3/31/10

Today was an interesting day to say the least. I left my 10:30 AM class today and walked about four blocks to the bus station to take me to the next class. When I reached into my backpack pocket to pull out my Chapstick I felt around and realized that someone had stolen my iPod and cell phone right out from my backpack while I was walking. There wasn't anything I could do about it as it had clearly happened earlier and I just hadn't noticed.

We made it to the other campus a little late for our class and had to leave a little early to make a meeting for an internship (teaching English, super cool) and on our way off campus we saw a crowd. We assumed that it was the freshman hazing that goes on every year at U Chile. We had to walk by them to get to the exit and tried to get a closer look. We saw students throwing what we thought was fish (part of the tradition) at what we thought were freshman. Wrong. They were throwing rocks at a crowd of forty riot police who immediately began tear gassing all of us. My three friends and I joined hundreds of other students and broke into a run to the opposite side of campus. We found an exit toward the back of the school and they thankfully let us out, though they weren't letting anyone in. There were "guanacos," which is the slang for the giant tanks the police use for riot control, everywhere. There were piles of molotov cocktails and we had to walk through a cloud of tear gas to get to the bus we needed. We got out relatively unharmed and with a pretty authentic cultural experience under our belts.

Time for a quiet night, I think.

Fotos de Buenos Aires

Crossing the Andes!
Recoleta Cemetery.
The church at Recoleta.
Argentine caballo.
A day at the races.
Protest in the city center.
The Pink House.
Downtown BA. Looks a bit like San Francisco, doesn't it?
Santiago airport, in tents.

Buenos Aires

Due to the earthquake, and the damage done to various campuses throughout the city, school was postponed yet another week and now we have time to explore the continent a little bit. We made a pretty last-minute decision to travel to Buenos Aires and found a very cheap flight so we booked a hostel for four days and took off on Wednesday.

The Santiago airport is a bit of a disaster, but I was so impressed with how well-run everything appeared to be. Even though the check-in and gates were in tents, everything was running smoothly and we had no problems getting onto our flight. We arrived in Buenos Aires within two hours after a very comfortable ride on the plane. The taxi to our hostel was about a 45 minute ride and we shared it with another American girl we met who lived right next to our hostel. After we settled in and made reservations for dinner we started to explore the city. The girls I was with wanted to do a lot of shopping so I mostly just tagged along and played personal shopper.

That night for dinner we went to a restaurant called La Cabrera upon the recommendation of our friends who have been to BA before, including one girl we were traveling with. It's a good thing we made a reservation because by the time we got there at 8:30 there was already a line out the door, and that is quite early by Argentine standards. When we sat down at the table we were greeted with fresh sourdough bread, roasted garlic and olive tapenade. I felt like I was back in California! We ordered a bottle of wine, two appetizers and two steaks. The appetizers were a baked wheel of cheese with pancetta and peppers (OMG) and a heart of palm, avocado and tomato salad with balsamic vinagrette. The steak I shared was called Churrasquito and it had bacon wrapped around it. It was cooked absolutely perfectly and came with an array of delicious side dishes including pumpkin puree, lentils, more olive tapenade and a bunch of dips and sauces. It was one of the most incredible meals I've ever had, and the really incredible thing is that in California the meal easily would have cost $300-$400, but it was actually less than $100. Argentina is rightly famous for their steak.

The next day we walked around for hours. More shopping, but also checking out the city center. We saw the Madres, who are the mother's of those who disappeared or were tortured and killed during Pinochet's reign. They have been marching in the square for years and there are very few of them left. We also saw the Pink House, which is the Argentine White House. That afternoon we saw Alice and Wonderland in Spanish. It was a great movie! And I was surprised at the amount I was able to understand. That night we had a light dinner so that we could enjoy a fun night out.

Friday was more shopping and exploring but we got a late start because in South America to stay out until 6AM is perfectly normal. We had lunch at a restaurant called Kansas because we were craving some American baked potatoes, then afterward we headed to the races! Argentina is also famous for their horses and we walked to a place called the Hipodromo and watched four horse races. We bet on two, but lost both times. It was a lot of fun and in the last race one of the jockeys got thrown and the horse still finished the race and didn't even come in last. That was a really fun experience and is something I've never knowingly had the opportunity to do in the states so I really enjoyed it.

