Taught english at Colegio Numancia, a school in Valparaiso to 4th 6th and 8th graders.
Bought a sweet hiking backpack!
And right now, well tomorrow, I am going to the desert north, a town called San Pedro de Atacama. Sites to be visited: Valley of the Moon, Death Valley, largest copper mine in the world, highest geysers in the world, Incan fortress and more!
More news and expansions on said topics(especially teaching) when I return!
Have a good one.
-Brian
Friday, May 1, 2009
Patagonia! Continued...
Lets see...
So we're still on day two. We got to our camp at arounf three o'clock, set up the tents in a light rain and headed to this like shack/shed type thing for cooking. This little place was a life saver. It provided the necessary shelter to cook food(we made gnocchis with gravy, rico) We would've been in quite some trouble without it, eating more tortillas and peanut butter, our staple at the time. Met some cool people at this place, Jeff and Kim from vancouver, and Alex from Sydney. We actually saw them for the next three nights, so they'll be recurring characters. So we ate deliciously warm meals, and headed to bed around five pm. Ridiculous, I know. But we were tired, and it was gettin dark, and it was semi warm in the tent. Actually we played cards in one of the tents for a bit, and then headed to bed. I had to dig a little trench around the tent to prevent the flow of water from running into the tent.
Oh how the night was cold! It rained for most of the night, and then... it snowed!
Day Three: We all woke up quite cold, threw together an impromptu breakfast, packed up as fast as possible, and got out of that freezing valley! (side note, I started taking pictures this day) This day of hiking was the best, it had the best weather, and some of the coolest views of the entire trip. I was actually hiking in a t shirt(after a night with snow) because it was hot. We dried out out tents and stuff whislt eating lunch, once again amoungst cows, condors, and nature! The Mountains there have a stange hum about them, due to the intense wind in the peaks. Its quite impressive, and a little foreboding. This hike was one of the longer hikes, somewhere around eight hours, and we were a little worried we wouldn't get to our destination until after dark. We split up into two groups(fast and slow) and got to the campsite with an hour of sunlight to spare.
The place we stayed, Los Cuernos, was by far my favorite. We set our tents up underneath this large tree, in the shadow of gigantic mountains and a glacier. There was a "hut" typea building that we ate our food in(though we had to cook outside) The people running the hut were really kind, we bought some wine and ate our rice and soup. We also found a guitar, I broke out the harmonica, played some cards, and sang a bunch of songs. And man was it warm inside that building. It was an all around good time. And at night, it was warm! somewhere in the 60s inside of the tent. We all slept like non colicky babies.
Day 4: Woke up in high spirits, with a long day ahead of us(eight hours of hikin!) About a half an hour into the hike it started raining and did not stop all day. The trails sometimes follow streams, where you walk either through the stream, or along the side. This particular leg of the journey was up and down hills in streams. Through the pouring rain! We were all thoroughly soaked. After four hours of wet hiking, we got to Lake Pehoe hostelria, where we had four more hours to get to glacier grey refugio. Since it was getting late, we booked it through the hostelria and headed out. There was some confusion on which was to go, but we picked a direction and went. Unfortunately for us, an hour and a half later, we realized we were going the wrong direction. The opposite direction in fact. Soaked, and now demoralized, we headed back to the Lake Pehoe hostelria.
My defense for going the wrong direction! Yes, we rushed. Understood. But! On the map, there are two spots, the hostelria and the park ranger station which in real life are about two hundred meters away from each other. But! on the map, they are something like a kilometer or two away from each, which lead to confusion with the direction. But still, we rushed, a mistake. Live and learn? Yes.
And.... I must go eat lunch! The exciting conclusion later!
-Brian
So we're still on day two. We got to our camp at arounf three o'clock, set up the tents in a light rain and headed to this like shack/shed type thing for cooking. This little place was a life saver. It provided the necessary shelter to cook food(we made gnocchis with gravy, rico) We would've been in quite some trouble without it, eating more tortillas and peanut butter, our staple at the time. Met some cool people at this place, Jeff and Kim from vancouver, and Alex from Sydney. We actually saw them for the next three nights, so they'll be recurring characters. So we ate deliciously warm meals, and headed to bed around five pm. Ridiculous, I know. But we were tired, and it was gettin dark, and it was semi warm in the tent. Actually we played cards in one of the tents for a bit, and then headed to bed. I had to dig a little trench around the tent to prevent the flow of water from running into the tent.
Oh how the night was cold! It rained for most of the night, and then... it snowed!
Day Three: We all woke up quite cold, threw together an impromptu breakfast, packed up as fast as possible, and got out of that freezing valley! (side note, I started taking pictures this day) This day of hiking was the best, it had the best weather, and some of the coolest views of the entire trip. I was actually hiking in a t shirt(after a night with snow) because it was hot. We dried out out tents and stuff whislt eating lunch, once again amoungst cows, condors, and nature! The Mountains there have a stange hum about them, due to the intense wind in the peaks. Its quite impressive, and a little foreboding. This hike was one of the longer hikes, somewhere around eight hours, and we were a little worried we wouldn't get to our destination until after dark. We split up into two groups(fast and slow) and got to the campsite with an hour of sunlight to spare.
The place we stayed, Los Cuernos, was by far my favorite. We set our tents up underneath this large tree, in the shadow of gigantic mountains and a glacier. There was a "hut" typea building that we ate our food in(though we had to cook outside) The people running the hut were really kind, we bought some wine and ate our rice and soup. We also found a guitar, I broke out the harmonica, played some cards, and sang a bunch of songs. And man was it warm inside that building. It was an all around good time. And at night, it was warm! somewhere in the 60s inside of the tent. We all slept like non colicky babies.
Day 4: Woke up in high spirits, with a long day ahead of us(eight hours of hikin!) About a half an hour into the hike it started raining and did not stop all day. The trails sometimes follow streams, where you walk either through the stream, or along the side. This particular leg of the journey was up and down hills in streams. Through the pouring rain! We were all thoroughly soaked. After four hours of wet hiking, we got to Lake Pehoe hostelria, where we had four more hours to get to glacier grey refugio. Since it was getting late, we booked it through the hostelria and headed out. There was some confusion on which was to go, but we picked a direction and went. Unfortunately for us, an hour and a half later, we realized we were going the wrong direction. The opposite direction in fact. Soaked, and now demoralized, we headed back to the Lake Pehoe hostelria.
My defense for going the wrong direction! Yes, we rushed. Understood. But! On the map, there are two spots, the hostelria and the park ranger station which in real life are about two hundred meters away from each other. But! on the map, they are something like a kilometer or two away from each, which lead to confusion with the direction. But still, we rushed, a mistake. Live and learn? Yes.
And.... I must go eat lunch! The exciting conclusion later!
-Brian
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Pictures are up!
Heya, just put up the pictures I took, I'll try to get some more from friends who took pictures on different days than me and put those up as well. But yeah, there are over 200, so do enjoy. It was an amazing place to see.
Patagonia Pictures!
Also, I stole some pictures from friends, and they are here...
Stolen Patagonia Pictures!
-Brian
Patagonia Pictures!
Also, I stole some pictures from friends, and they are here...
Stolen Patagonia Pictures!
-Brian
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Patagonia!
I've returned from the land that is patagonia, and now, I shall give you a day by day description of my experiences. First, a little backstory:
Patagonia is the land at the bottom of South America, chock full o towering mountains, pristine glacier lakes and of course, glaciers. There are small towns, and "cities" but they have cities as much as maine has cities. So they don't have cities.
Day 1: Wednesday Night/Thursday: The trip starts with a final meal in Vina, which was el Guaton. Is there a better way to start a four day hiking/camping trip? I think not. After putting that puppy down, we headed to Santiago for our flight to Punta Arenas in patagonia. Our flight left Santiago at 2:40 in the morning, so we all did a bit of sleeping in the airport. Got in to Punta Arenas at 6 in the morningish, got a bus to Punta Natales, a city three hours north, at 8. From there we rented gear from Hostel Nancy,(tents, matts, stoves and such) and headed three more hours north to Parque Torres del Paine.
Now, by the time we got to where we were camping, the sun was already down. We were dropped off on a dirt road in the middle of the park and told to cross this field and river to where the campsite was. Also, it had been raining for the past few hours. This habit of rain will become quite a motif in the telling of said adventures in Patagonia. Off we went across the field(navigating our way through a herd of cows that was roaming through the area) to cross the river. Naturally, we were unable to cross the river, as it was a ragin in the rain that was coming down. Even our new found Brazilian friends whom were veteran hikers were unable to cross(more on this later!). Therefore, we camped on the wrong side of the river(with all the cows), in now soaked tents. We also found our what a lie a "two" and "four" person tent is, as they are not meant for normal sized humans- certainly not for such a hulking man as myself. The first night was cold, wet, and bitter in a crowded tent. I can remember three dreams from that night: I went back to Vina del Mar and got another tent for all of us, and then woke up. I went outside and saw a giant building that sold hot french fries and had free dryers. Woke up cold. Had a dream the people in a nearby hosteleria invited inside to sit by the fire. It was a long night...
Day 2; Friday: Although the night was desperate, with the rising sun came a new hope. We awoke to find that we could actually go inside the hosteleria and dry our stuff by the fire. Rejuvenated by our dryness, we pack up and head deep into Torres Del Paine for four days of hiking! The first day was probably one of the toughest hikes, heading straight into a valley nearest to the tallest Towers. It was pretty straight up(though not as steep as la campana) with INTENSE wind. Working out way through the valley, the trail snaked alongside the valley wall, making each step an important decision! Since the wind was blowing so strongly over the snow/ice covered mountains, there was always rain and sleet in the wind. A nice little peppering effect for ya! An example of how intense the wind was: While climbing up the mountain I had on my neon orange poncho(thank you Daddo) for rain issues. The wind proved its strength as it shredded the back off of my poncho, leaving me with a even more ridiculous looking orange smock. Pretty awesome, I know.
Ok, I gotta go to sleep. Class in the morning. But fret not, you still have over three more days coming, annnnd pictures! Excited? You should be. Have a good one.
-Brian
Spanish saying of the day: "Soy sin complicaciones. Por que? Por que es la buena vida." Something like that.
Patagonia is the land at the bottom of South America, chock full o towering mountains, pristine glacier lakes and of course, glaciers. There are small towns, and "cities" but they have cities as much as maine has cities. So they don't have cities.
