On Friday, my boss invited me to go to Friday night services with him and his family. I met him at the office and after he closed up, we headed to Alto Las Condes because he had a quick meeting with the doctor. Alto Las Condes is a mall. The doctor's office is there because there is a lot of foot traffic and free parking.
After that quick detour, we headed the the Hebrew High School for services because the normal synagogue is under construction. Services were really nice. There isn't much different between services in the US and services in Chile.
After services, I went out to dinner with my boss, his wife, his daughter, and his daughter in-law. It was a nice dinner at the same Chinese restaurant that Tatu took me to about a month ago. Que rico!
Dinner ended around 12am, so the boss, the wife, and the daughter in-law went home, but I went out with his daughter. We went to her friends house and hung out. There were about ten of us there. It was a very chill evening. The big thing that Chilean Jews do is hang out and smoke hookah. It was an awesome atmosphere and the people were so nice, welcoming, and friendly. I hope I'll be hanging out with them again soon.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Lazy Day
Today is Monday, October 26, 2009. I woke up at 6:30am, had a bowl of oatmeal, and headed to the gym with my dog. He wanted to come inside, but he's not allowed. He trotted back home and I continued with my Spinning class.
Afterward, I made my way to the center of the city to stop at the Tufts office, and walk around Plaza de Armas. I picked up some postcards and a file for Orfebreria while soaking up some of the scenery.
The teachers are still on strike here, so there was a demonstration there. A popular slogan on the signs was "Investment in education is the best defense for the country."
It's an average day in Santiago. Nothing too exciting, but it's part of the experience, so I decided to mention it.
Afterward, I made my way to the center of the city to stop at the Tufts office, and walk around Plaza de Armas. I picked up some postcards and a file for Orfebreria while soaking up some of the scenery.
The teachers are still on strike here, so there was a demonstration there. A popular slogan on the signs was "Investment in education is the best defense for the country."
It's an average day in Santiago. Nothing too exciting, but it's part of the experience, so I decided to mention it.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Actividades de Mendoza
Mendoza, Argentina is known for it's wine country. A winery tour had to happen.
We didn't waste much time. After meeting up with the Buenos Aires crew, finding Hillary a synagogue, and downing a quick lunch at a restaurant that seemed to be out of everything but pizza and Milanese, we were picked up at our hostel and whisked away for an afternoon of alcohol.
The first stop was an artisan liquor store. They made a bunch of different liquors including our favorite, frutas rojas, absenthe, and a pimentón picante. They also made various liqueurs such as dulce de leche, dulce de leche con banana y chocolate, chocolate avellana, y chocolate menta.
Aside from the alcohol, they also made jams. I had to buy the tres citrus and the zapallo con canela because they were only AR $13 or US $2.50. I have yet to try them, but I'm sure they'll be delicious. My host mom in Chile makes her own jam from the fruit that her parents grown on their farm, but I have a feeling these ones will give my mom's a run for her money. We'll see.
The next two stops were wineries that were pretty much the same. A quick tour of the bodega and then a quick wine tasting. Grenata, the first one, offered us a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbec. (Just FYI: Carmenere : Chile :: Malbec : Argentina.) The second winery gave us a Syrah in addition to their Cabernet and Malbec, but all of the wines from the first winery were better, in my opinion.
The last stop on this tour was an olive oil factory. It was pretty interesting, especially since Hillary had met the owners son a few weeks back at a retreat in Cordoba, Argentina.
The olive oil was delicious, but what was I going to do with a bottle of Argentine olive oil?
That night we headed out for dinner. Argentine service is very different from American, and even Chilean food service. They aren't really in it for the tips, so they aren't too concerned with the customer.
A few notes:
1. Anything can be delivered in Argentina, including a coffee from one restaurant to a different one right across the street.
2. 10 minutes means half an our
3. Chances are they will not have your first or second choice on the menu.
After dinner we headed home. Not too exciting, I know, but we were tired from not sleeping well on the bus the night before.
Day two began with another great hostel breakfast and then we were picked up again to go hiking in the Andes. It was 2.5 hours up, lunch, and about 1.75 hours back down. We were accompanied by an adorable dog the whole way. I was impressed; it wasn't easy.
That night, we headed to the famous Las Tinajas restaurant that every Chilean talks about with Max's friend, Hannah who goes to Bryn Mawr, and her friend who goes to Haverford. It's tenedor libre and pretty delicious. We had to wait about an hour to be seated at a table that was vacant since we walked in, but once we sat down, we were pretty satisfied. After dinner, it was off to a bar to try Quilmes, Argentina's crappy beer that is cheaper than water. It wasn't great, but I'm glad I tried it. Chile's Escudo beats Argentina's Quilmes any day.
We went to bed around 4am and woke up around 9am. There wasn't a whole lot of time before us Chilean had to catch our bus, so we headed to Parque San Martin for about half an hour. It's a ginormous park on the edge of Mendoza. I wish I could have spent more time there. It was okay since the bus ride through the Andes was pretty amazing that afternoon.
I was home in Santiago by 9:30pm. Great trip!
We didn't waste much time. After meeting up with the Buenos Aires crew, finding Hillary a synagogue, and downing a quick lunch at a restaurant that seemed to be out of everything but pizza and Milanese, we were picked up at our hostel and whisked away for an afternoon of alcohol.
The first stop was an artisan liquor store. They made a bunch of different liquors including our favorite, frutas rojas, absenthe, and a pimentón picante. They also made various liqueurs such as dulce de leche, dulce de leche con banana y chocolate, chocolate avellana, y chocolate menta.
Aside from the alcohol, they also made jams. I had to buy the tres citrus and the zapallo con canela because they were only AR $13 or US $2.50. I have yet to try them, but I'm sure they'll be delicious. My host mom in Chile makes her own jam from the fruit that her parents grown on their farm, but I have a feeling these ones will give my mom's a run for her money. We'll see.
The next two stops were wineries that were pretty much the same. A quick tour of the bodega and then a quick wine tasting. Grenata, the first one, offered us a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbec. (Just FYI: Carmenere : Chile :: Malbec : Argentina.) The second winery gave us a Syrah in addition to their Cabernet and Malbec, but all of the wines from the first winery were better, in my opinion.
The last stop on this tour was an olive oil factory. It was pretty interesting, especially since Hillary had met the owners son a few weeks back at a retreat in Cordoba, Argentina.
The olive oil was delicious, but what was I going to do with a bottle of Argentine olive oil?
That night we headed out for dinner. Argentine service is very different from American, and even Chilean food service. They aren't really in it for the tips, so they aren't too concerned with the customer.
A few notes:
1. Anything can be delivered in Argentina, including a coffee from one restaurant to a different one right across the street.
2. 10 minutes means half an our
3. Chances are they will not have your first or second choice on the menu.
After dinner we headed home. Not too exciting, I know, but we were tired from not sleeping well on the bus the night before.
Day two began with another great hostel breakfast and then we were picked up again to go hiking in the Andes. It was 2.5 hours up, lunch, and about 1.75 hours back down. We were accompanied by an adorable dog the whole way. I was impressed; it wasn't easy.
That night, we headed to the famous Las Tinajas restaurant that every Chilean talks about with Max's friend, Hannah who goes to Bryn Mawr, and her friend who goes to Haverford. It's tenedor libre and pretty delicious. We had to wait about an hour to be seated at a table that was vacant since we walked in, but once we sat down, we were pretty satisfied. After dinner, it was off to a bar to try Quilmes, Argentina's crappy beer that is cheaper than water. It wasn't great, but I'm glad I tried it. Chile's Escudo beats Argentina's Quilmes any day.
We went to bed around 4am and woke up around 9am. There wasn't a whole lot of time before us Chilean had to catch our bus, so we headed to Parque San Martin for about half an hour. It's a ginormous park on the edge of Mendoza. I wish I could have spent more time there. It was okay since the bus ride through the Andes was pretty amazing that afternoon.
I was home in Santiago by 9:30pm. Great trip!
Mendoza, Argentina
The typical study abroad experience, based on the stories I've heard, is a stay in some great European city, full of culture and life, during the week, and trips to the other famous cities on the weekends in sketchy planes for five euros. South America isn't as developed as Europe, so the transportation system isn't as convenient and the major cities aren't as close to one another. Also, it's highly unlikely that you'll have a friend everywhere you go.
Despite the differences between the European and South American experiences, I had a chance to mold the two this past weekend. Emily, Steven, and I shipped off from Santiago on Thursday night and headed east towards the cordillera for Mendoza, Argentina, a small city known for its wine country. There we met up with Sam, Hillary (two Tufts students who are studying in Buenos Aires), and Max, a friend they met on their program.
It was a short stay, but very much enjoyable nonetheless.
I left my house in Las Condes at 9pm on Thursday, hopped on the bottom level of a double-decker bus (the nice level for US $3.50 more) at 10:25pm, and was headed for the Andes. We were awoken by the lights on the bus around 2am to hop off the bus with our baggage and go through immigration and customs. It was about 25 degrees out there, and needless to say, it wasn't the nicest way to wake up.
At customs, a huge Argentine man came up to the three of us and asked us where are luggage was. We were unable to locate it in the huge pile of bags for a while, but once we did, we let him know where it was. Without checking it, without thinking twice, he just told the baggage handler to put it back on the bus. I guess the Argentine government isn't that worried about Americans and what they're bringing in. You think things would have been the same had they known Emily was from Southern California? (Just kidding, Emily.)
Anyway, we rolled into the bus station in Mendoza around 6:30am on Friday. It was early, we hadn't slept to well, and we were tired. We were told the hostel was really close by, so we decided to walk. About 40 minutes later, we actually arrived. Yeah, we got a little turned around, but the actual walk from the bus station was about 30 minutes, especially when you are carrying luggage.
The hostel was nice. We arrived early, couldn't check in, but they offered us a great Argentine breakfast anyway. All of the hostel breakfasts in the past have been typical, flavorless bread, butter and jam served with coffee or tea. This hostel had variety. Medialunas, Argentine style, other pastries, toasted bread, biscuits, and real coffee and tea to go with it. It was a nice welcome.
That morning we walked around the city, waiting for the Buenos Aires crew to arrive. Steven, Emily, and I headed to the main street, but found ourselves walking about 30 minutes in the wrong direction. We didn't really have any place we wanted to go, but later that afternoon, we realized everything we wanted to see was to the left and we wasted about an hour going to the right. It wasn't a huge deal. We saw a little more of Mendoza. We did happen to stumble across a huge chocolate store. That was a find. They even gave us free chocolate covered raisins when we walked in. How non-Chilean.
Despite the differences between the European and South American experiences, I had a chance to mold the two this past weekend. Emily, Steven, and I shipped off from Santiago on Thursday night and headed east towards the cordillera for Mendoza, Argentina, a small city known for its wine country. There we met up with Sam, Hillary (two Tufts students who are studying in Buenos Aires), and Max, a friend they met on their program.
It was a short stay, but very much enjoyable nonetheless.
I left my house in Las Condes at 9pm on Thursday, hopped on the bottom level of a double-decker bus (the nice level for US $3.50 more) at 10:25pm, and was headed for the Andes. We were awoken by the lights on the bus around 2am to hop off the bus with our baggage and go through immigration and customs. It was about 25 degrees out there, and needless to say, it wasn't the nicest way to wake up.
At customs, a huge Argentine man came up to the three of us and asked us where are luggage was. We were unable to locate it in the huge pile of bags for a while, but once we did, we let him know where it was. Without checking it, without thinking twice, he just told the baggage handler to put it back on the bus. I guess the Argentine government isn't that worried about Americans and what they're bringing in. You think things would have been the same had they known Emily was from Southern California? (Just kidding, Emily.)
Anyway, we rolled into the bus station in Mendoza around 6:30am on Friday. It was early, we hadn't slept to well, and we were tired. We were told the hostel was really close by, so we decided to walk. About 40 minutes later, we actually arrived. Yeah, we got a little turned around, but the actual walk from the bus station was about 30 minutes, especially when you are carrying luggage.
The hostel was nice. We arrived early, couldn't check in, but they offered us a great Argentine breakfast anyway. All of the hostel breakfasts in the past have been typical, flavorless bread, butter and jam served with coffee or tea. This hostel had variety. Medialunas, Argentine style, other pastries, toasted bread, biscuits, and real coffee and tea to go with it. It was a nice welcome.
That morning we walked around the city, waiting for the Buenos Aires crew to arrive. Steven, Emily, and I headed to the main street, but found ourselves walking about 30 minutes in the wrong direction. We didn't really have any place we wanted to go, but later that afternoon, we realized everything we wanted to see was to the left and we wasted about an hour going to the right. It wasn't a huge deal. We saw a little more of Mendoza. We did happen to stumble across a huge chocolate store. That was a find. They even gave us free chocolate covered raisins when we walked in. How non-Chilean.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Bee´s Knees
Like always, it has been a while. There hasn´t been a lot going on though, so there wasn´t much to write about.
This past weekend was a long weekend. It was Columbus Day (yeah, he discovered South America too). Most of the Tufts people went on trips, to Mendoza, Argentina or Valdivia, Chile (to the south). I stayed back and took in Santiago for a few days. Went to a bar on Friday night, cooked enchiladas with Gabrielle and Emily on Saturday night, went to Pierre´s house in Buin on Sunday and came back on Monday. It was a nice weekend.
Sunday was a big day though. I used the Metrotren for the first time. It´s nothing big, it´s just that I had never been on it before, so I was a little nervous about how it all worked and everything. It´s actually a really pleasant ride outside of the city. The tracks run along a highway que junta el campo con la ciudad, but it doesn´t take anything away from the views of the rolling hills and the Andes mountain range to the east. I took the train out to Buin to visit Pierre at his family´s house. He was out there because his dad had been visiting for two weeks so Pierre was staying with him. His dad left for Belgium on Saturday afternoon, so I went out there to keep Pierre company on Sunday. We ended up going to an asado, my first one and hopefully not my last.
Pierre´s friend, Daniel, came to the house to pick us up. His uncle (only 20 years old) drove with his girlfriend in the passenger seat and the three of us squished in the back of a teeny tiny Chilean sedan. We arrived at another gated community, but not as nice as Pierre´s. We sped down the road to the end of the block and arrived at a house that didn´t look any different than the others. We walked in and there was the grandfather of the family, his daughter, and her husband in the kitchen. There were a couple of huge pots on the stove and I could hear the sound of a bunch of guys giving each other a hard time in the back yard. We walked out there and there were about five or six teenage guys, all with Heiniken in hand, chatting up a storm...huevon this, huevon that, ¿cachai, po? It was a cool scene. The obese mut sat there staring up at them waiting for the asado to begin.
Finally the husband walked out with a huge tray of meat. The sausages went on first. The the pork loin, then the pork ribs, then the flank steak, then the chicken, then more sausages. First course, Choripan, I´m guessing it comes from chorizo y pan...aka a sausage on a delicious, fresh-baked roll. Then the pork loin was taken off the flame, cut into large, bite-sized pieces and hands dove in like starving pihranas. The bottle of Kraft barbecue sauce was gone faster than you could imagine.
In addition to the many types of meat, there was a few types of beer, three types of pisco, whisky, rum, and coke and sprite. It was a feast. There were also two salads. One was just lettuce with lemon juice and salt and the other was ensalada chilena, or tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. They were both good. After I thought I was done eating, I was offered homemade chicken soup. I was way to full to take them up on the offer, but now I wish I had.
I had a really good time talking to everyone. I was an American at a Chilean barbecue and everyone wanted to chat me up. The people were really friendly and very welcoming. I had a good long chat with the father of the family about everything. He is really well traveled. He´s from Ecuador, lived in France, Switzerland, the U.S., and now Chile. He was an enormou man with a belly that seemed to hit the Andes, and he was a cool guy. Really laid back and relaxed. I hope I get to see him again, pick his brain about things. We´ll see.
That night, Pierre and I followed a couple of the other guys to a friend´s house to hang out. It was a good time, but again, being the American, people wanted to chat me up like crazy, but when people have had a few drinks and are surrounded by their chilean peers, the language gets mutilated beyond belief, so it was really hard to understand.
I had a great time that day. Hope to go back to Buin soon and can´t wait for the next asado!
This past weekend was a long weekend. It was Columbus Day (yeah, he discovered South America too). Most of the Tufts people went on trips, to Mendoza, Argentina or Valdivia, Chile (to the south). I stayed back and took in Santiago for a few days. Went to a bar on Friday night, cooked enchiladas with Gabrielle and Emily on Saturday night, went to Pierre´s house in Buin on Sunday and came back on Monday. It was a nice weekend.
