Photos of Patagonia and Torres del Paine

Ferry to Porvenir over the Magellan Straight

Starting the trek!!

Swing at campsite #1

Day two!

At the top of the pass!!!

Getting over the pass: day four!

I want to stay here forever, until the sky falls down on me!

Lunch in one of the most beautiful spots in the world!
Last stretch on day six

Guanacos (part of the lama family)

Cuernos del Paine

The Amelie's in front of the Torres del Paine!

The dinner we pigged out on! King Crab and I get along great!

Sore feet, 10 days, 56 miles= Most amazing trip!

Hello to everyone and Happy Holidays!! I'm now back in the US after a two week trip at the southern most tip of the world, otherwise knows as Patagonia, Chile! I've mentioned before that I was taking this trip. There was a lot of planning that went into it, but also at the same time there was no planning. We got down to Punta Arenas and literally had no idea what we were going to do. So we sat down in the airport at six in the morning with our guide books trying to make a decision as what to do. In the end we decided to take the ferry to Tierra del Fuego to a little town called Porvenir...in hopes of finally arriving at Ushuaia in Argentina. We got a taxi, got on the ferry, saw dolphins of the ferry (so cool), and finally arrived in the tiny town of Porvenir where nothing happens. This is all on Sunday by the way.

We check into a hostel that was a little expensive for the quality of the place... I thought it was going to blow over. All of us layed down on the bed and napped since our flight was a 3 am so we had hardly gotten any sleep. Amelie (Am-a-lee) decided to get up and try to find white gas for our stove and a way to Ushuaia. We about an hour later Amelie bursts back into the room saying if we don't leave in a half an hour to catch the ferry we would be stuck there until Tuesday because the ferry doesn't run on Mondays! Apparently she found out from someone there was no way to Ushuaia from Porvenir. We would have to go back to Punta Arenas to get on a bus. So we hustled our way out the door to try to get to the ferry in time.... we missed it by literally 2 minutes! So we ended up being stranded in this tiny town for two days. We slept a lot and watched movies, which I think was a good decision because we needed the sleep and we had decided to do the 10 day backpacking trip in National Park Torres del Paine!

So on Tuesday we began our trip up to northern Patagonia which took about 5 hours in total. We arrived in Puerto Natales (a beautiful town with gorgeous mountains and a port the can take you pretty much wherever you want to go in Patagonia all the way up to Puerto Montt. We were going to take a bus the next day to the park, which was 2 hours away. We got a hostel with really nice, comfortable beds, and the sweetest owner or duena of the hostel. Did some errands and were basically on our way the next day to Torres del Paine! However a quick story: Amelie and I found white gas for our stove and then needed to figure out how to use the dang thing before we started this crazy adventure... so we decided to try it out on the hostel's deck. Well we really had no idea what we were doing so the gas kind of overflowed onto the deck. When we lighted the stove, we also lighted the deck on fire!! Amelie and I are practically screaming trying to get the gas bottle away from the flames so that it wouldn't blow up, while I was trying to stamp out the flames.... Needless to say there are some scorch marks on the hostel's deck!

Ok so then we were off on our adventure to Torres del Paine! Paying to get into the park was incredulous for foreigners! For foreigners it was $3o dollars and for Chileans is was only $8! Luckily Straten and I had a Chilean ID from living in Chile for 5 months so we only had to pay the $8, but Amelie and Taylor had to unfortunately pay the $30. Such a crazy price difference! So we get into the park and up to where we're suppose to start hiking. We were originally going to camp at the bottom of the trail and then start the trek the next days since it was six pm when we got into the park. Well we got to the bottom and were told we had to pay $8 per person to camp! So we made the decision to start hiking at six pm! In Patagonia right now there is around 16 hours of daylight since it's almost summer. So the sun doesn't go down until around 10 pm which was when we would eventually arrive at the camp site. I wrote in my journal everyday during our ten day back packing trip so that I wouldn't forget anything. So here is what I wrote:

Day one:
First day on the Circuit and my feet hurt! I'm carrying a lot of weight and I'm not use to being on my feet this much and we only hiked for 4 hours today! The weather was beautiful with only a slight breeze! God I hope it's like this all 9 days! Gosh 9 days we're hiking! Dad you'd be proud! Amelie's feet are in a lot pain because of her boots! I really hope it gets better! Tomorrow we're hiking for six hours in around two hour increments. It's amazing to be outside camping! I love it! This is where my heart is! I'm excited what these next 9 days hold for us! God keep us safe! Day one check! See you tomorrow!