Day 1: Wednesday Night/Thursday: The trip starts with a final meal in Vina, which was el Guaton. Is there a better way to start a four day hiking/camping trip? I think not. After putting that puppy down, we headed to Santiago for our flight to Punta Arenas in patagonia. Our flight left Santiago at 2:40 in the morning, so we all did a bit of sleeping in the airport. Got in to Punta Arenas at 6 in the morningish, got a bus to Punta Natales, a city three hours north, at 8. From there we rented gear from Hostel Nancy,(tents, matts, stoves and such) and headed three more hours north to Parque Torres del Paine.
Now, by the time we got to where we were camping, the sun was already down. We were dropped off on a dirt road in the middle of the park and told to cross this field and river to where the campsite was. Also, it had been raining for the past few hours. This habit of rain will become quite a motif in the telling of said adventures in Patagonia. Off we went across the field(navigating our way through a herd of cows that was roaming through the area) to cross the river. Naturally, we were unable to cross the river, as it was a ragin in the rain that was coming down. Even our new found Brazilian friends whom were veteran hikers were unable to cross(more on this later!). Therefore, we camped on the wrong side of the river(with all the cows), in now soaked tents. We also found our what a lie a "two" and "four" person tent is, as they are not meant for normal sized humans- certainly not for such a hulking man as myself. The first night was cold, wet, and bitter in a crowded tent. I can remember three dreams from that night: I went back to Vina del Mar and got another tent for all of us, and then woke up. I went outside and saw a giant building that sold hot french fries and had free dryers. Woke up cold. Had a dream the people in a nearby hosteleria invited inside to sit by the fire. It was a long night...
Day 2; Friday: Although the night was desperate, with the rising sun came a new hope. We awoke to find that we could actually go inside the hosteleria and dry our stuff by the fire. Rejuvenated by our dryness, we pack up and head deep into Torres Del Paine for four days of hiking! The first day was probably one of the toughest hikes, heading straight into a valley nearest to the tallest Towers. It was pretty straight up(though not as steep as la campana) with INTENSE wind. Working out way through the valley, the trail snaked alongside the valley wall, making each step an important decision! Since the wind was blowing so strongly over the snow/ice covered mountains, there was always rain and sleet in the wind. A nice little peppering effect for ya! An example of how intense the wind was: While climbing up the mountain I had on my neon orange poncho(thank you Daddo) for rain issues. The wind proved its strength as it shredded the back off of my poncho, leaving me with a even more ridiculous looking orange smock. Pretty awesome, I know.
Ok, I gotta go to sleep. Class in the morning. But fret not, you still have over three more days coming, annnnd pictures! Excited? You should be. Have a good one.
-Brian
Spanish saying of the day: "Soy sin complicaciones. Por que? Por que es la buena vida." Something like that.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Additions!
Heya
Some corrections and additions to dad's email:
The place we ate in Vina is called "el Guaton" which literally means, fat man, or fat stomach. Guata is something like tummy or gut in Chilean spanish. It is delicious, and apparently is a minor chain on seemingly one major street in vina. The sandwiches are gigantic, as appropriately described, and as with many American large food joints(with respective large food), it is a feat to say you've finished el Guaton by yourself. Not many try, and even fewer succeed. Its on my to do list.
The food that we ate in Valparaiso is called a Chorillana, and is appropriately described by dad. It food only in Valpo, and in some places in Vina, and is apparently a meal invented by the port folk. Or something of that sort. Fries, meat, egg, beer and a lot of it is essentially what it entails. The beer is a drink on the side, not in the meal itself. So far as I know.
Ascensors are a pretty famous object in Valparaiso. Essentially, they're like large elevators that take you up the side of a hill. The city has over a dozen, though I couldn't tell you how many. Pretty neat, and a little bit scary. They're very old. Quite. As far as I know, they have yet to have any sort of incident(My dad and I hypothesized that there are two counter balanced cars, making a free fall drop impossible.)
Crowded buses are very common here, I've learned to be comfortable in tiny crowded buses.
I must add a correction about the dogs. They do fight and bark, but ninety percent of the time its at other dogs. At nearly all times of the night, one can hear the distant barking of dogs. While this would appear to be annoying, its actually not that bad, since its more of a background noise instead of the ole dog-outside-your-window.
Smoking: Chile has the largest teenage smoking rate in the world. While smoking is generally not done indoors unless the people live there or are told so, all restaurants and bars allow smoking. Ash trays are as common and popular as ever. Evidently, many students studying abroad here pick up said habit. Don't worry mom, its not for me.
The Completo consists of the following ingredients: A bun, hot dog, diced tomatoes, sauerkraut, and melted mayo. An Italiano consists of the following ingredients: Bun, hotdog, diced tomato, a ton of avocado and melted mayo. From experience and many trials, the completo is better. Actually, its not only better, but sometimes I crave them. Next thing you know, I'll want a mullet. (Mullets are huge here)
I've observed a bit of a paradox whilst being here in Chile. In general, the Chilean people are very helpful. Whenever I am traveling, I know that I can rely on asking strangers for directions- and I have never been lead astray. An example: a few days ago, I was meeting a few friends in Valparaiso at some school that I had never heard of nor knew its location. First, I went up to a street vendor and asked how to get there. She told me to go to a certain bus stop. Went to the bus stop. Asked a guy there which bus took me there. Pointed to which bus it was. Got on the bus. Sat down on the bus, and a guy(not working on the bus) came up to me and asked me where I was going, and then said he'd tell me when to get off. And got there within ten minutes. Perfect. This sort of thing happens all the time, people are very helpful. But this being said, EVERY house, office, store building has locks, fences and spikes warding all away. Every shop has security officers with armored vests. So I ask if the people are so nice here, why is there so much security? I have asked, have gotten a bunch of varied answers, and need to ask some more before stating an opinion. Its quite peculiar.
Tomorrow, I am heading to Patagonia with five of my friends. We're gonna be camping and hiking for four days around parque Torres Del Paine. Pictures will be yours to behold in just a few days!
-Brian
Spanish saying of the week: "Puedo hablar contigo pero solo si no hablas como un chileno."
Some corrections and additions to dad's email:
The place we ate in Vina is called "el Guaton" which literally means, fat man, or fat stomach. Guata is something like tummy or gut in Chilean spanish. It is delicious, and apparently is a minor chain on seemingly one major street in vina. The sandwiches are gigantic, as appropriately described, and as with many American large food joints(with respective large food), it is a feat to say you've finished el Guaton by yourself. Not many try, and even fewer succeed. Its on my to do list.
The food that we ate in Valparaiso is called a Chorillana, and is appropriately described by dad. It food only in Valpo, and in some places in Vina, and is apparently a meal invented by the port folk. Or something of that sort. Fries, meat, egg, beer and a lot of it is essentially what it entails. The beer is a drink on the side, not in the meal itself. So far as I know.
Ascensors are a pretty famous object in Valparaiso. Essentially, they're like large elevators that take you up the side of a hill. The city has over a dozen, though I couldn't tell you how many. Pretty neat, and a little bit scary. They're very old. Quite. As far as I know, they have yet to have any sort of incident(My dad and I hypothesized that there are two counter balanced cars, making a free fall drop impossible.)
Crowded buses are very common here, I've learned to be comfortable in tiny crowded buses.
I must add a correction about the dogs. They do fight and bark, but ninety percent of the time its at other dogs. At nearly all times of the night, one can hear the distant barking of dogs. While this would appear to be annoying, its actually not that bad, since its more of a background noise instead of the ole dog-outside-your-window.
Smoking: Chile has the largest teenage smoking rate in the world. While smoking is generally not done indoors unless the people live there or are told so, all restaurants and bars allow smoking. Ash trays are as common and popular as ever. Evidently, many students studying abroad here pick up said habit. Don't worry mom, its not for me.
The Completo consists of the following ingredients: A bun, hot dog, diced tomatoes, sauerkraut, and melted mayo. An Italiano consists of the following ingredients: Bun, hotdog, diced tomato, a ton of avocado and melted mayo. From experience and many trials, the completo is better. Actually, its not only better, but sometimes I crave them. Next thing you know, I'll want a mullet. (Mullets are huge here)
I've observed a bit of a paradox whilst being here in Chile. In general, the Chilean people are very helpful. Whenever I am traveling, I know that I can rely on asking strangers for directions- and I have never been lead astray. An example: a few days ago, I was meeting a few friends in Valparaiso at some school that I had never heard of nor knew its location. First, I went up to a street vendor and asked how to get there. She told me to go to a certain bus stop. Went to the bus stop. Asked a guy there which bus took me there. Pointed to which bus it was. Got on the bus. Sat down on the bus, and a guy(not working on the bus) came up to me and asked me where I was going, and then said he'd tell me when to get off. And got there within ten minutes. Perfect. This sort of thing happens all the time, people are very helpful. But this being said, EVERY house, office, store building has locks, fences and spikes warding all away. Every shop has security officers with armored vests. So I ask if the people are so nice here, why is there so much security? I have asked, have gotten a bunch of varied answers, and need to ask some more before stating an opinion. Its quite peculiar.
Tomorrow, I am heading to Patagonia with five of my friends. We're gonna be camping and hiking for four days around parque Torres Del Paine. Pictures will be yours to behold in just a few days!
-Brian
Spanish saying of the week: "Puedo hablar contigo pero solo si no hablas como un chileno."
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Rest of the trip by Dad
This post is an attempt to chronicle the rest of the trip by Dad. There has been no input by Brian and he has reserved the right to correct the record as he sees fit at any time.
After the hike to La Campana, the next day needed to be a little bit of a recovery day. We basically hung out in Vina Del Mar and visited the down town area. We scouted out some shopping areas and basically went around the city. While down there we walked by a bank advertising 100% financing. I wasn't going to go in but then I figured what the heck what's the worst that could happen. I was kind of interested to see what they do down here. They didn't seem real happy to visit with me. So it was a wasted couple of minutes. I suspect they thought I was the cause of the mortgage crisis in the states and was in Chile in hiding. We had an el guarcon for lunch. This is the largest sandwich I've ever seen. It is lettuce, tomato, cheese, meat, avocado, and mayonaise stacked about 12 inches high. It is a sandwich for two and you need a knife and fork.