Saturday was our last day and we were determined to visit La Recoleta, which is a famous cemetery with lots of ornate sculptures and it's also where Evita Peron is buried. Unfortunately, as is often the case with a large group of girls, all day it was nearly impossible to organize ourselves and so by the time we arrived it was closed. We did get to see inside the church, which was beautiful, and explore the Artesan fair next to it so it certainly wasn't a total loss. That night we met up with some of Jen's Argentine friends and got free entrance to a big club. We stayed out until 6AM again, and had to leave for our flight at 8AM. Mistake! We made it on time but boy were we tired, and our cab ride was miserable. For some reason the driver refused to go above 40MPH even on the freeway. But we made it, on time and everything.

I really enjoyed Buenos Aires and I hope to go back again, but it's certainly good to be home in Santiago. School starts in a week, we hope. I signed up for three classes today and I'm very excited about it. Pictures in the next post!

FOTOS DEL TERREMOTO

Life after the earthquake

Life is pretty much back to normal for those of us in Santiago fortunate enough to only have been mentally affected by the terremoto. We have power, water and internet at my house, which is more than some, and we have very little damage. The metro is working again and all the stores are starting to open up. In this part of town it's hard to believe there was such a massive disaster, but I know that not too far from us people are not so lucky. I'm hoping EAP will get in touch with us soon with some ways we can help, but for now I think they are still scrambling to make sure everyone starts school on time with March 8th drawing closer.

On a bright note, I made my first batch of empanadas today! And did a pretty bang-up job if I do say so myself. Here they are with my Chilean mom.

TERREMOTO (Earthquake)

Last night in Chile an 8.8 mag earthquake struck Concepción, which is about 300 miles from Santiago. I think the magnitude in Santiago was something like 7.4. I was in a dance club in Bellavista Barrio at the time with some friends. At first, I didn't realize what was happening. I thought maybe the speakers were shaking the room, but it quickly became apparent that that wasn't the case. The room started to shake violently and I slipped and fell. Luckily, the Chilean boy I had been dancing with caught me, grabbed my hand and dragged me over to an archway where we rode out the earthquake. Apparently it was 90 seconds long, but it felt more like an hour. It was absolutely terrifying, people were screaming, glass was breaking, people were throwing bottles and the building was shaking so intensely that I honestly thought it was going to collapse on us. Thank God for Chile's strict building codes.

When it ended, we all made for the exit and found the other half of our group. The three Chilean boys with us very kindly offered to walk us back to the apartment building of our friends. Hundreds of people were out in the streets. There was glass and rubble everywhere. Nobody's phones were working, and there wasn't a taxi in sight. The walk back to the building was a long one, I'm pretty sure we were lost for some of it. When we got back to the building, we found our other friend who had left us earlier and were happy to see her safe and sound. She said she had been sleeping at the time and had been thrown from her bed. Our Chilean escorts parted with us to go check on their friends and family.

After about an hour, most of our friends went upstairs to their apartment, but one girl and I were determined to get home. We spent almost four hours outside, trying to hail cabs, talking to various Chileans, trying to find buses and at about 7:30 we had a little luck. The phones were operating again and I was able to get in touch with my host family who came and picked us up. I was so happy to see them! And see that they were alright. We got back to the house around 8am where I promptly went to bed. I woke up three hours later to watch some of the news reports. The damage looks catastrophic. Luckily I was also able to call my parents before they saw anything on the news. It seems that everyone I know here is fine, just shaken up. Pun intended. I'll try to take some pictures of the damage if I get out into the city, but for now the public transportation isn't working.

Chau for now!

Pata-oh-my-God-nia

Well, I'm back in Santiago after eight crazy days at the bottom of the world. Here's the story.

We arrived in Punta Arenas early in the morning on February 17th. There isn't much in that town, except the airport. It's really just a gateway to Puerto Natales, which in itself is a gateway to Torres del Paine. After a three hour bus ride to Puerto Natales we found our hostel, "Erratic Rock" and dropped our bags off. After some lunch and some sightseeing (the town is situated on a beautiful lake with a gorgeous backdrop of snow-covered mountains) we headed to the building next door to our hostel to listen to the free seminar on how best to approach the W (the hike through Torres del Paine). The guide was helpful and after the seminar we rented some tents, stoves, bowls and mugs and decided to go shopping for some last minute food and supplies. We loaded up on dried fruit, salami, nuts, instant soup and chocolate and cooked dinner at the hostel. We decided to spend the night in, watching a movie and getting some sleep to prepare for our 7:30 AM bus in the morning.

The bus ride was about four hours after a couple stops. We had been advised to do the hike backwards so we opted for that and then we also opted for a little extra hike to save money on a catamaran that you could ride to the first camp. We set off in fairly good weather (just a slight drizzle) and with five hours and 18km ahead of us we were in good spirits. About an hour into the hike the group split into two and myself and two girls walked a little slower to take in the scenery. Our only stipulation was to make it to the camp by sunset so we had plenty of time.