Day two:
Day two completed! Six hrs on the map really turned into 8 hrs. We slept in which was great even though I didn't actually sleep in and didn't sleep much last night because the dogs at the camp were barking all night, which was kind of scaring me.... we have to watch out for pumas down here. Anyway the feet were feeling a little better in the morning so I put on my cotton socks (bad idea, should have listened to my father's voice in my head) and we were off around 10:30 am. The weather was great and really sunny. We have to be carful down here because there's a hole in the ozone right over Patagonia. We walked, made up stories, sang songs, and took little breaks. Amelie's feet were really hurting with horrible blisters. We had to go over a small pass but took awhile going up because we're out of shape and I took the tent today, which added a lot of weight. We walked and once we got the top of the pass.... BAM! There were the most amazing mountains, which we walked towards for the next six hours! So beautiful! The wind was pretty crazy, but God that view was amazing! So we continued to walk... got passed by a huge group that we later learned payed $1700 to have porters to basically haul everything for them! Can you believe that? That's not backpacking if you ask me! So we kept walking and me feet started to hurt really bad just from the weight and walking so long. Amelie and I made a pact that we wouldn't cry until at least day 3. I tried really really hard and definitely came close, but it didn't happen. It was a really hard last stretch into camp. I was limping pretty bad and could definitely feel the blisters on my feet. We made it around the last bind and BAM! Again new view of a lake, glaciers, and Heaven! (Our camping spot!)

We got settled in and I'm a whole new woman with a clean face and feet, stretched legs, bandaged feet, and a warm sleeping bag! So yes heaven for now! Tomorrow is only 4 hours but the next day is a killer 8 hours trudging through snow I hear! The pass is suppose to be just a horrible part. Once we pass that I know I'll be able to survive this trip! Amelie and I finished today with a high five that we made it and without crying! haha I'm really sore but it feels great to lay down. The other things we made up up is that we're 4 hobbits bringing the right to Mordor, which is where we started. We as a group make a ring shape out of our hands. It's pretty cute. I'm super excited for this trip now! The experience that we get everyday together is beautiful and unforgetable!

Day three:
Day three done and the feet are still hurting. But not I have a shin splint forming. It hurts really badly and just shows how out of shape I am! Today there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were in the forest fo rmost of the day. We could see the white capped mountains and the Glacier los Perros which was beautiful and really windy. It's so peaceful walking through the forest despite the feet hurting really badly. Amelie and I were buddies today just chatting to keep our mind off our feet. Good memories. Tomorrow we have our hardest day with 6 hrs but probably around 9 hrs because our packs are so heavy. I'm nervous about my shin and getting over the pass in a reasonable time. I'm tired and my shoulders hurt from carrying my pack, but I just have to remind myself what I'm walking by or what I'm looking at. I may never be able to look at it again! Patagonia is beautiful! We have a great group that makes this whole experience that much better. I have my parents voice in my head this whole trip about what to do here and what to wear this day! It's pretty hilarious! Si se puede (you can do it) is my new thought for this trip!

Day Four
Dear Dad,
Today I didn't stop thinking about you and what a wonderful job you did taking care of your daughter! Today was hard. We walked a six hour stretch and it took us 8 hrs and 19 minutes because our feet hurt so bad and most of it was weeding through mud or soft snow. Amelie and I actually slid on our butts for a while on the other side of the pass. Kind of dangerous but super fun! :) It took us a long time to get to the top of the pass like I said it would. But amn the top of the pass was amazing because it was a whole new view and of the biggest glacier I've ever seen! There were just miles and miles of ice! You would have loved looking out seeing all this ice and then just amazing mountains that surround the glacier! It was absolutely breathtaking, literally and physically because it was so windy at the top. But today I was thinking you the whole way for sending me those gatters and for coating my boots because it was a wet day! Everyone else was hurting pretty bad in the wet shoe department. You would have killed Straten because he's been doing all this in his tennis shoes and today he put plastic bags on his feet to keep his socks dry! Craziness! And he doesn't have blisters! So jealous! Mine are getting a lot better, but my feet just get tired from walking so much over so many different types of terrain with a heavy backpack! But I'm getting use to it! Today felt good! So thank you daddy for taking car of your little girl because I wouldn't have made it alive today! Love you!
MG
P.S. More and more I'm beginning to feel like a true mountain girl and after this 9 day trek I think I'll officially be a mountain girl!

Day Five:
Yesterday we hiked a fairly easy route compared to the day before. It was still pretty hard in some spots because we had a lot of stairs to climb and going down hill was hard on the blisters. Yes there are stairs, not super nice, but planks built into the hillside. There are also flushing toilets at the campsites we're staying at! Anyway the hike was beautiful! We hiked along Glacier Grey all day long. The boys went ahead to camp so they could drop off their stuff and hike back to meet up and take our stuff! What nice boys! It was amazing! So Amelie and I took our time and at lunch we sun bathed by this stream coming out of snow and the Glacier in view! It was the most amazing lunch break! We got to the Refugio Grey (our campsite), set up camp, and Amelie got re-bandaged on her feet by one of the workers at the camp... Nicolas will forever be remembered as part of our Torres experience! Meeting Nicolas led to a free pisco sour and then to vino (wine) out by the lake that had icebergs in it, to finally a room to sleep in for the night! It was awesome! The stars were amazing and I learned what the southern cross constellation looks like (we obviously never get to see it since it's the southern cross). I got some amazing pictures during the day.