Thursday, after Brian's classes we went back into Vina Del Mar and did the souvenir shopping. I tried to get things from Chile, hopefully the people will like them. We then went off to Valparaiso which is the town just down the coast. The guide books call Valparaiso the San Francisco of Chile. It has a different feel from Vina del Mar. It is a serious working port city with tankers, freighters, cranes, trucks and containers. It is also the home of the Chilean Navy. As a side note Valporaiso University in Indiana is named after this city in Chile. Evidently a prominent citizen from Indiana was the captain of a ship in the US Navy that lost a battle in the waters off Valporaiso in the 1800's. Valporaiso is basically built into the hillside and everything overlooks the harbor. It is also a little bit of an artsy type place. It has a different feel to it than Vina Del Mar. Brian and I were looking for the place that served Choriana's (sp?). We didn't have the name of the place or the address but how difficult could it be to find for two intrepid explorers, one of whom who spoke the language. After walking around the area of Valpo for awhile we tried this one small alley way and found the place. How we actually did this I'm not sure. The choriana is basically a gigantic meat, onion, egg, and french fries dish. Everything is just jumbled together on the plate. There was no hint of the ever present avocado or mayonaise. It was very good. It is a dinner for two. We had gotten there at around 3 so the place was busy but not packed. Mid day is the big meal time in Chile. There was a guy playing the guitar and singing Chilean songs. It was a lot of fun.
That evening we were to go the beaches are Renaca and Con Con with Brian's Chilean family. To get there Miguel was going to drive. On the way he was going to show us the hospital where he was currently working on the building project. He is renovating and expanding the cafeteria at the hospital. It was kind of funny because in spanish words can have sometimes have two meanings. Evidently casino can mean a casino as we would think and as they have down by the beach in Vina, and it can also mean cafeteria as Miguel's building project is called. I was trying to figure out why they were putting a casino in the hospital. We had a good laugh about that.
On the way to the beaches we had a little incident which I think exemplifies the Chilean people that I met. The cars tend to be much older there. By Miguel's work project at the hospital a pipe from the radiator burst in the car and the car overheated. We pulled over to the side of the road and about 10 Chilean workers from the nearby businesses come running out and start working on the car. Everyone is involved fixing the problem and coming up with suggestions for short term fixes. Everyone was very helpful. I don't think they have AAA. To make a long story short some of these people stayed with us for an hour. Miguel went off to see if he could find the thermostat he needed. After awhile Miguel called and said he couldn't find the part. So we got some silicon adhesive and hooked up the hose and limped the car home. All the strangers had been very helpful and concerned. It wasn't meant for me to make it to Renaca or Con Con.
On the way back to the house we drove by a super mercado and picked up Miguel. He had evidently been food shopping. We went back to the house and had a great dinner. During the dinner Miguel talked about how the car would get fixed tomorrow or the next day, the day after that or the day after that. What was important to him was that we all had this time together and that we should enjoy it and not worry about what we couldn't control. I'm not sure that I could have handled it so well. His attitude really put things in perspective. It was really nice to know that these were the people with whom Brian was living while in Chile.
The next day Brian and I explored the rest of Valporaiso. We went up cable driven acensiones, walked up and down stairs all over the city. While on the tour there were several building that had been destroyed by fire. We couldn't understand why when there was a fire why a ton of buildings didn't go up in flames. A closer look at the buildings showed that they were all either stucco or sheet metal. All the roof's were sheet metal. It looked like the only thing that would burn was the inside of the house. We walked all over the city. Late in the afternoon we started t head back to Vina. It had finally warmed up so I went down to the ocean and at least put my foot in the south pacific. The water was pretty cold. I guess it comes from Antarctica. We missed the bus we were supposed to take to Santiago that evening but we caught the next one which was basically 10 minutes later.
We stayed in the hostel at the Plaza de Armas that Brian stays in while in Santiago. It was kind of like Indian Guides. It was a great place on the top floor of the building overlooking the plaza. It's a terrific view. We had dinner and settled down early because Saturday was going to be a long day.
The plan for Saturday was to go to Cajon de Maipo and hike to a glacier. There is one bus in to this place and one bus out. You either catch this bus or you don't go. Some things are meant to happen or not. The trip to Renaca and Con Con was not meant to happen. The trip to the glacier was meant to happen. Only Brian would plan on taking someone who has traveled 5000 miles to a place called Banos Morales. I think that in this case banos translates to springs and not bathroom. The plan was to get up at 6:30 take the 7 am train to where the bus to Banos Morales is and then hike to the glacier. We get up at 6:30 we head into the train station a little before 7 and find the station locked up tight. Chile is pretty much a Catholic country and Easter is a big holiday so the trains didn't open at the usual time. Our options were to wait until 8 and hope the bus was still there or take a cab to where we needed to be. The only problem was that there weren't many cabs either. We end up catching the first train to where the bus is supposed to be and find that it has already gone. We take the next bus to the closest city which is San Jose de Maipo. This city as it turns out is a good hour on a dirt road from Banos Morales. As we pull into the city we decide to get off and we start looking for the bus which is hopefully still here. As we are walking down the street the driver of the bus from which we have just left toots the horn and signals for us to get back on the bus. He drives us about another half mile and points to a bus parked on the side of the road and tells Brian that is the bus to Banos Morales. The bus is stopped in front of a little market because the driver wanted a 2 liter bottle of water for the drive to Banos Morales. That is the only reason the bus was still here. It was meant to be. We get over to the bus and it is right out of the movies except no chickens. This bus seats maybe 40 people. There have to be 80 people on the bus before we got there. Brian talks to the conductor who encourages everyone to squeeze together and we are able to get in the bus. I am on the first step leaning up against the door. Every time the bus turns Brian's back pack whacks me in the head. A lady in the first row takes Brian's back pack on her lap for the hour drive to Banos Morales. We're on a dirt road with a cliff pretty close to the edge. There are cars, busse, bicyclist and walkers on the road. People actually get off the bus at a couple of stops. To do this I need to push Brian up and get on the next step so they can open the door. Then I need to get off the bus so they can let the people off. At one of the stops maybe about 20-25 minutes in about 10 more people get on the bus. I lost my spot. Now I'm up by the driver. All the buses are standard shift on the floor. So the first time the driver shifts into 3rd he whacks me in the butt. To keep this from happening I grab ahold of the ceiling hand rails and hold on with my hody tilted at about a 65-75 degree angle so I don't accidently shift to a new gear. This was a little tiring. We drive this way for the next 35 minutes or so. We drive along the mountain road, through a couple of creeks and finally arrive at Banos Morales. During the whole trip everyone is laughing and not one person is complaining. I wasn't complaining, my hands and forearms were just really tired. We pull into Banos Morales and there is a stable, some small cabins, tent sites, a make shift bar, and of course a bathroom. It is in a little valley surrounded by high mountain peaks. We register with the park ranger and head out. It is about 8 Kilometers to the San Francisco glacier at the end of the valley. We have a steep grade for the first maybe 2k and then we flatten out in the valley. The views are incredible. I don't know if the pictures I've taken do this place justice. The last 1k is more uphill across a rock field to the glacier. It was something else to be on a glacier in the Andes on the Argentina/Chile border. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was probably 75 degrees. It was incredible. After we hiked back we had some time so we went to the bar and had a couple fo Crystal's, which is beer. We deserved them after the hike and waited for the bus back. The bus ride back was somewhat uneventful. We obviously didn't have a place to sit because we were in the bar instead of in line but that was ok. We basically rode back with 80 of our closest chilean friends.
The next day was Easter Sunday. We went to Church at the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. This church had to be a football field long. It was amazing inside. After Mass we had breakfast on the way over to San Cristobal. As I've said before I liked these empanada's that they eat. This morning we have a shrimp emapanada which is the best one we have had since I have been here. th go over to San Cristobal which is hte highest peak in the city limits of Santiago. Santiago is surrounded by high mountain peaks but this is in the city and gives you great views of the city. There was an open air mass up there while we were there with the city in the background. Evidently the Pope said mass there when he visited. On the way back from San Cristobal to the city we are walking throught the nicest residential section that I have seen since I have been here. It is very definitely the upscale neighborhood. The houses are big by Chilean standards. They have the security walls and fences. In some cases the fences are electrified. I still find this to be amazing. I never felt unsafe in Chile. Later that afternoon we go to the Fish Market before we need to head to the airport for my flight out. This is an operating fish market that was built 145 years ago. They have now converted a large part of it to a restaurant. I end up having salmon margarita which is salmon, scallops, shrimp, and octopus with some type of white cream sause. It was sooooooo good. It was a Frequency moment. Frequency was a movie that I really, really liked. It was a perfect ending to the Chilean adventure.
I have to admit I really didn't want to leave. I had a terrific time. I did a ton of things that I newer would have imagined. I ate some stuff I would never have imagined. I kind of liked Brian being in charge and paying for everything. He also liked being in charge and paying for everything even when I would give him the money. It was quite an adventure.
After the hike to La Campana, the next day needed to be a little bit of a recovery day. We basically hung out in Vina Del Mar and visited the down town area. We scouted out some shopping areas and basically went around the city. While down there we walked by a bank advertising 100% financing. I wasn't going to go in but then I figured what the heck what's the worst that could happen. I was kind of interested to see what they do down here. They didn't seem real happy to visit with me. So it was a wasted couple of minutes. I suspect they thought I was the cause of the mortgage crisis in the states and was in Chile in hiding. We had an el guarcon for lunch. This is the largest sandwich I've ever seen. It is lettuce, tomato, cheese, meat, avocado, and mayonaise stacked about 12 inches high. It is a sandwich for two and you need a knife and fork.
Thursday, after Brian's classes we went back into Vina Del Mar and did the souvenir shopping. I tried to get things from Chile, hopefully the people will like them. We then went off to Valparaiso which is the town just down the coast. The guide books call Valparaiso the San Francisco of Chile. It has a different feel from Vina del Mar. It is a serious working port city with tankers, freighters, cranes, trucks and containers. It is also the home of the Chilean Navy. As a side note Valporaiso University in Indiana is named after this city in Chile. Evidently a prominent citizen from Indiana was the captain of a ship in the US Navy that lost a battle in the waters off Valporaiso in the 1800's. Valporaiso is basically built into the hillside and everything overlooks the harbor. It is also a little bit of an artsy type place. It has a different feel to it than Vina Del Mar. Brian and I were looking for the place that served Choriana's (sp?). We didn't have the name of the place or the address but how difficult could it be to find for two intrepid explorers, one of whom who spoke the language. After walking around the area of Valpo for awhile we tried this one small alley way and found the place. How we actually did this I'm not sure. The choriana is basically a gigantic meat, onion, egg, and french fries dish. Everything is just jumbled together on the plate. There was no hint of the ever present avocado or mayonaise. It was very good. It is a dinner for two. We had gotten there at around 3 so the place was busy but not packed. Mid day is the big meal time in Chile. There was a guy playing the guitar and singing Chilean songs. It was a lot of fun.
