Chiloe, the Gringos' journey to the "dirty south"

At 8:00 am on November 1st, 33 students, four instructors, and two small children boarded the "Big Mean Teal Bus" for a journey to the south of Chile.  We would spend the majority of the next 8 days inside of the bus traveling all over the south of Chile, eating interesting food, getting food poisoning, seeing beautiful sights, and learning a lot. 

 

Chiloe is an Island near the south of Chile, which puts it farther south than any of the other continents except Antarctica.  Viña is near the center of this map, where the red region starts, and Chiloe is the blue finger sticking out a little way further south.  about a 16 hour straight drive.

Our first day was a travel day, and we stayed in Concepcion Chile, which is a very beautiful town known for its university and the incredible campus.

The second day we went to "El Chiflon Del Diablo" which is a coal mine under the ocean.  Before going there we watched a movie which highlighted the horrible working conditions the workers faced, and the fact that over 200 people died in that mine over the coarse of its history!

While in the mine I got a little sick in the stomach (probably from the completo I ate the day before) and spent the rest of the trip with a sour stomach.  The next Day was a very long day in the bus, in which we travelled from Villarica, where we slept, to Chiloe, but we did get to see a lot of the south of Chile, "the lakes region" which really reminded me of fall in northern Minnesota.

 Chiloe is in an area of Chile less developed and "modernized" than the rest of the country. it is mostly small family farms, where the cattle, sheep, and birds still graze, and there are more species of plants than just corn.  

The Chilotan people have some cool myths that we learned about, such as the "Trauco," which is a horribly ugly, short, and... um... potent imp who basically terrorizes the country-side impregnating unmarried women, or his daughter, the "fiura," which is an unbearably ugly woman who is very strong and disfigures the townspeople who go into the woods alone.

The Chilotans also are apparently amazing cooks, which we found out as we enjoyed the "curanto," which is a typical Chilotan meal designed for feasts and parties.  What they do is dig a hole under ground, fill it full of hot rocks, cover those rocks with muscles and clams with meat (chicken and pork) on top of that, and potatoes (which apparently originally came from Chiloe) on top of all that.  They cover this amazing pile of food with leaves, then dirt and let it slow cook all day.

After Chiloe, we started traveling home, we first went to Castro, enjoyed the Artesania there, ate some awesome seafood, and checked out the cool fort that was put there to defend the Spanish land from the Dutch. 

On the second to last day, we got to tour the Kuntsman Brewery, which was really interesting.  We ate a good lunch there.

Tried some of their product.

And were again on our way.  The rest of the trip was more of less just traveling, broken up by some small excursions from the bus.  We arrived in Viña on Saturday the 8th, ready for a return to "normal" life in chile.  After 11 hours of sleep, my stomach is finally feeling better!

To Mendoza... and beyond

After a couple of weeks of rest, a small group of us decided to do a little border hopping, and took an 8 hour bus ride through the mountains to Mendoza, one of the larger cities in Argentina.  The bus ride through the Andes Mountains was incredible, just a beautiful ride, though a little long, and after 8 hours, one of which being the process of customs between Chile and Argentina, we were in Mendoza.

Mendoza is really a beautiful town right at the feet of the Andes, with a semi-arid climate, it really reminded me of the parts of New Mexico I have seen.  We had a pretty nice hostel a couple of streets off of one of the main roads, so we were able to walk to just about everywhere we wanted to go.  The city of Mendoza is very nice, calm for its size (because all of the clubs are located a 20 minute cab ride from the city) which was fine with me, because Mendoza is one of the adventure capitols of Argentina!  Through our hostel we were able to do mountain biking, white water rafting, zip-lining, and a biking tour of a couple of vineyards.  

The town of Mendoza is also famous for "Las Tinajas" which is an all you can eat buffet with EVERYTHING you could imagine, especially the grill (about 10 feet wide by 2 deep) filled with delicious Argentinean meat (which is not corn-fed, and definitely tastier).  