Day seven:
It is day 7! I've been camping and walking for 7 days! And boy can I feel it! Yesterday was really hard for me because I tweeked my knee a little bit so it really hurt to walk. We were just going to walk to about six hours, but the day turned into a ten hour day because we didn't want to pay at the campsite and it was only another 2 hours to the next free campsite... so we huffed it. We had another amazing lunch break with sun bathing while looking at incredible mountains and glaciers. It really was a beautiful day despite how much pain I was in when we finally arrived at camp at 10 pm! I just climbed in the tent and went to sleep without even brushing my teeth!

Now I'm sitting on a rock looking at more beautiful mountains surprise surprise! I'm in shorts and the sun is out! My knee still hurts, but I made it all the way up here which is about 3 hrs. Still have to make the trek back down the hill. Life is pretty good right now! In 7 days I'll be back in the US! We're all really excited to head back but at the same time really sad. We're mostly excited to eat good food!

Day Eight:
Day 8 is finished and we're at our final campsite for two nights! It's also the first time I've gotten a shower in 9 days! Record! The shower was good but wasn't super hot like I wanted. Boy do I feel wonderful now! Though a shower in a day will still be needed because there are layers of dirt on my body! Haha Today we walked from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. The terrain wasn't bad. Everything is pretty simple after the day we went over the pass and day six! We saw the famous Cuernos (or Horns) of Torres del Paine! Some amazing geological formations in Chile! It was also amazing because we got up early so the trail was pretty empty this morning which was really pleasant! We were practically alone of the other side of the mountains and now there are tons of people doing the "W" trail. Sometimes I have to wait 5-10 minutes to let everyone pass! Definitely not use to that in Colorado. Today was also the first day the sun didn't shine the whole day! This is amazing because we just figured that the weather was going to be horrible so we prepared for the worst and got amazing weather! I hope tomorrow is good and clear because we're doing out last hike (without packs!) up to the Torres (Towers), which is about 4.5 hours scrambling up hill! I don't know if I'll make it because my knee is really bad after today. I'm super worried about it because I need to go back and start training for ultimate frisbee!

Day Ten:
Today we're leaving for civilization! 10 days we've been out here! Yesterday it was a climb! I was nervous about my knee, but I would've been really upset if I didn't make it all the way to the top! The Torres are crazy and beautiful and just tower over you (no pun intended)! We really lucked out yesterday and hit a perfect window to see all three towers! I guess you rarely see all three because there are always clouds around them! We seriously lucked out on weather this trip! It's been beautiful everyday! We got sprinkled on a little bit trying to race the storm down the mountain. The down was really hard on the body to the point that the back of my knee started hurting because I was hyperextending it! Not good. But WE'RE DONE!!! We brought the "ring" to Mordor or the Towers! and we successfully finished the circuit and the W! A total of 56 miles of hiking! I'm so proud of us! Amelie has been hurting since day one and me since day two and we still hiked everyday with heavy packs! So awesome! We're true mountain girls now! I'm so happy the boys were here because they did all the cooking and little by little took more and more of our stuff to lighten the load for us, which helped tremendously! Now today we just have to hike 1.5 hrs on a road to get to the bus and then back to civilization! We've been talking about how much food we're about to eat tonight! I can't wait! Plus we get a bed to sleep in!

Well we did eat a ton of food that night and Puerto Natales is known for sea food so we ate a lot of king crab! Soooo yummy! We slept really well and just chilled in bed the next day while watching Toy Story 2 in spanish! We went to a chocolate factory called Patagonia Dulce which was amazing chocolate cake and hot chocolate! We ate amazing pizza and walked down to the water even though walking was really hurting me because my shin was definitely acting up again. I was getting really tired of my legs hurting me. Then Taylor and Amelie left that night to catch their plane in Punta Arenas, while Straten and I stayed another night because the laundry wasn't done and boy did we need clean clothes bad!

Straten and I finished up the trip in Punta Arenas just chilling, drinking wine, and sitting around because nothing was open because of the Chilean elections. We got on the plane in the morning and I began my very long trip home to the motherland! We had an amazing trip and I'll never forget it! The views we saw and the emotions we felt will be stamped in my brain for years to come!

GOOD BYE CHILE!!! I'LL MISS YOU!! YOU'LL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE IN MY HEART!

The End of the Tunnel

Hey everyone! I decided to write just a little blerb before I set off on my biggest adventure here in Chile: Patagonia! I leave in 7 days and I have sooooo much to get done. I've worked pretty hard this last week and today so I'm taking a couple of minutes to write to you guys. Since Pucon I've battled yet again with sickness. This time it was a sinus infection that basically knocked me off my feet! My whole body hurt and my face hurt because I was so congested. My sinuses hurt so bad that I was taking IB's everyday because it was giving me headaches! Needless to say I'm ready to be back in my natural environment where I wont be sick anymore. I feel like I've been sick down here more than I ever have been in my life! But I ventured to the doctor and got antibiotics and am thankfully feeling tons better! This is very important as I'm venturing out to a wilderness where anything can happen especially weather wise!

