One of the Universities I can pick classes from is Diego Portales University. It is a small private college in the heart of Santiago. It has many different specialties including health, economics, political science, geography, engineering, literature, education, architecture, art, law, history, etc. This university also has a requirement for its students to take classes included in the formacion general, or General Formation. This formation includes classes from many areas and serves as an opportunity to broaden their horizons and take classes in other areas that will help them understand their area better... think liberal arts education in the United States.
These general formation classes are usually easier, feature more group work, and serve more as introduction courses. This interested me, so I was recommended to go to International Economic Relations by Carmen Gloria one of the academic advisers COPA-IFSA (my program) has on staff.
The class is taught by a chief deputy in the Chilean Foreign Ministry, which is really neat. He has a lot of experience considering he has also been a diplomat and ambassador for Chile over his extensive career. He has a specialized, post graduate degree which is focused on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which is extremely fascinating to me, because our Model United Nations group has been to conferences where we have represented countries on UNCTAD.
I am hoping to get this class to count as my Country and Area Studies in Economics class at St. Thomas. The approval has not gone through yet, so I am hoping. If not, it will still be an interesting class and I can take Economics of China when I get back to UST, which is a good alternative. You may be saying to yourself, International Economic Relations doesn't really sound like a Chilean Economics class, but the syllabus indicates that we are studying the Chilean economy through the lens of its economic relations with other countries. My group must research the relationship between Chile and Japan and give a 25 minute presentation on the topic and lead the class discussion for that day. We also have to submit a paper at the end of the class that goes over our research. The only other grade we have in this class is our final exam. So its only a little work, but I think I can handle it. I really like when we only have one exam because it means I can work on my spanish the entire time I am here and then hopefully do very well on the mostly essay tests. Right now, tests would be difficult because my grammar, especially on the spot, would be pretty difficult to understand. In a couple months, it will be different, but, its gonna take some time. :)
Diego Portales, like the other universities here in Chile have many campuses, but different from the other universities in Santiago, its campuses are all situation in the same general vicinity. Which is nice. They also have the best cafeteria specials from my understanding... which is more important then you know!
This is my second favorite school, just because I like its buildings and its environment. The students are interesting because it seems like most of the students are non-traditional. This could be because I am taking this class in the evening, but it does lend a very different environment to the classroom, which I have enjoyed so far.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Visiting the Policia de Investigaciones
Even if you don't know spanish, you probably can deduct the title of this blog. Vising the Investigative Police. Basically, Chile has three types of military forces: the carabineros (what you are use to as state police), the policia de investigaciones (what you are use to as the FBI), and their military force which is mostly made up of navy and airforce members, which makes sense for the geographic size and shape of Chile.
Our IFSA group visited the national headquarters of the policia de investigaciones because we needed to register our visa within 30 days of arriving in Chile. The process was a long one. Many of my friends from california and they compared the line, or waiting room, to the California DMV. I was amazed because the Minnesota DMV is slow but not that slow. I am learning here that Minnesota though is in general one of the best states when it comes to everything.... that is what my friend sam says. He grew up in California but now goes to Carelton in Northfield.
So, basically, we sat in line and got our visas checked and then we got a nice white card that we were told needed to be presented to a different agency which we would have to do on our own to get our national id card. I have gotten this completed and now I officially have a chilean foreign national id card. Actually, this made me much more willing to support a national id law... still not sure about how I feel about this political topic, but everyone in Chile has this id and its used for everything and I don't think people get discriminated with it, but maybe I need to ask.
After visiting the Chilean FBI, I had the day off. I can't remember what I did which probably means that I didn't do anything that exciting.
Our IFSA group visited the national headquarters of the policia de investigaciones because we needed to register our visa within 30 days of arriving in Chile. The process was a long one. Many of my friends from california and they compared the line, or waiting room, to the California DMV. I was amazed because the Minnesota DMV is slow but not that slow. I am learning here that Minnesota though is in general one of the best states when it comes to everything.... that is what my friend sam says. He grew up in California but now goes to Carelton in Northfield.
So, basically, we sat in line and got our visas checked and then we got a nice white card that we were told needed to be presented to a different agency which we would have to do on our own to get our national id card. I have gotten this completed and now I officially have a chilean foreign national id card. Actually, this made me much more willing to support a national id law... still not sure about how I feel about this political topic, but everyone in Chile has this id and its used for everything and I don't think people get discriminated with it, but maybe I need to ask.
After visiting the Chilean FBI, I had the day off. I can't remember what I did which probably means that I didn't do anything that exciting.
Church in Santiago
On the first Sunday I spent with my host family, I told them that I would love to go to Church with them. Church, started at 11:30am and we needed to leave at 11am. So, I was up early and was ready to leave, but the rest of my family wasn't. It was interesting because I really wanted to go to church. We ended up leaving around 12pm and getting there a little before 12:30. The church was singing very contemporary music and it was packed. Many people had their hands in the air and behind the altar a band made up of two vocalists, a guitarist, and a keyboard made the music for worship. It was different for me, who is use to a pipe organ.
The pastor, who is originally from the United Kingdom, gave a little prayer after the music has stopped and then, he left. Before he left he and his wife introduced themselves to me because they knew I was from the United States. They welcomed me to the church and told me to come to the youth events and to the youth service at night. It was weird for me to have a pastor open up a church service and then leave. Pastors, like everywhere (my church in the United States is currently looking for a pastor) are hard to come by, so here this pastor ministers many congregations and workers who just have a passion for the Lord write sermons and lead the rest of the church services. Sometimes, the pastor does run the service, he recently gave the sermon on sex and how it should be saved for marriage.
It was very awkward for me at times during the service because I come from a very traditional, conservative brand of religion. During church in Santiago, sometimes groups will form and have little prayer circles, or will yell out Alleluia! Which is great, just something I am not use to. Not to mention everything in spanish makes for an interesting service, where sometimes you feel lost (with the language) and found (with the power of Christ) all at the same time. At times in the service you are suppose to hug the people next to you, which is somewhat like Peace Be With you in the LCMS chruch, but much more contact. For example husbands and wives often kiss, very deeply during this part of the service.
Overall it was a great experience and the people really did open up to me like a family, which was a wonderful feeling. They even sang worship songs by Michael W. Smith, which made it more easy for me to follow along.
I never even said what type of church this is. The church is Anglican and the more liberal kind, not like that of the formal Church of England that I attended during holy week this spring in London. You can definitely tell the people in this church have a love for God.
At the same time, from what I did understand in the two sermons I have heard, it seems much more like a feel good church then what I like. I like churches where they challenge you to live better and help you become humble in the sight of God. I didn't get the feeling of challenge in these services. Also, I miss communion, which they do not have during the services that have contemporary music. They have a traditional service that my family does not go to earlier in the morning. Also something that I have found I really enjoy about my church is the very direct confession of sins that we have at the beginning. When I attend churches that do not have that part at the beginning where you say as a group... "I have sinned against you by my thoughts, words, and deeds..." I don't feel the sin being lifted off my shoulders... even though I know it is... I have a spiritual moment when those words are said and the pastor tells me that my sins are forgiven. Its very special, important, and personal.