Sunday was a big day though. I used the Metrotren for the first time. It´s nothing big, it´s just that I had never been on it before, so I was a little nervous about how it all worked and everything. It´s actually a really pleasant ride outside of the city. The tracks run along a highway que junta el campo con la ciudad, but it doesn´t take anything away from the views of the rolling hills and the Andes mountain range to the east. I took the train out to Buin to visit Pierre at his family´s house. He was out there because his dad had been visiting for two weeks so Pierre was staying with him. His dad left for Belgium on Saturday afternoon, so I went out there to keep Pierre company on Sunday. We ended up going to an asado, my first one and hopefully not my last.
Pierre´s friend, Daniel, came to the house to pick us up. His uncle (only 20 years old) drove with his girlfriend in the passenger seat and the three of us squished in the back of a teeny tiny Chilean sedan. We arrived at another gated community, but not as nice as Pierre´s. We sped down the road to the end of the block and arrived at a house that didn´t look any different than the others. We walked in and there was the grandfather of the family, his daughter, and her husband in the kitchen. There were a couple of huge pots on the stove and I could hear the sound of a bunch of guys giving each other a hard time in the back yard. We walked out there and there were about five or six teenage guys, all with Heiniken in hand, chatting up a storm...huevon this, huevon that, ¿cachai, po? It was a cool scene. The obese mut sat there staring up at them waiting for the asado to begin.
Finally the husband walked out with a huge tray of meat. The sausages went on first. The the pork loin, then the pork ribs, then the flank steak, then the chicken, then more sausages. First course, Choripan, I´m guessing it comes from chorizo y pan...aka a sausage on a delicious, fresh-baked roll. Then the pork loin was taken off the flame, cut into large, bite-sized pieces and hands dove in like starving pihranas. The bottle of Kraft barbecue sauce was gone faster than you could imagine.
In addition to the many types of meat, there was a few types of beer, three types of pisco, whisky, rum, and coke and sprite. It was a feast. There were also two salads. One was just lettuce with lemon juice and salt and the other was ensalada chilena, or tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. They were both good. After I thought I was done eating, I was offered homemade chicken soup. I was way to full to take them up on the offer, but now I wish I had.
I had a really good time talking to everyone. I was an American at a Chilean barbecue and everyone wanted to chat me up. The people were really friendly and very welcoming. I had a good long chat with the father of the family about everything. He is really well traveled. He´s from Ecuador, lived in France, Switzerland, the U.S., and now Chile. He was an enormou man with a belly that seemed to hit the Andes, and he was a cool guy. Really laid back and relaxed. I hope I get to see him again, pick his brain about things. We´ll see.
That night, Pierre and I followed a couple of the other guys to a friend´s house to hang out. It was a good time, but again, being the American, people wanted to chat me up like crazy, but when people have had a few drinks and are surrounded by their chilean peers, the language gets mutilated beyond belief, so it was really hard to understand.
I had a great time that day. Hope to go back to Buin soon and can´t wait for the next asado!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Events
Fun things that have happened since Spring Break in Peru:
1. Visit to Pierre's house in Buin which included a delicious lunch prepared by his very French grandmother and a harvest of the delicious palta from a tree hanging over their driveway.
2. Dinner with Pierre's father when he came to visit.
3. Happy hour with terremotos at La Bicicleta one week and happy hour with microbrews at HBH the next with the with the girls from Orfebrería (the second outing was to celebrate Belén's birthday)
4. Celebrating Charles' birthday with helados artesanales at San Sebastian on Wednesday and with pizza, drinks, and Red Sox vs. Yankees at Basic Bar on Friday
5. Fantastic Chinese lunch in El Golf with Tatu
6. First ever Spinning class
7. First ever road race with Gabrielle singing the whole time (It was wonderful).
8. Wine tasting with Jumbos at Ben Schneider's Ñuñoa house
9. Italian style pizza in Parque Arauco with Tatu
10. Dinner with the host family's future in-laws (Matias is getting married in March)
11. Czar is the new pololo my dog brought home while I was in Peru
12. Iom Kippur services on Sunday night and Monday morning with Steven Weiss at Jabad in Lo Barnechea
13. Meeting with Deloitte where they actually offered me an internship
Shall we leave it at lucky number 13? Maybe so. . .
14. Drinks with Tatu, meeting three Danish executives working in Santiago, and being told not to buy Soprole but to buy Colun.
15. Running into Macarena and Rodrigo at Parque Arauco which made me feel like I have some sort of social life in Chile
There, that's 15, a good number; much easier to work with than 13.
1. Visit to Pierre's house in Buin which included a delicious lunch prepared by his very French grandmother and a harvest of the delicious palta from a tree hanging over their driveway.
2. Dinner with Pierre's father when he came to visit.
3. Happy hour with terremotos at La Bicicleta one week and happy hour with microbrews at HBH the next with the with the girls from Orfebrería (the second outing was to celebrate Belén's birthday)
4. Celebrating Charles' birthday with helados artesanales at San Sebastian on Wednesday and with pizza, drinks, and Red Sox vs. Yankees at Basic Bar on Friday
5. Fantastic Chinese lunch in El Golf with Tatu
6. First ever Spinning class
7. First ever road race with Gabrielle singing the whole time (It was wonderful).
8. Wine tasting with Jumbos at Ben Schneider's Ñuñoa house
9. Italian style pizza in Parque Arauco with Tatu
10. Dinner with the host family's future in-laws (Matias is getting married in March)
11. Czar is the new pololo my dog brought home while I was in Peru
12. Iom Kippur services on Sunday night and Monday morning with Steven Weiss at Jabad in Lo Barnechea
13. Meeting with Deloitte where they actually offered me an internship
Shall we leave it at lucky number 13? Maybe so. . .
14. Drinks with Tatu, meeting three Danish executives working in Santiago, and being told not to buy Soprole but to buy Colun.
15. Running into Macarena and Rodrigo at Parque Arauco which made me feel like I have some sort of social life in Chile
There, that's 15, a good number; much easier to work with than 13.
My New Haircut
I'm going to ignore the fact that I haven't blogged in ages by stating that I haven't blogged in ages.
I just went to get my haircut. I have been worried about doing so for a few weeks now because it appears that the popular Chilean hairstyles for men are atrocious. Luckily for me, I have a peluquería about a 30 second walk from my house, so there wasn't any adventure involved in finding the right place. I walked in and got some pretty weird stares. I walk by this salon almost every day and can't really see inside, but from what I can see, it's usually just women. Whatever. My host mom said it was a fine place to get my haircut, so I went. The stylist was working on my head of hair for about 40 minutes. Back home at the local Supercuts, Haircuttery, or Razors (Boston), a fast haircut for me is 10-15 minutes. A slow haircut can take up to half an hour. This woman kept hacking away. It got to the point where I wondered if I was supposed to tell her when to stop. It wasn't that it was getting short, it was just that she kept going. When I thought there was nothing left to cut, she would find a few millimeters here and a few millimeters there that had to go. In the end, I got a decent haircut and it only cost $4500 pesos (US $9) including tip, which is not necessary here.
I just went to get my haircut. I have been worried about doing so for a few weeks now because it appears that the popular Chilean hairstyles for men are atrocious. Luckily for me, I have a peluquería about a 30 second walk from my house, so there wasn't any adventure involved in finding the right place. I walked in and got some pretty weird stares. I walk by this salon almost every day and can't really see inside, but from what I can see, it's usually just women. Whatever. My host mom said it was a fine place to get my haircut, so I went. The stylist was working on my head of hair for about 40 minutes. Back home at the local Supercuts, Haircuttery, or Razors (Boston), a fast haircut for me is 10-15 minutes. A slow haircut can take up to half an hour. This woman kept hacking away. It got to the point where I wondered if I was supposed to tell her when to stop. It wasn't that it was getting short, it was just that she kept going. When I thought there was nothing left to cut, she would find a few millimeters here and a few millimeters there that had to go. In the end, I got a decent haircut and it only cost $4500 pesos (US $9) including tip, which is not necessary here.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Spring Break: Part X and XI
The 18th was kind of a bust. That's not an insult to Chile or San Pedro de Atacama, the town of 2500. The group was just not up for partying Chilean style (going to the bars at 11pm, going to the clubs at 1am, and going to the after party at 4am or 5am) after getting up at 3:30 that morning.
Since we didn't go out the night before, we were well rested when we awoke at 7:30 on Saturday, ready for our tour of las lagunas, an Andean village, and a desert oasis. Our Chilean tour guide, however, did party and he was definitely a little hungover, but still in good spirits.
The tours were good. There was a group of eight volunteers from Inglés Abre Puertas that was on the tour with us in addition to a family of three which ditched us after an hour to go with another group because us youngins were too loud. One of the volunteers in that group was actually the princess of Transylvania, or so she said.
We arrived back in San Pedro that night, but since it was the day after independence day, a lot of restaurants and stores were still closed. We found a good place to have our last supper.
It ended up being a quiet day, but it was a great way to end the vacation.
Day 10: Saturday, September 19th at 7:30am until Saturday, September 19th at 11:30pm)
The next day was our trip home. We got up, gathered our belongings and left the hostel. Our hosts were nice enough to drive us to the bus station.
There was a lot of traveling that day with luggage and a backpack.
1. Drive to bus station in San Pedro
2. Bus from San Pedro to Calama
3. Cab from Calama bus station to Calama airport
4. Plane from Calama to Copiapo airport for quick stop
5. Same plane from Copiapo to Santiago airport
6. Shuttle bus from Santiago airport to Pajaritos metro station on the red line
7. Metro from Pajaritos to Tobalaba
8. Switch from red line to blue line at Tobalaba
9. Tobalaba to Crístobal Colón on the blue line
10. Walk from Colón to my house
I arrived home to a new city. Santiago had several terribly wet and rainy days leading up to our vacation, but when we came back, the city had begun it's spring and it had transformed, almost unrecognizably so. It was funny because as I was walking from the metro to my house, I was noticing how everything looked different and unfamiliar. The trees and bushes were blooming and my neighbors had completely redone the front of their house. When I arrived at my house, I punched in the code in the keypad to unlock the gate and a new dog poked his head out. I thought for sure I was in the wrong place, but sure enough, I was home. It turns out that while I was away, my dog got herself a boyfriend and the two of them are living here now.
Day 11: Return Home (Sunday, Spetember 20th at 7:30am to Sunday, September 20th at 11:30pm)
Since we didn't go out the night before, we were well rested when we awoke at 7:30 on Saturday, ready for our tour of las lagunas, an Andean village, and a desert oasis. Our Chilean tour guide, however, did party and he was definitely a little hungover, but still in good spirits.
The tours were good. There was a group of eight volunteers from Inglés Abre Puertas that was on the tour with us in addition to a family of three which ditched us after an hour to go with another group because us youngins were too loud. One of the volunteers in that group was actually the princess of Transylvania, or so she said.
We arrived back in San Pedro that night, but since it was the day after independence day, a lot of restaurants and stores were still closed. We found a good place to have our last supper.
It ended up being a quiet day, but it was a great way to end the vacation.
Day 10: Saturday, September 19th at 7:30am until Saturday, September 19th at 11:30pm)
The next day was our trip home. We got up, gathered our belongings and left the hostel. Our hosts were nice enough to drive us to the bus station.
There was a lot of traveling that day with luggage and a backpack.
1. Drive to bus station in San Pedro
2. Bus from San Pedro to Calama
3. Cab from Calama bus station to Calama airport
4. Plane from Calama to Copiapo airport for quick stop
5. Same plane from Copiapo to Santiago airport
6. Shuttle bus from Santiago airport to Pajaritos metro station on the red line
7. Metro from Pajaritos to Tobalaba
8. Switch from red line to blue line at Tobalaba
9. Tobalaba to Crístobal Colón on the blue line
10. Walk from Colón to my house
I arrived home to a new city. Santiago had several terribly wet and rainy days leading up to our vacation, but when we came back, the city had begun it's spring and it had transformed, almost unrecognizably so. It was funny because as I was walking from the metro to my house, I was noticing how everything looked different and unfamiliar. The trees and bushes were blooming and my neighbors had completely redone the front of their house. When I arrived at my house, I punched in the code in the keypad to unlock the gate and a new dog poked his head out. I thought for sure I was in the wrong place, but sure enough, I was home. It turns out that while I was away, my dog got herself a boyfriend and the two of them are living here now.
Day 11: Return Home (Sunday, Spetember 20th at 7:30am to Sunday, September 20th at 11:30pm)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Spring Break: Part IX
Today was the day. We had heard about the 18 since the first meeting of the Tufts-in-Chile Program 2009 way back in April. We had heard that Chile took their independence day seriously and that this year marked the beginning of the 200th year of its independence, so the parties were going to be something to write home about.
We started our 18 bright and early at 3:30am (normal wake-up time for us on this trip). We got ready and waited for the tour guide to come pick us up and take us to El Tatio, the geysers in Chile. We arrived at the geysers shortly after 6:00am. You have to get there early because the geysers are better seen when the air temperature is lowest (aka, at the butt-crack of dawn). It was worth it though. We all had a good time. The tour company also provided breakfast, which was a great incentive to get us going. It wasn't anything extra special, just instant coffee, bread, cheese, ham, an apple, and a small chocolate bar. We're college students, so any time there is food, we're always a little happier.
After the geysers, we headed to the thermal baths. It was a fun place. There are a ton of tour groups in San Pedro, especially at this time of year, but our tour company sets out on their treks about 30 minutes earlier than all the others so we get to every place a little bit sooner and have the chance to take pictures without a bunch of tourists in the way. We were actually the only group at the thermal baths which was nice.
Since we got up early that morning, we made it back to town right before lunch. We stumble across this nice little restaurant on a side street. It had a small sign advertising its empanadas. We were intrigued. Leanne and Austin got theirs to go, but Katy, Emily, Steven, and I decided to eat in and take advantage of the Pastel de Choclo that they had on the menu. Pastel de Choclo is a classic Chilean dish made with corn, chicken, and a beef and onion mixture called Pino (the same mixture that is found in the empanadas de pino). The four of us got empanadas and two pastels to share. It was appropriate that we had empanadas and pastel de choclo considering it was Chile's independence day and these two things are top five on Chile's list of national foods along with cazuela, super 8, and pan.
We spent the afternoon relaxing in the hostel before heading out to dinner and experiencing the nightlife in a small Chilean town on independence day. Unfortunately I wasn't blown away with the festivities. There was a section of the town blocked off and there were about 20 booths selling food and things. I guess we're still not acclimated to the Chilean lifestyle because we called it a night around 10:30pm, but the next day, our tour guide (slightly hungover) told us that the party had started in the bars at 11:00pm.
Day 9: Friday, September 18th at :30am until Friday, September 18th at 11:30 pm
We started our 18 bright and early at 3:30am (normal wake-up time for us on this trip). We got ready and waited for the tour guide to come pick us up and take us to El Tatio, the geysers in Chile. We arrived at the geysers shortly after 6:00am. You have to get there early because the geysers are better seen when the air temperature is lowest (aka, at the butt-crack of dawn). It was worth it though. We all had a good time. The tour company also provided breakfast, which was a great incentive to get us going. It wasn't anything extra special, just instant coffee, bread, cheese, ham, an apple, and a small chocolate bar. We're college students, so any time there is food, we're always a little happier.
After the geysers, we headed to the thermal baths. It was a fun place. There are a ton of tour groups in San Pedro, especially at this time of year, but our tour company sets out on their treks about 30 minutes earlier than all the others so we get to every place a little bit sooner and have the chance to take pictures without a bunch of tourists in the way. We were actually the only group at the thermal baths which was nice.
Since we got up early that morning, we made it back to town right before lunch. We stumble across this nice little restaurant on a side street. It had a small sign advertising its empanadas. We were intrigued. Leanne and Austin got theirs to go, but Katy, Emily, Steven, and I decided to eat in and take advantage of the Pastel de Choclo that they had on the menu. Pastel de Choclo is a classic Chilean dish made with corn, chicken, and a beef and onion mixture called Pino (the same mixture that is found in the empanadas de pino). The four of us got empanadas and two pastels to share. It was appropriate that we had empanadas and pastel de choclo considering it was Chile's independence day and these two things are top five on Chile's list of national foods along with cazuela, super 8, and pan.
We spent the afternoon relaxing in the hostel before heading out to dinner and experiencing the nightlife in a small Chilean town on independence day. Unfortunately I wasn't blown away with the festivities. There was a section of the town blocked off and there were about 20 booths selling food and things. I guess we're still not acclimated to the Chilean lifestyle because we called it a night around 10:30pm, but the next day, our tour guide (slightly hungover) told us that the party had started in the bars at 11:00pm.