Besides the sickness portion, my culture class here in Chile took a tour in Valparaiso to look at graffiti. Here in Chile the art is free to look at because it's on the streets! Just one of the reasons I love Valpo. It just makes everything so colorful! Last weekend was a beach and pool weekend. Jeannie, Nicole, Celine, and I brought Camila (our chilean sister) and Martin (Camila's cousin) to the pool at a family apartment to just chill and play a little in the water! It was awesome! The next day we took the kids to Con Con to the beach which is about a 1/2 hour away. It was amazing to just lie, get as hot as you can, and then go play in the waves with the kids. There were tons of surfers too which really made me want to learn how to surf! That will be another adventure later in life! My skin is looking pretty tan now... aren't you jealous Coloradans? Summer is definitely here and the flowers are just beautiful! Walking to class everyday slowly allows me to just enjoy looking around at Chilean life which includes this tree I walk back that has purple blooms! PURPLE BLOOMS! You don't see that in Colorado! It's so beautiful!

This last week I was still getting better but worked really hard on my 7 page paper about the US's influence on the Chilean government in 1970. I learned a lot of things about the US and now I can understand why they told us to not go to Santiago on September 11th which is when Allende was overthrown with the help of the CIA! Anyway I got a lot done because I knew that I wouldn't do it this weekend. Sergio (our chilean brother) is at his half way point in his medicine studies so they had a huge part in a tiny town called Olmu which is about an hour away on the subway. They rented a cabana that had a pool and BBQ and a bunch of rooms! It was a blast just hanging out, talking spanish, and eating good food!

Now this week I'm tying loose ends up which includes all my essays for various classes, an oral presentation, and finally packing to leave for good and for my trip! I have seven days to get everything together! I'm nervous but super excited because the group we've got will provide lots of entertainment for the two weeks of hiking and traveling together! I'm going to get my butt kicked because I haven't done a ton of exercise down here with all my sicknesses but it's going to be a good butt kicking! I'm really looking forward to it! I'll be sure to post about it when I get back to the US safe and sound! I hope you are all getting your stomachs ready for Thanksgiving! My program here knows how important Thanksgiving is to us so they're throwing a Thanksgiving dinner/ end of the program party on Thanksgiving! Then Friday I'm celebrating my 21st birthday down here in Vina with all my closest friends here and then my actual birthday will be somewhere in Tierra del Fuego or Torres del Paine... don't really know where I'll be for it! Either way it'll be a birthday I never forget!

Well that's it for now folks! Thanks so much for reading about my adventures here in Chile and of course there are more stories that I never mentioned! You'll be hearing about Chile and my spanglish for awhile! haha See you all in 2o days!! Que estes bien y nos vemos pronto! Besitos y abrazos! Chao Chao!!

Pucha Pucon eres Bakan! (Darn Pucon you're so cool!!)

Hey everyone I'm writing to you after a wonderful weekend in a tiny town called Pucon! This town is kind of in the middle of the south of Chile (12 hours from Vina) and I'm renaming it Chile's Crested Butte! It's tiny and offers any sort of outdoor activity you can imagine! We left Thursday night in a bus that I almost froze to death on, but knew if I just went to sleep I would be in Pucon in 12 hours. We got to Pucon, settled into our wonderful Cabanas for the weekend (fireplace, kitchen, three bedrooms, two bath, 8 awesome girls= such an awesome cabana). Friday was a tour day with our group so we got settled, went to the supermarket, and then were on our way for the day.

We started the tour visiting a Mapuche community (indigenous group of the South of Chile) where we learned about how they live especially now in such a modern world. They mainly make all of their food they eat, but are slowly loosing their language. This made me sad because I believe language is such a distinct part of a culture and for it to die out is really unfortunate. Kids are now going to school in the community and learning there rather than the real Mapuche ways and their language. We actually got to get a taste of the food they make... delicious! It consisted of a mealy bread, sopapillas with a marmalade, hard boiled eggs, and amazing tea! So awesome and we ate all of it because it's impolite to say no to more food.

Afterwards we visited a lot of waterfalls including a huge one that soaked us when we got close to it. So pretty! One of the waterfalls only 6 kaykers have successfully gone off it (the first one unfortunately died). After the waterfalls we went to Lago Caburgua which is full of rain water. There is only a river that lets the water out! It was incredibly full because two days before we got there it absolutely poured! At the lake you can also see the 2nd most active volcano in South America! We were suppose to climb the volcano the next day but I'll get to that story in a minute. After the lake we went to a wonderful hot springs where we spent around 2 hours relaxing, jumping in the river, and looking at our beautiful surroundings. So wonderful and amazing on the body!