To be fair, there are times when Pastor Dan at my church would not have this part in the service and its something that bothered me then too. I really enjoy that very direct confrontation I have with my sinful nature and with my God and the feeling of forgiveness afterwords. I hope this is not something that I alone experience, I am sure that others have to experience as well.
The pastor, who is originally from the United Kingdom, gave a little prayer after the music has stopped and then, he left. Before he left he and his wife introduced themselves to me because they knew I was from the United States. They welcomed me to the church and told me to come to the youth events and to the youth service at night. It was weird for me to have a pastor open up a church service and then leave. Pastors, like everywhere (my church in the United States is currently looking for a pastor) are hard to come by, so here this pastor ministers many congregations and workers who just have a passion for the Lord write sermons and lead the rest of the church services. Sometimes, the pastor does run the service, he recently gave the sermon on sex and how it should be saved for marriage.
It was very awkward for me at times during the service because I come from a very traditional, conservative brand of religion. During church in Santiago, sometimes groups will form and have little prayer circles, or will yell out Alleluia! Which is great, just something I am not use to. Not to mention everything in spanish makes for an interesting service, where sometimes you feel lost (with the language) and found (with the power of Christ) all at the same time. At times in the service you are suppose to hug the people next to you, which is somewhat like Peace Be With you in the LCMS chruch, but much more contact. For example husbands and wives often kiss, very deeply during this part of the service.
Overall it was a great experience and the people really did open up to me like a family, which was a wonderful feeling. They even sang worship songs by Michael W. Smith, which made it more easy for me to follow along.
I never even said what type of church this is. The church is Anglican and the more liberal kind, not like that of the formal Church of England that I attended during holy week this spring in London. You can definitely tell the people in this church have a love for God.
At the same time, from what I did understand in the two sermons I have heard, it seems much more like a feel good church then what I like. I like churches where they challenge you to live better and help you become humble in the sight of God. I didn't get the feeling of challenge in these services. Also, I miss communion, which they do not have during the services that have contemporary music. They have a traditional service that my family does not go to earlier in the morning. Also something that I have found I really enjoy about my church is the very direct confession of sins that we have at the beginning. When I attend churches that do not have that part at the beginning where you say as a group... "I have sinned against you by my thoughts, words, and deeds..." I don't feel the sin being lifted off my shoulders... even though I know it is... I have a spiritual moment when those words are said and the pastor tells me that my sins are forgiven. Its very special, important, and personal.
To be fair, there are times when Pastor Dan at my church would not have this part in the service and its something that bothered me then too. I really enjoy that very direct confrontation I have with my sinful nature and with my God and the feeling of forgiveness afterwords. I hope this is not something that I alone experience, I am sure that others have to experience as well.
La Universidad de Chile
This will be a description of the Universidad de Chile or one of the largest and most prestigious public universities in Santiago.
The University of Chile, like the other universities I can attend, has many different campuses. The one closest to the COPA-IFSA office (where my program is headquartered) is the Architecture/Urban Studies and Economics and Businesss. This university is more comparable to the University of Minnesota. It is very large and has had many very important people graduate from there. These important people include most of Chile's post-dictatorship Presidents, including Ms. Machelle Bachelet, the current President, and first woman president of Chile.
This orientation session I attended was the best. They took us on a bus tour of the campuses and also fed us Dunkin' Donuts and sodas... what a way to welcome American students! Now, I am remembering though, that was the only thing I really remember from the orientation session. The presentation itself was quite boring. One librarian talked for an hour about the libraries like we had never seen a library before in our lives. We also got a lecture about how this University was world renowned and not like our universities in the 'sticks'. I was quite offended, especially because my university has much nicer facilities then his does. I mean, I am from the most developed and powerful country on earth, please don't dismiss my country, my mind, my abilities, and my educational system.
There was one class that I was interested in at this university, and I attended one class period. It was the republic and the community: democracy in crisis, which if in English would have been perfect and amazing, but in Spanish, not so much. The readings included Hannah Ardent, which I really enjoyed reading her work: On Revolution at the Yale Summer School program in 2003, but again in Spanish, it would have been to difficult.
The lecture at this class was also very different from the Catholic University because the professor stood on a very large podium that was almost 5 feet off of the ground. It made him look like he was a great ruler or something, which is very different from anything I have ever experienced at St. Thomas or at any university here in Chile. I personally really don't like it. I really like it when you and the professor are on the same level, it makes for a better learning environment I think. This made me feel very lucky and happy that I decided to go to St. Thomas where this environment is much more prevalent compared to the U of M (which I believe is a very good school by the way).
The students here are very different from Catholic University students as well. They are more the "common" students with not so much money, but definitely educated and intelligent. They asked very insightful questions --- actually better then the students at the Catholic University. They were also forced to answer questions that the professor asked them out of the blue and most of them had very good answers. It was actually quite impressive.
I ended up not taking this course, because of its difficulty, but I enjoyed visiting it and experiencing what the public university setting was like here in Chile. It definitely was different.
The University of Chile, like the other universities I can attend, has many different campuses. The one closest to the COPA-IFSA office (where my program is headquartered) is the Architecture/Urban Studies and Economics and Businesss. This university is more comparable to the University of Minnesota. It is very large and has had many very important people graduate from there. These important people include most of Chile's post-dictatorship Presidents, including Ms. Machelle Bachelet, the current President, and first woman president of Chile.
This orientation session I attended was the best. They took us on a bus tour of the campuses and also fed us Dunkin' Donuts and sodas... what a way to welcome American students! Now, I am remembering though, that was the only thing I really remember from the orientation session. The presentation itself was quite boring. One librarian talked for an hour about the libraries like we had never seen a library before in our lives. We also got a lecture about how this University was world renowned and not like our universities in the 'sticks'. I was quite offended, especially because my university has much nicer facilities then his does. I mean, I am from the most developed and powerful country on earth, please don't dismiss my country, my mind, my abilities, and my educational system.
There was one class that I was interested in at this university, and I attended one class period. It was the republic and the community: democracy in crisis, which if in English would have been perfect and amazing, but in Spanish, not so much. The readings included Hannah Ardent, which I really enjoyed reading her work: On Revolution at the Yale Summer School program in 2003, but again in Spanish, it would have been to difficult.
The lecture at this class was also very different from the Catholic University because the professor stood on a very large podium that was almost 5 feet off of the ground. It made him look like he was a great ruler or something, which is very different from anything I have ever experienced at St. Thomas or at any university here in Chile. I personally really don't like it. I really like it when you and the professor are on the same level, it makes for a better learning environment I think. This made me feel very lucky and happy that I decided to go to St. Thomas where this environment is much more prevalent compared to the U of M (which I believe is a very good school by the way).
The students here are very different from Catholic University students as well. They are more the "common" students with not so much money, but definitely educated and intelligent. They asked very insightful questions --- actually better then the students at the Catholic University. They were also forced to answer questions that the professor asked them out of the blue and most of them had very good answers. It was actually quite impressive.
