Sad times

My group of American friends here, who I travel with and talk to often includes 4 girls and 2 guys. It´s kind of a support group since all of us are away from home and going through similar situations. Last week one of my friends got a call from home that a member of her family was killed in a car accident. It was devistating for her, and she rushed home to be with her family. Unfortunately her trip was cut short, but it has really made all of us think about how lucky we are, and also how you never know what could happen. While we are enjoying ourselves so much in Chile, we are away from our families. It can be easy to take for granted, but seeing her go through this tragedy has made me more appreciative of my family and I talk to them as often as possible. As we are here in Chie, send your prayers to her and her family and hopefully everthing will turn out ok!

Intercambio

For the first few months in Chile, I hung out with alot of other Americans. We did have a group of Chilean friends that we did things with occasionally, but it is harder than we expected to make close friends at the University. I signed up to be paired up with a Chilean student that wants to practice English, and that can help me with my Spanish. It is called an intercambio program that is mutually beneficial to both people involved. My partner´s name is Byron and he is studying English at the University. It has been so much fun meeting with him on a regular basis. We split the time conversing half in Spanish, and half in English. We are also there to offer homework help or anything else that we may need. Having someone from Chile that you really get to know and talk to often allows you to learn the language in a different way. They speak with a regional dialect and I have learned so much from this intercambio! (definitely things that aren´t taught in classes, like slang words and such).

I have also introduced my American friends to Byron´s Chilean friends and we have all been going out a lot lately. It has made my time here so much more enjoyable and I am learning so much more than I did at the beginning of my trip! We are all actually planning to take a trip one weekend to a town in Chile so we can all practice our language skills. I am really looking forward to the trip and am so glad I took the time to engage in this intercambio!

The University

With all of the travelling and fun stuff i´ve been writing about, i´m sure it´s hard to believe i´m taking classes...but I certainly am! I am taking an advanced spanish grammar course, and two MBA courses (masters level courses in Business). These MBA classes will help finish my degree in International Studies. The MBA program here is definitely different than the one at ECU. The program is small, with only about 20 students, who are given supreme treatment! The classes are four hours long so it´s a little hard to sit through, but I am learning a lot so it´s worth it! The classroom is different than any other at the university. It takes up the top floor of one of the buildings and is filled with big desks and leather chairs. When you arrive to class there is a waiter type man who offers you sparkling water or fresh fruit juice. There is also a break half way through the class where they serve sandwiches, tea and other things. If only all classes could be given such treatment!

Despite these luxuries, the classes are very difficult. I am only the second non-native to take an MBA class here so the professors aren´t used to it. The talk super fast, in business terms for 4 hours. It is alot for me to take in and I have to concentrate every second in order to not miss anything. I am also by far the youngest student, with most of them being in their mid 30´s. Also, istead of semester long classes, these classes are a month long, held 3 nights a week for 4 hours. Since most people are older and already have a career, the schedule is one that suits them. I just finished my first course and have my exam on Tuesday so i´ll need all the luck I can get! I´ll keep you posted on my classes and how things turn out!

Mendoza, Argentina

I haven´t been doing a very good job of keeping up with the blog, everything has been so hectic. I thought it was about time to catch everyone up on what i´ve been doing in Chile! A few weeks ago I went with a friend, Devon, to Mendoza, Argentina. It was supposed to be an 8 hour bus ride that took us through the Andes Mountains and across the border into Argentina. However, the border crossing was extremely busy the day we decided to travel and we were stuck there for almost 4 hours waiting. It turned an 8 hour trip into a 12 hour one, but turned out to be well worth it! When we finall got to Mendoza, we checked into our hostel and had dinner with some friends we met there. The economy in Argentina recenly crashed so everything is super cheap there, which we were excited about. Since the country is going through such hard times, I expected it to be another adventure, like we experienced in Peru. However, the city was beautiful, and the people there as well! It reminded me of a European city, with cafè lined streets and shops. Meat is one thing that Argentina is known for, so everyone we went to dinner with ordered a huge steak, probably the biggest i´ve ever seen, for about $6. Wine is also well known, and also inexpensive. Actually, our hostel served free wine every night. The hostel was one of the best, and cheapest I have ever stayed in. It is only about 2 years old and was started, and still run by a couple not much older than me. The guy is from England and he was travelling in South America, where he met his girlfriend in Mendoza. They were so funny and kind, and helped us out so much by reserving our day trips and giving us suggestions for restaurants etc.