So the next day we woke up at 6 am to climb Volcan Villarica which is the 2nd most active volcano in South America. Our guide the day before told us that we could know up to 3 minutes or 3 seconds before it would erupt!! Crazy! So we got all out gear on that the tour company provided for us and hopped in the bus. On the way up, the road started to get worse and worse because it was absolutely dumping snow... I'm talking huge Colorado Flakes! Seeing these flakes amazingly converted my body immediately to winter mode and I got so excited to go home to see Colorado and the winter. Anyway we finally made it to the top after skidding out a couple of time. My friend Amelie and I were giving each other nervous looks... the van needed chains mostly likely. At the top we stood looking at the base area of Ski Pucon and there was sooooo much snow. After conversing for a while the guides said that we wouldn't make it to the top and the most we could do was trek around and maybe make it to the middle. So we played in the snow awhile and then turned around and went back to Pucon. I just wanted to ditch the tour agency, grab my teleskis, and skin up the volcano to make powder turns! It was that amazing!

Once back in Pucon we decided to go rafting almost immediately. I was pumped because 1. I love rafting and have always thought about becoming a guide and 2. I've heard that the rivers in Chile are awesome to raft! We got gear number two for the day and headed out with our guide Max (super cute chilean). On the river I asked our guide if we could try surfing a wave. He laughed and with a gleam in his eye agreed! We once at the rapid he told us on his command to jump to the front of the boat. Well once all of us where in the front of the boat I could feel the boat rising up and up and the water was starting the lap over my head! Next thing I know I'm doing a flip off the boat into the river along with everyone else! haha First time swimming and it's in Chile! The guide got us all in the boat and everything was fine, but man did I get an adrenaline rush! haha We ended the trip with grins on our faces because these rapids weren't anything like the rapids I've rafted before in Colorado! Also we got Pisco Sour (Chile's drink that's super sweet) which warmed us right up! I then spent the rest of the day in front of the fire in our cabana talking with two amazing girls, one of which is Amelie (Am a lee) my twin whom I learn that we have more and more in common every time I talk to her! I would consider her one of my best friends down here along with Jeannie and Celine.... I can't wait to go to Patagonia with Amelie.

The next day we slept in, made an amazing breakfast consisting of eggs sandwiches, avocado, cheese, lettuce, and juice!! We lounged around and then got ourselves out the door to walk around town and see the lake Villarica that borders Pucon. It was absolutely beautiful and just made me fall in love with Pucon. If I ever get the chance to move back to Chile it'll be to live in Pucon! We were so relaxed and didn't want to leave!! After returning back to our cabanas after shopping and german cake we walked in the door to our cabin making dinner. We had a family dinner around our table after saying thanks to such a wonderful group of girls! Afterwards we were silly and made a cheer that said "Cabin 8 we eat great!" It was awesome and we did eat great that weekend!

Well now I'm finally back in Vina thankfully because the bus was breaking down a bit on the trip home! I got home and realized that I really needed to go to the doctor to nip this cold I have before I venture off into Patagonia. Turns out I have a sinus infection and I feel so sick. I have antibiotics now so hopefully in the next few days I'll be on my way to recovery! Traveling always seems to make my body break down and get sick. I'm ready to get out of this country if it means I'm going to stop being sick and have tons of mystery bites all over my body (my suspicions are bed bugs).

Time is really dwindling now. I have only 16 days left in my host house and then I'm off to Patagonia with Amelie, Straten, and Taylor! Should be a blast expecially since I'll be spending my 21st birthday at the farthest tip of South America! That's going to be a birthday I'll never forget! So now I'm just trying to live up the time I have left here while trying to finish up school and get over this sickness! I have a lot to get done in the next two weekends including a seven page paper in Spanish and a oral presentation! But once it's over I can celebrate the Thanksgiving our program is putting on for us, my birthday/ going away party the next day, and then Patagonia! So ya I'll see you all in about 4 weeks!! WOW!!

Live and Learn

Hey all... It's been a really long time since I've posted anything!! A lot has happened since I last wrote! Well to give you a general idea of what happened it went a long with the theme of living and learning. Jeannie and I really wanted to make a trip to a German influenced town close to the south of Chile named Valdivia. It's suppose to be beautiful with a lake running through the center, a brewery for German beer to visit, and lots of hikes to do since it's in the lake region. We left Wednesday night for an 11 hour bus ride over night. We were getting excited in the bus just talking about how excited we were doing this trip just the two of us, what we were going to do etc. We ended up sitting next to a Grandma and her grandson who had what I'm thinking down syndrome.... it was an interesting ride sleeping next to a child with down syndrome. There was constant little screams all night long.

Anyway we got to Valdivia at about nine or so to pouring rain. I had looked at the weather before we left and knew it wasn't going to be awesome weather so I packed accordingly knowing we were going to be outside doing a lot of stuff. We figured out where our hostel was, checked in, and slept for two and half hours because we didn't sleep well on the bus. I drug myself out of bed and woke up Jeannie. I knew we should try and make the day worth it otherwise we would have slept all day! However we looked outside and it was still pouring rain and to add to that the wind was crazy! We bundled up and headed outside to look for the movie theater since we couldn't think of anything to do in that crazy rain!