I ended up not taking this course, because of its difficulty, but I enjoyed visiting it and experiencing what the public university setting was like here in Chile. It definitely was different.
Comment on the US Presidential Race
A recent poll found that Sen. John McCain has gained in polling numbers in three battle ground states, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio. While this may be troubling for you, you must look carefully at the poll.
The poll was conducted by contacting "likely voters". While in most cases, this means that the poll is more credible, I tend to disagree in this election year.
Sen. Barack Obama has shown the ability to motivate young and uninterested voters to attend their polling places in the Democratic Primary. It is absurd to expect these unlikely voters to sit at home in November. This poll, most likely, did not take into account these voters.
While I claim to be no expert. I think that the media needs to be more clear on what it is reporting to the American people. If Sen. McCain takes the lead in a few important states, this gives the media reason to make this race more exciting then if Sen. Obama himself is winning big in every state. The more the media can keep any race at 50-50, the more viewers and money they can generate.
This blog is not politically motivated, well I am trying not to be, but I am most disgusted with the media, as I normally am, in this presidential election. The media has given much more air time to Sen. Obama, and they have not pushed Sen. Obama to say yes to Sen. McCain's call for town hall forums on important topics.
I support Sen. Obama for president, however, more then that, I want a free, fair, and open discussion about the issues that face our country. I don't think either candidate has all the right answers, I never do, but by discussing these important issues, Americans can become more educated on the topics, and can make better decisions in November, which is the most important objective.
I want the media to ask Sen. Obama the tough questions because we have seen what the media can do when they fail to ask the tough questions when we look at the past eight years. While I, and few of my friends, were being labeled unpatriotic for not supporting the Iraq War, the media raked in huge profits as they showed the "shock and awe" of the power of the US military. Who was asking the tough questions when the war started? It wasn't the media. Now that it is popular to be against the war, many Americans want to pull our troops out immediately, creating a political vacuum which will ensure our failed objective of a stable, democratic, peaceful government in Iraq. This idea maybe popular, but the media needs to ask the candidates these questions and have them defend their positions. The best forum, I believe, for this discussion is through nationally televised town hall debates.
The main objective of this post is to remind people to look deeper then the front page of the paper or the headlines on CNN. Misleading headlines like, McCain pulls ahead in three battleground states might just get you. Look deeper, ask the tough questions, and expect more from your media and your candidates.
The poll was conducted by contacting "likely voters". While in most cases, this means that the poll is more credible, I tend to disagree in this election year.
Sen. Barack Obama has shown the ability to motivate young and uninterested voters to attend their polling places in the Democratic Primary. It is absurd to expect these unlikely voters to sit at home in November. This poll, most likely, did not take into account these voters.
While I claim to be no expert. I think that the media needs to be more clear on what it is reporting to the American people. If Sen. McCain takes the lead in a few important states, this gives the media reason to make this race more exciting then if Sen. Obama himself is winning big in every state. The more the media can keep any race at 50-50, the more viewers and money they can generate.
This blog is not politically motivated, well I am trying not to be, but I am most disgusted with the media, as I normally am, in this presidential election. The media has given much more air time to Sen. Obama, and they have not pushed Sen. Obama to say yes to Sen. McCain's call for town hall forums on important topics.
I support Sen. Obama for president, however, more then that, I want a free, fair, and open discussion about the issues that face our country. I don't think either candidate has all the right answers, I never do, but by discussing these important issues, Americans can become more educated on the topics, and can make better decisions in November, which is the most important objective.
I want the media to ask Sen. Obama the tough questions because we have seen what the media can do when they fail to ask the tough questions when we look at the past eight years. While I, and few of my friends, were being labeled unpatriotic for not supporting the Iraq War, the media raked in huge profits as they showed the "shock and awe" of the power of the US military. Who was asking the tough questions when the war started? It wasn't the media. Now that it is popular to be against the war, many Americans want to pull our troops out immediately, creating a political vacuum which will ensure our failed objective of a stable, democratic, peaceful government in Iraq. This idea maybe popular, but the media needs to ask the candidates these questions and have them defend their positions. The best forum, I believe, for this discussion is through nationally televised town hall debates.
The main objective of this post is to remind people to look deeper then the front page of the paper or the headlines on CNN. Misleading headlines like, McCain pulls ahead in three battleground states might just get you. Look deeper, ask the tough questions, and expect more from your media and your candidates.
Monday, July 28, 2008
1st Spanish Lesson
I am writing this for people who want to learn a little bit of Spanish. If you decide to visit a Spanish speaking country, you will enjoy more respect and less hassle if you learn a few phrases. I will add more as the semester goes on.
Greetings!
Buenos Dias - Good Morning! (Can be used all morning until 12, noon.)
Buenas Tardes - Good Afternoon! (Used mostly in the afternoon, 12 - sun goes down.)
Buenas Noches - Good Night! (Used mostly for going to bed, or in the late night hours.)
Hola - Hello (Used to greet someone, but to answer the phone they say Hallo.)
Hasta Luego - Catch ya later! (Used with good friends.)
Chow! - See ya! (Used with people you know.)
Adios! - Good bye! (Used with everyone.)
--- In Progress ----
Greetings!
Buenos Dias - Good Morning! (Can be used all morning until 12, noon.)
Buenas Tardes - Good Afternoon! (Used mostly in the afternoon, 12 - sun goes down.)
Buenas Noches - Good Night! (Used mostly for going to bed, or in the late night hours.)
Hola - Hello (Used to greet someone, but to answer the phone they say Hallo.)
Hasta Luego - Catch ya later! (Used with good friends.)
Chow! - See ya! (Used with people you know.)
Adios! - Good bye! (Used with everyone.)
--- In Progress ----
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Moving in with My Family
Well on Saturday, I moved in with my family and it was an interesting experience to say the least.
I got to get all of my stuff unpacked, which was probably the nicest feeling of all. I have a closet where I can put all my clothes, a dresser for things I can organize, a desk for my books, and a night stand. I put my pictures up of my Remington, my friends, family, and Carrie as well. It always makes me feel a little closer to the people I love with their pictures staring at me. (That sounds awkward, but really it is a nice thing.) I will have to put up pictures of my room and the house so you can see it.
I have an interesting "chandelier" in my room that has beads and features different shades of blue... it is really quite... interesting is the best word. My favorite part of the entire room is the map of the world that is on the world. I adore maps. This last year, I spent $100 (way to much) for a huge poster sized map of the world that is very detailed. I hung it up in my room at college right by my bed. It was fun to stare up on the wall and see places in the world that I wished to learn more about or visit. If you are ever looking for a gift for me and you don't know what to get books and maps of any sort are great bets. I love them both. Someday, I hope that I can be the owner of a huge globe, just because the fascinate me so much. (Well that was quite a tangent... sorry about that.)
My family invited their friends over for a BBQ, which I was very excited about. I thought that it was going to be for lunch, but it didn't. Instead in the afternoon we went to the mall to pick up new shirts and pants for my host dad, who was starting a new job on Monday. It was neat to see the malls here in Chile. To be totally honest they are much like our malls in the United States, but with palm trees, and better ice cream stores. While Jaime was trying to find a pair of pants and shoes, I was going crazy looking at the amazing tie collection that they had. The ties were a bargain $14 bucks for 2 and for good brands. I almost bought two, and I may even go back... especially since I have plans to go to some cool events here in Santiago (more on that later), but we will see.