That evening we were to go the beaches are Renaca and Con Con with Brian's Chilean family. To get there Miguel was going to drive. On the way he was going to show us the hospital where he was currently working on the building project. He is renovating and expanding the cafeteria at the hospital. It was kind of funny because in spanish words can have sometimes have two meanings. Evidently casino can mean a casino as we would think and as they have down by the beach in Vina, and it can also mean cafeteria as Miguel's building project is called. I was trying to figure out why they were putting a casino in the hospital. We had a good laugh about that.
On the way to the beaches we had a little incident which I think exemplifies the Chilean people that I met. The cars tend to be much older there. By Miguel's work project at the hospital a pipe from the radiator burst in the car and the car overheated. We pulled over to the side of the road and about 10 Chilean workers from the nearby businesses come running out and start working on the car. Everyone is involved fixing the problem and coming up with suggestions for short term fixes. Everyone was very helpful. I don't think they have AAA. To make a long story short some of these people stayed with us for an hour. Miguel went off to see if he could find the thermostat he needed. After awhile Miguel called and said he couldn't find the part. So we got some silicon adhesive and hooked up the hose and limped the car home. All the strangers had been very helpful and concerned. It wasn't meant for me to make it to Renaca or Con Con.
On the way back to the house we drove by a super mercado and picked up Miguel. He had evidently been food shopping. We went back to the house and had a great dinner. During the dinner Miguel talked about how the car would get fixed tomorrow or the next day, the day after that or the day after that. What was important to him was that we all had this time together and that we should enjoy it and not worry about what we couldn't control. I'm not sure that I could have handled it so well. His attitude really put things in perspective. It was really nice to know that these were the people with whom Brian was living while in Chile.
The next day Brian and I explored the rest of Valporaiso. We went up cable driven acensiones, walked up and down stairs all over the city. While on the tour there were several building that had been destroyed by fire. We couldn't understand why when there was a fire why a ton of buildings didn't go up in flames. A closer look at the buildings showed that they were all either stucco or sheet metal. All the roof's were sheet metal. It looked like the only thing that would burn was the inside of the house. We walked all over the city. Late in the afternoon we started t head back to Vina. It had finally warmed up so I went down to the ocean and at least put my foot in the south pacific. The water was pretty cold. I guess it comes from Antarctica. We missed the bus we were supposed to take to Santiago that evening but we caught the next one which was basically 10 minutes later.
We stayed in the hostel at the Plaza de Armas that Brian stays in while in Santiago. It was kind of like Indian Guides. It was a great place on the top floor of the building overlooking the plaza. It's a terrific view. We had dinner and settled down early because Saturday was going to be a long day.
The plan for Saturday was to go to Cajon de Maipo and hike to a glacier. There is one bus in to this place and one bus out. You either catch this bus or you don't go. Some things are meant to happen or not. The trip to Renaca and Con Con was not meant to happen. The trip to the glacier was meant to happen. Only Brian would plan on taking someone who has traveled 5000 miles to a place called Banos Morales. I think that in this case banos translates to springs and not bathroom. The plan was to get up at 6:30 take the 7 am train to where the bus to Banos Morales is and then hike to the glacier. We get up at 6:30 we head into the train station a little before 7 and find the station locked up tight. Chile is pretty much a Catholic country and Easter is a big holiday so the trains didn't open at the usual time. Our options were to wait until 8 and hope the bus was still there or take a cab to where we needed to be. The only problem was that there weren't many cabs either. We end up catching the first train to where the bus is supposed to be and find that it has already gone. We take the next bus to the closest city which is San Jose de Maipo. This city as it turns out is a good hour on a dirt road from Banos Morales. As we pull into the city we decide to get off and we start looking for the bus which is hopefully still here. As we are walking down the street the driver of the bus from which we have just left toots the horn and signals for us to get back on the bus. He drives us about another half mile and points to a bus parked on the side of the road and tells Brian that is the bus to Banos Morales. The bus is stopped in front of a little market because the driver wanted a 2 liter bottle of water for the drive to Banos Morales. That is the only reason the bus was still here. It was meant to be. We get over to the bus and it is right out of the movies except no chickens. This bus seats maybe 40 people. There have to be 80 people on the bus before we got there. Brian talks to the conductor who encourages everyone to squeeze together and we are able to get in the bus. I am on the first step leaning up against the door. Every time the bus turns Brian's back pack whacks me in the head. A lady in the first row takes Brian's back pack on her lap for the hour drive to Banos Morales. We're on a dirt road with a cliff pretty close to the edge. There are cars, busse, bicyclist and walkers on the road. People actually get off the bus at a couple of stops. To do this I need to push Brian up and get on the next step so they can open the door. Then I need to get off the bus so they can let the people off. At one of the stops maybe about 20-25 minutes in about 10 more people get on the bus. I lost my spot. Now I'm up by the driver. All the buses are standard shift on the floor. So the first time the driver shifts into 3rd he whacks me in the butt. To keep this from happening I grab ahold of the ceiling hand rails and hold on with my hody tilted at about a 65-75 degree angle so I don't accidently shift to a new gear. This was a little tiring. We drive this way for the next 35 minutes or so. We drive along the mountain road, through a couple of creeks and finally arrive at Banos Morales. During the whole trip everyone is laughing and not one person is complaining. I wasn't complaining, my hands and forearms were just really tired. We pull into Banos Morales and there is a stable, some small cabins, tent sites, a make shift bar, and of course a bathroom. It is in a little valley surrounded by high mountain peaks. We register with the park ranger and head out. It is about 8 Kilometers to the San Francisco glacier at the end of the valley. We have a steep grade for the first maybe 2k and then we flatten out in the valley. The views are incredible. I don't know if the pictures I've taken do this place justice. The last 1k is more uphill across a rock field to the glacier. It was something else to be on a glacier in the Andes on the Argentina/Chile border. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was probably 75 degrees. It was incredible. After we hiked back we had some time so we went to the bar and had a couple fo Crystal's, which is beer. We deserved them after the hike and waited for the bus back. The bus ride back was somewhat uneventful. We obviously didn't have a place to sit because we were in the bar instead of in line but that was ok. We basically rode back with 80 of our closest chilean friends.
The next day was Easter Sunday. We went to Church at the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. This church had to be a football field long. It was amazing inside. After Mass we had breakfast on the way over to San Cristobal. As I've said before I liked these empanada's that they eat. This morning we have a shrimp emapanada which is the best one we have had since I have been here. th go over to San Cristobal which is hte highest peak in the city limits of Santiago. Santiago is surrounded by high mountain peaks but this is in the city and gives you great views of the city. There was an open air mass up there while we were there with the city in the background. Evidently the Pope said mass there when he visited. On the way back from San Cristobal to the city we are walking throught the nicest residential section that I have seen since I have been here. It is very definitely the upscale neighborhood. The houses are big by Chilean standards. They have the security walls and fences. In some cases the fences are electrified. I still find this to be amazing. I never felt unsafe in Chile. Later that afternoon we go to the Fish Market before we need to head to the airport for my flight out. This is an operating fish market that was built 145 years ago. They have now converted a large part of it to a restaurant. I end up having salmon margarita which is salmon, scallops, shrimp, and octopus with some type of white cream sause. It was sooooooo good. It was a Frequency moment. Frequency was a movie that I really, really liked. It was a perfect ending to the Chilean adventure.
I have to admit I really didn't want to leave. I had a terrific time. I did a ton of things that I newer would have imagined. I ate some stuff I would never have imagined. I kind of liked Brian being in charge and paying for everything. He also liked being in charge and paying for everything even when I would give him the money. It was quite an adventure.
Monday, April 13, 2009
More Pictures!
Here are some more pictures of various travelings of me, particularly the dunes of Con Con, Cajon de Maipo (a canyon near the Argentinian border in the Andes), and some Santiago stuff.
The link is here: My Pictures!
Above is Dad and I hiking in Baños Morales, in Cajon de Maipo. Pretty amazing place with a glacier at the end of the valley.
More pictures from me soon, an update from Dad, and a following response from me coming soon!
-Brian
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Observations From Dad
These are my observations and comments and in no way reflect anything going on in Brian's head.
TRAVEL
Traveling to Chile is kind of made easy because there is no time change. It is 12:30 here just like at home. This for me was a big deal. I felt pretty good when I got here and had no time adjustment. I have never traveled more than three time zones to California but I would think the adjustment of a 15 hour flight east or west would be gigantic. The flight is on the long side but the Delta flight had enough leg room and the seat seemed to go back a littl further than I anticipated. I was able to sleep 4 or 5 hours. Once the son started coming up I wanted to look out the window. Originally I would have liked to had a view of what we were flying over but I suspect that the Amazon ( which I don't think we flew over) from 35000 feet would like the same as Google Earth. The flight was kind of an old time flight. It had a meal, a movie, free blankets, pillows, eye shades, head phones, and ear plugs. I was also could have checked two bags for free. Ok not free obviously it was included in the cost of the flight.
CITIES
Santiago is the largest city Chile. It probably has half of the country's population. Santiago is the Hub of Chile (as Boston is the Hub of the Universe). Much of the development of Chile spans out from Santiago. I've only really been to 3 towns or cities so far. Santiago, Vina Del Mar and Limache. They kind of represent three different sizes of cities. Santiago the biggest, Vina Del Mar big but much smaller than Santiago and Limache which would be small or smaller at least.
Parks are big in the cities in part I suspect because land with houses is very small. All three towns seem to have many parks of all sizes. There seem to be many people in them most of the time that I have seen so far. Plaza de Armas in Santiago was still pretty busy when we left for Vina.