We hadn't been outside for more than two minutes and our jeans were drenched and the wind was blowing us backward! I saw a cafe and we headed there instead. We ordered hot chocolate and empanadas, while we tried to dry out our jackets and jeans. A lady next to us stuck up a conversation with us in English asking us if we were visiting Valdivia, making small talk. After a short time it had become clear this lady knew a lot of English because she looked like she could be from Chile. We talked with her for a long time and in the process found out that she's a professor at Yale University for Spanish and Latin American Literature! She was on sabbatical for the year translating books and living in Valdivia! She was an amazing woman to talk to and Jeannie and I got a lot of good advice about life from her that we'll never forget, such as just living life and not worrying about what we're going to do after college!

Jeannie and I left the cafe and went to the mall (yes I know gross we went to a mall in Chile) to watch a Chilean movie called Todo Incluyido or All Inclusive. It was a good movie and I'm glad we watched a Chilean movie not some English movie with subtitles. After the movie, Jeannie and I sat down to talk about what we were going to do next. I could tell Jeannie wasn't having a good time and I wasn't either because of the weather. Originally were were going to spend four days down in the lake district, but after seeing all the rain, we were toying with the idea of going back to Vina the next day since we had already paid for the night at our hostel and we had just gotten there. I had told Jeannie before we left what the weather was going to be like, but she wasn't prepared for rain that we encountered.

We decided to walk to the bus station to buy our tickets to go back the next day. We walked along the river, which was huge for one, it was like walking next to the Mississippi river that's how wide across it was. It's really lush down there because they get so much rain, so there were lots of trees next to the river to enjoy. I was trying to cheer up Jeannie by singing songs and getting her to think of other things rather than how much water was sloshing in our shoes and how wet our jeans were.

When we got to the bus station, the look on Jeannie's face told me everything. She wanted to go back that night. I was a little bummed, but I couldn't complain much either because I was really wet too. So we bought our tickets home and went back to the hostel to get our things. Our bus left in two hours so we decided to have a nice dinner close to the terminal, sushi, and drink the famous beer we were suppose to try the next day. It was really good beer and I'm bummed we didn't get the tour, but at least I got to try it while I was down there.

So in total we were in Valdivia for 12 hours and on the bus for 22 hours. That trip taught me a lot of things. 1. Sometimes you need to sacrifice some things for a friend, 2. Always be prepared for the worst in the South of Chile (very important for my big backpacking adventure in Patagonia coming up) 3. If things don't go as they were planned, don't let it annoy you and just plan something else instead.

We ended up having a really nice weekend in Vina and it was probably a good idea to come home because I was feeling sick before we left and it could have turned into something a lot worse than it was. I did end up getting something along the lines of a sinus infection and didn't go to the doctor here because it's a pain in the butt to go. Needless to say I nursed myself back to health and I'm a lot better, but still sick. The weather has been amazing, the other day was 86 degrees, a heat I'm not use to.

Day after tomorrow is November already which means I'm hitting my last month in Vina and Valpo today! Next weekend we're going to a tiny town called Pucon to go hike a volcano, go to hot springs, and go rafting! It's going to be a blast and I'm really looking forward to it. After that I have two full weeks left in Vina, getting ready for our trip to Patagonia and finishing up school. Before I know it I'll be on a plane to Punta Arenas and then back to the states! Time is moving soooooo fast now! Well I hope you guys are enjoying the snow in Colorado, have a snowball fight or make some turns for me!!

Your History Lesson for the Day

So lately we've been learning about the recent history of Chile. This is really good because I had no idea about anything before I came down here. First of all, Chile has had a hard history especially from about 1970-1990 as they went through some serious changes in their government. In 1970 Salvador Allende, leader of the socialist party, won the candidacy for President. Things began to really change as this was during the time of the Cold War and the communist scare all around the world. Allende was the first Socialist leader to be elected in the entire world! Since he was socialist, all the land started to get divided up. 5,809 large estates or around 10 million acres of land were in the hands of the government. In addition, the economy went down the drain because of all the mines of coal and salitre (which I believe is part of salt) were shut down because they were such huge corporations. Because of all the controversy with the mines, the United States and President Nixon, shut off all trading with Chile. Allende was "President" until 1973 when things got really shaky, people were starting to "disappear", and the economy was horrible, so Allende committed suicide when he found out that a coup de tat was about to happen. In 1973 the Golpe Militar, or military government took over, with the leadership of Augusto Pinochet who ruled as dictator until 1990 or so. Pinochet was a really bad dictator and he did a whole lot of nothing except get rid of the socialist government and torture a lot of people. There were concentration camps for the people that were assumed "communist". With these concentration camps and other methods, 45,000 people disappeared during the dictatorship of Pinochet. Pinochet was VOTED, yes voted, to have his leadership taken away in 1990. Many people liked Pinochet because they were wealthier and didn't want their land taken away! But just imagine the number of people tortured and killed because they were assumed communist. Makes me sick to my stomach. (Some of this history might be wrong, but it's what I've gotten out of learning it in Spanish)

So this last Friday our program went to Santiago to see various places that had to do with Allende and Pinochet. It was a really heavy day, but amazing to see all these places and to be put back in the 70's when all this was going on. The first place we stopped at was called "Fundacion de Documentacion y Archivo de la Vacaria de la Solidaridad" or an organization created by the Catholic church where people could go to to get a lawyer or find documents to help their family fight the government about the disappearance of another family member. There are books and books of info about what one should do so that they can receive the best Habeas Corpus.