After the mall, probably around 8 or 9, we went to the grocery store. We probably spent about an hour in the grocery store, leaving around 10pm?? Not really sure, but we picked up the meat for the BBQ. We got back to the house and the family's friends came over a little later. Just like in the United States the men went out side to shoot the shit while the meat was cooking on the BBQ, while the women clucked like hens inside. :)
It was interesting, I kept going back and forth between the two, eventually talking about politics with the guys and trying the meat as it cooked. It was interesting to see the similarities however between the way they acted and the way my family would act if we had friends over for a BBQ. It was the exact same.
By the time had come to eat, it was 2am... not something I am use too. We ate dinner, which was absolutely wonderful by the way, but I was so exhausted that when the meal had ended and they started offering me drinks, I had to decline and go to bed. My host parents ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning, probably explaining why we were late for church the next morning (read more about this in the Church in Santiago blog above).
The first night in the bed was fine, but very cold. The house here doesn't have heat, so the blankets are all you have, Most of the time the blankets work fine, but you have to position yourself just correctly enough so that you can have your entire body covered. I also pulled out my sleeping bag that I brought all the way from the United States (which was a huge pain) and I am so glad that I have it here now because it really helps in the cold nights! It was a good investment. Next I need a sleeping bag that weighs less and can be scrunched up into a very small container for backpacking.... now my sleeping bag takes up a lot of space in my bag. Does anyone know where a good one of these would be and for a good price? Just wondering.
Well, the first night was good overall. I ended up waking up around 8am, but my family slept very late, so I chilled in my room playing solitaire. Good for reasoning probably, I should be doing logic games and sudoku's to help prepare me for the LSAT huh? Read more about that adventure in future blogs! :)
I got to get all of my stuff unpacked, which was probably the nicest feeling of all. I have a closet where I can put all my clothes, a dresser for things I can organize, a desk for my books, and a night stand. I put my pictures up of my Remington, my friends, family, and Carrie as well. It always makes me feel a little closer to the people I love with their pictures staring at me. (That sounds awkward, but really it is a nice thing.) I will have to put up pictures of my room and the house so you can see it.
I have an interesting "chandelier" in my room that has beads and features different shades of blue... it is really quite... interesting is the best word. My favorite part of the entire room is the map of the world that is on the world. I adore maps. This last year, I spent $100 (way to much) for a huge poster sized map of the world that is very detailed. I hung it up in my room at college right by my bed. It was fun to stare up on the wall and see places in the world that I wished to learn more about or visit. If you are ever looking for a gift for me and you don't know what to get books and maps of any sort are great bets. I love them both. Someday, I hope that I can be the owner of a huge globe, just because the fascinate me so much. (Well that was quite a tangent... sorry about that.)
My family invited their friends over for a BBQ, which I was very excited about. I thought that it was going to be for lunch, but it didn't. Instead in the afternoon we went to the mall to pick up new shirts and pants for my host dad, who was starting a new job on Monday. It was neat to see the malls here in Chile. To be totally honest they are much like our malls in the United States, but with palm trees, and better ice cream stores. While Jaime was trying to find a pair of pants and shoes, I was going crazy looking at the amazing tie collection that they had. The ties were a bargain $14 bucks for 2 and for good brands. I almost bought two, and I may even go back... especially since I have plans to go to some cool events here in Santiago (more on that later), but we will see.
After the mall, probably around 8 or 9, we went to the grocery store. We probably spent about an hour in the grocery store, leaving around 10pm?? Not really sure, but we picked up the meat for the BBQ. We got back to the house and the family's friends came over a little later. Just like in the United States the men went out side to shoot the shit while the meat was cooking on the BBQ, while the women clucked like hens inside. :)
It was interesting, I kept going back and forth between the two, eventually talking about politics with the guys and trying the meat as it cooked. It was interesting to see the similarities however between the way they acted and the way my family would act if we had friends over for a BBQ. It was the exact same.
By the time had come to eat, it was 2am... not something I am use too. We ate dinner, which was absolutely wonderful by the way, but I was so exhausted that when the meal had ended and they started offering me drinks, I had to decline and go to bed. My host parents ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning, probably explaining why we were late for church the next morning (read more about this in the Church in Santiago blog above).
The first night in the bed was fine, but very cold. The house here doesn't have heat, so the blankets are all you have, Most of the time the blankets work fine, but you have to position yourself just correctly enough so that you can have your entire body covered. I also pulled out my sleeping bag that I brought all the way from the United States (which was a huge pain) and I am so glad that I have it here now because it really helps in the cold nights! It was a good investment. Next I need a sleeping bag that weighs less and can be scrunched up into a very small container for backpacking.... now my sleeping bag takes up a lot of space in my bag. Does anyone know where a good one of these would be and for a good price? Just wondering.
Well, the first night was good overall. I ended up waking up around 8am, but my family slept very late, so I chilled in my room playing solitaire. Good for reasoning probably, I should be doing logic games and sudoku's to help prepare me for the LSAT huh? Read more about that adventure in future blogs! :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Orientation 3
I woke up at the hotel and got ready for the day. breakfast was from 8 to 9:30 and I got down there at 9:30 and got a little something in me. The breakfast was the same everyday, which I really liked because it was so GOOD!
After breakfast we had a session about our host families and how we should act around them. They said that we need to keep our rooms neat and tidy, which is hard for me--- but an important skill to have. They also told us to be very kind to our nana's because they work so hard.
After this session we had a break. It seems like we were always having breaks and at every break there were cookies, tea, coffee, and juice. I was NEVER hungry at the orientation because there was food everywhere.
We then all attended a session that introduced us to the classes, schedules, and academics of our host universities. This was very interesting and presented the first real challenges we would all have to face --- registering for classes. What is so difficult about registering for classes is that you have a period to shop around for the classes you want to take. In other words, for the first few weeks of class you attend different classes and pick the ones you want to take. Yale does this by the way... my dream school. This is fairly easy when you have a good idea of what you want to take and only one group of classes to choose from, but we have THREE different class lists to choose from, all on different schedules, and all with different attendance policies. If you want to attend a class at Catolica, you better start going from the beginning because attendance is a very important part of your grade and you cannot pass if you do not attend a certain percentage or more classes. It was quite an eye opening experience.
University academics are very different here in Chile compared to the United States. A student first picks his or her area of specialization and then attends university to take classes only in that specialization. For instance, I would probably go into the school of the humanities and study only political science and public policy classes. Of course, sometimes the courses leech over into others, for example economics is taught in political science, and some political science is taught in economics, however you only take classes with the people who are in your specialization. If you specialize in political science and you need to take economics, you will still only take the classes with the students from political science. This means that the class that you enter with is the class you are with for your entire duration of university. So, if you hate the kids sitting next you in class, you better start looking for a new university.