Security is evidently a big deal. Each house has a fence with serious looking points to keep people out. I would say in Santiago and Vina Del Mar I haven't seen a house without this type of fence. In Limache some of the poorer sections had smaller fences with some barbed wire. In the bigger towns the police have a very prominent presence. They are noticeable, they wear flak jackets ore bullet proof vests. That being said I don't recall seeing them talking or hassling anyone. In Limache I don't recall seeing the police to the same degree. Evidently violent crime is generally not a big problem but stealing, pick pocketing and the such evidently are. I have seen no evidence of any crime.
Graffiti is gigantic here. It seems like everything has something written on it. As I noted in my earlier post graffiti had been carved into plants never mind the trees and walls. It's too bad because it detracts from the cities buildings and architecture. For some reason the only place in which I have seen absolutely no graffiti is the trains and their stations. I have no idea why.
Stray dogs are everywhere. Finding a stray dog at the top of La Campana was a little over the top for me. They are everywhere in the cities. They scavenge for food and there is some thought that Santiago doesn't have a rat problem because of the dogs. They are very laid back dogs. They don't seem to bark or fight. They seem to relieve themselves by the trees which have wells cut into the pavement for the tree to get water and the dogs seem to keep things confined to that area. In Vina del Mar the dogs do seem to make a mess of garbage put out for collection. They tend to rip open the bags to see whats there.
PEOPLE
The people seem to be nice and friendly. They are helpful when they can be. Having Brian around has made my need for finding people to speak a little english not necessary. When I have ventured out by myself I have been able to work through things. They seem to be a very family orientated society. There were many extended families at the park ( at least I think so) and kids generally live at home until they have graduated from college at least. They tend to have a much slower pace than the US. For instance breakfast here at the B&B is 8:30 to 10:30. Since I'm on the basic same schedule, I'm up around 6:30 and have to wait a couple of hours for breakfast. Stores don't even come close to being open before 9am. On Sunday many are closed or don't open until at least noon time. I think those stores would be the ones near some type of tourist situation. Brian and I just had lunch downtown. After we were done eating we just sat there and talked. There was no pressure to turn over the table and we finally had to ask for the bill well after the table had been cleaned. The other thing that is interesting is that there don't seem to be any incredibly overweight or obese people. Brian thinks that is because the cheap food is fruits and vegetables. Al,so the busses are loaded so people are at least walking to and from the bus stop. So in essence poorer people eat healthier than they do in the US. It is evidently an expensive dinner to go to MacDonalds. You also don't see a lot of piercings or tatoos. There may be more tatoo's but people are pretty covered up. Their are some piercings but not as many as the US. You do see a lot of guys with long hair and pony tails. Brian seems to be pretty tall for a Chilean. It seems like a lot of people smoke. They don't smoke in the buildings but you do see a lot of people smoking.
There are tons of tiny little markets similar ot bodegas in the US. There are two just within site of my window. Again, the petty crime thing kind of kicks in here because in many of them you can't go get what you want you tell the clerk what you want they go get it and you pay for it before you get it. Just a little strange. I haven't seen a giant shopping mall although I am told that they have them. They are not all over the place. The downtown area was busy with people and shops.
The food can be interesting. They are very big on avocado's and mayonaise. You would think that Hellman's discovered Chile. They put it on everything. The first thing I had to eat in Chile was a Don Pepe's completo. A completo is basically a hot dog with a bunch of stuff. It has the dog, some type of cole slaw type substance, something similar to salsa, and then its smothered in mayonaise. It is very interesting. Evidently Don Pepe's (a chain...sorry Nance) is the king of completos. For lunch today Brian and I split an El Guarcon. It is a giant sandwich which you need to eat with a knife and fork. It has a 3 piece roll some type of meat, lettuce, tomatos, cheese (which is also big here), avocado and the ever present mayonaise slathered on the top. It was good and messy. They make these lunch type sandwiches called empanada's. They are basically like a turnover with what ever you want in it. I have yet to see one with ever present mayo but who knows. They are really good. Breakfast is usually a small meal. Basically here it is toast with a slice of ham (ham is big here as well), some cereal to eat with some yogurt, and some fruit. Coffee is interesting here. The only coffee I have seen here is instant coffee. I haven't seen one Starbuck's. The coffee served at Brian's family's house was instant as it is here. At Brian's host family we had salmon, rice, and vegetables. We also had a shrimp cocktail in a pitted avocado with the ever present mayonaise. It was very good.
WEATHER
The weather can obviously vary greatly depending upon where you are. The day we went mountain climbing the weather in Vina Del Mar was overcast and misty. At the mountain it was sunny, hot with a nice breeze. The Atacoma desert to the north would tend to be very hot while Patagonia to the south will get snow. From Vina Del Mar to Peru to the north it would be about a 24 hour drive. Brian is going south to Patagonia from Vina and it is a 5 hour flight. Vina Del Mar is actually a little cooler than I thought it would be. People are walking around with scarves and coats. So far I've seen temperature vary between 16 and 25 C. I suspect that at home we're getting up to 5 or so.
I'm sure that leaving something out but maybe I can follow up later.
TRAVEL
Traveling to Chile is kind of made easy because there is no time change. It is 12:30 here just like at home. This for me was a big deal. I felt pretty good when I got here and had no time adjustment. I have never traveled more than three time zones to California but I would think the adjustment of a 15 hour flight east or west would be gigantic. The flight is on the long side but the Delta flight had enough leg room and the seat seemed to go back a littl further than I anticipated. I was able to sleep 4 or 5 hours. Once the son started coming up I wanted to look out the window. Originally I would have liked to had a view of what we were flying over but I suspect that the Amazon ( which I don't think we flew over) from 35000 feet would like the same as Google Earth. The flight was kind of an old time flight. It had a meal, a movie, free blankets, pillows, eye shades, head phones, and ear plugs. I was also could have checked two bags for free. Ok not free obviously it was included in the cost of the flight.
CITIES
Santiago is the largest city Chile. It probably has half of the country's population. Santiago is the Hub of Chile (as Boston is the Hub of the Universe). Much of the development of Chile spans out from Santiago. I've only really been to 3 towns or cities so far. Santiago, Vina Del Mar and Limache. They kind of represent three different sizes of cities. Santiago the biggest, Vina Del Mar big but much smaller than Santiago and Limache which would be small or smaller at least.
Parks are big in the cities in part I suspect because land with houses is very small. All three towns seem to have many parks of all sizes. There seem to be many people in them most of the time that I have seen so far. Plaza de Armas in Santiago was still pretty busy when we left for Vina.
Security is evidently a big deal. Each house has a fence with serious looking points to keep people out. I would say in Santiago and Vina Del Mar I haven't seen a house without this type of fence. In Limache some of the poorer sections had smaller fences with some barbed wire. In the bigger towns the police have a very prominent presence. They are noticeable, they wear flak jackets ore bullet proof vests. That being said I don't recall seeing them talking or hassling anyone. In Limache I don't recall seeing the police to the same degree. Evidently violent crime is generally not a big problem but stealing, pick pocketing and the such evidently are. I have seen no evidence of any crime.
Graffiti is gigantic here. It seems like everything has something written on it. As I noted in my earlier post graffiti had been carved into plants never mind the trees and walls. It's too bad because it detracts from the cities buildings and architecture. For some reason the only place in which I have seen absolutely no graffiti is the trains and their stations. I have no idea why.
Stray dogs are everywhere. Finding a stray dog at the top of La Campana was a little over the top for me. They are everywhere in the cities. They scavenge for food and there is some thought that Santiago doesn't have a rat problem because of the dogs. They are very laid back dogs. They don't seem to bark or fight. They seem to relieve themselves by the trees which have wells cut into the pavement for the tree to get water and the dogs seem to keep things confined to that area. In Vina del Mar the dogs do seem to make a mess of garbage put out for collection. They tend to rip open the bags to see whats there.
PEOPLE
The people seem to be nice and friendly. They are helpful when they can be. Having Brian around has made my need for finding people to speak a little english not necessary. When I have ventured out by myself I have been able to work through things. They seem to be a very family orientated society. There were many extended families at the park ( at least I think so) and kids generally live at home until they have graduated from college at least. They tend to have a much slower pace than the US. For instance breakfast here at the B&B is 8:30 to 10:30. Since I'm on the basic same schedule, I'm up around 6:30 and have to wait a couple of hours for breakfast. Stores don't even come close to being open before 9am. On Sunday many are closed or don't open until at least noon time. I think those stores would be the ones near some type of tourist situation. Brian and I just had lunch downtown. After we were done eating we just sat there and talked. There was no pressure to turn over the table and we finally had to ask for the bill well after the table had been cleaned. The other thing that is interesting is that there don't seem to be any incredibly overweight or obese people. Brian thinks that is because the cheap food is fruits and vegetables. Al,so the busses are loaded so people are at least walking to and from the bus stop. So in essence poorer people eat healthier than they do in the US. It is evidently an expensive dinner to go to MacDonalds. You also don't see a lot of piercings or tatoos. There may be more tatoo's but people are pretty covered up. Their are some piercings but not as many as the US. You do see a lot of guys with long hair and pony tails. Brian seems to be pretty tall for a Chilean. It seems like a lot of people smoke. They don't smoke in the buildings but you do see a lot of people smoking.
There are tons of tiny little markets similar ot bodegas in the US. There are two just within site of my window. Again, the petty crime thing kind of kicks in here because in many of them you can't go get what you want you tell the clerk what you want they go get it and you pay for it before you get it. Just a little strange. I haven't seen a giant shopping mall although I am told that they have them. They are not all over the place. The downtown area was busy with people and shops.
The food can be interesting. They are very big on avocado's and mayonaise. You would think that Hellman's discovered Chile. They put it on everything. The first thing I had to eat in Chile was a Don Pepe's completo. A completo is basically a hot dog with a bunch of stuff. It has the dog, some type of cole slaw type substance, something similar to salsa, and then its smothered in mayonaise. It is very interesting. Evidently Don Pepe's (a chain...sorry Nance) is the king of completos. For lunch today Brian and I split an El Guarcon. It is a giant sandwich which you need to eat with a knife and fork. It has a 3 piece roll some type of meat, lettuce, tomatos, cheese (which is also big here), avocado and the ever present mayonaise slathered on the top. It was good and messy. They make these lunch type sandwiches called empanada's. They are basically like a turnover with what ever you want in it. I have yet to see one with ever present mayo but who knows. They are really good. Breakfast is usually a small meal. Basically here it is toast with a slice of ham (ham is big here as well), some cereal to eat with some yogurt, and some fruit. Coffee is interesting here. The only coffee I have seen here is instant coffee. I haven't seen one Starbuck's. The coffee served at Brian's family's house was instant as it is here. At Brian's host family we had salmon, rice, and vegetables. We also had a shrimp cocktail in a pitted avocado with the ever present mayonaise. It was very good.