Day 9: Friday, September 18th at :30am until Friday, September 18th at 11:30 pm
Spring Break: Part VIII
We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama Chile via Tur Bus on the morning of Thursday, September 17th, 2009. Although this night bus was not nearly as impressive as Cruz del Sur in Peru was, some of us slept better than ever before.
We descended the stairs from the second level, collected our bags, and hopped into an old van that was waiting to take us to our hostel. The hostel was off the beaten path, about a 10 minute walk from the center of town. It was a cute place with a tranquil courtyard with two comfortable hammocks. Once we settled in and took showers, we headed into town to plan our three day stay in San Pedro. We stopped in a number of tour offices and finally decided on the company recommended by Steven's Fodor's travel book. Fodor's had given us some trouble on other legs of the trip, but for some reason, this tour office seemed the most professional and gave us a great deal on three excursions over three days.
Satisfied with our decision to go wit Cosmo del Andino tours, we headed out to kill two hours before the first tour began that afternoon. We found a quaint restaurant for lunch. Since we were back in Chile, and far enough South, we decided it was okay to eat the vegetables. It was the first salad I had eaten in more than a week. It was delicious and I didn't leave one lettuce leaf on the plate. I also was no longer afraid to get fish, so I ordered the salmon, which came with a side of quinoa. I have heard a lot about this fantastic, protein-packed grain, but had never tried it before this trip. Peru was full of it. While there, I got hooked on these Inca energy bars that were bits of quinoa and puffed corn with some dried fruit, shaved coconuts and honey to keep it all together. It has a kind of spongy texture, but I liked it.
After lunch we wandered the streets for a little while before it was time to meet the tour guide at the office and head out to La Valle de la Luna, La Valle de la Muerte, y el Atardecer. It was a long day full of hiking and walking and climbing and sliding, but it was all worth it. We were tiered and a little cranky when we returned to the town for dinner, but we all had a good time. We knew we had to get up early the next day for a special tour of the geysers and that it was the 18 so we justified a quiet dinner and early bedtime.
Day 8: (Thursday, September 17th at 8:30 am until Thursday September 17th at 10:30pm)
We descended the stairs from the second level, collected our bags, and hopped into an old van that was waiting to take us to our hostel. The hostel was off the beaten path, about a 10 minute walk from the center of town. It was a cute place with a tranquil courtyard with two comfortable hammocks. Once we settled in and took showers, we headed into town to plan our three day stay in San Pedro. We stopped in a number of tour offices and finally decided on the company recommended by Steven's Fodor's travel book. Fodor's had given us some trouble on other legs of the trip, but for some reason, this tour office seemed the most professional and gave us a great deal on three excursions over three days.
Satisfied with our decision to go wit Cosmo del Andino tours, we headed out to kill two hours before the first tour began that afternoon. We found a quaint restaurant for lunch. Since we were back in Chile, and far enough South, we decided it was okay to eat the vegetables. It was the first salad I had eaten in more than a week. It was delicious and I didn't leave one lettuce leaf on the plate. I also was no longer afraid to get fish, so I ordered the salmon, which came with a side of quinoa. I have heard a lot about this fantastic, protein-packed grain, but had never tried it before this trip. Peru was full of it. While there, I got hooked on these Inca energy bars that were bits of quinoa and puffed corn with some dried fruit, shaved coconuts and honey to keep it all together. It has a kind of spongy texture, but I liked it.
After lunch we wandered the streets for a little while before it was time to meet the tour guide at the office and head out to La Valle de la Luna, La Valle de la Muerte, y el Atardecer. It was a long day full of hiking and walking and climbing and sliding, but it was all worth it. We were tiered and a little cranky when we returned to the town for dinner, but we all had a good time. We knew we had to get up early the next day for a special tour of the geysers and that it was the 18 so we justified a quiet dinner and early bedtime.
Day 8: (Thursday, September 17th at 8:30 am until Thursday September 17th at 10:30pm)
Spring Break: Part VII
Day 7 was a day of traveling. We woke up at 5:30 in our hostel in Arequipa. We ordered two taxis that were waiting for us outside the door. We hopped in (two groups of three) and headed for the bus station. We got on a bus from Arequipa to Tacna and were on our way.
Tacna is a small town in southern Peru. It's about a 20 minute drive to the Chilean border. For whatever reason, buses don't cross the border from Peru to Chile, so if you want to make that switch, you have to get a cab or special bus from Tacna, Peru to Arica, Chile, which is exactly what we did. In the bus station, I befriended a police officer. We were chatting for a few minutes while other members of the group were going to the bathroom or getting snacks. He was a kind man and took us under his wing and helped us find appropriate transportation to cross the border. He first took us to a bus that he said was safe a a good price. The group wasn't happy with that, so we ended up getting two collectivos. They're like taxi's in that they're cars, but they're also like buses in that they are not private. Austin, Leanne, and I were in the back seat of a '91 Chevy while the driver and two Chilean men were in the front seat. It wasn't a bad deal. The driver was Chilean and took a liking to us. He sped all the way to the border, helped us budge in line at customs and immigration in Peru and Chile, and before we knew it, we were already in Arica ready to take advantage of the 5 or so hours we had before it was time to board a night bus to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
We weren't in Arica for that long. We had just enough time to wander the streets and get a meal at a fire station. Interesting Fact: All fire companies in Chile are volunteer operated. I believe there are approximately two paid positions at each fire company and all of the firemen are volunteers. They raise money for their company by selling raffle tickets to the citizens who they protect from their own stupidity most of the time. It just doesn't seem to sit right with me, but that's Chile.
Lunch was great. It was our first meal back in Chile and we were all excited to see familiar foods like pan y pevre, pollo a la pobre, palta, etc. It wasn't a huge deal, but it's part of the culture we have come to associate with "home" over the last two months. After traveling in an unfamiliar country on an unfamiliar continent for a week, anything that is remotely familiar provides an eerie sense of comfort. Eerie in the sense that it's a false feeling, but still comforting.
After our welcome back meal, we wandered the streets of Arica and observed the preparations for the 18 (Sept. 18th is Chilean Independence Day). There were lots of stands and craft tents set up and the city was getting ready for the festivities to begin. Since this year's 18 marked the start of Chile's 200th year of independence, or the bicentenario, celebrations began on the 17th and continues almost non-stop through the 20th (Thursday to Sunday).
After wandering we returned to the bus station for pre-made PB&J before boarding a night bus to our "last" destination, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
Day 7: (Wednsday, September 16th at 5:30 am to Thursday, September 17th at 1:00am)
Tacna is a small town in southern Peru. It's about a 20 minute drive to the Chilean border. For whatever reason, buses don't cross the border from Peru to Chile, so if you want to make that switch, you have to get a cab or special bus from Tacna, Peru to Arica, Chile, which is exactly what we did. In the bus station, I befriended a police officer. We were chatting for a few minutes while other members of the group were going to the bathroom or getting snacks. He was a kind man and took us under his wing and helped us find appropriate transportation to cross the border. He first took us to a bus that he said was safe a a good price. The group wasn't happy with that, so we ended up getting two collectivos. They're like taxi's in that they're cars, but they're also like buses in that they are not private. Austin, Leanne, and I were in the back seat of a '91 Chevy while the driver and two Chilean men were in the front seat. It wasn't a bad deal. The driver was Chilean and took a liking to us. He sped all the way to the border, helped us budge in line at customs and immigration in Peru and Chile, and before we knew it, we were already in Arica ready to take advantage of the 5 or so hours we had before it was time to board a night bus to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
We weren't in Arica for that long. We had just enough time to wander the streets and get a meal at a fire station. Interesting Fact: All fire companies in Chile are volunteer operated. I believe there are approximately two paid positions at each fire company and all of the firemen are volunteers. They raise money for their company by selling raffle tickets to the citizens who they protect from their own stupidity most of the time. It just doesn't seem to sit right with me, but that's Chile.
Lunch was great. It was our first meal back in Chile and we were all excited to see familiar foods like pan y pevre, pollo a la pobre, palta, etc. It wasn't a huge deal, but it's part of the culture we have come to associate with "home" over the last two months. After traveling in an unfamiliar country on an unfamiliar continent for a week, anything that is remotely familiar provides an eerie sense of comfort. Eerie in the sense that it's a false feeling, but still comforting.
After our welcome back meal, we wandered the streets of Arica and observed the preparations for the 18 (Sept. 18th is Chilean Independence Day). There were lots of stands and craft tents set up and the city was getting ready for the festivities to begin. Since this year's 18 marked the start of Chile's 200th year of independence, or the bicentenario, celebrations began on the 17th and continues almost non-stop through the 20th (Thursday to Sunday).
After wandering we returned to the bus station for pre-made PB&J before boarding a night bus to our "last" destination, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
Day 7: (Wednsday, September 16th at 5:30 am to Thursday, September 17th at 1:00am)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Spring Break: Part VI
Today is day six of our South American journey. To recap quickly, we started out in Santiago de Chile on Wednesday, September 9th and made our way to Arequipa, Peru via Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Cusco again. We arrived in Arequipa via overnight bus this morning at 5:45am and spent the day getting to know Peru´s second largest city (population-wise, I think).
We got two cabs to the hostel. Traveling in a group of six can be a tad inconvenient when it comes to traveling in cabs. We rang the doorbell of the immense wooden door and a guy came to let us in. The doors the the rooms at the hostel don´t have locks, so the front door is the only defense against outsiders. We stored our stuff in the closet by the hostel´s office while we ate a typical South American hostel breakfast of bread, jam, butter, tea, and Nescafe (continent-wide instant coffe, or at least Chile and Peru).
Our room wasn´t available so we eventually decided to explore. We headed to a local church becaue the Fodor´s travel guide said it was open at 8. When we arrived, we realized it didn´t actually open until 9. What do six Americans do in Arequipa with a hour of time before the guided tour of the city begins? Go to the Plaza de Armas, that´s what! We strolled around and got the lay of the small neighborhood while 9 approached. We then retraced our steps back to the hostel and waited the arrival of our tour guide and his van. We hopped in and for S/. 35 (read: thirty-five soles) we got a great four hour tour of this unknown city. The people seem to live on the outside encircling a huge plot of agricultural land. It´s odd since most cities I have come to know are surround by farmland instead of surrounding it. It´s not an overly developed city, just like the other´s we´ve see in Peru. The tourist areas are nice, but most everywhere else is not very modern my any means. There are, of course, nice parts of the city and a bunch of nice old buildings. There are three volcanoes that sit nearby so the land is fertile and there is a ton of white volcanic rock that the founders used to make many of the cities first buildings. That´s why it has the nickname "The White City."
Our tour of the city was interesting. We saw some plazas and some churches with obvious Spanish influence as well as the mansion of the founder of the city, an alpaca textile factory, and a Peruvian farm where we got to feed a bull and ride horses. We also got a quick little tour of a Peruvian garden that had artichokes, papayas, passion fruit, squash, and other typical Peruvian crops. We tried some toasted corn kernels that looked like huge unpopped popcorn kernels, but had a nutty flavor and a powdery texture inside. They were pretty good.
After the city tour concluded, we headed out to lunch. We then stopped by a museum to see one of the oldest and most well-preserved mummies on Earth. She was sacrificed by the Incas to the Sun God over 500 years ago.
Next stop was the grocery store for more PB & J supplies. You may think that we would get sick of this childhood favorite, but I assure you, we haven´t. Between the 6 of us, we have already consumed three loaves of bread, three jars of peanut butter, and three jars of jelly. That´s not including the one and a half loaves for tomorrow, and the one and a half jars of both PB and J for tomorrow as well. It´s a great way to eat while traveling because it travels well, it´s cheap, it´s somewhat nutritious, and is generally a crowd pleaser if you don´t have to have the crunchy vs. creamy debate or the strawberry vs. grape debate. For the record, both crunchy and creamy have their place in my metaphorical lunchbox; it just depends on what´s available between the two, what´s available to accompany it (apple, celery, cracker, etc.), or how I´m feeling at the time. In terms of jelly, it has to be strawberry preserves most of the time with rare exceptions when certain circumstances present themselves, but I won´t get into that now.
Steven and I headed back to the hostel to shower while Leanne and Austin went exploring for Peru souveneirs and Emily and Katy went on their typical hunt for something sweet. Steven and I met up in the dining area and commenced the ritual preparation of PB & J. We have it down to a science now. A light layer of PB on both pieces of bread with a coating of jelly in between to maintain the integrity of the wheat bread. Once you have a whole loaf ready, you stack the sandwiches back in the bag and you´re all set to go. Man, I´m going to miss this part of cheap travel.
After the group showered, five of us went to get our last Peruvian meal. Lomo saltado (asian inspired beef stew-like dish served over papas fritas and a side of rice) for Austin and me, and pollo a la plancha for Emily, Leanne, and Steven. We also got our Peruvian pisco sour in just in time. I prefer the Chilean variety because it´s a little more sour.
One of my favorite parts abour Peru is that you can eat great for pretty cheap. We all got Menu Ejecutivo which included a pisco sour, soup, an entree, and a beverage for S/. 15 (or S/. 18 for lomo saltado, but totally worth it!). That´s a little more than US $5.
Now we´re all back in the hostel and getting ready for bed. We have to wake up at 5:30am tomorrow to catch cabs to the bus station where we´ll embark for Taca, a small Peruvian town on the border of Chile where we´ll make the switch to a collectivo (cross between taxi and bus) and attempt to cross the border (cross your fingers that all goes well).
Day 6: Tuesday, September 15th at 5:45am to Tuesday, September 15th at 10:30pm
We got two cabs to the hostel. Traveling in a group of six can be a tad inconvenient when it comes to traveling in cabs. We rang the doorbell of the immense wooden door and a guy came to let us in. The doors the the rooms at the hostel don´t have locks, so the front door is the only defense against outsiders. We stored our stuff in the closet by the hostel´s office while we ate a typical South American hostel breakfast of bread, jam, butter, tea, and Nescafe (continent-wide instant coffe, or at least Chile and Peru).
Our room wasn´t available so we eventually decided to explore. We headed to a local church becaue the Fodor´s travel guide said it was open at 8. When we arrived, we realized it didn´t actually open until 9. What do six Americans do in Arequipa with a hour of time before the guided tour of the city begins? Go to the Plaza de Armas, that´s what! We strolled around and got the lay of the small neighborhood while 9 approached. We then retraced our steps back to the hostel and waited the arrival of our tour guide and his van. We hopped in and for S/. 35 (read: thirty-five soles) we got a great four hour tour of this unknown city. The people seem to live on the outside encircling a huge plot of agricultural land. It´s odd since most cities I have come to know are surround by farmland instead of surrounding it. It´s not an overly developed city, just like the other´s we´ve see in Peru. The tourist areas are nice, but most everywhere else is not very modern my any means. There are, of course, nice parts of the city and a bunch of nice old buildings. There are three volcanoes that sit nearby so the land is fertile and there is a ton of white volcanic rock that the founders used to make many of the cities first buildings. That´s why it has the nickname "The White City."
Our tour of the city was interesting. We saw some plazas and some churches with obvious Spanish influence as well as the mansion of the founder of the city, an alpaca textile factory, and a Peruvian farm where we got to feed a bull and ride horses. We also got a quick little tour of a Peruvian garden that had artichokes, papayas, passion fruit, squash, and other typical Peruvian crops. We tried some toasted corn kernels that looked like huge unpopped popcorn kernels, but had a nutty flavor and a powdery texture inside. They were pretty good.
After the city tour concluded, we headed out to lunch. We then stopped by a museum to see one of the oldest and most well-preserved mummies on Earth. She was sacrificed by the Incas to the Sun God over 500 years ago.
Next stop was the grocery store for more PB & J supplies. You may think that we would get sick of this childhood favorite, but I assure you, we haven´t. Between the 6 of us, we have already consumed three loaves of bread, three jars of peanut butter, and three jars of jelly. That´s not including the one and a half loaves for tomorrow, and the one and a half jars of both PB and J for tomorrow as well. It´s a great way to eat while traveling because it travels well, it´s cheap, it´s somewhat nutritious, and is generally a crowd pleaser if you don´t have to have the crunchy vs. creamy debate or the strawberry vs. grape debate. For the record, both crunchy and creamy have their place in my metaphorical lunchbox; it just depends on what´s available between the two, what´s available to accompany it (apple, celery, cracker, etc.), or how I´m feeling at the time. In terms of jelly, it has to be strawberry preserves most of the time with rare exceptions when certain circumstances present themselves, but I won´t get into that now.