Our first day in Mendoza we spent wandering around town, shopping and checking out the sites. There were so many things we wanted to do, but had to choose between them. I decided to go paragliding, but Devon is afraid of hights and decided to go rafting. So, the next day we split up and did our own activity. I never thought I would have the courage or opportunity to go paragliding, and was so excited! For those that don´t know, paragliding is where you are attached to a parachute (and in my case a trained professional). You run and jump of a huge cliff and glide through the air, slowly descending. The view was amazing! You could see the entire city of Mendoza, as well as the Andes. I took plenty of pictures from the air that are posted on my picture website. The rest of the trip was pretty relaxing, spent shopping and enjoying the city. One of the big plaza´s in the city was filled booths of people selling things. One of the booths was a man drawing characatures and he was so good, we decided we had to have one done! I told him about my paragliding experience and he drew me doing just that. It´s something to keep that will alway remind me of my experience! Mendoza was wonderful and it is definitely a place I would love to visit again!

Feliz Cumpleaños

I just celebrated my 25th birthday in Chile and had so much fun! Thanks to everyone who called, sent cards and packages...everything was wonderful! I had about 15 friends come to my house in Valparaìso, and everyone brought a dish to share for dinner. We ate and talked for awhile, then took the festivities to my room. There were several people from Chile and Nicaragua, as well as the United States, so we taught everyone how to play some of the party games we like to play in the states. We played beer pong and flip cup which everyone had so much fun doing! Then we went out to a club nearby and danced until the early hours. It was a birthday I will never forget...wish some of you could have been here to celebrate!

Peru - Cuzco and Machu Pichu

We were all very tired after San Pedro, but had a long bus ride into Peru to rest (or so we thought)! We spent a short time at the beach in Arica, the northern most town in Chile, from where we had to take a bus into Peru. Two girls from our group took a Taxi into Tanca, which is a town just over the border into Peru, to go to the bus station and find us bus tickets. Peru uses different bus companies so we had no idea which ones were reliable etc. They ended up getting us all tickets, and we took a taxi later that day into Peru in order to catch our bus. The bus station was our first glimpse of Peru, and it was kinda scary! It was full of indiginous people dressed in traditional Peruvian clothes, waiting on busses and selling things. When we got on the bus, we were the only people who looked even remotely like tourists. It was a double decker bus, where the people sat on top, but the driver was underneath in a separate area. We were told there was a button to push if we needed him for any reason. A little while into the overnight trip, which was supposed to be about 14 hours, several of us had to use the bathroom, but it was locked. We pushed the button for the driver over and over but he kept telling us to wait. It got pretty close to an emergency situation for a couple of us when we finally stopped 4 hours later! It was the middle of the night but we ran down the street to find a bathroom. In South America they charge to use public bathrooms, and when we finally got there we realized we didn`t have any peruvian money...ahhhh! Luckily a nice couple from the bus paid our way in. We were in a hurry, only to find that the bathroom was nothing more than a hold in the ground to neal over and aim! It smelled awful but we had no choice! Finally back on the bus and a little more comfortable, we went through several police check points. One lady sitting near us kept trying to give me her bag to hold and claim as mine when we were being checked...pretty scary! Of course I refused. The police came on the bus and several people were taken off for having too much money of a different currency, or illegal posessions. Our first glimpses of Peru were not very good!

After almost 23 hours on the bus, we finally arrived in Cuzco. We were all glad to get off the bus and get to our hostel to clean up and relax. The hostel was nice and full of young travellers. They provided a laundry service which we were really excited about because we all packed lightly and had worn just about everything. Our first day in Cuzco, we explored the town and went to some indiginous markets where you barter to buy really cool hand made things. We also planned our trip to Machu Pichu becuase we heard the trains there filled up fast.