WEATHER
The weather can obviously vary greatly depending upon where you are. The day we went mountain climbing the weather in Vina Del Mar was overcast and misty. At the mountain it was sunny, hot with a nice breeze. The Atacoma desert to the north would tend to be very hot while Patagonia to the south will get snow. From Vina Del Mar to Peru to the north it would be about a 24 hour drive. Brian is going south to Patagonia from Vina and it is a 5 hour flight. Vina Del Mar is actually a little cooler than I thought it would be. People are walking around with scarves and coats. So far I've seen temperature vary between 16 and 25 C. I suspect that at home we're getting up to 5 or so.
I'm sure that leaving something out but maybe I can follow up later.
A POST FROM BRIAN'S DAD
Brian has given me the opportunity to post to his blog. I have been requested to notify anyone who reads this post that these are in no way Brian's comments, thoughts, unconcious or concious
My trip began with AAA losing the order for Chilean pesos. So I basically left Hartford on Saturday afternoon with no money, no real command of the language, and the assurance from Brian that he was pretty sure that I had a place to stay. As a side note to AAA they did return our money and adjust for the rise in the exchange rate. They were helpful.
The flight to Atlanta and then Santiago Chile was relatively uneventful. The plane left an hour late from Atlanta so we arrived in Chile around 8:30 Chilean time. I was able to sleep on the plane for about 4-5 hours so I felt ok. I cleared customs with only a couple of hitches but I spent no time in jail. I was in the wrong line so I cut out of the line and went back to where I was supposed to be. I only got a stare from the security people. I cleared customs with the lemon poppy seed bread. For some reason the Chileans are very big on people not bringing seeds, nuts, and fruits into the country.
To the surprise of many who will read this post Brian was waiting for me. Chile according to Brian is a very laid back country when it comes to time. This says a lot for Brian to be saying this. He negotiated a cab into the city and talked with the cab driver who spoke no english. We went to the hostel where Brian had spent the night at the Plaza de Armas. This was evidently one of the original plazas in Chile. It was a great spot for people watching. There are tourists, local families, homeless, police and stray dogs.
We walked around the city for a couple of hours. The Santiago marathon was going on. Some things never change a Kenyan won. The city is very interesting. the buildings range from high rise apartments, large stone government buildings to basically what look to be shacks on the outside. You can never be quite sure what the inside of the building looks like. Brians host family house is not impressive on the outside but is very nice on the inside (more on that later). I don't think there are many attorneys in Chile. Some parts of the side walks were in disrepair this would be an income opportunity in the states. Somebody would need to pay if someone got hurt.
Later that afternoon we went to the original fortress of Santiago. It is built on a hill which would seem to have made it impossible to take in battle. We took the train to another part of the city and walked the length of Parque Balmaceda. It is a beautiful park that runs the length of the river. It was probably 80 degrees out and you noticed all the windows open in the high rise apartments. There is very little air conditioning here. Some people say that Santiago in particular is humid. I didn't really notice any humidity and certainly Sunday there was little humidity.
I got to meet some of the students that Brian is studying with. In Chile the custom when you meet someone new of the opposite sex is a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. So I've been hugging and kissing a lot of college girls. The kids I've met have been great.
Santiago, or Chile for that matter is a city of contrasts. Security is a big deal here. EVERY house has a fence with with sharp, nasty looking points. The police are very visible and they look like they are army. They don't carry rifles but they are armed and wear some type of flak jacket or bullet proof vest. That being said I have not felt unsafe nor have I seen any crime whatsoever. There are many families visible and generally children live with their family until they finish college or have a good job. Dogs are everywhere. Strays are roaming the city with no apparent problem. I have yet to see a dog attack anyone or another dog for that matter. They kind of roam around, scavenge for food and sleep. If anything the dogs who are living in houses with their owners are always barking and going crazy. The other thing that stands out is the graffiti. It is everywhere. At the fortress people had even carved their names into some of the plants, never mind the trees and walls.
There are cars but most people probably only have one. The metro train and bus system is very good. Buses and trains come every 10 minutes. There are many older cars here. I have seen several Datsun's in excellent condition. I assume that Datsun changed their name worldwide and not just in the US. The buses and trains are very clean generally. Their two levels of busses. The first is the metro bus which looks like any other Greyhound type bus. The second level is the autobus. These are old Mercedes Benz buses. They have to be 40-50 years old. They make the local runs for people especially in the outlying areas. I think they bus is owned by the inidividual who drives the bus, sells the tickets, makes change and keeps to a tight schedule. Many people use these buses to get around. They come every 10 minutes or so and seem to cover a large area.
Enojugh of opinion for now and back to events. On Sunday night we took a bus to Vina Del Mar. Thank God it was only about a minute into the trip when we got thrown off the bus because we didn't have the proper tickets. They stopped the bus, they opened up the storage and gave us our bags back and we walked back to the bus station. This story will become much bigger as time goes on but it was kind of funny. In fairness to Brian, he had a roundtrip ticket that he didn't know he had to get validated. My ticket was to be bought on the bus. We got the next bus which left 10 minutes later.
I'm staying in a nice bed and breakfast in Vina. The owner is Ninfa Rojas. She speaks english and is very helpful. Marta is her assistant and is also very helpful and friendly. If anyone ever makes it Vina Del Mar I recommend staying here.
On Moday Brian had class so while I was waiting I went for a walk down to the beach. One of the unique sites in Vina is the flower clock. It is a working clock with the numbers in live flowers. While down there I met a guy from Bridgeport Ct.
Between Brian's classes we walked around town by the Casino, the river along the beach, and in the parks. While in one of the parks Brian met a friend of his Chilean sister, so I got a kiss and hug. We went to his house for lunch which is generally the biggest meal of the day. I met his Chilean brother and sister. We had gnocchi, not exactly Chilean I suppose but very good. The brother and sister speak some english and Brian interpreted. I am very impressed with Brian's spanish. He can generally communicate and understand things (except the bus thing).
That night we went to his family for a dinner which is unusual for Chileans. Usaully the night meal is very light. The meal was salmon, rice, vegetables, wine, and dessert. We were able to work through the communication thing with some interpretation, I know a little spanish, they know a little english, and we in a sense in some situations played pictionary when no one was around to interpret. Brian's Chilean family is very nice. Miguel and Viviana are about Nancy and my age. They both work and are very friendly. Miguel speaks a little english. I don't think Viviana does. Mattea is the oldest son who is studying to be an architect. He already has a degree in design. He is probably about Matts age. Monserat is studying industrial engineering or design. While I was there she was drilling holes in a piece of aluminum in the living room. The house they live in is very small by our standards. They have one bathroom. They have 4 bedrooms and a combination living room, dining room, and kitchen which takes up the downstairs floor. They are in the middle of a big remodeling project. They have a small yard. They were surprised by the pictures of our house. We have no security fence, a big yard by their standards and many trees compared to here. One of the pictures had the neighbors dog and a deer in it which they thought was interesting. We also had pictures of Brians different hair permutations over time which they found to be entertaining.
Yesterday we went hiking. Brian showed that he is his mothers son with the planning of this hike. We knew this was not going to be a walk in the woods but this was challenging. We climbed La Campana which is east of here. We took the train to Limache and then the autobus to the mountain. Actually the bus dropped us off at a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. You could see a mountain in the distance but I didn't think this could possibly be the mountain...but it was. The park ranger gave us specific instructions that we had to start back down at 2:30 whether we made the peak or not. They anticipate 4:30 ascent time. In the past year I've dropped some weight and gotten myself in better shape. Its a good thing because I would not have been able to make this climb a year ago. The view was worth the hike. In the distance you could see a snow covered Mt. Aconcogua which is the highest peak in South America. It is also in Argentina. Evidently you can also see the ocean from La Campana but it was cloudy on the coast all day. At the top of the mountain there was a stray dog. I couldn't believe it. Whoever thought we would climb a mountain in the Andes. I met another guy from Bridgeport on the mountain. There is evidently a Bridgeport to Chile pipeline. We met some Chileans and a couple from Sweden. The Swedes were nice enought to offer us a ride back to the bus stop. They felt sorry for me, which was ok with me. The bus ride back was interesting. We were initially the only two on the autobus. After about 5 stops the bus filled up. Brian and I were taking 3 seats so I slid over. You can only imagine what I looked like...dirty and sweaty. When I slid over I tried to dry the seat a little, I don't know how successfully. The lady sat down seemingly with no second thought. Last night Brian and I had dinner at the B&B. A couple of well deserved beers, chicken and empanadas. There were three different empanadas; cheese, pino, and what brian thought was some type of bird which certainly tasted like anchovies. We had pastry for dessert. Enough for now. The next post to follow will be observations and opinions
My trip began with AAA losing the order for Chilean pesos. So I basically left Hartford on Saturday afternoon with no money, no real command of the language, and the assurance from Brian that he was pretty sure that I had a place to stay. As a side note to AAA they did return our money and adjust for the rise in the exchange rate. They were helpful.
The flight to Atlanta and then Santiago Chile was relatively uneventful. The plane left an hour late from Atlanta so we arrived in Chile around 8:30 Chilean time. I was able to sleep on the plane for about 4-5 hours so I felt ok. I cleared customs with only a couple of hitches but I spent no time in jail. I was in the wrong line so I cut out of the line and went back to where I was supposed to be. I only got a stare from the security people. I cleared customs with the lemon poppy seed bread. For some reason the Chileans are very big on people not bringing seeds, nuts, and fruits into the country.
To the surprise of many who will read this post Brian was waiting for me. Chile according to Brian is a very laid back country when it comes to time. This says a lot for Brian to be saying this. He negotiated a cab into the city and talked with the cab driver who spoke no english. We went to the hostel where Brian had spent the night at the Plaza de Armas. This was evidently one of the original plazas in Chile. It was a great spot for people watching. There are tourists, local families, homeless, police and stray dogs.