We, get thrown into this mix by taking varying classes form many different specializations which supposedly doesn't help with the trying to meet Chileans problem we tend to have.
After this we had another break, and then we all got together for our second excursion in Santiago. Like the day before, we all were given a small slip of paper telling us our objective. My groups objective was to go to a "Red House" museum on the plaza de armas and explore it. To be totally honest, I was kind of in a bad mood this day. I was not in the mood to go to a museum, I just wanted to hang out and chill. We got to the museum and to be totally honest, it blew. The only thing that was cool was the small model, figurine, shadow boxes that were set up. They looked very realistic and it was quite impressive, but the rest, wasn't that exciting. The museum is based in a house that serves as the symbol of Chilean independence and the museum focuses on the development of Santiago as a city. Ok, it was more interesting then I am giving it credit for, but it still isn't something that I would recommend on a must see in Santiago list.
After the museum we were all pretty hungry, so we grabbed an empenada, at a stand down the street. We took them to the square where we sat on a bench and watched the people, birds, and the city go by. Backing up for a second, on the walk from the stand on the street to the plaza, I saw one of the most revolting things I have ever seen in my entire life. As we walked passed the cathedral, I saw a homeless man peeing into a trash can that was sitting next to the cathedral. It was quite the site to see.
Changing subjects, after eating, we walked through the Cathedral. After the cathedral one of the girls in our group thought we really needed to go to the library to research more about our museum so that our presentation to the rest of the group was the best. (Ok, side note, I could care less if our presentation is the best of the group! It isn't graded, it is only for fun, and all they want is the gist so if they want to see it they can. I think that this girl was crazy.) But off the library we went. We got to the library, which ended up really being the national achieves, and we ended up just chilling.
After hanging out in the national achieves, we decided we needed ice cream so we walked back to the plaza de aramas to get ice cream. We sat by this famous statue in the plaza de aramas really close to the painters in the square. The painters were really cool to watch. One person was sketching people's portraits and other artists were painting on canvas using pictures, I assume people gave them. It was really cool.
After chilling on the plaza some more we jumped onto the metro and got back to the hotel where we prepared our presentation. Our presentation went off well, I mean, we weren't the best... maybe going to the library would have helped. :) But, the people go the gist and that is what really mattered.
After our presentations we got on a bus and headed to a restaurant named DONA TINA. At the restaurant we could choose what we wanted, but they first served us some absolutely amazing appetizers, which were little empenadas. (I think I have written about these in another blog, if some of my loyal readers don't know what empenadas are, I'll describe them again, leave me a comment to tell me. Thanks!) For dinner, I had some of the most amazing meat I have ever had in my life. For desert, I had something that I really didn't quite care for. It could have been much better, but you couldn't have beat the meat anyway. It was a wonderful dinner.
After dinner, we returned and I went to my room, where I promptly fell asleep.
After breakfast we had a session about our host families and how we should act around them. They said that we need to keep our rooms neat and tidy, which is hard for me--- but an important skill to have. They also told us to be very kind to our nana's because they work so hard.
After this session we had a break. It seems like we were always having breaks and at every break there were cookies, tea, coffee, and juice. I was NEVER hungry at the orientation because there was food everywhere.
We then all attended a session that introduced us to the classes, schedules, and academics of our host universities. This was very interesting and presented the first real challenges we would all have to face --- registering for classes. What is so difficult about registering for classes is that you have a period to shop around for the classes you want to take. In other words, for the first few weeks of class you attend different classes and pick the ones you want to take. Yale does this by the way... my dream school. This is fairly easy when you have a good idea of what you want to take and only one group of classes to choose from, but we have THREE different class lists to choose from, all on different schedules, and all with different attendance policies. If you want to attend a class at Catolica, you better start going from the beginning because attendance is a very important part of your grade and you cannot pass if you do not attend a certain percentage or more classes. It was quite an eye opening experience.
University academics are very different here in Chile compared to the United States. A student first picks his or her area of specialization and then attends university to take classes only in that specialization. For instance, I would probably go into the school of the humanities and study only political science and public policy classes. Of course, sometimes the courses leech over into others, for example economics is taught in political science, and some political science is taught in economics, however you only take classes with the people who are in your specialization. If you specialize in political science and you need to take economics, you will still only take the classes with the students from political science. This means that the class that you enter with is the class you are with for your entire duration of university. So, if you hate the kids sitting next you in class, you better start looking for a new university.
We, get thrown into this mix by taking varying classes form many different specializations which supposedly doesn't help with the trying to meet Chileans problem we tend to have.
After this we had another break, and then we all got together for our second excursion in Santiago. Like the day before, we all were given a small slip of paper telling us our objective. My groups objective was to go to a "Red House" museum on the plaza de armas and explore it. To be totally honest, I was kind of in a bad mood this day. I was not in the mood to go to a museum, I just wanted to hang out and chill. We got to the museum and to be totally honest, it blew. The only thing that was cool was the small model, figurine, shadow boxes that were set up. They looked very realistic and it was quite impressive, but the rest, wasn't that exciting. The museum is based in a house that serves as the symbol of Chilean independence and the museum focuses on the development of Santiago as a city. Ok, it was more interesting then I am giving it credit for, but it still isn't something that I would recommend on a must see in Santiago list.
After the museum we were all pretty hungry, so we grabbed an empenada, at a stand down the street. We took them to the square where we sat on a bench and watched the people, birds, and the city go by. Backing up for a second, on the walk from the stand on the street to the plaza, I saw one of the most revolting things I have ever seen in my entire life. As we walked passed the cathedral, I saw a homeless man peeing into a trash can that was sitting next to the cathedral. It was quite the site to see.
Changing subjects, after eating, we walked through the Cathedral. After the cathedral one of the girls in our group thought we really needed to go to the library to research more about our museum so that our presentation to the rest of the group was the best. (Ok, side note, I could care less if our presentation is the best of the group! It isn't graded, it is only for fun, and all they want is the gist so if they want to see it they can. I think that this girl was crazy.) But off the library we went. We got to the library, which ended up really being the national achieves, and we ended up just chilling.
After hanging out in the national achieves, we decided we needed ice cream so we walked back to the plaza de aramas to get ice cream. We sat by this famous statue in the plaza de aramas really close to the painters in the square. The painters were really cool to watch. One person was sketching people's portraits and other artists were painting on canvas using pictures, I assume people gave them. It was really cool.
After chilling on the plaza some more we jumped onto the metro and got back to the hotel where we prepared our presentation. Our presentation went off well, I mean, we weren't the best... maybe going to the library would have helped. :) But, the people go the gist and that is what really mattered.
After our presentations we got on a bus and headed to a restaurant named DONA TINA. At the restaurant we could choose what we wanted, but they first served us some absolutely amazing appetizers, which were little empenadas. (I think I have written about these in another blog, if some of my loyal readers don't know what empenadas are, I'll describe them again, leave me a comment to tell me. Thanks!) For dinner, I had some of the most amazing meat I have ever had in my life. For desert, I had something that I really didn't quite care for. It could have been much better, but you couldn't have beat the meat anyway. It was a wonderful dinner.