Steven and I headed back to the hostel to shower while Leanne and Austin went exploring for Peru souveneirs and Emily and Katy went on their typical hunt for something sweet. Steven and I met up in the dining area and commenced the ritual preparation of PB & J. We have it down to a science now. A light layer of PB on both pieces of bread with a coating of jelly in between to maintain the integrity of the wheat bread. Once you have a whole loaf ready, you stack the sandwiches back in the bag and you´re all set to go. Man, I´m going to miss this part of cheap travel.
After the group showered, five of us went to get our last Peruvian meal. Lomo saltado (asian inspired beef stew-like dish served over papas fritas and a side of rice) for Austin and me, and pollo a la plancha for Emily, Leanne, and Steven. We also got our Peruvian pisco sour in just in time. I prefer the Chilean variety because it´s a little more sour.
One of my favorite parts abour Peru is that you can eat great for pretty cheap. We all got Menu Ejecutivo which included a pisco sour, soup, an entree, and a beverage for S/. 15 (or S/. 18 for lomo saltado, but totally worth it!). That´s a little more than US $5.
Now we´re all back in the hostel and getting ready for bed. We have to wake up at 5:30am tomorrow to catch cabs to the bus station where we´ll embark for Taca, a small Peruvian town on the border of Chile where we´ll make the switch to a collectivo (cross between taxi and bus) and attempt to cross the border (cross your fingers that all goes well).
Day 6: Tuesday, September 15th at 5:45am to Tuesday, September 15th at 10:30pm
Spring Break: Part V
We still needed a day of recovery from Machu Picchu so we took it easy in Cusco on Monday strolling the streets and soaking up the local flavor, again. Cusco is a nice place. The center of the city is surrounded by little hills that are jam-packed with pueblos jutting out from the mountainside in every direction. The majority of the streets are cobblestones which make for a really quaint experience. Unfortunately it´s pretty touristy so it´s hard to feel like you´re getting to know the real Peru. My group is very cautious about the food and making sure we´re feeling well to take advantage of our vacation which restricts most local eateries from the list of lunch and dinner locales. Most of the restaurants offer a menu del dia which is a cheap two or three course meal that gives you a little local flavor like Peske de Quinoa, a variety of soups, lomo saltado, and aji de gallina.
We spent a good amount of time in San Blas, a bohemian section of Cusco right off of the Plaza de Armas. It was a nice place to stroll around and see some shops and local artist working on their crafts and explaining their exhibitions.
We wrapped up the day spending a little time observing the people in the plaza where we met a cute puppy named Nacho and saw a lamb frollicking around while it´s owner tried to wrangle it.
Around 6pm, we got our stuff from the hostel and organized our bags for our overnight bus ride from Cusco to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. We exited the hostel to find a huge procession blocking traffic and preventing us from hailing a cab. We trekked down the hill towards the bus station and finally were able to secure two tiny cabs for the six of us, our six suit cases, and six backpacks. It was a tight squeeze, but a short ride.
We arrived at an empty lot with no signs, no passengers, and no busses. We sat down, decided we´d approach the window and see if we were, in fact, in the right place. After standing in the Cargo line for five minutes, I asked the man in front of me where we needed to get our boarding passes. We had to exit the lot and go the the Cruz del Sur office around the corner. All went well and we got our passes, ate our assembly line PB & Js, checked our luggage, and boarded our bus. We were in the "first-class" of the bus. It was the first level, only nine seats and they were leather, wide, and insanely comfortable. After the excitement wore off, we all popped a dramamnie, ate the dry chicken sandwich, ham and cheese in a flaky pastry dough and slice of coffee cake, and went to bed. The ride was smooth for the most part. We were able to sleep uninterrupted except for speed-bumps and sharp turns through the mountains.
The most surprising thing about this bus was the security. In the US airport security is high, but Amtrak and other public transportation has very limited security. This bus had a metal detector and video footage of the passengers to know who was on and where they were sitting in case something happened. Since we´ve all heard horror stories of robberies on these overnight busses, these security checks helped us all sleep a little bit better.
Day 5: Sunday, September 13th, 8:15am to Sunday, September 13th, 9:30pm
We spent a good amount of time in San Blas, a bohemian section of Cusco right off of the Plaza de Armas. It was a nice place to stroll around and see some shops and local artist working on their crafts and explaining their exhibitions.
We wrapped up the day spending a little time observing the people in the plaza where we met a cute puppy named Nacho and saw a lamb frollicking around while it´s owner tried to wrangle it.
Around 6pm, we got our stuff from the hostel and organized our bags for our overnight bus ride from Cusco to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. We exited the hostel to find a huge procession blocking traffic and preventing us from hailing a cab. We trekked down the hill towards the bus station and finally were able to secure two tiny cabs for the six of us, our six suit cases, and six backpacks. It was a tight squeeze, but a short ride.
We arrived at an empty lot with no signs, no passengers, and no busses. We sat down, decided we´d approach the window and see if we were, in fact, in the right place. After standing in the Cargo line for five minutes, I asked the man in front of me where we needed to get our boarding passes. We had to exit the lot and go the the Cruz del Sur office around the corner. All went well and we got our passes, ate our assembly line PB & Js, checked our luggage, and boarded our bus. We were in the "first-class" of the bus. It was the first level, only nine seats and they were leather, wide, and insanely comfortable. After the excitement wore off, we all popped a dramamnie, ate the dry chicken sandwich, ham and cheese in a flaky pastry dough and slice of coffee cake, and went to bed. The ride was smooth for the most part. We were able to sleep uninterrupted except for speed-bumps and sharp turns through the mountains.
The most surprising thing about this bus was the security. In the US airport security is high, but Amtrak and other public transportation has very limited security. This bus had a metal detector and video footage of the passengers to know who was on and where they were sitting in case something happened. Since we´ve all heard horror stories of robberies on these overnight busses, these security checks helped us all sleep a little bit better.
Day 5: Sunday, September 13th, 8:15am to Sunday, September 13th, 9:30pm
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Spring Break Part I
This week marks the start of Spring Break for La Universidad de Chile. We had Spanish class on Monday because that is run through Universidad Catolica. Tuesday was the first class-free day. I went to the gym, washed up, went to do some errands downtown and then made a typical Chilean lunch with my friend Mariluz. It consisted on pan y pebre, arroz primavera, y ensalada chilena. Pan y pebre is bread with chilean salsa made from tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, aji pepper, cilantro, and salt. Arroz primavera is simply white rice with mixed vegetables. Ensalada chilena is tomatoes, onions, hard-boiled egg, cilantro, and salt (very similar ingredients to pebre, but it tastes pretty different because the flavors don´t mix as much).
After lunch I packed my stuff for my 10-day trip to Peru and the north of Chile, ate dinner, and went to bed. I got up at 3am on Wednesday to catch a cab that picked me up, then Leanne, then Katy. We were off to the Santiago airport in style. US 80s hits were playing in the cab and since Leanne and I were in the back seat, we got to see the music videos too!
The three of us met up with Austin, Emily, and Steven at check-in and the family vacation started. We ran into Anna, Aspen, and Tilly at the gate because we were all on the same flight. We knew they were on the flight, so it wasn´t as much of a surprise. We boarded the plane and we were in Lima before we knew it.
We checked out bags into lockers in Lima and headed out on adventures. I was elected to find a cab that would take us to downtown Lima. I knew it was socially acceptable to bargain in Peru, so I started immediately with the cab company. I didn´t get very far because this cab company was owned and operated by the airport, so it was a flat rate. We did, however, get a great cab driver that acted as a tour guide as we made our way from the airport just outside the city to the center. Lima is not the nicest city and there is a lot of wealth disparity. We drove through some very poor neighborhoods with dirt roads and an overall rundown appearance. Many people thought Chile was typical South America and that it wasn´t as modern as it is. Aside from a few cultural differences, the language, and the food, even the most comfortable westerner would feel relaxed and at home in Santiago in terms of what we consider to be necesities and luxuries as well.
We got out of the cab in Plaza de Armas, Lima and headed into La Catedral in which Francisco Pizzaro is buried. Next, we sat outside the government building to watch the changing of the guards. It was a little slow, so we headed to another cathedral (under the order of San Francisco de Asis) that is very well known for its catacombs. We saw thousands of bones from skeletons of people who were buried there. When historians were studying these tombs, they rearranged the bones into interesting formations. Most of the bones that were left were skulls and femurs because they are the heartiest bones in the body and take the longest to decompose. It was surprising to see the bones up close. I would think anything like that in the US would be encased in glass to prevent any human damage, but in Peru, there was one wooden handrail between you and the bones. It was kinda cool.
Next, our family of six split into two groups of three to head to San Isidro, a nice, residential part of Lima. We were using a map in the Fodor´s guide book that was completely insuffiecient. We arrived and were worried the other group that didn´t have a map would never be seen again. We all eventually met up at the entrance of the mud pyramid built by indigenous people that predate the Incas. There, we were able to see one of the most well-preserved mummies on earth. You could see her hair, eyes, and skin (with tattoo).
It was a greusome day between bones and mummies, so we decided to head to the beach. The walk through San Isidro was amazing. The weather was about 65 and breezy. It didn´t really look like a beach town because there were many apartment buildings instead of brightly colored houses like you would see in Valpo or even the Jersey Shore. Before actually making it to the Pacific, we stopped at a Starbucks for a bathroom break. Yes, all Starbucks are almost exactly identical. That´s the point, and as a business philosophy, it´s extremely interesting to me.
We arrived at the coast and started heading further south to a town called Miraflores that is known for its nightlife. It was a lot farther than we expected and after walking for an hour, we decided to split into two groups of three again and get dropped off at the park. Again, we got out of our cabs and didn´t see the other three anywhere. By chance, we were able to meet up again and took in the magnificence that is Miraflores together. The park is gorgeous and we had a good time sitting, chatting, and people watching before getting back into a cab and heading back to the airport.
We got our belongings out of the lockers, staked a claim on a table in the food area and waited 6 hours until 4am when we could check in. Needless to say, it wasn´t the best night sleep we ever got, but we sure could have used it after only sleeping four hours the night before and then wandering around an unfamiliar city for the day. We got on our plane to Cusco at 530am on Thursday and I was asleep before take-off. Such a shame because that´s one of my favorite parts of flying. I woke up just in time for beverage service and weird-tasting muffin, and then went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, we were taxiing to the gate. I missed landing, another one of my favorite parts of flying.
We got out of the airport in Cusco, hopped in a cab to our hostel and immediately went to sleep. I consider that to be day 1 (Wednesday, September 9th at 3am to Thursday, September 10th at approximately 9am).
Bargains from haggling:
Lunch in Lima
Cab to San Isidro
Cab to Miraflores
Cab back to the airport
After lunch I packed my stuff for my 10-day trip to Peru and the north of Chile, ate dinner, and went to bed. I got up at 3am on Wednesday to catch a cab that picked me up, then Leanne, then Katy. We were off to the Santiago airport in style. US 80s hits were playing in the cab and since Leanne and I were in the back seat, we got to see the music videos too!
The three of us met up with Austin, Emily, and Steven at check-in and the family vacation started. We ran into Anna, Aspen, and Tilly at the gate because we were all on the same flight. We knew they were on the flight, so it wasn´t as much of a surprise. We boarded the plane and we were in Lima before we knew it.
We checked out bags into lockers in Lima and headed out on adventures. I was elected to find a cab that would take us to downtown Lima. I knew it was socially acceptable to bargain in Peru, so I started immediately with the cab company. I didn´t get very far because this cab company was owned and operated by the airport, so it was a flat rate. We did, however, get a great cab driver that acted as a tour guide as we made our way from the airport just outside the city to the center. Lima is not the nicest city and there is a lot of wealth disparity. We drove through some very poor neighborhoods with dirt roads and an overall rundown appearance. Many people thought Chile was typical South America and that it wasn´t as modern as it is. Aside from a few cultural differences, the language, and the food, even the most comfortable westerner would feel relaxed and at home in Santiago in terms of what we consider to be necesities and luxuries as well.
We got out of the cab in Plaza de Armas, Lima and headed into La Catedral in which Francisco Pizzaro is buried. Next, we sat outside the government building to watch the changing of the guards. It was a little slow, so we headed to another cathedral (under the order of San Francisco de Asis) that is very well known for its catacombs. We saw thousands of bones from skeletons of people who were buried there. When historians were studying these tombs, they rearranged the bones into interesting formations. Most of the bones that were left were skulls and femurs because they are the heartiest bones in the body and take the longest to decompose. It was surprising to see the bones up close. I would think anything like that in the US would be encased in glass to prevent any human damage, but in Peru, there was one wooden handrail between you and the bones. It was kinda cool.
Next, our family of six split into two groups of three to head to San Isidro, a nice, residential part of Lima. We were using a map in the Fodor´s guide book that was completely insuffiecient. We arrived and were worried the other group that didn´t have a map would never be seen again. We all eventually met up at the entrance of the mud pyramid built by indigenous people that predate the Incas. There, we were able to see one of the most well-preserved mummies on earth. You could see her hair, eyes, and skin (with tattoo).
It was a greusome day between bones and mummies, so we decided to head to the beach. The walk through San Isidro was amazing. The weather was about 65 and breezy. It didn´t really look like a beach town because there were many apartment buildings instead of brightly colored houses like you would see in Valpo or even the Jersey Shore. Before actually making it to the Pacific, we stopped at a Starbucks for a bathroom break. Yes, all Starbucks are almost exactly identical. That´s the point, and as a business philosophy, it´s extremely interesting to me.
We arrived at the coast and started heading further south to a town called Miraflores that is known for its nightlife. It was a lot farther than we expected and after walking for an hour, we decided to split into two groups of three again and get dropped off at the park. Again, we got out of our cabs and didn´t see the other three anywhere. By chance, we were able to meet up again and took in the magnificence that is Miraflores together. The park is gorgeous and we had a good time sitting, chatting, and people watching before getting back into a cab and heading back to the airport.
We got our belongings out of the lockers, staked a claim on a table in the food area and waited 6 hours until 4am when we could check in. Needless to say, it wasn´t the best night sleep we ever got, but we sure could have used it after only sleeping four hours the night before and then wandering around an unfamiliar city for the day. We got on our plane to Cusco at 530am on Thursday and I was asleep before take-off. Such a shame because that´s one of my favorite parts of flying. I woke up just in time for beverage service and weird-tasting muffin, and then went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, we were taxiing to the gate. I missed landing, another one of my favorite parts of flying.
We got out of the airport in Cusco, hopped in a cab to our hostel and immediately went to sleep. I consider that to be day 1 (Wednesday, September 9th at 3am to Thursday, September 10th at approximately 9am).
Bargains from haggling:
Lunch in Lima
Cab to San Isidro
Cab to Miraflores
Cab back to the airport
Spring Break: Part IV
We woke up at 3:20am to get in line for Machu buses so that we could be within the first 400 that entered and receive tickets to climb Waynapicchu. We got hungry in line so Steven and I went back up the hill to the hostel to beg for the complimentary breakfast that they start serving at 4:45am. Even though it was 25 minutes early, the girls there went out to buy bread and bananas for us. We were the heroes when we brought the bread, bananas, and left over jelly from PB and Js to the rest of our family at the bus stop.
It was a 25 minute ride up to Machu and then a 20 minute wait to enter the park. We got in around 6:30 and had an hour and a half to ourselves before we were to meet our tour guide our front. It was breathtaking seein the sun come over the mountains and slowly shed light over the Incan city. It was chilly in the morning, but as soon as the sun was high enough (around 7:15am) it was time to shed the layers and sport the t-shirt.
The tour was a great source of information. I think most of us would have been completely lost without it. We finished the tour around 10:05 am. At this point, we had been up for almost seven hours, but we had so much adrenaline going that we were still ready for more hiking. After a quick pause for more PB and Js that we made in assembly line format the night before, Steven, Katy, and I headed up Winapicchu while Austin, Emily, and Leanne peeled off to do their own thing.
Waynapicchu is a steep and precarious climb, but a lot of fun. It´s harder going down the climbing up because the stairs are really small and very steep. We survived it though, and it was completely worth it. It was supposed to be rainy, but it was about 70 and sunny. A bunch of us got burned, but again, well worth it.
We headed back to the hostel around 2:30pm, took a short rest, and then Steven, Leanne, and I headed up the hill in Aguas Calientes to the agua caliente (the hot springs). We realized it´s kinda the equivalent to the community pool and people are not shy. There was an old Peruvian woman in a white t-shirt who shouldn´t be entering any wet t-shirt contests anytime soon. We also saw a woman shaving her legs in the showers there. The highlights of the springs were the views and the one hot pool there. The views were absolutely magnificent. Seeing the Peruvian mountainside from the bank of a creek was an unforgetable experience. The best part of the springs themselves was the gravel at the bottom of the pools. You could dig little holes for your feet and feel the hot water bubble up.