The first full day in Mendoza was spent on the "Bikes and Wine" tour, which was a biking tour of a few of the vineyards in Mendoza.

We were able to see the grapes growing, the wine machines (none was being made because the grapes aren't ready), and even take a tour of a wine museum, cataloguing one of the oldest vineyards in the area.  These are some of the old barrels they used to ferment the wine.

The second day we started with white water rafting, which was amazing!  We even got to take a class 3 rapids.

They were so awesome we fell out!

We then moved on to Zip Lining through the foot hills of the Andes.  This was a little more laid-back, but definitely exciting and very fun.  

(there was a photographer who took lots of pictures, but I haven't gotten the CD yet... as soon as I do, expect some awesome pictures)

The third day we went mountain biking, which was also amazing!  It is really a different sport all together when you are actually mountain biking in the MOUNTAINS as opposed to Minnesota.  There were a few times I thought I was going to die, but it turned out alright!

the time flew in Mendoza, and before we knew it, it was time to get back on the bus and come home.  The night ride through the mountains was awesome, and I stayed up for a long time just watching the stars and mountains through the window of the bus, which I paid for at 6 am when the bus pulled into the station in Viña...

La La La LA SERENA!!!

The week after the 18th passed normally here in Chile, we had class, went to the beach, talked spanish.  The weekend after the 18th we found ourselves in Santiago watching the presidential debate with the other Chilean students from Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, which was an awesome experience because we were able to get a more global (or at least foreign) idea of how our country is viewed.  I was surprised as to how even the Chileans were split between Obama and McCain, I had thought they were more in support of Obama, but I guess that is what the experience was for, to see this.  A small group of us then spent the night in Bella Vista, the Bohemian neighborhood in Santiago and went out to eat and then to a club.  It was really fun!

The following weekend about 15 of us went to La Serena, and the adjoining Valley Elqui, which boasts the clearest skies in the world, over 320 sunny days a year!  We arrived on a Friday, which just happened to be cloudy, and spent the day exploring beautiful La Serena, which just might be my favorite Chilean city.  It is smaller than Viña and just has more of a Chilean feel to it (which might be due to the fact that no one speaks english).  

This is a church in the center of the city.  It is really awesome because all around it are road side vendors, cars, people yelling, but inside it is silent.  It's like walking into a different world.
La Recova is an artesania in the center of La Serena.  These are pretty typical of Chilean towns, and are basically places where the artisans come to sell their wares.  This was a really huge one, and I think just about everyone in the group bought something.

The night after our tour of La Serena we cooked a delicious meal of Pasta Rafael with plenty of Chilean wine!  It was spectacular but, as expected, once it came time for the cooks to eat, there were no plates left...

The following day we took a tour of the Elqui Valley, and saw some of the spectacularly beautiful sights, including this of the dam over the river elqui.  It is interesting to see that this is usually an arid landscape (cactus), but with the damn it has become a lake.

Yeah... I'm pretty hard core (the sign says "Warning, don't sit on the wall")

We ate at a restaurant where all of the food was cooked with solar ovens, so I had to get  a picture... what can I say, It's kind of my thing!
A large percentage of the grapes for pisco and wine in Chile come from the Elqui valley, due to its abundance of sun.  This is a picture of a vineyard on the banks of the Elqui river. 

We also took a tour of a pisqueria, which is a place where pisco (the national drink of Chile, consisting of fermented white wine) is made.  Chile produces between 50,000,000 and 55,000,000 liters of pisco every year, and exports only 5,000,000, leaving over 45 million liters of pisco between the 16 million inhabitants!  On the tour we were able to try a little pisco, but only after trying the aguardiente that is can be made by the same process (about 150 proof).  It was horrible, but made the pisco taste really good!

Our last day in La Serena was spent on the beach, right behind this lighthouse.  All said and done, a slight sunburn was all I have to show for this day, but it was a much needed rest after a full trip.