The second place we visited was called "Fundacion Solidaridad" which is a supportive foundation trying to help out the poorer families of Santiago. During the years of Pinochet this organization worked to help artisans stuck in either concentration camps or in poverty. They had no money to make their skilled crafts so the organization helped these people get pencils, bones to make carvings, or needle and thread and cloth all to make their specialized crafts. Today it's a fair trade organization that has families make their craft and then they receive the profit when it's sold. We looked at the quilts some of the women make and they are just beautiful!! I wanted to buy them all!

The third place we visited was Santiago's cemetery, which is basically its own city! We saw hundreds upon thousands of graves including the grave of Salvador Allende and his family, previous presidents of Chile, and the worst was the graves of all the people who passed away during Pinochet. Many of the graves are unmarked because no one claimed them, but were laid to rest the everyone else. Finally, we saw the grave or rather a memorial pertaining to all of those who disappeared during Pinochet. The left side are citizens that disappeared and the right are all political figures that disappeared. The list is amazing to look at! The most striking note I took of the cemetery was the difference between all the family graves of important political figures and all the ordinary citizens and families of Santiago. Look at the picture and you'll immediately tell the difference.












Our final visiting place was a concentration camp where many people were held and tortured for being "communists". It was really sad to walk around and know that people were tortured here only around 40 years ago! We saw where they slept, so tiny with 2-3 people to one area. Needless to say it was really hard to take it all in.

Our trip was really informative and I learned a lot about all these different places. It was kind of an emotional day, but well worth it all. It's crazy to learn about all this and then look at Chile today because it's a whole different Chile! Chile is one of the most stable governments in South America today! Considering only 30 years ago they were in a dictatorship! Well I hope you learned a little history through this! Thanks for reading! Chao!!

BienBebidos!!

Hey all!! I'm writing after just getting back from yet another adventure, but to Mendoza Argentina this time! To start off I would just like to say that Argentina is amazing and I really want to explore it more! I've heard Buenos Aires is its own culture on it's own...I hate how money limits things... Argentina and Chile are very different from each other despite they obviously both speak Spanish. For one they speak Spanish differently, meaning they speak a lot slower, but use voseo which is the informal "you" in Spanish, which I'm just now sort of learning down here... rather than saying "y tu?" they say "y vos?" Really weird to go from Chilean Spanish to Argentinean Spanish. Needless to say Chilean Spanish is one the hardest types of Spanish to understand because they drop "S", speak really fast, and blend their words together. So going from understanding Spanish in Chile to understanding Spanish in Argentina wasn't too horrible, but still a little difficult! The other difference from Chile to Argentina is that Argentina is a lot more clean! This is to say there isn't much pollution, not as many people smoking (finally got a break from Chilean chain smoking) and there are NO stray dogs!! Chile has a serious problem with stray dogs... it's disgusting!! The other interesting thing is that nearly all Argentineans asked us what we thought of Obama because they're really curious... it really tested our Spanish skills trying to have a political conversation. Overall Argentineans are really excited for Obama!

Ok on with the actual description of our trip! We, (Jeannie, Rande, Kaeli, and I) 4 Colorado girls once again, took a bus at 7:30 in the morning to Mendoza, which is about 2 and a half hours from the border of Argentina. We spent about 2-3 hours at the border waiting to get through customs! It was a long weekend so a lot of people were going to Mendoza to hang out in really warm weather, enjoy wine, and eat a lot of good food! We got to Mendoza around 8 pm after a spectacular drive through the Andes mountains!! Mendoza is a lot bigger city than we expected! After our last excursion to the Atacama desert in a tiny town, we had the image of a pueblito in our head rather than an actual city! ( The bummer was we had to take taxis everywhere, this includes a story). Even though we got in at 8 we didn't have dinner until nearly 12! We had a hard time navigating at first because we just expected that we could walk every where, which was not the case. Turns out that this is the Argentinean way of eating.... really late at night, which reminded me of eating in Italy! Anyway we had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Don Mario's. Argentina is famous for their meat, leather, WINE, Italian food, and of course ice cream! We spent a lot of time this weekend eating really good food and drinking really good wine! Where the Atacama was famous for it's environment and picturesque view, Mendoza is known for it's food!