After 45 minutes or so at the springs, we headed back to the hostel, changed, and went to an early dinner. Bedtime right after because we were all tired and Emily had sprained her ankle. The cold beer at dinner (Pilser (we had Cusqueño the night before)) was enough of a reward after a day of hiking that we didn´t feel the need for helado or discotecas.
Day 4: Saturday, September 12th at 3:20am to Saturday, September 12th at 9:30pm
It was a 25 minute ride up to Machu and then a 20 minute wait to enter the park. We got in around 6:30 and had an hour and a half to ourselves before we were to meet our tour guide our front. It was breathtaking seein the sun come over the mountains and slowly shed light over the Incan city. It was chilly in the morning, but as soon as the sun was high enough (around 7:15am) it was time to shed the layers and sport the t-shirt.The tour was a great source of information. I think most of us would have been completely lost without it. We finished the tour around 10:05 am. At this point, we had been up for almost seven hours, but we had so much adrenaline going that we were still ready for more hiking. After a quick pause for more PB and Js that we made in assembly line format the night before, Steven, Katy, and I headed up Winapicchu while Austin, Emily, and Leanne peeled off to do their own thing.
Waynapicchu is a steep and precarious climb, but a lot of fun. It´s harder going down the climbing up because the stairs are really small and very steep. We survived it though, and it was completely worth it. It was supposed to be rainy, but it was about 70 and sunny. A bunch of us got burned, but again, well worth it.
We headed back to the hostel around 2:30pm, took a short rest, and then Steven, Leanne, and I headed up the hill in Aguas Calientes to the agua caliente (the hot springs). We realized it´s kinda the equivalent to the community pool and people are not shy. There was an old Peruvian woman in a white t-shirt who shouldn´t be entering any wet t-shirt contests anytime soon. We also saw a woman shaving her legs in the showers there. The highlights of the springs were the views and the one hot pool there. The views were absolutely magnificent. Seeing the Peruvian mountainside from the bank of a creek was an unforgetable experience. The best part of the springs themselves was the gravel at the bottom of the pools. You could dig little holes for your feet and feel the hot water bubble up.
After 45 minutes or so at the springs, we headed back to the hostel, changed, and went to an early dinner. Bedtime right after because we were all tired and Emily had sprained her ankle. The cold beer at dinner (Pilser (we had Cusqueño the night before)) was enough of a reward after a day of hiking that we didn´t feel the need for helado or discotecas.
Day 4: Saturday, September 12th at 3:20am to Saturday, September 12th at 9:30pm
Spring Break: Part I
This week marks the start of Spring Break for La Universidad de Chile. We had Spanish class on Monday because that is run through Universidad Catolica. Tuesday was the first class-free day. I went to the gym, washed up, went to do some errands downtown and then made a typical Chilean lunch with my friend Mariluz. It consisted on pan y pebre, arroz primavera, y ensalada chilena. Pan y pebre is bread with chilean salsa made from tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, aji pepper, cilantro, and salt. Arroz primavera is simply white rice with mixed vegetables. Ensalada chilena is tomatoes, onions, hard-boiled egg, cilantro, and salt (very similar ingredients to pebre, but it tastes pretty different because the flavors don´t mix as much). After lunch I packed my stuff for my 10-day trip to Peru and the north of Chile, ate dinner, and went to bed. I got up at 3am on Wednesday to catch a cab that picked me up, then Leanne, then Katy. We were off to the Santiago airport in style. US 80s hits were playing in the cab and since Leanne and I were in the back seat, we got to see the music videos too! The three of us met up with Austin, Emily, and Steven at check-in and the family vacation started. We ran into Anna, Aspen, and Tilly at the gate because we were all on the same flight. We knew they were on the flight, so it wasn´t as much of a surprise. We boarded the plane and we were in Lima before we knew it. We checked out bags into lockers in Lima and headed out on adventures. I was elected to find a cab that would take us to downtown Lima. I knew it was socially acceptable to bargain in Peru, so I started immediately with the cab company. I didn´t get very far because this cab company was owned and operated by the airport, so it was a flat rate. We did, however, get a great cab driver that acted as a tour guide as we made our way from the airport just outside the city to the center. Lima is not the nicest city and there is a lot of wealth disparity. We drove through some very poor neighborhoods with dirt roads and an overall rundown appearance. Many people thought Chile was typical South America and that it wasn´t as modern as it is. Aside from a few cultural differences, the language, and the food, even the most comfortable westerner would feel relaxed and at home in Santiago in terms of what we consider to be necesities and luxuries as well. We got out of the cab in Plaza de Armas, Lima and headed into La Catedral in which Francisco Pizzaro is buried. Next, we sat outside the government building to watch the changing of the guards. It was a little slow, so we headed to another cathedral (under the order of San Francisco de Asis) that is very well known for its catacombs. We saw thousands of bones from skeletons of people who were buried there. When historians were studying these tombs, they rearranged the bones into interesting formations. Most of the bones that were left were skulls and femurs because they are the heartiest bones in the body and take the longest to decompose. It was surprising to see the bones up close. I would think anything like that in the US would be encased in glass to prevent any human damage, but in Peru, there was one wooden handrail between you and the bones. It was kinda cool. Next, our family of six split into two groups of three to head to San Isidro, a nice, residential part of Lima. We were using a map in the Fodor´s guide book that was completely insuffiecient. We arrived and were worried the other group that didn´t have a map would never be seen again. We all eventually met up at the entrance of the mud pyramid built by indigenous people that predate the Incas. There, we were able to see one of the most well-preserved mummies on earth. You could see her hair, eyes, and skin (with tattoo). It was a greusome day between bones and mummies, so we decided to head to the beach. The walk through San Isidro was amazing. The weather was about 65 and breezy. It didn´t really look like a beach town because there were many apartment buildings instead of brightly colored houses like you would see in Valpo or even the Jersey Shore. Before actually making it to the Pacific, we stopped at a Starbucks for a bathroom break. Yes, all Starbucks are almost exactly identical. That´s the point, and as a business philosophy, it´s extremely interesting to me. We arrived at the coast and started heading further south to a town called Miraflores that is known for its nightlife. It was a lot farther than we expected and after walking for an hour, we decided to split into two groups of three again and get dropped off at the park. Again, we got out of our cabs and didn´t see the other three anywhere. By chance, we were able to meet up again and took in the magnificence that is Miraflores together. The park is gorgeous and we had a good time sitting, chatting, and people watching before getting back into a cab and heading back to the airport. We got our belongings out of the lockers, staked a claim on a table in the food area and waited 6 hours until 4am when we could check in. Needless to say, it wasn´t the best night sleep we ever got, but we sure could have used it after only sleeping four hours the night before and then wandering around an unfamiliar city for the day. We got on our plane to Cusco at 530am on Thursday and I was asleep before take-off. Such a shame because that´s one of my favorite parts of flying. I woke up just in time for beverage service and weird-tasting muffin, and then went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, we were taxiing to the gate. I missed landing, another one of my favorite parts of flying. We got out of the airport in Cusco, hopped in a cab to our hostel and immediately went to sleep. I consider that to be day 1 (Wednesday, September 9th at 3am to Thursday, September 10th at approximately 9am). Bargains from haggling: Lunch in Lima Cab to San Isidro Cab to Miraflores Cab back to the airport
Spring Break Part III
We awoke in Cusco on Friday, September 11th around 8am, ate hostel breakfast, and then headed to the taxi station to make our way to Ollantaytabo where you get the train to Machu Picchu. We had a little trouble getting to the taxi station because we got a little lost in Cusco, but we made it there. In the end, it was a good thing we were running late because the cab drivers that were there knew they weren´t going to get many more people heading to Ollanta because there are only two trains a day that leave at exactly the same time everyday. I was able to haggle the fare down from US$60 to S/. 60 (Peruvian Soles) a difference of about US$40.
We got to Ollanta on time, but Austin didn´t have his boarding pass. He was able to get one at the ticket office without any major problems. Then I realized I was in a differen car on the train and there is no way to move between cars. The rest of the group had my lunch, and no one is going to get between me and my PB and J, so I sweet-talked the woman in charge to getting me into Car A. The family was together again!
The train ride from Ollanta to Machu Picchu is about an hour and a half and was my favorite part of the journey so far. It was a winding track through the mountains of Peru. I´ll upload photos, but they can´t do it justice.
When we got to Aguas Calientes, the little community in Machu Picchu, two representatives from our hostel were waiting for us with a sign with Leanne´s name on it. We hiked up the hill to the hostel, plopped our stuff down, and immediately headed out to get Machu tickets and bus passes. We then took advantage of the afternoon and wandered around Aguas Calientes where I was bargaining my ass off. It was a blast! I ran into the guys I was sitting next to on the train in the market and we chatted for a good long while. We parted ways when it was time to meet at the hostel for dinner. The group went out to dinner with Allie, Meera, and Becca, who were also staying in our hostel again that night. The waitress tried to overcharge us for the meals and slap us with a bogus care-of-tourist tax. I haggled both of those down and saved another US$25. (Fun times!)
It was early to bed that night because you have to get up at 3:30am to get in line for Machu busses in order to be one of the first 400 that get a chance to climb Winapicchu (the mountain in the background of all the famous Machu pictures).
Day three: Friday September 11th at 8am to Friday, September 11th at 10pm
We got to Ollanta on time, but Austin didn´t have his boarding pass. He was able to get one at the ticket office without any major problems. Then I realized I was in a differen car on the train and there is no way to move between cars. The rest of the group had my lunch, and no one is going to get between me and my PB and J, so I sweet-talked the woman in charge to getting me into Car A. The family was together again!
The train ride from Ollanta to Machu Picchu is about an hour and a half and was my favorite part of the journey so far. It was a winding track through the mountains of Peru. I´ll upload photos, but they can´t do it justice.
When we got to Aguas Calientes, the little community in Machu Picchu, two representatives from our hostel were waiting for us with a sign with Leanne´s name on it. We hiked up the hill to the hostel, plopped our stuff down, and immediately headed out to get Machu tickets and bus passes. We then took advantage of the afternoon and wandered around Aguas Calientes where I was bargaining my ass off. It was a blast! I ran into the guys I was sitting next to on the train in the market and we chatted for a good long while. We parted ways when it was time to meet at the hostel for dinner. The group went out to dinner with Allie, Meera, and Becca, who were also staying in our hostel again that night. The waitress tried to overcharge us for the meals and slap us with a bogus care-of-tourist tax. I haggled both of those down and saved another US$25. (Fun times!)It was early to bed that night because you have to get up at 3:30am to get in line for Machu busses in order to be one of the first 400 that get a chance to climb Winapicchu (the mountain in the background of all the famous Machu pictures).
Day three: Friday September 11th at 8am to Friday, September 11th at 10pm
Spring Break Part II
We were tired as hell and "slept the shit out of" Thursday. We woke up in our hostel in Cusco (on the Plaza de Armas!) at 4pm, and headed out to find a place to eat, use an ATM, and exchange some money. There was much indecision surrounding the dinner destination, but we finally decided on a place. (I´m usually really excited to talk about food, but in Peru, I´m staying clear of anything too "interesting" because I wouldn´t want to ruin my trip to the ruins with the runs.) After dinner we took a quick jaunt to the local supermarket where we stocked up on snacks and bought bread, peanut butter, and jelly to make sandwiches for Machu Picchu!
We trekked back to the hostel and were out by 10pm. (Day 2: Thursday, September 10th at 4pm to Thursday, Spetember 10th at 10pm).
We ran into Alli, Becca, and Meera at our hostel in Cusco, but again, we knew that we would.
We trekked back to the hostel and were out by 10pm. (Day 2: Thursday, September 10th at 4pm to Thursday, Spetember 10th at 10pm).We ran into Alli, Becca, and Meera at our hostel in Cusco, but again, we knew that we would.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Why is blogging so hard?
Again, I have fallen behind on my blogging responsibilities. No excuses, but let's just say that there hasn't been much to say.
Chances are that if you are reading this: 1. You are really bored 2. You enjoy torturing yourself and 3. You are friends with me on Facebook. My Facebook fotos are a pain-free way to see what kinds of things are going on here, in Santiago. For example, the Tufts group went to Valparaíso last Saturday. Six of us decided to spend the night in an awesome hostel, take advantage of the nightlife there.
J. Cruz is the alleged birthplace of the Chilean chorillana and it's located in an alley in Valpo. Being the comilones that we are, we had to go. It was a great fun for us, but not so much for our arteries.
Chorillana:
Fries, fried onions, fried eggs, steak bits
After staying up until 5am on Saturday night clubbing at Huevo, a club with 3 levels and a terrace, we crashed. Our hostel was really comfortable and a nice place to stay. I think it makes the top 5 list of our whole trip.
On Sunday we hopped on a bus to the sand dunes in Reñaca, about a 20 minute ride from Valpo. We hung out, had an enormous photo shoot and then headed back to Santiago. That wraps up last weekend.
This week was pretty normal. I did go to the theater with my host mom on Wednesday. We saw "Las novias de Travolta." It had nothing to do with John Travolta, and I still don't know why they called it that. They probably just wanted to attract some attention. It was pretty good. It was a comedy, so I thought I wasn't going to be able to understand a lot of it, but it wasn't that bad at all. I guess the acting was great because I understood most things. The whole play was basically "Sex and the City" on stage with a lot more comedy.
Oh, I almost forgot. My internship has been a fiasco. I was trying to find something in the business world down here in Santiago because I think I might want to do something with international business. I thought living here for 6 months would be a great way to get a taste of working abroad. The people who help us find internships have zero contacts in the business world here. After searching for 6 weeks, I finally found a great internship opportunity at Deloitte and Touche teaching English and working on youth leadership programs. I have been told that I have the internship, but who knows when I'll actually start. This internship is for credit, so I need to get on that ASAP.
Hope you're doing well,
Dan
P.S. If you would like a postcard, please send me your address.
Chances are that if you are reading this: 1. You are really bored 2. You enjoy torturing yourself and 3. You are friends with me on Facebook. My Facebook fotos are a pain-free way to see what kinds of things are going on here, in Santiago. For example, the Tufts group went to Valparaíso last Saturday. Six of us decided to spend the night in an awesome hostel, take advantage of the nightlife there.
J. Cruz is the alleged birthplace of the Chilean chorillana and it's located in an alley in Valpo. Being the comilones that we are, we had to go. It was a great fun for us, but not so much for our arteries.
Chorillana:
Fries, fried onions, fried eggs, steak bits
After staying up until 5am on Saturday night clubbing at Huevo, a club with 3 levels and a terrace, we crashed. Our hostel was really comfortable and a nice place to stay. I think it makes the top 5 list of our whole trip.
On Sunday we hopped on a bus to the sand dunes in Reñaca, about a 20 minute ride from Valpo. We hung out, had an enormous photo shoot and then headed back to Santiago. That wraps up last weekend.
This week was pretty normal. I did go to the theater with my host mom on Wednesday. We saw "Las novias de Travolta." It had nothing to do with John Travolta, and I still don't know why they called it that. They probably just wanted to attract some attention. It was pretty good. It was a comedy, so I thought I wasn't going to be able to understand a lot of it, but it wasn't that bad at all. I guess the acting was great because I understood most things. The whole play was basically "Sex and the City" on stage with a lot more comedy.
Oh, I almost forgot. My internship has been a fiasco. I was trying to find something in the business world down here in Santiago because I think I might want to do something with international business. I thought living here for 6 months would be a great way to get a taste of working abroad. The people who help us find internships have zero contacts in the business world here. After searching for 6 weeks, I finally found a great internship opportunity at Deloitte and Touche teaching English and working on youth leadership programs. I have been told that I have the internship, but who knows when I'll actually start. This internship is for credit, so I need to get on that ASAP.
Hope you're doing well,
Dan
P.S. If you would like a postcard, please send me your address.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Falling Behind
So it has happened again. I have fallen behind on my blogging duties and I apologize.
Not a whole lot has been going on, so there isn't really a whole lot to talk about. Today a group of 8 of us went on a tour of some museums in Santiago. We started out having a lecture on the history of Chilean art in Spanish.
If you read any of the blog post from orientation, I probably complained about charlas, or long-ass lectures that put us all to sleep. This lecture was in the same room, but wasn't half bad. If you are reading this, you probably know that art isn't really my thing, so if the most prominent Chilean economist could put me to sleep, than an art history professor certainly could, but didn't!