After dinner, we returned and I went to my room, where I promptly fell asleep.
Orientation 2 --- Mi Familia
Orientation day 2 started really early... well it seemed really early. The alarm went off for Terrance and I around 7am, because we wanted to get up and eat breakfast which was scheduled from 8 until 9. Needless to say, we ended up at breakfast very early. We forgot that South Americans are notorious for not following schedules and showing up very tardy. So, we got a really nice breakfast in. It included sandwiches which consisted of toasted bread with butter, some cheese and ham, a bowl of cereal, fresh fruit, and yogurt. It was very good and quite filling.
After breakfast we took the much dreaded written Spanish placement exam. Let's just say that I have to really work on my Spanish. :) It has been a little more then a year since I last took Spanish 300 with Alex (my friend from school). Many of the items on the test were items that I new I had studied, but many of the principles I had forgotten. I basically need a refresher course on everything. After the written exam we spent a few minutes with our professors in an oral exam. They asked you a few questions that were more based on comprehension and verb conjugation... well that is what I deducted from the topics they asked me to discuss. I must say that I think my speaking though, has gotten better and many people that I have talked to say that my Spanish is clear. Again, I need to work on the grammar but with time this will come. I have a book entitled, Mastering Spanish Grammar, which I spend about an hour a day on, and I also have been spending some time with a new book I purchased before I left the states entitled 2000+ Spanish verbs which helps you master verb conjugation.
After this we had a session that taught us the basics of security in Santiago. It was really interesting. They said that the thieves in Santiago are world renowned, but I think all thieves, in every country are world renowned. Most security was about backpacks, which can easily be opened by passersby or taken from the floor or other areas.
In the afternoon, we were given an activity to do in Providencia, a sector of Santiago. My group was given the task to learn how many cellular phone companies Chile has and what type of pre-paid plans they have for foreign students. Our group first decided to go get lunch. We stopped at this little Bistro looking place where we had a sandwich and a soda pop. After we found out that Chile has three cellular phone providers. Movistar (Movahstar), Claro (Clahro), and Entel (Entell). They all had pretty similar price structures, etc, but this task took much longer then I expected and I really wasn't that please. I was upset that we had to spend so much time researching while others got more time to explore. Now, looking back it was fine, but still. :)
We got back to the hotel and we presented our information to the group. The other groups did the same. After the presentations we all got some time to prepare for the biggest event of the day... dinner with our families!
I went up and put some gel in my hair to make myself look decent. I went down stairs around 8pm and the woman who had arranged all of our host families was asking us our names and pairing us up with all of the families that were there. My family wasn't there yet, so I sat on the couch waiting for them to come. Suddenly the woman came up to me and said that my family was here to pick me up. I went over and an old man came up to me and gave me a hug. I am sure that I had a very strange look on my face because this man did not look like anything I had seen in the picture Butler had sent me. I asked the woman if this was right and she said that my host mom had sent her dad to come and pick me up. While this was strange to me, I decided to go along with it.
As we were walking out of the hotel, the man said to me, "You were very skinny in your picture, and you had big hair, what happened?" I looked at him and clearly said, "Something is wrong." We walked back into the hotel and he immediately recognized Sam, a student at Carelton in Northfield. Sam is much skinnier then I am and he has a "fro" like do with his hair--- nothing like me. The woman had paired me with someone else.
I sat back on the couch and in a few minutes my real family showed up. It was nice to see them in person. They looked exactly like they had in the picture. Their son was not with them, so I asked them where he was and they said that he was with his grandparents.
I was very hungry at this point because all I had eaten was a sandwich for lunch around 1pm. We were driving along and I talked with Jaime and Muriel, my host parents. We were driving for what seemed like forever, when we showed up at a Chinese Restaurant. I thought that this was where we were going to eat. We went in and immediately walked to the back room where there was a space heater, television, and a couch. There Jaime (their son, now I will call him Jaimito (or little Jaime)), was playing a game on the playstation 2 and his grandparents were sitting on the couch. I gave them both a firm handshake and a hug and we stayed there for a little while hanging out. Finally, Muriel suggested that she was very hungry, so we got back in the car to go to their home. Jaimito of course came with us.
We got to their home, which was quaint, but very nice. They gave me a tour of the home which includes a kitchen, dining room, living room, two bathrooms, and a bedroom. It also has another small bedroom attached to it for the Nana (more about the Nana later). They showed me my room which I liked. It has tiled floors (which get cold at night, but that is okay) a single bed, a desk, a nightstand, a dresser, and a nice sized closet with shelving. The thing I liked most about my room was that there was a map of the world on the wall. I love maps and it made me feel very at home.
After this I was thinking, okay we left to go eat, now where is the food. Which I felt bad for, but it was going on 10 o'clock and there was no sign of food. That is when Muriel said that Jaime and I should go to the grocery store for food. I was thinking, wow, we haven't even bought the food yet, and it is 10 o'clock? Crazy. Jaime, Jaimito and I went to the grocery store, which was not to far from the house and we bought a few things. One of the things included ice cream. Jaimito, was very crazy in the store. He played with the soccer balls in the isles and ran up the down escalator thing at the grocery store. He has a lot of energy, something I am not use to.
We got back to the house and they told me to sit down at the table in the dining room. It seems that the entire time the Nana, which I will now explain, was cooking the food.
In Chile, many families, actually most families, have a nana which comes either once every other week, every week, every day, or lives with the family. My Chilean family has a nana who lives in the room I was talking about earlier that is connected to the house. Her name is Pamela. She is a student here in Santiago who is currently studying Tourism. She is from the south of Chile, where she has told me she hopes to return to work in tourism one day. Nana's have a lot of work to do and basically serve as a servant of sorts to the family. They wash the clothes, dishes, cook most of the food, serve the food, take care of the kids, take the kids to and from school, clean the house, make the beds, etc. It is quite the job and I am always trying to be very respectful and thankful of everything Pamela does for me.
For dinner we ended up having a very nice conversation and some really good food. The meal included chicken, potatoes, and "salad". Salad is different here in Chile then it is in the United States. Salad is any vegetable that is included with the mail. For example, two dishes of tomatoes and cucumbers are considered "salad" in Chile.
It was getting close to 11:30 now and they decided that I needed to go back to the hotel. This was only a short lived stay. They said that the COPA program made it very clear that I needed to be back to the hotel at 12. We sped through the night and we arrived only a few minutes late.
I felt so excited after this meeting with my family. They were so nice and loving. I went to sleep around 1:30am. I knew the next morning was going to come early.
After breakfast we took the much dreaded written Spanish placement exam. Let's just say that I have to really work on my Spanish. :) It has been a little more then a year since I last took Spanish 300 with Alex (my friend from school). Many of the items on the test were items that I new I had studied, but many of the principles I had forgotten. I basically need a refresher course on everything. After the written exam we spent a few minutes with our professors in an oral exam. They asked you a few questions that were more based on comprehension and verb conjugation... well that is what I deducted from the topics they asked me to discuss. I must say that I think my speaking though, has gotten better and many people that I have talked to say that my Spanish is clear. Again, I need to work on the grammar but with time this will come. I have a book entitled, Mastering Spanish Grammar, which I spend about an hour a day on, and I also have been spending some time with a new book I purchased before I left the states entitled 2000+ Spanish verbs which helps you master verb conjugation.
