Una caminata en La Campana (a hike in La Campana)

July 26, 2009 Sunday 9:00pm

As I began to write this exciting post about my hike in La Campana, my host mum Pili came in with an after dinner treat, a glass of mango sour. She told me it would help me sleep really really well tonight. She is such a sweet person. :)

So last night I had the most brilliant idea I think I have had since arriving here. I decided that Erin and I needed to go find a place and hike! I have been missing my lovely spring/summer hikes in Boise with Miss Hannah and the pack of dogs. And Pili told me that there were areas close to Viña, but that they weren't safe to go alone. So off we went back to Olmué and the big reserve/national park called "La Campana" to go hiking. The plan was to get up early, but of course that didn't actually happen. We eventually made it out of the house today a little before 11am, then took an hour long metro ride to a town called Limache. Then a 45 min bus ride to Olmué and the gates of La Campana. We had packed a lunch, so after paying to get into the reserve area, we found a cute little bench and ate our yummy lunch that I packed for us. And then off we went. We had a map, because the very nice man when we paid to get into the park helped us figure out the best trail to take and how long it would take, since the park closes at 5:30pm. So we set off on our hike, and we took the easy trail, and it was quite a trek! More difficult than some of the trails in the Boise foothills. But I felt right at home, I didn't realize just how much I had missed hiking! The whole time, I was determined to find a hiking stick, and it wasn't until we started the trek down the mountain that I found one, and I named him Edmund. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture with me and Edmund, but he was a wonderful hiking partner, and I left him by a sign at the end of the trail before you leave the reserve for another person to enjoy his company. By the time we left though, we had been hiking for a good 3-4 hours, I was absolutely exhausted and so not looking forward to the long bus/metro/and trek up my hill back to the house. But we made it safe and sound, and once/dinner tonight was EXTRA good after such a wonderful day. Oh and I forgot to mention, fate was on our side today because it was THE most beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky, and perfect for hiking. :)

This is a photo of the inside of the micro's (the buses) - yeah its hard to tell, but they can be pretty nasty. And the drivers drive so crazy, yep I'm not a fan. It's my last resort for transportation here.

This is the entrance to one of the many mines in the La Campana area...all old and shut down of course. Well at least I think so.

Perfect day for a hike!

It's amazing how many types of plant-life are here. They have palm trees, pines, cactus, and a lot of eucalyptus and those types of trees. Very very bakan (cool)! ;)

This trail totally reminded me of home and the lovely foothills. Right Miss Hannah? :)

These two photos were after we trekked through the covered forest for what felt like forever, and it was all uphill. I definitely got my exercise today! :) But the view here was amazing, beyond words.

I just thought the few photos of trees below were so neat. I love how some of the trees can bend and twist and coil into one another. Muy muy bakan!

What the trails looked like in the shaded/trees covered part of the forest and hike...this was the majority of the trail. And I loved it because it was nice and cool, and I was so hot from hiking that it was a nice feeling on my skin. :)

Erin was forcing me to get my picture taken, telling me I would regret it later. And I'm sure WAY later I might, but at the moment it was like pulling my teeth to get me to do it.

This was our lunch spot...a perfect stone bunch built for two. And right next to it was a pretty stream, so I listened to the water as I lunched and took in the peaceful moment with Er.

If you can't tell, the day starts from the bottom in the pictures and then the photos on the top are the last from the day. It's too hard for me to do it opposite. So just always start from the bottom and work your way up if you need sequential order *cough cough*my dad*cough cough* ;)

P.s. Just a little side note for everyone that knows the Harry Potter movies. You know the "womping willow" tree in those movies, well Chile has those types of trees! I never believed that a tree like that existed until I got here. They aren't as big, but they look exactly the same! I need to get a photo, but every time I have seen them its been in a moving vehicle and no time to take a photo. But I had to share my little Harry Potter moment with everyone. Haha :)

Las noches en Chile

July 25, 2009

So last night was my craziest night in Chile thus far. As most know, I am not a late night person, and I usually prefer to go to bed by like 10 or 11. Yeah last night I didn't actually get home until 5:30 in the morning!!! We all went out because it was the people from my summer program, it was their last night in Chile. They are all leaving on flights out of Santiago today to go back home to reality.

The nights activities:

1. 5:00 pm - took an hour long nap to prepare for the evening. Because everyone gives me crap here for "dying" by like midnight. :) And I had a feeling tonight was going to crazy from the beginning.
2. 8:00pm - was persuaded by Marcello and Erin to drink as much caffeinated tea as I could so I did not die and be falling asleep on our night of "carrete y copete" (party and drink). I must admit though, I am beginning to miss my dirt tea with fresh orange slices!
3. 9:00/9:15pm - left the house to take the metro, go pick up our friend Kayla, and go to a club in Valparaíso. It was funny because this was Marcello's first adventure on the metro in Viña and Valpo, he was like a little kid. Haha. Oh and another note, leaving the house this early to go out is almost unheard of here! The real partying doesn't even begin until like after midnight, more like 1am. But Marcello went along with our plan, but had to remind us every chance he got of how "muy temprano" (very early) it was to go out.
4. 9:45pm/10:oopm - arrived at the salsa club in Valparaíso. It is called Axe Habana, which I have already told you all the little story about what Ache/Axe means. This place is so awesome, its like I traveled directly to Cuba immediately when I walk in.