After the lecture the 8 students, Soledad, the program assistant, and the lecturer headed out onto a bus and off the the museums. We started with the Museo Colonial which, as expected, is full of colonial art from Chile. Basically a lot of European influence on religious themes. The best part of the museum was the architecture and the courtyard.
There were some cool things there, but nothing that really caught my eye.
Next on the list was Museo de Bellas Artes.
This is a really nice building with a couple of sculptures and paintings. Not much to say since I'm not an artist, but it was worth hearing it's relationship with Chile. It doesn't get a much funding from the government at all, which is odd since it's a pretty big attraction. It's the same as if the Air and Space museum didn't get funding. Not cool. The tour guide told us that when it rains, the roof leaks. I'm no art major, but I don't think that's good for the paintings.
The next stop was lunch. We were walking through the theater district and passed by a café with a salad bar. I didn't let the group pass that one up so we slapped 4 tables together and ate ourselves a meal. The salad bar was amazing! Yeah, some vegetables had mayo on them, but hey, it's Chile, and if there is a salad bar, that's incredible. So what if it comes with a little mayo. I also tried ceviche for the first time today.
The flavor was great, the texture was terrible. I ate most of it, but couldn't finish it. Dessert was chocolate mousse. Now that, I could finish!
The next and last stop on the tour was the Museo de Artes Visuales (MAVI). Again, not much to say, but art students get in free, so that was a plus.
Checkout Facebook for the full album.
Not a whole lot has been going on, so there isn't really a whole lot to talk about. Today a group of 8 of us went on a tour of some museums in Santiago. We started out having a lecture on the history of Chilean art in Spanish.
If you read any of the blog post from orientation, I probably complained about charlas, or long-ass lectures that put us all to sleep. This lecture was in the same room, but wasn't half bad. If you are reading this, you probably know that art isn't really my thing, so if the most prominent Chilean economist could put me to sleep, than an art history professor certainly could, but didn't!
After the lecture the 8 students, Soledad, the program assistant, and the lecturer headed out onto a bus and off the the museums. We started with the Museo Colonial which, as expected, is full of colonial art from Chile. Basically a lot of European influence on religious themes. The best part of the museum was the architecture and the courtyard.
There were some cool things there, but nothing that really caught my eye.Next on the list was Museo de Bellas Artes.
This is a really nice building with a couple of sculptures and paintings. Not much to say since I'm not an artist, but it was worth hearing it's relationship with Chile. It doesn't get a much funding from the government at all, which is odd since it's a pretty big attraction. It's the same as if the Air and Space museum didn't get funding. Not cool. The tour guide told us that when it rains, the roof leaks. I'm no art major, but I don't think that's good for the paintings.The next stop was lunch. We were walking through the theater district and passed by a café with a salad bar. I didn't let the group pass that one up so we slapped 4 tables together and ate ourselves a meal. The salad bar was amazing! Yeah, some vegetables had mayo on them, but hey, it's Chile, and if there is a salad bar, that's incredible. So what if it comes with a little mayo. I also tried ceviche for the first time today.
The flavor was great, the texture was terrible. I ate most of it, but couldn't finish it. Dessert was chocolate mousse. Now that, I could finish!The next and last stop on the tour was the Museo de Artes Visuales (MAVI). Again, not much to say, but art students get in free, so that was a plus.
Checkout Facebook for the full album.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Chilean Happenings
After skiing on Friday, everyone was pretty tired. We all dragged ourselves home and ate, showered, and rested like there was no tomorrow. Not exactly sure how you can rest like there is no tomorrow, but we did!
Nine o-clock rolled around and I was bored of resting like there was no tomorrow. Aaron's host brother's friend was having a small gathering in his apartment in Providencia (right near the border with Las Condes). It was close and a great chance to hang out with Chileans, so I convinced Kamillah and Aspen to come along and the three of went with Aaron and met Katrina at the apartment building.
We ended up drinking some piscolas and having a blast. We also played the Chilean version of Kings. Before I knew it, it was 2 o-clock. Everyone decided to head out to a club, but I was too tired and headed home. It turned out to be a good decision because the cover charge for the club was outrageous and most of the people changed their minds when they got there.
Last night was another chance to hang out with Chileans. Emily and her host brother hosted a wine and snack party. I bought 2 liters of cheap red wine that came in a plastic bottle as well as two bags of potato chips (corte americano, of course!). We were drinking pisco sours, wine, and piscolas, and listening to some great tunes while chatting with Emily's host brother and his friend. The low-key gathering later turned into a nice little dance party. The night ended around 2am, I would say.
No hice algo demasiado interesante este fin de semana, pero fui a la nieve para esquiar y aprendí que no lo odio tan como yo pensaba. Aunque no hice algo muy interesante, me divertí mucho. Normalmente, prefiero estar con amigos y tomar algo mientras escucho música. Entonces, lo que hice este fin de semana era perfecto para mi. Creo que el grupo va a Valparaíso el próximo fin de semana. Creo que alugnos de nosotros vamos a qudarnos en un hostel allá para disfrutar de esa ambiente.
Stay tuned,
Dan
P.S. Romy Oltuski is amazingly hott!
Nine o-clock rolled around and I was bored of resting like there was no tomorrow. Aaron's host brother's friend was having a small gathering in his apartment in Providencia (right near the border with Las Condes). It was close and a great chance to hang out with Chileans, so I convinced Kamillah and Aspen to come along and the three of went with Aaron and met Katrina at the apartment building.
We ended up drinking some piscolas and having a blast. We also played the Chilean version of Kings. Before I knew it, it was 2 o-clock. Everyone decided to head out to a club, but I was too tired and headed home. It turned out to be a good decision because the cover charge for the club was outrageous and most of the people changed their minds when they got there.
Last night was another chance to hang out with Chileans. Emily and her host brother hosted a wine and snack party. I bought 2 liters of cheap red wine that came in a plastic bottle as well as two bags of potato chips (corte americano, of course!). We were drinking pisco sours, wine, and piscolas, and listening to some great tunes while chatting with Emily's host brother and his friend. The low-key gathering later turned into a nice little dance party. The night ended around 2am, I would say.
No hice algo demasiado interesante este fin de semana, pero fui a la nieve para esquiar y aprendí que no lo odio tan como yo pensaba. Aunque no hice algo muy interesante, me divertí mucho. Normalmente, prefiero estar con amigos y tomar algo mientras escucho música. Entonces, lo que hice este fin de semana era perfecto para mi. Creo que el grupo va a Valparaíso el próximo fin de semana. Creo que alugnos de nosotros vamos a qudarnos en un hostel allá para disfrutar de esa ambiente.
Stay tuned,
Dan
P.S. Romy Oltuski is amazingly hott!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Dicho
The sound of ping pong balls is the same worldwide.
El sonido de las pelotas de ping pong es igual por todo el mundo.
El sonido de las pelotas de ping pong es igual por todo el mundo.
Seriously Not Serious All The Time
Ubicar - to locate
That verb has come up a lot since I arrived in Santiago. I finally decided/remembered to look it up. Sharing some knowledge is always a good thing, right?
Anyway, yesterday was Friday. Most of us, if not all of us, don't have any classes on Fridays so we have some group trips planned. We went skiing in the Andes yesterday. It was a blast. I can only remember one other time I have been skiing. I didn't like it at all. I wasn't going to even sign up for this trip, but everyone else in the group did, so I succumbed to peer pressure and actually ended up enjoying myself. See, sometimes peer pressure is a great thing. How else am I going to know what to like unless society tells me? A lot of people like to ski and would kill to have the chance to ski in the Andes, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity.
We had a quick lesson before I hit the bunny slope. I was nervous because I didn't expect to have any sort of success. All of my attempts to make light of my inadequacies with bad jokes fell flat. Our instructor was English, so it wasn't a language barrier thing, the jokes were just really bad. But a lot of you would have expected that.
I didn't fall at all during the lesson and had a pretty successful first run. I went down the bunny slope and had a blast. Trying to get back up the T-bar lift for the second time proved difficult. I got half way up and then lost my grip and fell. I tried to ski back down and try again, but I skied right into a snow bank and got stuck. It was hilarious. When Alli posts the pictures on Facebook, I'll add one here. I finally got un-stuck and made my way back to the ski lift to try again. I fell after about 30 seconds of holding on. It was embarassing. I finally got back up the hill and went down again. I'm not a skier, but I no longer hide in the corner when someone mutters the phrase "ski trip."
In an effort to not take myself as seriously as I used to, I bought a ridiculously obnoxious, 80s, one-piece ski-suit from a thrift store for less than $4 US.
That one was for Ben Jay, Jeremy Guterl, and Ian Hainline. Thanks guys. You better appreciate the sacrifices I made to dawn this thing in public in a foreign country.
That verb has come up a lot since I arrived in Santiago. I finally decided/remembered to look it up. Sharing some knowledge is always a good thing, right?
Anyway, yesterday was Friday. Most of us, if not all of us, don't have any classes on Fridays so we have some group trips planned. We went skiing in the Andes yesterday. It was a blast. I can only remember one other time I have been skiing. I didn't like it at all. I wasn't going to even sign up for this trip, but everyone else in the group did, so I succumbed to peer pressure and actually ended up enjoying myself. See, sometimes peer pressure is a great thing. How else am I going to know what to like unless society tells me? A lot of people like to ski and would kill to have the chance to ski in the Andes, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity.
We had a quick lesson before I hit the bunny slope. I was nervous because I didn't expect to have any sort of success. All of my attempts to make light of my inadequacies with bad jokes fell flat. Our instructor was English, so it wasn't a language barrier thing, the jokes were just really bad. But a lot of you would have expected that.
I didn't fall at all during the lesson and had a pretty successful first run. I went down the bunny slope and had a blast. Trying to get back up the T-bar lift for the second time proved difficult. I got half way up and then lost my grip and fell. I tried to ski back down and try again, but I skied right into a snow bank and got stuck. It was hilarious. When Alli posts the pictures on Facebook, I'll add one here. I finally got un-stuck and made my way back to the ski lift to try again. I fell after about 30 seconds of holding on. It was embarassing. I finally got back up the hill and went down again. I'm not a skier, but I no longer hide in the corner when someone mutters the phrase "ski trip."
In an effort to not take myself as seriously as I used to, I bought a ridiculously obnoxious, 80s, one-piece ski-suit from a thrift store for less than $4 US.
That one was for Ben Jay, Jeremy Guterl, and Ian Hainline. Thanks guys. You better appreciate the sacrifices I made to dawn this thing in public in a foreign country.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Boston in Santiago
So today was a rainy day. It reminded me a lot of Boston in the Spring. It's frigid and there is water everywhere. You cannot escape it, so all that's left to do is accept it. You are going to be wet, you are going to be cold, and the only thing you are going to want to do is go home, but, alas, you are going to have a busy schedule and water isn't about to get in the way of that.
I had an interview for an internship this morning. I woke up early and got dressed. I learned that my idea of proper interview attire doesn't really jive with the workplaces of the organizations I'm interviewing at. Yesterday I was way over dressed for my interview at Fondo Esperanza wearing a collared shirt, a sweater, khakis, and shoes. Today I dressed down with a collared shirt and jeans. The people at Kairos, today, didn't dress any differently than the average college student. Some were more professional than others, but there didn't appear to be a dress code of any sort. I'm not complaining, just observing. It would be nice to work in a place without a dress code especially when the Summer comes around in late October and there is no air conditioning.
In order to get to the interview this morning, I had to walk to Cristóbal Colón, a metro station on the blue line, take that one stop to Tobalaba on the red line, and stay on that for about 25 or 30 minutes until I reached San Alberto Hurtado. Lucky for me, I ran into Leanne at Colón and we traveled together until she had to switch to the green line at Baquedano. It was really nice running into a familiar face when I wasn't expecting it, especially since I knew I had a long trip ahead of me. Once I got to San Alberto Hurtado, I met up with Christy who was also going to the same interview. We hopped into a "collectivo" which is a cab that goes longer distances at fixed rates. It's not private, so two other people jumped in and were dropped off at their respective destinations. The streets in the town where the interview was, Renca, were completely flooded. This is another example of socioeconomic disparities in Santiago. The wealthy neighborhoods have streets with drainage systems whereas the poorer communities have nothing. It was an interesting sight. A normal rain looks like a flood in Renca. We ended up waiting about an hour and fifteen minutes before someone actually interviewed us. We were explicitly told to be on time, but because of the rain, we were 3 minutes late. When we arrived, we were told that the woman would be there shortly and we could have a seat. Half an our later, we were told that she would be another hour. It wasn't fun waiting, but we wandered around, got some bread a cheese to snack on. It was really good, or most probably, I was really tired and hungry...
After getting back to the city, I went to a meeting where I was trained how to be a TA for an English class. I think it will be a lot of fun working with Chileans my age and being the TA instead of a student in awe of the TA's speaking skills. Hopefully there will be more to come from that story.
Hasta mañana,
Dan
I had an interview for an internship this morning. I woke up early and got dressed. I learned that my idea of proper interview attire doesn't really jive with the workplaces of the organizations I'm interviewing at. Yesterday I was way over dressed for my interview at Fondo Esperanza wearing a collared shirt, a sweater, khakis, and shoes. Today I dressed down with a collared shirt and jeans. The people at Kairos, today, didn't dress any differently than the average college student. Some were more professional than others, but there didn't appear to be a dress code of any sort. I'm not complaining, just observing. It would be nice to work in a place without a dress code especially when the Summer comes around in late October and there is no air conditioning.
In order to get to the interview this morning, I had to walk to Cristóbal Colón, a metro station on the blue line, take that one stop to Tobalaba on the red line, and stay on that for about 25 or 30 minutes until I reached San Alberto Hurtado. Lucky for me, I ran into Leanne at Colón and we traveled together until she had to switch to the green line at Baquedano. It was really nice running into a familiar face when I wasn't expecting it, especially since I knew I had a long trip ahead of me. Once I got to San Alberto Hurtado, I met up with Christy who was also going to the same interview. We hopped into a "collectivo" which is a cab that goes longer distances at fixed rates. It's not private, so two other people jumped in and were dropped off at their respective destinations. The streets in the town where the interview was, Renca, were completely flooded. This is another example of socioeconomic disparities in Santiago. The wealthy neighborhoods have streets with drainage systems whereas the poorer communities have nothing. It was an interesting sight. A normal rain looks like a flood in Renca. We ended up waiting about an hour and fifteen minutes before someone actually interviewed us. We were explicitly told to be on time, but because of the rain, we were 3 minutes late. When we arrived, we were told that the woman would be there shortly and we could have a seat. Half an our later, we were told that she would be another hour. It wasn't fun waiting, but we wandered around, got some bread a cheese to snack on. It was really good, or most probably, I was really tired and hungry...
After getting back to the city, I went to a meeting where I was trained how to be a TA for an English class. I think it will be a lot of fun working with Chileans my age and being the TA instead of a student in awe of the TA's speaking skills. Hopefully there will be more to come from that story.
Hasta mañana,
Dan
Monday, August 17, 2009
Keepin' up with the Jones'
Just trying to get in the habit of posting everyday or as frequently as possible. This blog should be a great thing to come back and read in a year or 2, or 5, or 10, when I have a boring desk job and need to waste time on the internet and Facebook is blocked, still. Hopefully I wont be on Facebook that much then.
ANYWHO:
So after my disjointed, sleep-deprived post, I went to Bellavista, a neighborhood in Santiago known for it's Happy Hour and after-hours scenes. A group of us gringos just hung out there in the afternoon, and it was a nice place to walk around. As Americans, we stick out. Every place we passed sent whoever could speak English to try to get us to sit down and have a drink.
Sundays are slow here in Santiago. Nothing much really happens around the city on Sundays. It's a little eerie.
Life inside the home is still good. I'm watching Entourage with Spanish subtitles with my younger host brother, Pierre. It's fun because I've never had a brother, and now whenever we're home with nothing to do, we watch an episode or two of Entourage.
This morning I had an interview with a microfinance organization in Chile. It's located in a not-so-nice part of Santiago, but it sounds like I can be a lot of help to them this semester. I have another interview tomorrow, so we'll see which organization I pick in the end.
Till next time,
Dan
ANYWHO:
So after my disjointed, sleep-deprived post, I went to Bellavista, a neighborhood in Santiago known for it's Happy Hour and after-hours scenes. A group of us gringos just hung out there in the afternoon, and it was a nice place to walk around. As Americans, we stick out. Every place we passed sent whoever could speak English to try to get us to sit down and have a drink.