After this we had a session that taught us the basics of security in Santiago. It was really interesting. They said that the thieves in Santiago are world renowned, but I think all thieves, in every country are world renowned. Most security was about backpacks, which can easily be opened by passersby or taken from the floor or other areas.
In the afternoon, we were given an activity to do in Providencia, a sector of Santiago. My group was given the task to learn how many cellular phone companies Chile has and what type of pre-paid plans they have for foreign students. Our group first decided to go get lunch. We stopped at this little Bistro looking place where we had a sandwich and a soda pop. After we found out that Chile has three cellular phone providers. Movistar (Movahstar), Claro (Clahro), and Entel (Entell). They all had pretty similar price structures, etc, but this task took much longer then I expected and I really wasn't that please. I was upset that we had to spend so much time researching while others got more time to explore. Now, looking back it was fine, but still. :)
We got back to the hotel and we presented our information to the group. The other groups did the same. After the presentations we all got some time to prepare for the biggest event of the day... dinner with our families!
I went up and put some gel in my hair to make myself look decent. I went down stairs around 8pm and the woman who had arranged all of our host families was asking us our names and pairing us up with all of the families that were there. My family wasn't there yet, so I sat on the couch waiting for them to come. Suddenly the woman came up to me and said that my family was here to pick me up. I went over and an old man came up to me and gave me a hug. I am sure that I had a very strange look on my face because this man did not look like anything I had seen in the picture Butler had sent me. I asked the woman if this was right and she said that my host mom had sent her dad to come and pick me up. While this was strange to me, I decided to go along with it.
As we were walking out of the hotel, the man said to me, "You were very skinny in your picture, and you had big hair, what happened?" I looked at him and clearly said, "Something is wrong." We walked back into the hotel and he immediately recognized Sam, a student at Carelton in Northfield. Sam is much skinnier then I am and he has a "fro" like do with his hair--- nothing like me. The woman had paired me with someone else.
I sat back on the couch and in a few minutes my real family showed up. It was nice to see them in person. They looked exactly like they had in the picture. Their son was not with them, so I asked them where he was and they said that he was with his grandparents.
I was very hungry at this point because all I had eaten was a sandwich for lunch around 1pm. We were driving along and I talked with Jaime and Muriel, my host parents. We were driving for what seemed like forever, when we showed up at a Chinese Restaurant. I thought that this was where we were going to eat. We went in and immediately walked to the back room where there was a space heater, television, and a couch. There Jaime (their son, now I will call him Jaimito (or little Jaime)), was playing a game on the playstation 2 and his grandparents were sitting on the couch. I gave them both a firm handshake and a hug and we stayed there for a little while hanging out. Finally, Muriel suggested that she was very hungry, so we got back in the car to go to their home. Jaimito of course came with us.
We got to their home, which was quaint, but very nice. They gave me a tour of the home which includes a kitchen, dining room, living room, two bathrooms, and a bedroom. It also has another small bedroom attached to it for the Nana (more about the Nana later). They showed me my room which I liked. It has tiled floors (which get cold at night, but that is okay) a single bed, a desk, a nightstand, a dresser, and a nice sized closet with shelving. The thing I liked most about my room was that there was a map of the world on the wall. I love maps and it made me feel very at home.
After this I was thinking, okay we left to go eat, now where is the food. Which I felt bad for, but it was going on 10 o'clock and there was no sign of food. That is when Muriel said that Jaime and I should go to the grocery store for food. I was thinking, wow, we haven't even bought the food yet, and it is 10 o'clock? Crazy. Jaime, Jaimito and I went to the grocery store, which was not to far from the house and we bought a few things. One of the things included ice cream. Jaimito, was very crazy in the store. He played with the soccer balls in the isles and ran up the down escalator thing at the grocery store. He has a lot of energy, something I am not use to.
We got back to the house and they told me to sit down at the table in the dining room. It seems that the entire time the Nana, which I will now explain, was cooking the food.
In Chile, many families, actually most families, have a nana which comes either once every other week, every week, every day, or lives with the family. My Chilean family has a nana who lives in the room I was talking about earlier that is connected to the house. Her name is Pamela. She is a student here in Santiago who is currently studying Tourism. She is from the south of Chile, where she has told me she hopes to return to work in tourism one day. Nana's have a lot of work to do and basically serve as a servant of sorts to the family. They wash the clothes, dishes, cook most of the food, serve the food, take care of the kids, take the kids to and from school, clean the house, make the beds, etc. It is quite the job and I am always trying to be very respectful and thankful of everything Pamela does for me.
For dinner we ended up having a very nice conversation and some really good food. The meal included chicken, potatoes, and "salad". Salad is different here in Chile then it is in the United States. Salad is any vegetable that is included with the mail. For example, two dishes of tomatoes and cucumbers are considered "salad" in Chile.
It was getting close to 11:30 now and they decided that I needed to go back to the hotel. This was only a short lived stay. They said that the COPA program made it very clear that I needed to be back to the hotel at 12. We sped through the night and we arrived only a few minutes late.
I felt so excited after this meeting with my family. They were so nice and loving. I went to sleep around 1:30am. I knew the next morning was going to come early.
Orientation 1
I got up early in the morning to get ready for the day I would start orientation. I checked out of the hotel around 8am and I needed to be at my other hotel for orientation at 9am. I hauled all of my bags out to the curb where I hailed a taxi. At first the taxi had no idea where I was going. He started talking to other taxis at the stop lights and finally someone knew where my hotel was, so off we went to the hotel.
On the way the Taxi driver and I talked about.... you guessed it politics. He informed me that Chile will have municipal elections during my semester abroad. It will be a neat experience to see what campaigns in Chile are like to compare them to the long, drawn out ones that we have in the US.
The taxi driver dropped me off at my hotel and inside I found a guy who was also waiting for the orientation. A few minutes later two other guys and a girl showed up. We were suppose to meet at 9am, but the hotel staff informed us that there were some problems with the airplane and the rest of the group was going to be late. They invited us to eat the breakfast that they had prepared for us. It was quite nice, much like the eastern European breakfasts I had in January of 2007 for my j-term in eastern Europe.
We chilled out in the hotel until they staff said our rooms were ready. I shared a room with Terrance, a student at Columbia University who lives around Chicago. Our room was huge and very nice! The hotel was four stars. I don't know if it was COPA's (Cooperating Programs in the Americas, the program I am studying with) idea to try and ease us in to the Chilean culture, but the hotel was very nice. The rooms were $180 a night, so that gives you an idea of how this hotel was.
After the entire group got to the hotel, we sat down and ate lunch. And what a lunch it was. It was absolutely wonderful and the food was excellent.
Lunch passed, and we had our first session where we were introduced to the program, the students, the staff, and a little about Santiago. In my program there are students from all over the US. The colleges represented include: Carelton, Macalester, University of Virginia, Emory, Northwestern, Wellsley,Gustavus, Columbia, Bates, and Amherst.
