Hey again! So this weekend we went to La Serena and it was awesome! It´s this city in Northern Chile and we visited an observatory so we could see the stars in the southern sky. It´s so weird to look up and not see the North Star! We saw the constellation for Pisces and the Southern Cross and I took a really sweet close up picture of the moon through the telescope.
The next day was a free day, so me and four of my friends got on a bus and travelled another two hours to Jorge National Park to hike. It was really awesome, although not at all what I had expected- the trail wasn´t well defined that we walked on, we pretty much just made our own way up this really tall mountain. Although we were in the Andes, it´s desert where we were, so it was really hot and arid. The hike was four miles of really steep terrain, but it was totally worth it by the end because the view was amazing! Along the way, we met this dude who had lived in the mountains alone for 40 years and raised goats. It was so hard to understand his spanish, because it was like "country spanish", but we took some awesome pictures with his pet goats. He looked really awesome too because he only had five teeth. His stories were amazing too- he told us about how he killed dogs that came near him, and about some american man who had gone hiking without a map and died.
After our eventful trip, we went back to La Serena where we all went into one of the boys´ rooms and just drank and hung out all night. It was awesome because we bought beer, wine, and Pisco- all of which are dirt cheap in the area. Needless to say, the bus ride the next day wasn´t so great :\.
That´s all for now!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Beginning of Chile
I've now been in Chile about a week and half and it's been great!
The first three days we were in Santiago, so we got to explore the "city life" of Chile. We ate at some awesome restaurants, but very few were actually Chilean. One day we went to this place that had Vegetarian/ African food and it was muy deliciosa. I got raspberry juice to drink and that was pretty awesome too.
At night, me, two girls from Georgetown, Claire and Shannon, and a guy named George all went to this local pub to eat and I got my first taste of Chilean wine (good and cheap). Then these older guys at the table beside us came over and talked to us and ended up driving us to this discoteque kinda far away. It was really different than the clubs in the states- more like European, but we had a good time. There was a glass dance floor and these crazy lights. The guys bought us all tequila shots and it was pretty cool.
After Santiago, we went to Viña del Mar (my home!) and I got to meet my host family. They are so sweet! It's a dad, Juan Carlos, mom, Laura and a 22 year old boy, Martín. I was kinda hesitant about the brother at first because he looked like a sketchball, he turns out to be really cool. He knows tons of people in this area and loves to take me out- it's through him that me and my friends have met most of the people we hang out with. The dad isn´t home much because he owns a hotel and manages an airline in some obscure island called Robinson Crusoe Island, but the mom is an "ama de casa" (housewife) so she´s always home. She is an international chef and used to own her own restaurant, but now she suffices to create delicious meals for me! :)
There are so many cool places to go around here. My favorite is "carretear" (to go out), because all the discoteques around here are really good and not sketchy. The first night I got here we went to Cafe Journal (pronounced like "urinal") and stayed out until 5 in the morning. That´s the norm here, you pregame at 10, go out at 12 and stay out until 4 or 5. It was really rough at first, but now I´m more used to it.
Also, the popular alcohol here is called Pisco. Do not ever try it.. it is aweful.. but very cheap. The Chilenos told me it was sort-of a right of passage to get drunk off Pisco while you are here, but I´m over that hump, and so would rather stick to my more familiar Vodka and Rum.
When we´re not going out, there are a lot of other cool things to do. There is a clock at the entrance between Viña del Mar and Valparaíso that is made out of flowers, and the time is always exact. I definitely took a picture in front of it. Also, all the shops here are super cheap. So far I have bought some really cheap and cute boots, a hand-knitted hat with ear covers, a backless shirt with the name of a Chilean store on it, and this grey wrap thing. All for really cheap!
I guess the last thing to mention in this post is that the Micros are really scary. That is the bus system here, and everytime I ride it, I feel like I´m taking my life into my own hands. The drivers don´t ever completely stop to let you on, you just kinda have to jump, nor do they stop to let you off. And walking to your seat on it is an art- kinda like learning to surf. They also don´t slow down around turns.. basically.. they never slow down or stop unless it is absolutely necessary.
That´s all for now! I´ll write again later!
The first three days we were in Santiago, so we got to explore the "city life" of Chile. We ate at some awesome restaurants, but very few were actually Chilean. One day we went to this place that had Vegetarian/ African food and it was muy deliciosa. I got raspberry juice to drink and that was pretty awesome too.
At night, me, two girls from Georgetown, Claire and Shannon, and a guy named George all went to this local pub to eat and I got my first taste of Chilean wine (good and cheap). Then these older guys at the table beside us came over and talked to us and ended up driving us to this discoteque kinda far away. It was really different than the clubs in the states- more like European, but we had a good time. There was a glass dance floor and these crazy lights. The guys bought us all tequila shots and it was pretty cool.
After Santiago, we went to Viña del Mar (my home!) and I got to meet my host family. They are so sweet! It's a dad, Juan Carlos, mom, Laura and a 22 year old boy, Martín. I was kinda hesitant about the brother at first because he looked like a sketchball, he turns out to be really cool. He knows tons of people in this area and loves to take me out- it's through him that me and my friends have met most of the people we hang out with. The dad isn´t home much because he owns a hotel and manages an airline in some obscure island called Robinson Crusoe Island, but the mom is an "ama de casa" (housewife) so she´s always home. She is an international chef and used to own her own restaurant, but now she suffices to create delicious meals for me! :)
There are so many cool places to go around here. My favorite is "carretear" (to go out), because all the discoteques around here are really good and not sketchy. The first night I got here we went to Cafe Journal (pronounced like "urinal") and stayed out until 5 in the morning. That´s the norm here, you pregame at 10, go out at 12 and stay out until 4 or 5. It was really rough at first, but now I´m more used to it.
Also, the popular alcohol here is called Pisco. Do not ever try it.. it is aweful.. but very cheap. The Chilenos told me it was sort-of a right of passage to get drunk off Pisco while you are here, but I´m over that hump, and so would rather stick to my more familiar Vodka and Rum.
When we´re not going out, there are a lot of other cool things to do. There is a clock at the entrance between Viña del Mar and Valparaíso that is made out of flowers, and the time is always exact. I definitely took a picture in front of it. Also, all the shops here are super cheap. So far I have bought some really cheap and cute boots, a hand-knitted hat with ear covers, a backless shirt with the name of a Chilean store on it, and this grey wrap thing. All for really cheap!
I guess the last thing to mention in this post is that the Micros are really scary. That is the bus system here, and everytime I ride it, I feel like I´m taking my life into my own hands. The drivers don´t ever completely stop to let you on, you just kinda have to jump, nor do they stop to let you off. And walking to your seat on it is an art- kinda like learning to surf. They also don´t slow down around turns.. basically.. they never slow down or stop unless it is absolutely necessary.
That´s all for now! I´ll write again later!
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