Sundays are slow here in Santiago. Nothing much really happens around the city on Sundays. It's a little eerie.
Life inside the home is still good. I'm watching Entourage with Spanish subtitles with my younger host brother, Pierre. It's fun because I've never had a brother, and now whenever we're home with nothing to do, we watch an episode or two of Entourage.
This morning I had an interview with a microfinance organization in Chile. It's located in a not-so-nice part of Santiago, but it sounds like I can be a lot of help to them this semester. I have another interview tomorrow, so we'll see which organization I pick in the end.
Till next time,
Dan
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Firsts
Last night was my first trip to a Karaoke Bar. It was quite entertaining. Chileans singing Spanish and English songs will always be a good time.
I am now on Chilean time. I went out last night at 11 and didn't come back home until 4:17. I ended up going to bed at 5 and waking up at 9:30 to accompany my host brothers to a Warhammer tournament. It's a strategy game. It wasn't my kinda thing, but any chance to bond with the family is worth it.
I haven't been extremely pleased with my Spanish lately. Sometimes I think I am improving and others I think I'm losing my skills. I have tried to tell myself that I am going to have a whole day without any English. It works up until a certain point, but it always gets ruined. Usually the gym ruins it because all of the cardio equipment that I use is English. The directions and the software are in English. If it's not the gym, it's the music that I hear throughout the day, or Facebook, or something else. I think it's an interesting observation that in Santiago, it's really hard for one to escape the English language. Then I started to think how often I hear at least a little Spanish in the US, and it's at least 5 days a week between music, television, the internet, and chatting with friends.
Sorry this entry is really disjointed, but I'm running on 4.5 hours of sleep. That means there will be no Spanish in this entry. My English isn't really that great right now.
I want to thank Lucía "accent on the 'i'" Flores because last night at the karaoke bar, I heard at least 4 songs in Spanish that she gave me. I felt prepared for that experience. Thank you, gorgeous.
Later,
Dan
I am now on Chilean time. I went out last night at 11 and didn't come back home until 4:17. I ended up going to bed at 5 and waking up at 9:30 to accompany my host brothers to a Warhammer tournament. It's a strategy game. It wasn't my kinda thing, but any chance to bond with the family is worth it.
I haven't been extremely pleased with my Spanish lately. Sometimes I think I am improving and others I think I'm losing my skills. I have tried to tell myself that I am going to have a whole day without any English. It works up until a certain point, but it always gets ruined. Usually the gym ruins it because all of the cardio equipment that I use is English. The directions and the software are in English. If it's not the gym, it's the music that I hear throughout the day, or Facebook, or something else. I think it's an interesting observation that in Santiago, it's really hard for one to escape the English language. Then I started to think how often I hear at least a little Spanish in the US, and it's at least 5 days a week between music, television, the internet, and chatting with friends.
Sorry this entry is really disjointed, but I'm running on 4.5 hours of sleep. That means there will be no Spanish in this entry. My English isn't really that great right now.
I want to thank Lucía "accent on the 'i'" Flores because last night at the karaoke bar, I heard at least 4 songs in Spanish that she gave me. I felt prepared for that experience. Thank you, gorgeous.
Later,
Dan
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Hurones
Last night I went to La Piojera with a bunch of friends from the Tufts program. It was a little bit of a trek. I met up with Katy at Cristóbal Colón metro station and we took the blue line to Tobalaba where we switched to the red line and took that all the way to Los Héroes, where we switched to the yellow line. I walked up the steps and Katy wasn't far behind on the escalator, so I turned around to make sure she was able to get on the train, but didn't see her. I was looking all around, and finally looked right in front of me. I saw her staring back at me on the other side of the closing doors of the train. That's what I get for trying to make sure we stayed together. I pushed and shoved my way onto the next train and we met up again at Cali y Canto, where La Piojera is located.
La Piojera is the oldest bar in Santiago and is famous for its Terremotos. (Sorry, there was no English entry for the drink.)
For the Spanish impaired:
"Terremoto" means earthquake. Chile happens to be known for its earthquakes. This drink is a mix of cheap wine, cheap liquor and pineapple ice cream. There is a bitter version and a sweet version. The liquor you add to the wine and ice cream is the difference between the two. The bitter one is overwhelmingly more popular, more traditional, so the bartenders make about 20 at a time and the line is out the door. You have to order the sweet one, but they are way to busy to take orders at the bar, so that will have to wait until next time, and there will be a next time.
La Piojera es un hoyo en el muro pero cuando se entra, tienes que caminar por un pasillo para llegar al bar. Al cada lado del pasillo hay salas donde hay mucha gente. Hay mesas con taburetes donde se sienten personas, pero la mayoría de los patrones están a pie porque el bar en lleno de gente. Sólo hay una gran puerta y un pasillo que se puede ver de afuera, pero lo que quiero decir es que cuando se entra, el ambiente no es parecido a lo que se imagina. Cada Terremoto vale 1.600 pesos o casí $3.00 (US). Las personas más grandes sólo requiere tres de estas bebidas para estar bien borrachas y por eso, es un bien oferta. A mi me gustan los terremotos, pero creo que no les gustan a todos. Sin embargo, todos que vienen a visitar Santiago de Chile tienen que probar esta bebida. La Piojera y el Terremoto son dos partes fundamentales de la experiencia de la cultura chilena, como la cazuela y la empanada, creo yo.
That was last night. I got home early, around 130, and then went to bed a little later. I woke up to a knock on the door, but it was one of those times where I wasn't sure what had happened until about 10 seconds later. Still in my bed, under the warm covers, I reached my arm out and grabbed the door knob to turn it to see if, in fact, someone had knocked. It was my older host brother, Matias. He was coming to see if I wanted to help him out with the ferrets he had imported. He imports animals from time to time and sells them in Chile as a side business. Yes, my host brother is an importer. We drove out to the countryside, about 45 minutes from Santiago, to his granparents house where the ferrets were. It has been a really disgusting, rainy day, so the transportation of 21 ferrets wasn't the most pleasant, but I got to spend time with my host brother, and that was a lot of fun.
I have been trying really hard to immerse myself in the social scenes here so I have a chance to improve my Spanish, listening and speaking. I was able to have a small conversation about politics with my older brother, and that made me really happy. It was a little frustrating becuase it was early and my Spanish is rarely ever acceptable before 10am.
On a similar note, my Chilean great aunt turned 93 this week. My host mother had a tea party for her. When I arrived home on Wednesday, there were 10 women chatting away in the living room. My host mom summoned me into the living room to chat with them. They spoke very quickly, but were extremely nice. It was a chance to improve listening comprehension, that's how I look at it.
More to come,
Dan
La Piojera is the oldest bar in Santiago and is famous for its Terremotos. (Sorry, there was no English entry for the drink.)
For the Spanish impaired:
"Terremoto" means earthquake. Chile happens to be known for its earthquakes. This drink is a mix of cheap wine, cheap liquor and pineapple ice cream. There is a bitter version and a sweet version. The liquor you add to the wine and ice cream is the difference between the two. The bitter one is overwhelmingly more popular, more traditional, so the bartenders make about 20 at a time and the line is out the door. You have to order the sweet one, but they are way to busy to take orders at the bar, so that will have to wait until next time, and there will be a next time.
La Piojera es un hoyo en el muro pero cuando se entra, tienes que caminar por un pasillo para llegar al bar. Al cada lado del pasillo hay salas donde hay mucha gente. Hay mesas con taburetes donde se sienten personas, pero la mayoría de los patrones están a pie porque el bar en lleno de gente. Sólo hay una gran puerta y un pasillo que se puede ver de afuera, pero lo que quiero decir es que cuando se entra, el ambiente no es parecido a lo que se imagina. Cada Terremoto vale 1.600 pesos o casí $3.00 (US). Las personas más grandes sólo requiere tres de estas bebidas para estar bien borrachas y por eso, es un bien oferta. A mi me gustan los terremotos, pero creo que no les gustan a todos. Sin embargo, todos que vienen a visitar Santiago de Chile tienen que probar esta bebida. La Piojera y el Terremoto son dos partes fundamentales de la experiencia de la cultura chilena, como la cazuela y la empanada, creo yo.
That was last night. I got home early, around 130, and then went to bed a little later. I woke up to a knock on the door, but it was one of those times where I wasn't sure what had happened until about 10 seconds later. Still in my bed, under the warm covers, I reached my arm out and grabbed the door knob to turn it to see if, in fact, someone had knocked. It was my older host brother, Matias. He was coming to see if I wanted to help him out with the ferrets he had imported. He imports animals from time to time and sells them in Chile as a side business. Yes, my host brother is an importer. We drove out to the countryside, about 45 minutes from Santiago, to his granparents house where the ferrets were. It has been a really disgusting, rainy day, so the transportation of 21 ferrets wasn't the most pleasant, but I got to spend time with my host brother, and that was a lot of fun.
I have been trying really hard to immerse myself in the social scenes here so I have a chance to improve my Spanish, listening and speaking. I was able to have a small conversation about politics with my older brother, and that made me really happy. It was a little frustrating becuase it was early and my Spanish is rarely ever acceptable before 10am.
On a similar note, my Chilean great aunt turned 93 this week. My host mother had a tea party for her. When I arrived home on Wednesday, there were 10 women chatting away in the living room. My host mom summoned me into the living room to chat with them. They spoke very quickly, but were extremely nice. It was a chance to improve listening comprehension, that's how I look at it.
More to come,
Dan
Friday, August 14, 2009
Hoy
Today, I woke up to my cell phone alarm at 900. I was still tired and didn't want to get out of bed. Heat is not common in Santiago at all, and the houses are usually colder than outside. Getting out of bed in the morning is especially hard here. I ended up sleeping in until 920 and then darting out the door in order to get to the gym. I signed up for a month-long gym membership at a place called Pacific Fitness. It's about a 20 minute walk from my house. It may sound like a trek, but I figured if I'm going to work out, the walk can count as a warm-up and cool-down and it's a good way to get to know the neighborhood.
So I signed up for my membership for a month and they gave me a free fitness consultation. I was excited, and a little apprehensive, but I went with it. Study abroad is all about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing new things, so why did the gym have to be anything different? To give you a time frame, I signed up on Monday, worked out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and had my fitness consultation today, Friday. I met with a trainer and he sat me in a room, basically poked and prodded for 10 minutes and then told me I needed his expertise to achieve my fitness goals. That was nice. I decided to start with the fact that I don't have the money to pay for a personal trainer. His rebuttal was that he could train me and I could pay him later. This exchange went on for about 15 minutes. It was not fun. In the end, I finally convinced him that I didn't have the money for personal training while abroad, and it just wasn't going to happen. He wasn't too pleased either.
This experience is really the icing on the cake when I look back on the gym as a whole. It is located in the basement of an office building. It has a small pool, a large room for Spinning, a small cardio room with 18 machines, each one within 1 inch of the next, and a small weight room. The manager sits at the tiny desk at the entrance and the personal trainers hang around him. It's a weird place to say the least. No windows, no clocks, and American music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s playing. I would use my iPod, but I broke my headphones three weeks into this experience and the music is too loud anyway.
I get home from the gym and finally meet my host aunt who lives a block down the road. She was visiting my host mom because she fractured her arm yesterday. I end up going to lunch at my host aunt's house, meeting her daughter and her Nana. I ate fettuccine with a cream sauce, carrots, cheese, and tuna. It wasn't all that bad. We also had a really delicious salad of avocado and lettuce dressed with lemon juice. It was really delicious. For dessert, and there is almost always dessert, I had a typical Chilean dessert. I believe it was called Postre de Compote. I would add a picture here, but I was at someone's house and didn't have my camera.
Compote is a potato-like vegetable that is usually served roasted as a side with chicken, duck, or turkey. It's also used in desserts. The dessert I had was basically a yellow compote jelly underneath merengue. It was very sweet, had an interesting texture, but was homemade by the Nana who has worked there for more than 14 years. It was made with love. Wasn't my favorite thing, but it was a chilean experience. After all, that's what I'm here for.
I must say, the one meal I ate at that house was better than at least half of the one's I've eaten at my host house. That Nana can cook. Hopefully I'll be seeing more of them soon.
My host aunt is really nice. We chatted over lunch about various things. Nothing too deep. She was really interested in understanding what Pennsylvania is known for. In Chile, many areas are segregated by the industry that they are part of. The north is known for copper, the middle for agriculture and business in Santiago, and the south for lumber, and fishing. I don't necessarily thing the U.S. operates in the same way. We have Idaho potatoes, Omaha steaks, Georgia peaches, and whatever else, but I don't see the U.S. as segregated by industry. I ended up telling her that there are a lot of pharmaceutical companies in the area, but that was about it in terms of specialization. I don't think she was satisfied with that answer. She's a really nice woman and hopefully I'll have more to say about her in the future. She also has the most amazing Golden Retriever. I love dogs...
Chau,
Dan
Yo sé que no escribí en español esta vez ni la última. Cuando yo empiece a escribir más frecuentamente, voy a usar el español más.
So I signed up for my membership for a month and they gave me a free fitness consultation. I was excited, and a little apprehensive, but I went with it. Study abroad is all about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing new things, so why did the gym have to be anything different? To give you a time frame, I signed up on Monday, worked out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and had my fitness consultation today, Friday. I met with a trainer and he sat me in a room, basically poked and prodded for 10 minutes and then told me I needed his expertise to achieve my fitness goals. That was nice. I decided to start with the fact that I don't have the money to pay for a personal trainer. His rebuttal was that he could train me and I could pay him later. This exchange went on for about 15 minutes. It was not fun. In the end, I finally convinced him that I didn't have the money for personal training while abroad, and it just wasn't going to happen. He wasn't too pleased either.
This experience is really the icing on the cake when I look back on the gym as a whole. It is located in the basement of an office building. It has a small pool, a large room for Spinning, a small cardio room with 18 machines, each one within 1 inch of the next, and a small weight room. The manager sits at the tiny desk at the entrance and the personal trainers hang around him. It's a weird place to say the least. No windows, no clocks, and American music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s playing. I would use my iPod, but I broke my headphones three weeks into this experience and the music is too loud anyway.
I get home from the gym and finally meet my host aunt who lives a block down the road. She was visiting my host mom because she fractured her arm yesterday. I end up going to lunch at my host aunt's house, meeting her daughter and her Nana. I ate fettuccine with a cream sauce, carrots, cheese, and tuna. It wasn't all that bad. We also had a really delicious salad of avocado and lettuce dressed with lemon juice. It was really delicious. For dessert, and there is almost always dessert, I had a typical Chilean dessert. I believe it was called Postre de Compote. I would add a picture here, but I was at someone's house and didn't have my camera.
Compote is a potato-like vegetable that is usually served roasted as a side with chicken, duck, or turkey. It's also used in desserts. The dessert I had was basically a yellow compote jelly underneath merengue. It was very sweet, had an interesting texture, but was homemade by the Nana who has worked there for more than 14 years. It was made with love. Wasn't my favorite thing, but it was a chilean experience. After all, that's what I'm here for.
I must say, the one meal I ate at that house was better than at least half of the one's I've eaten at my host house. That Nana can cook. Hopefully I'll be seeing more of them soon.
My host aunt is really nice. We chatted over lunch about various things. Nothing too deep. She was really interested in understanding what Pennsylvania is known for. In Chile, many areas are segregated by the industry that they are part of. The north is known for copper, the middle for agriculture and business in Santiago, and the south for lumber, and fishing. I don't necessarily thing the U.S. operates in the same way. We have Idaho potatoes, Omaha steaks, Georgia peaches, and whatever else, but I don't see the U.S. as segregated by industry. I ended up telling her that there are a lot of pharmaceutical companies in the area, but that was about it in terms of specialization. I don't think she was satisfied with that answer. She's a really nice woman and hopefully I'll have more to say about her in the future. She also has the most amazing Golden Retriever. I love dogs...
Chau,
Dan
Yo sé que no escribí en español esta vez ni la última. Cuando yo empiece a escribir más frecuentamente, voy a usar el español más.
Sorry, Adriana Flores
I know I haven't blogged in a really long time. My schedule is starting to become concrete and I'll hopefully have more time to relive the triumphs and troubles of study abroad as I post them about the inter-web. The title for this entry alludes to the only person that I know that reads this thing. This one's for you, Adriana.