We walked around the city for a couple of hours. The Santiago marathon was going on. Some things never change a Kenyan won. The city is very interesting. the buildings range from high rise apartments, large stone government buildings to basically what look to be shacks on the outside. You can never be quite sure what the inside of the building looks like. Brians host family house is not impressive on the outside but is very nice on the inside (more on that later). I don't think there are many attorneys in Chile. Some parts of the side walks were in disrepair this would be an income opportunity in the states. Somebody would need to pay if someone got hurt.
Later that afternoon we went to the original fortress of Santiago. It is built on a hill which would seem to have made it impossible to take in battle. We took the train to another part of the city and walked the length of Parque Balmaceda. It is a beautiful park that runs the length of the river. It was probably 80 degrees out and you noticed all the windows open in the high rise apartments. There is very little air conditioning here. Some people say that Santiago in particular is humid. I didn't really notice any humidity and certainly Sunday there was little humidity.
I got to meet some of the students that Brian is studying with. In Chile the custom when you meet someone new of the opposite sex is a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. So I've been hugging and kissing a lot of college girls. The kids I've met have been great.
Santiago, or Chile for that matter is a city of contrasts. Security is a big deal here. EVERY house has a fence with with sharp, nasty looking points. The police are very visible and they look like they are army. They don't carry rifles but they are armed and wear some type of flak jacket or bullet proof vest. That being said I have not felt unsafe nor have I seen any crime whatsoever. There are many families visible and generally children live with their family until they finish college or have a good job. Dogs are everywhere. Strays are roaming the city with no apparent problem. I have yet to see a dog attack anyone or another dog for that matter. They kind of roam around, scavenge for food and sleep. If anything the dogs who are living in houses with their owners are always barking and going crazy. The other thing that stands out is the graffiti. It is everywhere. At the fortress people had even carved their names into some of the plants, never mind the trees and walls.
There are cars but most people probably only have one. The metro train and bus system is very good. Buses and trains come every 10 minutes. There are many older cars here. I have seen several Datsun's in excellent condition. I assume that Datsun changed their name worldwide and not just in the US. The buses and trains are very clean generally. Their two levels of busses. The first is the metro bus which looks like any other Greyhound type bus. The second level is the autobus. These are old Mercedes Benz buses. They have to be 40-50 years old. They make the local runs for people especially in the outlying areas. I think they bus is owned by the inidividual who drives the bus, sells the tickets, makes change and keeps to a tight schedule. Many people use these buses to get around. They come every 10 minutes or so and seem to cover a large area.
Enojugh of opinion for now and back to events. On Sunday night we took a bus to Vina Del Mar. Thank God it was only about a minute into the trip when we got thrown off the bus because we didn't have the proper tickets. They stopped the bus, they opened up the storage and gave us our bags back and we walked back to the bus station. This story will become much bigger as time goes on but it was kind of funny. In fairness to Brian, he had a roundtrip ticket that he didn't know he had to get validated. My ticket was to be bought on the bus. We got the next bus which left 10 minutes later.
I'm staying in a nice bed and breakfast in Vina. The owner is Ninfa Rojas. She speaks english and is very helpful. Marta is her assistant and is also very helpful and friendly. If anyone ever makes it Vina Del Mar I recommend staying here.
On Moday Brian had class so while I was waiting I went for a walk down to the beach. One of the unique sites in Vina is the flower clock. It is a working clock with the numbers in live flowers. While down there I met a guy from Bridgeport Ct.
Between Brian's classes we walked around town by the Casino, the river along the beach, and in the parks. While in one of the parks Brian met a friend of his Chilean sister, so I got a kiss and hug. We went to his house for lunch which is generally the biggest meal of the day. I met his Chilean brother and sister. We had gnocchi, not exactly Chilean I suppose but very good. The brother and sister speak some english and Brian interpreted. I am very impressed with Brian's spanish. He can generally communicate and understand things (except the bus thing).
That night we went to his family for a dinner which is unusual for Chileans. Usaully the night meal is very light. The meal was salmon, rice, vegetables, wine, and dessert. We were able to work through the communication thing with some interpretation, I know a little spanish, they know a little english, and we in a sense in some situations played pictionary when no one was around to interpret. Brian's Chilean family is very nice. Miguel and Viviana are about Nancy and my age. They both work and are very friendly. Miguel speaks a little english. I don't think Viviana does. Mattea is the oldest son who is studying to be an architect. He already has a degree in design. He is probably about Matts age. Monserat is studying industrial engineering or design. While I was there she was drilling holes in a piece of aluminum in the living room. The house they live in is very small by our standards. They have one bathroom. They have 4 bedrooms and a combination living room, dining room, and kitchen which takes up the downstairs floor. They are in the middle of a big remodeling project. They have a small yard. They were surprised by the pictures of our house. We have no security fence, a big yard by their standards and many trees compared to here. One of the pictures had the neighbors dog and a deer in it which they thought was interesting. We also had pictures of Brians different hair permutations over time which they found to be entertaining.
Yesterday we went hiking. Brian showed that he is his mothers son with the planning of this hike. We knew this was not going to be a walk in the woods but this was challenging. We climbed La Campana which is east of here. We took the train to Limache and then the autobus to the mountain. Actually the bus dropped us off at a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. You could see a mountain in the distance but I didn't think this could possibly be the mountain...but it was. The park ranger gave us specific instructions that we had to start back down at 2:30 whether we made the peak or not. They anticipate 4:30 ascent time. In the past year I've dropped some weight and gotten myself in better shape. Its a good thing because I would not have been able to make this climb a year ago. The view was worth the hike. In the distance you could see a snow covered Mt. Aconcogua which is the highest peak in South America. It is also in Argentina. Evidently you can also see the ocean from La Campana but it was cloudy on the coast all day. At the top of the mountain there was a stray dog. I couldn't believe it. Whoever thought we would climb a mountain in the Andes. I met another guy from Bridgeport on the mountain. There is evidently a Bridgeport to Chile pipeline. We met some Chileans and a couple from Sweden. The Swedes were nice enought to offer us a ride back to the bus stop. They felt sorry for me, which was ok with me. The bus ride back was interesting. We were initially the only two on the autobus. After about 5 stops the bus filled up. Brian and I were taking 3 seats so I slid over. You can only imagine what I looked like...dirty and sweaty. When I slid over I tried to dry the seat a little, I don't know how successfully. The lady sat down seemingly with no second thought. Last night Brian and I had dinner at the B&B. A couple of well deserved beers, chicken and empanadas. There were three different empanadas; cheese, pino, and what brian thought was some type of bird which certainly tasted like anchovies. We had pastry for dessert. Enough for now. The next post to follow will be observations and opinions
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Classes and such.
To prove that I actaully am in school down here, I thought I'd add in a little overview of the classes I am taking. There are five right now. Oh, and the titles are in spanish, so I'm just gonna translate those.
Chilean culture and society: The title explains this one pretty well, but we discuss what chile's all about essentially, do readings/presentations on various places. Pretty straightforward.
Spanish strategies and grammar: Also straightforward title here, if my class schedule was american tv, this would be the "dirty jobs" show. If you catch my drift.
Pronouncion: This class actually hasn't started yet, but is also really staightforward. If my class schedule was lessons learned as a child, this would be "table edicut."
Cultures in Contact: A relatively new class, which is part class with half chilean, half international students. We discuss the differences between our cultures and the subsequent contact. Also with this class, is volunteer work. Soon, within the next two weeks, I'd say, I will be teaching english at a local Vina or Valpo school. I'm really excited about that one.
Latin American Literature: By far my most difficult class, we have a professor who proclaims the life "desperanza" or something like that, which is hopelessness. An interesting class because it requires us to argue in spanish. Which is REALLY hard. There is an englishish professor to help with translations. But interesting and intimidating.
A little note: all of said classes are taught in spanish(with the exception of cultures in contact, which is half english, half spanish). So thats really tough. Its particularly difficult when you ask for a definition of a word, and the spanish definition contains three more words you don't know. But hey, its all part of the learning process.
This weekend: heading to santiago to pick up Dad, hike Cajon de Maipo, and see the general sites. Should be fun! You, reader of this blog, you have a good day.
-Brian
Spanish saying of the week: "Oye! Wachita!"
Chilean culture and society: The title explains this one pretty well, but we discuss what chile's all about essentially, do readings/presentations on various places. Pretty straightforward.
Spanish strategies and grammar: Also straightforward title here, if my class schedule was american tv, this would be the "dirty jobs" show. If you catch my drift.
Pronouncion: This class actually hasn't started yet, but is also really staightforward. If my class schedule was lessons learned as a child, this would be "table edicut."
Cultures in Contact: A relatively new class, which is part class with half chilean, half international students. We discuss the differences between our cultures and the subsequent contact. Also with this class, is volunteer work. Soon, within the next two weeks, I'd say, I will be teaching english at a local Vina or Valpo school. I'm really excited about that one.
Latin American Literature: By far my most difficult class, we have a professor who proclaims the life "desperanza" or something like that, which is hopelessness. An interesting class because it requires us to argue in spanish. Which is REALLY hard. There is an englishish professor to help with translations. But interesting and intimidating.
A little note: all of said classes are taught in spanish(with the exception of cultures in contact, which is half english, half spanish). So thats really tough. Its particularly difficult when you ask for a definition of a word, and the spanish definition contains three more words you don't know. But hey, its all part of the learning process.
This weekend: heading to santiago to pick up Dad, hike Cajon de Maipo, and see the general sites. Should be fun! You, reader of this blog, you have a good day.
-Brian
Spanish saying of the week: "Oye! Wachita!"
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Quick Update!
Hey ya'lls,
Have a few minutes, so I thought I'd throw a non traditional post atcha.
Things I've deduced whilst in chile:
I eat a lot more than the average chilean, I'm basing this on hieght and size, and not american life style.
Bakeries are awesome and delicious.
It is not always warm and sunny in South American
Not all south american food is spicy, some of it is not very spicy at all.
Money in thousands is confusing.
I have lost some sort of a ability to keep track of time. Oh well.
Gotta go!
Spanish saying of last week: No Se. No entiendo. Estoy Consando.
Have a few minutes, so I thought I'd throw a non traditional post atcha.
Things I've deduced whilst in chile:
I eat a lot more than the average chilean, I'm basing this on hieght and size, and not american life style.