- Here I tried a drink called an "Amareto sour" - and it was SO good.

- We did the little salsa dance lessons

- Then I danced for a while, extremely bad I might add, but I'm trying and thats all

that matters right :)

- I sat with the group on dancing breaks and we shared our last moments together

5. 12:30/1:00am - we left the salsa club and walked down the street to a hole in the wall,

undeground club. It was called Epicentro. We only went there because it was free and

our money was dwindling for the night. And clubs become kind of expensive to get in

here after midnight. We sipped on drinks, chatted, danced some more, and sang to

American/U.S. music. It was so much fun. Then the rest of our friends came a little

laterand we repeated it all over again. :) We met a real nice group of chilenos while

we were there. And as we were all sitting there having a good time, I looked over to the entrance of the bar, and there was a guy on the floor with a crowd of people around him. Marcello went and checked it out, and I guess he was just covered in blood. Probably he was just extremely intoxicated and he fell down the stairs while trying to enter the bar/club. I sat there are watched for a while, and the boys we were with of course noticed how worried/interested I was. And so I decided to casually go over and check it out. Yeah it was pretty bad. By then most of the blood was all wiped up, but yeah still blood. He was completely unconscious, and his eyes were open. And especially with the darkness and weird lighting in the place, it was way freaky looking. I just hope that we is going to be okay. We waited for like 15 min and there was still not ambulance arriving, so Marcello called the ambulance just to make sure. Yeah I'm guessing it took about a half hour for them to arrive. Marcello explained to me that there is public and private ambulances here in Chile. Public doesn't seem to give a damn where as private, which is quite expensive, seems to carry about business the same as all ambulances do in the states.

6. 4:00am - The boys we were hanging out with tried to convince us to go to the beach and hang out more. But Marcello and Erin were completely exhausted, and I was too, just didn't know it until we left and were in the colectivo riding home. It was pretty funny though, my friend Kayla was so drunk and we had to make sure she got home. We walked her to her house, and it was out of our way, but we still did it. Marcello is a gentleman and there is no way he would have let her walk home on her own. But she was the stereotypical drunk, she was actually hiccuping! It was hilarious to me...maybe because I was delirious from lack of sleep, I don't know but it was very very funny.

7. 5:30 am - We arrived home to the house. We had a bit of breakfast and then went off to bed.

It was quite an interesting night. Next time though, I told Erin if we are going to stay out that late, then I want to go to the beach and watch the sunrise. I mean if you are going to be up all night, por qué no! (why not). :)

So needless to say, today has been a very relaxing day. I slept the majority of the morning/early afternoon. Then Erin and I went and said goodbye to our ISA friends that were leaving today. And that was a total bummer, but I am excited to meet the new group on Monday. It will just be different this time, because this group had their 4 days in Santiago to bond and get to know one another. But who knows, it should be interesting anyways. Also, this afternoon we went for coffee/tea/hot chocolate in a town right next to Viña del Mar thats called, Reñaca with our family. It was a really nice place. We walked the beach, then went for our coffee/tea/hot chocolate and then perused the mall and meandered out way home. Oh, and I had a drink called a "submarino." It was SO good. It's hot chocolate. But this place we went to is known for their yummy chocolate. So this drink, they bring out in a glass extremely hot milk and then on the plate next to that a big stick of solid chocolate. You get to mix and make your own hot chocolate with amazing chocolate. So good and can't wait to try another one. :) We had some great conversation there too. I found out that mi hermana (my sister) Constanza has the same taste in movies as me, because we both love foreign films and spanish films. She loves the same director as me, Pedro Almodovar. And I recommend that you all seek out and watch a movie made by him, they are all wonderful! :)

Tomorrow I am going hiking. We are taking a lunch and spending the day hiking. It should be a blast, I am way excited! I will bring my camera to show you all wonderful pictures of the day. Because this post will be without pictures since I didn't take my camera last night. But if I get photos from my friend Kayla, I will be sure to post a few on here. Thats only if I don't look absolutely ridiculous in all of them. :)

Buenas noches mi famila y amigos!

The last installment from last weekend (and it only took a week to post)

Hola!

So today I had my finals, which I am pretty sure I did pretty well on. I aced my grammar exam and recieved a 98% in the class. But not sure about my culture class. We graded ourselves today, and then I'm sure she will assess what our grades really should be. But I am hoping for an A in that class too. :)

But yes back to last weekend, this post will have the rest of the photos for you all to see, almost all are of the ocean. It's just too beautiful to not take thousands of photos of! And of course U have to share them all with you. :)

All the photos below are of the northern part of Algarrobo and la piscina (the largest pool in the world - or one of the largest pools in the world - could be bigger now) The photos of the la piscina are crummy, but I might go online and try to find another, like an aerial shot for you al to see because its just to big to fit into one photos on the ground. So sorry those don't look too impressive, its way more cool in person. :)

Below are all photos from Santa Domingo - a really pretty little beach town that went to at sunset, perfect timing to see the ocean!