Saturday we rented bikes and did a wine tour! There are 11 plus wineries around Mendoza, which we obviously couldn't possibly go to all of them, but we hit 2 wineries or bodegas and Chile produces Cabernet , an oil factory, and a chocolate factory! It felt great to get on a bike though my rear end was a little angry for being out of shape for such riding. The farthest winery was 12 km away or 7.5 miles on townies (We rode 14 miles in total!). It was pretty hot out so it was quite the trek out there. The coolest winery was actually a French winery, where I learned a lot about different types of Malbecs (Argentina produces Malbecs and Chile produces Cabernet Savignon wines). It's good I'm learning all about these wines since I get asked a lot in the French restaurant I work at in Crested Butte... good for my future career as a waitress. After tasting 4 different kinds of wines we went on to the oil factory, which was really interesting seeing how extra virgin olive oil is made from olive trees! We got to taste a bunch of bread with sun-dried tomatoes, egg plant, or just plain bread (our lunch). We then hit one more winery, which wasn't the greatest, but still fun. Then finally we hit up the chocolate factory where we really hit the jackpot! We got to try a bunch of liquors of different types of chocolates (I tried the Irish cream... amazing), we tried actual chocolate.... delicious, then different marmalades... there are no words, and finally we got a completos or hot dogs with all the makings... all for the grand total of 10 pesos or $2.50!! Glad we didn't spend money on lunch! We started the day at 10:30 and ended at 6:30 just in time to see the sun set and the start of the Argentina vs Peru game, which happened to be at the same time as the Chile vs Colombia game (we won and are going to the World Cup in South Africa now!!!). Needless to say it was an amazing day, but it didn't stop there!! No we still had dinner and the bars to hit! We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and it was a fiesta in all of our mouths to put is in words to describe just exactly what we tasted!! It was so good! We went bar hopping and it was just ridiculous! Almost too many people and toward the end of the night I was pretty sick of being pushed around and had glass in the bottom of my chacos which made dancing a little uncomfortable! However it was pretty awesome 80's and 90's music, both of which I love! Saturaday was a day I'll never forget and I don't know if I'll ever top how much fun we had riding bikes! (See videos at the end of the blog)

Now on to Sunday.... We knew we wanted to go shopping, but it was Sunday so all the stores were closed so we ended up going to the mall. The one lesson I learned with taxis', either all or just Argentinean taxis, they take advantage that you don't know where to go! We told him we wanted to go shopping so he took us to the mall.... I felt like I was in the US. It gave me a hint of what kind of culture shock I might face when I get back. I was pretty angry with our driver because 1. we wanted to keep together because we had to split up into two cabs... we lost the other cab.... 2. we wasn't focusing on the road rather telling us over and over how beautiful we were.... 3. the mall turned out to be in basically a whole other town!!! We ended up paying a bunch for the worst taxi ride of our lives plus we lost our other half of the group! SOOO NOT COOL! The three of us paid the guy and he knew we were upset for him miss leading us and loosing our friends because the other taxi driver was driving too slow... However it turned out fine in the end because we found our friends who were dropped off in another part of the mall, so we were reunited once again! We had a good lunch, but I really didn't want to spend my day in an Argentinean mall that made me feel like I was back in the USA! Fortunately we ran into an US man with his Argentinean wife who told us to go to the Plaza Libertad to go shopping and hang out... this man was a hoot and talked our ears off. They wanted us to come to their house for dinner, but we had to tell him we were leaving that night for Chile. So we went to the suggested Plaza and as we're walking up I see two VERY familiar faces... Drew Holbrook, who has been working at the ski resort in Chile called Portillo, and Quinn Langsfeld!! Both boys whom I've known my whole life and here we are running into each other in Mendoza Argentina... man this world really is small! We chatted for awhile and made plans for Quinn to come see me in Valparaiso within the next month or so! How fun!! We had an amazing, but sort time in Argentina. The group we were with just worked smoothly together and we laughed and laughed all weekend!!

On the way back we had an extensive search at the borders! Just another story.... I had purchased an orange and apple in Chile, but apparently we aren't allowed to bring them back over the border even if they're fruit from Chile! I guess there are fruit flies that are in Argentina that aren't in Chile and if they get in they can ruin plants, which I think is a crock.... At first I was going to just try and sneak my apple and orange over the border in my shirt because it was my breakfast the next day... then I saw the dogs sniffing everything and I knew I would get caught that way. If they catch you bringing fruit or vegetables over the border without claiming them then you can receive up to a $22,000 ticket!!! Holy Cow that's a lot!! So I took the fruit out of my shirt, claimed them before some dog tackled me, and they ended up throwing my fruit away in the end even though they were from Chile!! I was pretty upset, but thinking back I was incredibly stupid to even think I could get away with that... you would think I was sneaking over drugs rather than an 80 cent orange and apple! Oh well it's a story to tell the kids....

So that's it!! We're back safely in our homes with nothing stolen or any tickets received for sneaking over fruit! Life is great and I actually just purchased my plan ticket to Punta Arenas in Patagonia for my birthday and the first two weeks in December!! Just another adventure to add to the books. I have a lot of planning to do for that trip, but I'm so excited to go backpacking by the infamous Torres del Paine!! My heath is good only with weird bites on my body probably from hostel beds, but my cough is basically gone!! I hope you guys are all in good health! Sorry this was such a long blog, but there was so much to tell!! Love you all! Besitos y Abrazos!! Chao!!

Amelie