Dies y Ocho... Fiestas Patrias

In Chile, the eighteenth of September is a national holiday, equivalent to our fourth of July, except that it is a week long party with everything in the country closed except the restaurants and bars.  We got off of school on Wednesday and began the fun with an Asado (barbecue) at my house with my family which was VERY fun.  Early in the night my aunt broke out her Waso outfit, and talked me into wearing it and taking some "patriotic" pictures by the Chilean flag... this is a picture of me and my family, (from left) my mom, me, sister, brother in law, and other sister's boyfriend.

We all also got the opportunity to learn "La Cueca" which is the national dance of Chile.  Basically it is a flirting dance between a turkey and the hen.  Very fun!

After the asado we went to Valparaiso to practice our Cueca skills, and were able to find a street dance and some Chilean girls who were willing to dance with us... not to mention LOTS of Choripan (a spanish sausage with pebre (basically pico de gallo) and bread)!!!   The Thursday was spent on lots of asados, where I was able to try something completely new: I came home and Tony (brother in law) handed me a muscle with some lemon juice.  I ate it, and though it was a little undercooked, I liked it.  Then they handed me another one and a knife... when I tried to stick the knife in to open it, the shell slammed shut!  I was eating live animals!  It was a bit unnerving at first watching them squirm when squirted by lemon juice or feeling them move inside your mouth, but all in all it was a very unique Chilean experience.

On Friday we went to La Campana, a mountain about an hour outside of Viña and climbed about a vertical mile.  It was a pretty hard climb, a lot more than most people bargained for, but the view from the top was spectacular... definitely Vale La Pena!

Abby and I in front of the Valley.   Just behind the mountain to our left is the ocean.  From the Top of La Campana we could see everything form the Ocean to the Andes, the west and east borders of Chile.A group of us in front of the cordillera Andes.  Just to the left of this picture is Mt. Aconcagua, the tallest peak in the Americas!

The day after our grand adventure up the mountain, we went snowboarding/skiing in the Andes; Mountain skiing is a whole different world than Minnesota skiing!

I started the day snowboarding, and though I fell A LOT, I really did learn pretty quickly, and before lunch came I had learned to carve a little, which was fun.  However, my sore body and the spectacular view of the mountain that I would never be able to see from a snowboard made me change my mind, and after lunch I switched to skiing.

Once I was back on skis I was able to really enjoy the mountain, and even got up to some of the black diamonds.  The mountain skiing is something else... it takes so long to get down the mountain that I sometimes had to take breaks halfway down, something unheard of in Minnesota, land of the 30 second run.  The view was also incredible!

All in all, the 18th of September was a Fiestas Patrias to remember, though one that took about a week of rest to overcome.

Santiago otro vez

It has already been over a month... wow.  The time really has flown and I have learned a lot, but I feel that my spanish has hit a bit of a plateau.  Hopefully within the next couple of months I can get over that.

Last weekend we went to Santiago for the anniversary of September 11th 1973, which is day of the coup d'état that overthrew the communist government and put in place a military dictatorship responsible for thousands of deaths and torture in concentration camps.  In Santiago we went to the Vicaría, which is the institution the catholic church set up to help the victims of torture and document their struggles.  After that we went off to Villa Grimaldi, which is a park set up on the old grounds of a concentration camp.  It was really intense to see the conditions people were forced to live in, and the tortures they endured and stand right on the same ground they did.  There was a big red tower at one corner, and apparently when people went into this tower it was the last time they were heard from.  It just really drove home the fact that this REALLY happened here in chile.  It is a little like standing in Auschwitz, just more real than reading or hearing about it.  After that we went off for a little lighter action, a tour of the plaza de armas, the central square in the capitol and a guided tour of la Moneda, the Chilean equivalent of the white house.  These were spectacular tours, it was awesome to see the inside of the building that just last week held the conference of South American leaders as they tried to deal with the Bolivia/U.S. problems.