So. Classes started about three weeks ago. I signed up for a ton of them but only ended up attending Ceramics, Metal-working, Business Management, and Spanish. I quickly realized that metal-working was more interesting than ceramics, so I chose metal-working over ceramics to fulfill my arts requirement at Tufts. I stuck with Business Management until the first exam. It was an essay test and I couldn't handle it. I dropped that too. As of this moment, I am taking Spanish 121 equivalent, Metal-working, and doing an internship. This leaves a lot of open time for transportation, writing postcards, exercising, meeting Chileans, doing Chilean things, speaking spanish, and, of course, blogging. In addition to the IR-99 credit, the internship, I want to teach English to students here. Hopefully it will be at the college level so I can meet some more Chileans my age, but it might also be in a high school, or even younger. Since my speaking abilities are not much better than a 6 year old's, maybe I should just walk over to the elementary school on the corner and offer my services...
Aside from classes, there isn't too much going on, but I'll ramble on and we'll see what comes out. Yesterday, after class, I went out for drinks and dinner with 5 people from the Tufts program and our new friend, Mariluz, whom we met in class. We went to a "Mexican" restaurant in Plaza Ñuñoa. I ordered a Grolsh (a beer), Katy ordered a berry daquiri, Leanne ordered a Coca-Cola Light (pobrecita está resfriada), and the others ordered Pisco Sours. The Chilean ordered after me. Had I known she was going to order a Pisco Sour, I would have too. When in Chile...
I got home last night to find my host mother laying in bed with a fractured arm. She slipped and fell at the pool yesterday. I've been helping her around the house today since she doesn't want to move around to much for the first 5 days as the bone attempts to heal.
Tonight, I have plans to go out to the oldest bar in Santiago and get a Terremoto, "earthquake." It's a signature drink made with Pisco (a grape brandy, I believe), ice cream, and wine. I'm going with a bunch of kids from the Tufts program and Mariluz. It should be a great time. It's also Katrina's birthday. Hopefully that means we'll get into some decent trouble or whatever.
On to homeworks and other things until next time (hopefully tomorrow). Thanks for checking in.
Best,
Dan
P.S. If an English name appears, it means that person is part of the Tufts program with me, unless otherwise specified.
P.P.S. If you would like a postcard, please send me your address via Facebook.
P.P.P.S. If you read this blog and want a shout-out, like Adriana, let me know. If I know people read this, I might put a little more effort into it.
So. Classes started about three weeks ago. I signed up for a ton of them but only ended up attending Ceramics, Metal-working, Business Management, and Spanish. I quickly realized that metal-working was more interesting than ceramics, so I chose metal-working over ceramics to fulfill my arts requirement at Tufts. I stuck with Business Management until the first exam. It was an essay test and I couldn't handle it. I dropped that too. As of this moment, I am taking Spanish 121 equivalent, Metal-working, and doing an internship. This leaves a lot of open time for transportation, writing postcards, exercising, meeting Chileans, doing Chilean things, speaking spanish, and, of course, blogging. In addition to the IR-99 credit, the internship, I want to teach English to students here. Hopefully it will be at the college level so I can meet some more Chileans my age, but it might also be in a high school, or even younger. Since my speaking abilities are not much better than a 6 year old's, maybe I should just walk over to the elementary school on the corner and offer my services...
Aside from classes, there isn't too much going on, but I'll ramble on and we'll see what comes out. Yesterday, after class, I went out for drinks and dinner with 5 people from the Tufts program and our new friend, Mariluz, whom we met in class. We went to a "Mexican" restaurant in Plaza Ñuñoa. I ordered a Grolsh (a beer), Katy ordered a berry daquiri, Leanne ordered a Coca-Cola Light (pobrecita está resfriada), and the others ordered Pisco Sours. The Chilean ordered after me. Had I known she was going to order a Pisco Sour, I would have too. When in Chile...
I got home last night to find my host mother laying in bed with a fractured arm. She slipped and fell at the pool yesterday. I've been helping her around the house today since she doesn't want to move around to much for the first 5 days as the bone attempts to heal.
Tonight, I have plans to go out to the oldest bar in Santiago and get a Terremoto, "earthquake." It's a signature drink made with Pisco (a grape brandy, I believe), ice cream, and wine. I'm going with a bunch of kids from the Tufts program and Mariluz. It should be a great time. It's also Katrina's birthday. Hopefully that means we'll get into some decent trouble or whatever.
On to homeworks and other things until next time (hopefully tomorrow). Thanks for checking in.
Best,
Dan
P.S. If an English name appears, it means that person is part of the Tufts program with me, unless otherwise specified.
P.P.S. If you would like a postcard, please send me your address via Facebook.
P.P.P.S. If you read this blog and want a shout-out, like Adriana, let me know. If I know people read this, I might put a little more effort into it.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Blogging is Hard.
Believe it or not, I try to keep my entries short. I'm too lazy to keep up with this blog everyday, so when I do sit down and decide to take the time to process everything that has happened recently, stuff just starts to spew out. Since this is a blog, I don't feel the need to censor myself in the least. If you are reading this, your time is no more valuable than mine, sorry.
For those of you who don't know, I love food. I like shopping for food, preparing food, cooking food, and of course, eating way to much of it. This entry is just a quick summary of food and things related to it.
Monday:
Kiwi's and Nescafé instant coffee (To give you an idea, Chile RUNS ON Nescafé.)
Fish-stick-like patties, couscous, stewed veggies
Cazuela de vacuno
Tuesday:
Fresh-baked, French-style bread with homemade jelly of the plum and fig varieties and Nescafé
(My host grandmother owns a farm and grows a bunch of produce that my host mom uses to make jams, preserves, and canned fruit. YUM.)
I went to the supermarket, bough some yogurt and raisins for lunch. Nothing spectacular, but delicious. The yogurt I bought came with granola and dried fruit already in it. It was interesting. Not the best, but still good.
My host mother came home from a conference on Tuesday from the south of Chile and brought back fresh salmon for dinner accompanied by boiled potatoes and "salad" (just lettuce).
Tuesday dinner was actually quite interesting. There were 6 of us sitting around the table, my host mom, me, my host cousin, two students from last semester and one of their brothers. My host mom is certified to teach French. My host cousin is French. One of the two students from last semester is from Paris and the other and his brother went to school in France for many years. Picture this... I haven't taken a Spanish class in over a year. I decide to study abroad in Santiago, Chile and do a homestay to make sure I get maximum exposure to the language and culture. The first dinner where there are more than two people sitting and eating is defined by the French conversation between everyone except me. It was weird to say the least. I just didn't expect to be hearing so much French while studying abroad in Chile.
Wednesday:
Corn flakes and Nescafé
Cazuela
White fish from antarctica with rice made with cocoa. The rice was really interesting. I have never seen nor heard of rice made this way, but it has a very pleasant flavor to it. It has just a tinge of sweetness which complements the lemon juice sauce of the fish so nicely.
Thursday:
Cornflakes and Nescafé
Salmon, boiled potatoes, shredded cabbage, and a potato casserole of sorts. It was layers of potato filled with sour cream. It was delicious!
Flank steak and pasta with a white wine and alfredo sauce and shredded cabbage on the side
I'm thinking empanadas tomorrow!
For those of you who don't know, I love food. I like shopping for food, preparing food, cooking food, and of course, eating way to much of it. This entry is just a quick summary of food and things related to it.
Monday:
Kiwi's and Nescafé instant coffee (To give you an idea, Chile RUNS ON Nescafé.)
Fish-stick-like patties, couscous, stewed veggies
Cazuela de vacuno
Tuesday:
Fresh-baked, French-style bread with homemade jelly of the plum and fig varieties and Nescafé
(My host grandmother owns a farm and grows a bunch of produce that my host mom uses to make jams, preserves, and canned fruit. YUM.)
I went to the supermarket, bough some yogurt and raisins for lunch. Nothing spectacular, but delicious. The yogurt I bought came with granola and dried fruit already in it. It was interesting. Not the best, but still good.
My host mother came home from a conference on Tuesday from the south of Chile and brought back fresh salmon for dinner accompanied by boiled potatoes and "salad" (just lettuce).
Tuesday dinner was actually quite interesting. There were 6 of us sitting around the table, my host mom, me, my host cousin, two students from last semester and one of their brothers. My host mom is certified to teach French. My host cousin is French. One of the two students from last semester is from Paris and the other and his brother went to school in France for many years. Picture this... I haven't taken a Spanish class in over a year. I decide to study abroad in Santiago, Chile and do a homestay to make sure I get maximum exposure to the language and culture. The first dinner where there are more than two people sitting and eating is defined by the French conversation between everyone except me. It was weird to say the least. I just didn't expect to be hearing so much French while studying abroad in Chile.
Wednesday:
Corn flakes and Nescafé
Cazuela
White fish from antarctica with rice made with cocoa. The rice was really interesting. I have never seen nor heard of rice made this way, but it has a very pleasant flavor to it. It has just a tinge of sweetness which complements the lemon juice sauce of the fish so nicely.
Thursday:
Cornflakes and Nescafé
Salmon, boiled potatoes, shredded cabbage, and a potato casserole of sorts. It was layers of potato filled with sour cream. It was delicious!
Flank steak and pasta with a white wine and alfredo sauce and shredded cabbage on the side
I'm thinking empanadas tomorrow!
Classes: Day 1 (U. Chile Style)
Classes started this week at the Univeristy of Chile, Santiago. I was mentally preparing for lectures in Spanish, problems with public transportation and directions, and meeting new people. Luckily for me, I only had class one day this week.
Let me explain...
I have heard that Chileans are always late. They just aren't used to sticking to schedules like us (east-coast) Americans. When a Chilean says "Nos vemos a las 9," the actually mean "Saldré de mi casa a las 9 y nos vemos a las 9:30 o cuarto para las 10." That being said, I was also told that this stereotype/cultural difference doesn't apply to things that are schedule, like classes, and business meetings. This week, I found that to be simple false. Thanks, Peter Winn.
Classes officially started Monday, July 27. I should have known that something was up when the Tufts program had an orientation and campus tour planned on Monday morning when we should have been free to go to classes. I ended up spending Monday on the Juan Gomez Millas Campus of U. Chile, confusing the heck out of myself with the locations of each facultad adn so on. I returned home to a meal of cazuela. Allow me to paint you a picture... Cazuela is served in a large bowl. It consists of a whole, peeled potato, a large hunk of squash, and some cut of meat submerged in a delicious chicken broth with pieces of rice and corn swimming around in it. Most Chileans I've seen eat the broth with the rice and corn first with a spoon, and then attack the vegetables and meat with a fork and knife. This is one of the ultimate comfort foods in my book. Since it's winter here and every edifice is freezing inside, it's nice to have your meat and potatoes soaking in hot chiken broth instead of getting cold on a plain, white plate.
In the end, Monday was fine.
Tuesday arrives. We have a meeting with our program director and our advisor from U. Chile. All goes pretty well except for the fact that I was not prepared for this meeting at all. Somewhere along the line, I forgot that I needed to submit a list of potential classes to the director so I was starting from scratch at this meeting. After the meeting, I began a wild goose chase that is Chilean beaurocracy in order to sign-up for a class in the Facultad de Economía y Negocios. Even though it's part of U. Chile, it has it's own registration system and everything. I had to get a pass, go to a building, see a woman who sent me to another building where I saw a different woman who finally was able to get something accomplished. All this effort for a class that I'll probably end up dropping since EVERYONE says econ classes here are tough. (I'll come back to this under "Thursday.")
Wednesday is the first day I don't have anything on my schedule except class. I was pumped to head out because my first class was the econ one that I had to jump through several hoops in order to sign up. I get to the classroom and find out that class was cancelled for the day, but only 15 minutes after class was supposed to have started. Que Chilean. After this class, I spent some time translating my résumé into Spanish in hopes of getting a nice internship this semester. After struggling with that for a while, I met up with Alli, Becca, and Javiera (Becca's host sister) to go shopping for some school supplies for Orfebrería (metal working). Comimos algun pescado de antarctica para la cena con arroz con cocoa.
Thursday, today, was my first real day of classes. I went to the econ class where the TA spoke a mile a minute about things I didn't understand. After the class I was talking to some chileans and they said his speech was terrible before they knew that I had trouble understanding, which made me feel a little bit better, but still, it's going to be a rough semester in this class. I also met an American, Bobby, who is studying here. He's a really nice guy, friendly and such. We comiserated about things and went our separate ways. Maybe he knows some good places to carretear? The class ended ten minutes early. I gathered my notebook and my self-esteem, packed them up and headed for the door. I spent the next hour trying to get to Juan Gomez Millas (the U. Chile campus in Ñuñoa). I didn't get lost, it's just far. I get to the Orfebrería (metal working) class an hour late and talk to the professor. She couldn't have been any nicer. After discussing my class conflict (The econ class ends half an hour after this one begins), she allowed me to sign up for the class and have my own schedule since the econ class wants to be the center of attention these days. My friends Becca and Alli also went to this class. The were there on time and left 45 minutes after class was supposed to have started. No one showed up. When I arrived an hour late, there were 6 Chileans there and the professor was amongst them, professing, or doing whatever it is that art teachers do...(?).
Let me explain...
I have heard that Chileans are always late. They just aren't used to sticking to schedules like us (east-coast) Americans. When a Chilean says "Nos vemos a las 9," the actually mean "Saldré de mi casa a las 9 y nos vemos a las 9:30 o cuarto para las 10." That being said, I was also told that this stereotype/cultural difference doesn't apply to things that are schedule, like classes, and business meetings. This week, I found that to be simple false. Thanks, Peter Winn.
Classes officially started Monday, July 27. I should have known that something was up when the Tufts program had an orientation and campus tour planned on Monday morning when we should have been free to go to classes. I ended up spending Monday on the Juan Gomez Millas Campus of U. Chile, confusing the heck out of myself with the locations of each facultad adn so on. I returned home to a meal of cazuela. Allow me to paint you a picture... Cazuela is served in a large bowl. It consists of a whole, peeled potato, a large hunk of squash, and some cut of meat submerged in a delicious chicken broth with pieces of rice and corn swimming around in it. Most Chileans I've seen eat the broth with the rice and corn first with a spoon, and then attack the vegetables and meat with a fork and knife. This is one of the ultimate comfort foods in my book. Since it's winter here and every edifice is freezing inside, it's nice to have your meat and potatoes soaking in hot chiken broth instead of getting cold on a plain, white plate.
In the end, Monday was fine.
Tuesday arrives. We have a meeting with our program director and our advisor from U. Chile. All goes pretty well except for the fact that I was not prepared for this meeting at all. Somewhere along the line, I forgot that I needed to submit a list of potential classes to the director so I was starting from scratch at this meeting. After the meeting, I began a wild goose chase that is Chilean beaurocracy in order to sign-up for a class in the Facultad de Economía y Negocios. Even though it's part of U. Chile, it has it's own registration system and everything. I had to get a pass, go to a building, see a woman who sent me to another building where I saw a different woman who finally was able to get something accomplished. All this effort for a class that I'll probably end up dropping since EVERYONE says econ classes here are tough. (I'll come back to this under "Thursday.")
Wednesday is the first day I don't have anything on my schedule except class. I was pumped to head out because my first class was the econ one that I had to jump through several hoops in order to sign up. I get to the classroom and find out that class was cancelled for the day, but only 15 minutes after class was supposed to have started. Que Chilean. After this class, I spent some time translating my résumé into Spanish in hopes of getting a nice internship this semester. After struggling with that for a while, I met up with Alli, Becca, and Javiera (Becca's host sister) to go shopping for some school supplies for Orfebrería (metal working). Comimos algun pescado de antarctica para la cena con arroz con cocoa.
Thursday, today, was my first real day of classes. I went to the econ class where the TA spoke a mile a minute about things I didn't understand. After the class I was talking to some chileans and they said his speech was terrible before they knew that I had trouble understanding, which made me feel a little bit better, but still, it's going to be a rough semester in this class. I also met an American, Bobby, who is studying here. He's a really nice guy, friendly and such. We comiserated about things and went our separate ways. Maybe he knows some good places to carretear? The class ended ten minutes early. I gathered my notebook and my self-esteem, packed them up and headed for the door. I spent the next hour trying to get to Juan Gomez Millas (the U. Chile campus in Ñuñoa). I didn't get lost, it's just far. I get to the Orfebrería (metal working) class an hour late and talk to the professor. She couldn't have been any nicer. After discussing my class conflict (The econ class ends half an hour after this one begins), she allowed me to sign up for the class and have my own schedule since the econ class wants to be the center of attention these days. My friends Becca and Alli also went to this class. The were there on time and left 45 minutes after class was supposed to have started. No one showed up. When I arrived an hour late, there were 6 Chileans there and the professor was amongst them, professing, or doing whatever it is that art teachers do...(?).
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