The next day we left our laundry at the front desk. A lady comes daily to pick it up, wash it, and bring it back that night. When we came back in that night, we were told that the laundry lady put all of the clothes into the taxi to take home and the taxi driver drove off with everything! We had lost what little clothes we had with us! Things just didn`t seem to be going our way! Of course I had more clothes stolen than anyone, but there was nothing the laundry lady, who was poor, or the hostel could do about our missing clothes! Also, Cuzco is at a very high altitude, close to 12,000 feet, so once again I was affected by this. I woke up in the night and each morning with horrible headaches. Luckily I brought migraine medicine along and was able to enjoy our time there!

The next day we woke up before the sun came up and took a train to Machu Pichu, the Incan Ruins. It was about a 3 hour bus ride to a town called Agua Calientes, where we took a bus up the mountain to the ruins. It was absolutely amazing, and unlike anything you`ve ever seen! We had a short hike further up the mountain, then were able to walk all throughout the ruins. It blows my mind to imagine how the Incans managed to build these structures by hand up on the mountain. They had to build stone by stone and i`m sure it took forever! To see it is absolutely worth everything we went through to get there! While we were wandering throughout the ruins...quick to get out of breath again because of the altitude, I saw two people from MTV`s the real world and got my picture with them. It made the amazing day even better! We left the ruins and took a bus back down the mountain with enough time to shop in the market and buy some more cool Peruvian items.

After a long and wonderful trip, we woke up the next morning to get on a plane and fly home. We saw some amazing things and made so many memories! Despite everything that happened on our trip, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn`t trade it for the world! Now it`s back to the real world, with school and studying!

More on San Pedro

The rest of our time in San Pedro was amazing! As I said, we went on another tour that began at 4:00 AM, and we went to see the Tatio Geysers. Luckily we had a three hour van ride to get to our destination so we had some time to catch up on sleep! We were told to bundle up because it would be pretty cold at the geysers, but I don`t think anyone expected the weather when we got there, it was only 11 degrees! Luckily our tour guides provided blankets for all of us so it helped with the cold a little! We were at a very high altitude, of almost 15,000 feet, and I was definitely affected by it! Several of us felt dizzy, our hearts were racing, and we lost our breath so easily! It was the first time i`d ever been affected by altitude sickness, but it is definitely a different feeling! There were almost 100 active geyesers in the area we visited, which were beautiful, but did come with the smell of rotten eggs! They varried in size, but most were pretty small. It was amazing to look out across the land and see so many active geysers, with the sun rising over the mountains in the background!

After spending some time enjoying the view of the geysers, we sat in the heated van where they served us breakfast of hot tea and cheese sandwiches. After we warmed up a little, we continued our tour of the area and headed to the hot springs for a thermal bath! The tour was definitely worth the early morning and we got to see some of nature`s amazing beauty!

While we were in San Pedro, we made friends with a group of people from Nicaragua that are actually studying in Santiago. They all spoke perfect english so we alternated between the two languages. It was so much fun to spend time with them, and hear about their experiences both in Nicaragua and so far in Chile. Since they live so close, we will definitely stay in touch!

San Pedro was beautiful, but there were definitely some things we had to adjust to! Since it is in the middle of the desert, water supply is low. Because of this, water in the entire town shuts off at 7:00 PM and doesn`t come back on until 6:00 AM the next morning. There were buckets of water by the toilets to help flush them between these hours, and unfortunately showers were not very easy to come by at any time! Even in the hours with water, showers were barely a drip of freezing cold water. It was either be dusty in the desert or take a tourturing shower! Also, since we had a limited amount of clothing with us on our trip, a lot of people in our group decided to wash clothes out by hand and hang them on trees around our hostel to dry...I think it made us fit in with the locals!

One thing that was really cool about San Pedro were the buildings. Since it is one of the dryest deserts in the world and they never get rain, all of the hostels and restaurants/bars are set up with a huge open courtyard type opening in the middle. Many of them have bon fires that people talk and dance around, and hammocks etc. Also, a lot of the roofs were open in areas where you could look up and see the stars in the sky! It is definitely a place I will never forget. The next stop on our trip is Cuzco, Peru!