After that we went off to the "Fundación Pinochet" to hear the other side of the story.  It was really interesting to hear this man, who was a captain in the Chilean army when the coup happened, talk about the greatness of Pinochet.  It was really interesting to see how people will gloss over the mass killings and loss of democracy because this man built a few roads.  It is also interesting to see how divided the country STILL is... I was telling my family about my trip at dinner the night after we got back and I mentioned the fundacion pinochet and my sister said "CHUCHA!" and threw her fork on the table, while Julio, a family friend, was a supporter of Pinochet.

The next day we went to the cemetery where Salvador Allende's (the communist president who was killed in the coup) tomb is located and also saw patio 29 which is the site of a mass grave and now a tribute to those who died in the dictatorship.  It was really intense to again see the actual graves of those who died.  After the cemetery we went to see Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago... it was really cool.  It was built to feel like a boat, and just filled with art.  Definitely a cool house and a cool poet.

mas fotos

the view on the way to pomaire

artesan... these guys were awesome!

Parrilla!  I never believed in love at first sight until I saw the giant plate of meat!

And the accompanying plate of vegatables...

Dessert... prune re-hydrated in barley and sugar water

Segunda semana

So, we have successfully made it through two weeks.  Things seem to have slowed down since the first week, we have all learned a lot of spanish and a lot about the city here!  School is really starting to pick up, and the professors (especially ours from CSBSJU) have started pilling it on....  We're enjoying ourselves though, and have been doing a lot of studying on the beach.  

I have been taking every opportunity to hang out with the Chileans and practice my spanish, which put me in a club on Thursday displaying my disappointing Gringo dancing skills, but for the most part the Chileans are very nice people... Muy amable.  I think the one thing I am enjoying most is the food here, we have fresh juice every day, and the meals are spectacular.  We eat a lot of "Palta" (avocados) and "Porotos" (beans).  There is a food called "Completos" that I think are local to Chile which is basically a giant hot dog smothered in tomatoes, guacamole, and mayonnaise... it is spectacular!  As we were leaving Scratch club yesterday at 4:30 am Manuel was telling us that as much fun as we have had, we still have 4 months left, and it's only winter, so I guess we have a lot of Chile ahead of us!

Pictures

La moneda.  The central government building of Chile.  We went here for the premier of the Ariel Dorfman film.

The graffiti is much better down here.

This is our dog. "El Ewok."

A view from my front porch.  Yes, that is the ocean.  Yes, those are mountains.

Yes, I love Chile.

The flower clock and my chilean mom.  They change the type of flowers every season.

The ocean.

First week

So, I have been here a week now, and it has been incredible!  I now can speak well enough to look back on my first day and laugh about how little I understood (the only word I understood in an hour was "supernintendo") and know my way around well enough to get around.  It is incredible how fast all of us are able to learn!  This past week we have done so much!  When we got here we had a dinner (empanadas) and some awesome chilean wine, and then I spent the next two days touring the city with my new family, we saw the beach, the mountains, some markets; basically everything Viña has to offer for a tourist.  Then we started  school, and I realized that however much I learned, I was definitely a gringo, and will probably be one forever. Picture a group of 25 students, most of us blonde, walking around with open mouths, speaking english, on the first day of school. That was us.  We got through the first week though, so I guess we are not as incapable as we probably look. 

     On Wednesday we went to a premier of a film of Ariel Dorfman at La Moneda, the central government building in Santiago.  Areil was there, there was a wine tasting, there was even a list, and we were on it.  It was surreal.  Who are a group of foreigners to get invited to something like this?  Other that that I guess it was a pretty normal week in a foreign country... if there is such thing.

   I did join a baby fútbol team (6 on 6 soccer on a smaller field), a fútbol massivo team (regular soccer), and started a gringo baby fútbol group, so I guess I will be pretty busy.  

   That has been my week though.  When I figure this thing out I'll try to put up some photos.