Bakeries are awesome and delicious.
It is not always warm and sunny in South American
Not all south american food is spicy, some of it is not very spicy at all.
Money in thousands is confusing.
I have lost some sort of a ability to keep track of time. Oh well.
Gotta go!
Spanish saying of last week: No Se. No entiendo. Estoy Consando.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Pictures?
Here is the link for my current picture album. I think it'll work.
http://picasaweb.google.com/BaCasey/ChileThusFar?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3d1ZCMnp30Jg&feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/BaCasey/ChileThusFar?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3d1ZCMnp30Jg&feat=directlink
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Viviendo!
Ok, so I'm pretty bad at keeping this up to date, but I'm going to try to get this to be once a week. Uniweekly? Semi biweekly? twice a fortnight? Something like that. Every Wednesday is the plan. I know, I know, its thursday.
Past adventures: Went to Pucon! Pucon is a small town a ten to twelve hour drive by bus south of Vina. Its a volcanic town, right next to a partially active volcano. For a steep price, that I paid, you and group of people get a guide and a bunch of gear and a chance to hike up the volcano. I say chance because we couldn't make it the whole way up. We were about half way there, trudging up through ash and rocks when the mountain started shaking like crazy, spewing lava all over the place! And then- aliens.
Ok, entirely made up. But we did have to turn around while climbing the volcano because of bad weather. It was really windy. Like very. We had to take tiny steps to maintain balance. Too much time on one foot meant falling over. Or something close to that. It was fun. I have some pictures, but I need to figure out a way to get them on both picasa and facebook at the same time instead of having to create captions for both. (Plea for Matt's help. If you read this) Some great views though. Unfortunately we still had to pay full price for the trek even though we didn't make it all the way up the mountain. Live and learn.
Next! Went to a bunch of waterfalls and hot springs. Some really cool places, tough to capture on camera, but I have pictures all the same. Also, white water rafting! Yes mom, they have helmets and lifevests down here. And electricty. Haha, it was really fun though, a bit more intense than maine in that it was less rapidy and more waterfally. Pretty intense. I did not fall out of said boat, of course.
And now, I am in Vina for the week, making up for the past over budget week with an underbudget one. Plans for the weekend: Fiesta with my family and gringo friends, fire on a spot overlooking the city and ocean. Sunset on dunes by the ocean? Salsa dancing? Ok, I'm not going to write about things until they happen.
Learnin spanish quite a bit. Observe: Estoy aprender espanol. Impressive, I know. But really, I have learned a good deal, and can actually talk pretty well right now, though understanding what chileans are saying is another story. But hey, one step at a time.
Ok, I think the sun just came out, so I'm going to the beach. Chao!
-Brian
Favorite spanish phrase of the week: "Puedo dormir cuando soy muerto."
Past adventures: Went to Pucon! Pucon is a small town a ten to twelve hour drive by bus south of Vina. Its a volcanic town, right next to a partially active volcano. For a steep price, that I paid, you and group of people get a guide and a bunch of gear and a chance to hike up the volcano. I say chance because we couldn't make it the whole way up. We were about half way there, trudging up through ash and rocks when the mountain started shaking like crazy, spewing lava all over the place! And then- aliens.
Ok, entirely made up. But we did have to turn around while climbing the volcano because of bad weather. It was really windy. Like very. We had to take tiny steps to maintain balance. Too much time on one foot meant falling over. Or something close to that. It was fun. I have some pictures, but I need to figure out a way to get them on both picasa and facebook at the same time instead of having to create captions for both. (Plea for Matt's help. If you read this) Some great views though. Unfortunately we still had to pay full price for the trek even though we didn't make it all the way up the mountain. Live and learn.
Next! Went to a bunch of waterfalls and hot springs. Some really cool places, tough to capture on camera, but I have pictures all the same. Also, white water rafting! Yes mom, they have helmets and lifevests down here. And electricty. Haha, it was really fun though, a bit more intense than maine in that it was less rapidy and more waterfally. Pretty intense. I did not fall out of said boat, of course.
And now, I am in Vina for the week, making up for the past over budget week with an underbudget one. Plans for the weekend: Fiesta with my family and gringo friends, fire on a spot overlooking the city and ocean. Sunset on dunes by the ocean? Salsa dancing? Ok, I'm not going to write about things until they happen.
Learnin spanish quite a bit. Observe: Estoy aprender espanol. Impressive, I know. But really, I have learned a good deal, and can actually talk pretty well right now, though understanding what chileans are saying is another story. But hey, one step at a time.
Ok, I think the sun just came out, so I'm going to the beach. Chao!
-Brian
Favorite spanish phrase of the week: "Puedo dormir cuando soy muerto."
Monday, March 2, 2009
Vivo en Vina
I have made it to my house in Vina del Mar, to the Pazo family. They are very nice, and very patient with my lack of Spanish speaking. They affirm that in two weeks time, I will be speaking spanish with ease. Or relative ease.
They are currently remodling the house, as it was "very old and ugly" before. They have designed and done the remolding themselves, as my Papa chileno and my brother chileno are both architects.
I live a ten minute walk from the university, something like fifteen minutes from downtown. I've never lived in a city before, it will be an interesting experiance. I'm going to go for a run tomorrow morning along the beach. And I'll take and put up some pictures.
I have been here in the house for one day, and I have learned so much spanish, it is unbelievable. Gonna go to sleep. Chao.
-Bc
They are currently remodling the house, as it was "very old and ugly" before. They have designed and done the remolding themselves, as my Papa chileno and my brother chileno are both architects.
I live a ten minute walk from the university, something like fifteen minutes from downtown. I've never lived in a city before, it will be an interesting experiance. I'm going to go for a run tomorrow morning along the beach. And I'll take and put up some pictures.
I have been here in the house for one day, and I have learned so much spanish, it is unbelievable. Gonna go to sleep. Chao.
-Bc
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Arrival in Chile!
I've made it to Chile!
After the red eye flight from Dallas to Santiago, I've finally arrived in Chile. The flight itself wasn't that bad at all, it was just sitting in a chair for nine or more hours. No crying babies, so it could've been worse.
After landing, I had to go through customs. They just as stringent rules about fruit and nuts as we do about guns and knives. They have "no apple" and "no nuts" picture/signs all over the place. It made me chuckle.
Anywho, I stayed in the plaza de armas hostel the first night. If you ever find yourself in santiago, i greatly suggest this hostel. It has a beautiful view of la plaza de armas(I'll post pictures in a little bit), and was a great deal(12$ per night). While it is cheap, it is like a dormitory, I stayed in a room with seven other people. But clean sheets and a comfy bed, I am not one to complain. There were a lot of foriegn, actually all foriegn people there. It was an interesting experiance to say the least.
My first "dinner" is one that I will be sure to remember. There are all sorts of food stands near la plaza de armas, so I naturally approached one and pointed at the food I wanted. It essentially was a hot dog. But a chilean hot dog is far from our beloved ball park franks. they take a normal hot dog and lop on chopped tomatoes, guacamole and hot mayo(which i thought was cheese. Quite wrong) It was tasty, but a bit overwhelming.
Right now I am staying with other International Studies Abroad studies in a suite in different part of Santiago, going through a four day orientation before my arrival in Vina del Mar, the city I'll be living in the next five months. Rioght, well I've got a long day tomorrow, so I'm off to sleep. (we're two hours ahead here in Chile.)
-Brian
P.S. I'm going to refuse to type read, you're just going to have to take the hard cold facts. And typing mistakes.
After the red eye flight from Dallas to Santiago, I've finally arrived in Chile. The flight itself wasn't that bad at all, it was just sitting in a chair for nine or more hours. No crying babies, so it could've been worse.
After landing, I had to go through customs. They just as stringent rules about fruit and nuts as we do about guns and knives. They have "no apple" and "no nuts" picture/signs all over the place. It made me chuckle.
Anywho, I stayed in the plaza de armas hostel the first night. If you ever find yourself in santiago, i greatly suggest this hostel. It has a beautiful view of la plaza de armas(I'll post pictures in a little bit), and was a great deal(12$ per night). While it is cheap, it is like a dormitory, I stayed in a room with seven other people. But clean sheets and a comfy bed, I am not one to complain. There were a lot of foriegn, actually all foriegn people there. It was an interesting experiance to say the least.
My first "dinner" is one that I will be sure to remember. There are all sorts of food stands near la plaza de armas, so I naturally approached one and pointed at the food I wanted. It essentially was a hot dog. But a chilean hot dog is far from our beloved ball park franks. they take a normal hot dog and lop on chopped tomatoes, guacamole and hot mayo(which i thought was cheese. Quite wrong) It was tasty, but a bit overwhelming.
Right now I am staying with other International Studies Abroad studies in a suite in different part of Santiago, going through a four day orientation before my arrival in Vina del Mar, the city I'll be living in the next five months. Rioght, well I've got a long day tomorrow, so I'm off to sleep. (we're two hours ahead here in Chile.)
-Brian
P.S. I'm going to refuse to type read, you're just going to have to take the hard cold facts. And typing mistakes.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Brian pre-adventures
Hello,
So lets get a few things straight. I am not stating that this blog is a recap of my adventures(it is not Brian's Adventures). I am merely stating that I am adventuring. Now, that seems to be a bit presumptuous, as if I am asserting that I am in league with greats such as Lewis n Clark, Neil Armstrong(Or is it louis?), and of course, Indiana Jones. I'm just going to another continent, which for my traveling experience is a wild and crazy adventure in itself. So there it is.
I have yet to leave, and have simply set this blog up prior to departure as a display of my foresight. So right! I hope there is some sort of way to attach pictures to blogs, because that'd be enormously convenient.
Until next time!
(Do people generally sign blog posts?)
So lets get a few things straight. I am not stating that this blog is a recap of my adventures(it is not Brian's Adventures). I am merely stating that I am adventuring. Now, that seems to be a bit presumptuous, as if I am asserting that I am in league with greats such as Lewis n Clark, Neil Armstrong(Or is it louis?), and of course, Indiana Jones. I'm just going to another continent, which for my traveling experience is a wild and crazy adventure in itself. So there it is.
I have yet to leave, and have simply set this blog up prior to departure as a display of my foresight. So right! I hope there is some sort of way to attach pictures to blogs, because that'd be enormously convenient.
Until next time!
(Do people generally sign blog posts?)
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