The first hour or so was fairly boring. Miles and miles of grass and not much else. After that, the mountains came into view and they were absolutely spectacular. Just as we rounded that corner a team of wild horses crossed our path. We really were in the middle of nowhere. When we stopped talking, we couldn't hear a single noise except for the wind. It was breathtaking.

The trail eventually lead to a river where we refilled our canteens with the third cleanest water in the world (third after Antarctica and Greenland). When we hit the halfway mark we sat down for a picnic. The sun was starting to come out and it was really quite nice out. We walked for a couple more hours, always getting closer to Paine Grande, the huge mountain looming in the distance. We passed a horse skeleton on the trail, hopeful not to run into a Patagonia Puma. About an hour before camp there was something called a miradora, which is a lookout point. The mountains stood behind an enormous lake, Lago Pehoé and we couldn't help but marvel at it for a minute. Then, we started what was arguably the most difficult part of the trail. After four hours of hiking with thirty-pound backpacks our legs were almost jello and this was the rockiest and uppy-downiest part of the trail. Then suddenly, as we were walking along a rocky ledge, I tripped on a rock and my enormous backpack took me down. I fell hard, skinning my knee badly and spraining my ankle. The camp was only fifteen minutes away so we continued walking but as the night and next morning wore on, it became abundantly clear that I was in no shape to continue walking. I met up with some students from our program and took the boat back to the place to take the bus back to Puerto Natales.

Once back in Puerto Natales I found two guys from the program who were planning on taking a day trip to the glacier in Calafate, Argentina the following day. I booked a ticket on their bus and the next morning was another early one. This was a long drive, about five hours including crossing the border. I experienced the magic of the US passport, noticing that the US citizens were the only people who didn't have to fill out any paperwork to leave Chile or to enter Argentina.

The glacier was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. I didn't even really realize what a glacier was until I saw this one, but it really is a giant river of frozen solid ice. Luckily, as for almost all of my trip to Patagonia, the weather was flawless so I got to enjoy the glacier in the sunshine with a backdrop of brilliant blue sky. The tour guide said that due to global warming it's melting and moving at an alarming rate, so I'm happy I got to see it while it is still in its glory years. I enjoyed about an hour of listening to my i-Pod and sitting on a deck staring at the glacier. Sometimes, nature is just unbelievable.

We arrived back in Puerto Natales rather late. The next day and a half I spent mostly hanging out with some nice people I met in my hostel. I had an advantage to make friends, because out of everyone I met I was by far the most proficient in Spanish so I acted as a translator from English to Spanish not only in restaurants, but for the caretaker of my hostel as well. A very rewarding experience, but I was thrilled when the rest of my group returned from their hike. They were dirty, exhausted and full of stories but it seemed that they had the time of their lives. I was jealous that I wasn't able to share the experience with them, but I had plenty of experiences of my own as well. We stayed that night in Puerto Natales and then took the 10AM bus back to Punta Arenas where we parted with half the group who had earlier flights back to Santiago.

Immediately when we arrived in Punta Arenas we set to work to find a hostel to stay the night and also to find a tour to the island where a giant colony of penguins lives. These were not easy tasks. The hostels in the center of the city were expensive and we hit three travel agencies before we found one that had a boat big enough to survive the foul weather that also fit our time frames. Backpacks in hand, we took a cab to the ferry on which we spent two rocky hours (through the Strait of Magellan) to arrive at the island. Isla Magdalena is home to a colony of 150,000 Magellanic penguins that live there between September and March of every year. The weather and length of daylight are apparently perfect for the breeding of these penguins.

I've never seen anything quite like a colony of penguins in the wild. The penguins seemed to be quite used to the presence of humans and would often waddle right past you on the path. We weren't allowed to touch them, of course, but it would have been easy. Penguins are cute on tv, and in the zoo but in the wild it's a whole new experience. We had an hour on the island to take pictures of all the little guys. It was a once in a lifetime experience. We remarked that in order to see something like this, you have to be in that part of the world, which is no easy feat. Chile was clearly the right choice to study abroad.

One last night in Punta Arenas, and then about half a day there to find some cheap Llama wool hats and choripan (bread and chorizo). We head to the airport early, in hopes that we could find an earlier flight than ours which wasn't scheduled to leave until 7AM the following morning. We had limited success, catching one at 2AM and got back into Santiago around 5AM. Exhausted, and sick of traveling we headed to our respective houses. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to enjoy it. Pictures in the next post!!!