It is interesting to note the times that we ate meals in Chile. Breakfast was around 8-9am everyday, lunch was usually served around 1:30pm, and dinner was served around 8pm. These times all were a little later then we tend to eat in the US, so when food came around, we were all very hungry.
We ate dinner this night at 8pm. Again, the food was so very good and the dessert was great. The dessert was a play off of tres leches or three milks. Actually, Johanna, the bakery chef at St. Thomas' North Campus in St. Paul made something like this for the students last year. (A side note, when I worked at the Cafeteria on campus, my favorite part of the day was talking to Johanna. Whether it was 7am or noon, Johanna always had a good story to tell and a new amazing treat for me to try. I highly suggest becoming friends with Johanna if you work in the Cafeteria because she is fun and has really good sweets!)
Most of the day was spent relaxing and reading our really long handbook. I must say that the handbook was written in a way that made it really enjoyable to read. Also, it had a lot of really important information in it that I found very interesting.
I ended up going to bed probably around 11 or so. It had been a long day and the bed was so nice and comfortable that I snuggled right in.
On the way the Taxi driver and I talked about.... you guessed it politics. He informed me that Chile will have municipal elections during my semester abroad. It will be a neat experience to see what campaigns in Chile are like to compare them to the long, drawn out ones that we have in the US.
The taxi driver dropped me off at my hotel and inside I found a guy who was also waiting for the orientation. A few minutes later two other guys and a girl showed up. We were suppose to meet at 9am, but the hotel staff informed us that there were some problems with the airplane and the rest of the group was going to be late. They invited us to eat the breakfast that they had prepared for us. It was quite nice, much like the eastern European breakfasts I had in January of 2007 for my j-term in eastern Europe.
We chilled out in the hotel until they staff said our rooms were ready. I shared a room with Terrance, a student at Columbia University who lives around Chicago. Our room was huge and very nice! The hotel was four stars. I don't know if it was COPA's (Cooperating Programs in the Americas, the program I am studying with) idea to try and ease us in to the Chilean culture, but the hotel was very nice. The rooms were $180 a night, so that gives you an idea of how this hotel was.
After the entire group got to the hotel, we sat down and ate lunch. And what a lunch it was. It was absolutely wonderful and the food was excellent.
Lunch passed, and we had our first session where we were introduced to the program, the students, the staff, and a little about Santiago. In my program there are students from all over the US. The colleges represented include: Carelton, Macalester, University of Virginia, Emory, Northwestern, Wellsley,Gustavus, Columbia, Bates, and Amherst.
It is interesting to note the times that we ate meals in Chile. Breakfast was around 8-9am everyday, lunch was usually served around 1:30pm, and dinner was served around 8pm. These times all were a little later then we tend to eat in the US, so when food came around, we were all very hungry.
We ate dinner this night at 8pm. Again, the food was so very good and the dessert was great. The dessert was a play off of tres leches or three milks. Actually, Johanna, the bakery chef at St. Thomas' North Campus in St. Paul made something like this for the students last year. (A side note, when I worked at the Cafeteria on campus, my favorite part of the day was talking to Johanna. Whether it was 7am or noon, Johanna always had a good story to tell and a new amazing treat for me to try. I highly suggest becoming friends with Johanna if you work in the Cafeteria because she is fun and has really good sweets!)
Most of the day was spent relaxing and reading our really long handbook. I must say that the handbook was written in a way that made it really enjoyable to read. Also, it had a lot of really important information in it that I found very interesting.
I ended up going to bed probably around 11 or so. It had been a long day and the bed was so nice and comfortable that I snuggled right in.
Santiago --- Walking Tour
I woke up much later than expected, around 9am. I woke up and went to the common room in the hostel where there was free breakfast. I breakfast included toast, cereal, milk, and tea. What more could you ask for. This was the first hostel I stayed in that fed you, which made me very excited.
While I was eating breakfast I met a girl from the United States. She had just arrived in Santiago from the States for a new job with the Chilean government. She was going to work with the students in Calama, Chile, a city very close to San Pedro de Atacama, where I had visited early. She explained to me that as Chile expands its influence and economy, English is beginning to be a more and more important language for trade and other items. The Chilean government asked her to come to Chile for a year to help teach students English. She is getting paid a meager wage, but enough to live on. Her housing, room, and board are all included. She has also had quite a life. She has just up and left her home often to travel the world. She is quite independent. I asked her what she was doing for the day, and she said that she was going to do a walking tour of Santiago, which is included in the South America on a Shoestring book that we both had. I actually had been thinking about doing that as well, so we decided that it was better to go and complete the walking tour together.
We both went to take showers and get ready for the day and we left the hostel probably around 11 or 12. We took the metro, a subway like train that provides a lot of the transportation to the city of Santiago. To use the transit system in Santiago, you must buy a Bip! Card, which holds a value that slowly deducts as you use the mass transit. The card costs about $2000 pesos, which is about $4 dollars. Strangely enough the symbol for pesos in Chile is also the symbol for US dollars. You can tell the price difference because the Chilean price is obviously much higher.
After we bought our Bip! card we were off to the beginning of the walking tour at the Santa Lucia metro stop. We first visited the Biblioteca National, or National Library. The building serves mostly as the National Archives of Chile. It really wasn't that interesting. It was a cool building and all, but there really wasn't much to see.
After the library, we walked up to Cerro Santa Lucia. This is a park in the heart of the city that was built on a hill that actually is more like a mountain. It was very pretty, there were lots of fountains, statues, and plants to look at. The top had a decent view of Santiago and the surrounding mountains.
Let me take a moment to discuss the pollution and the mountains in Santiago. It is truly magnificent to wake up to the Andes Mountain range literally surrounding your city as a natural protection. The sad part is that the view is smudged by the crazy amount of pollution commuters, buses, and basic daily life makes in Santiago. Santiago, like other great cities of the world, including Mexico City, is situated literally in a bowl of the Andes Mountains. This has provided natural protection for Chile's capital, but today it poses a serious ecological and health risk to its residence. Winds cannot reach the metropolitan area of Santiago to push away the air pollution, thus you are left with an ungodly amount of smog, which actually has decreased in recent years according to many of the locals. This decrease can primarily be attributed to the cities aggressive efforts to change mass transit in Santiago to be more ecologically friendly. I was actually told to take a picture of the mountains if I ever saw them because it was so rare, however, I have seen the mountains everyday I have been here.
Going back to the walking tour, this park, Cerro Santa Lucia, is quite the park. It is beautiful yes, but also because of the amount of PDA, public displays of affection, you see by the youngsters in the park. Chile tends to be a very conservative country in the grand scheme of things. This is odd because in the short time I have been here I have seen signs that say PORNO,advertising for a play, see youngsters making out, or gays holding hands. Much more liberal then old New Prague or Urbana in the states. The story on the PDA is this conservatism. Parents don't allow their children to bring their boyfriend or girlfriend home to chill, sleep over, or make out on the couch... so where do they go... the streets. I don't know which is worse. Literally, you can see some touching that can't be considered rated G, PG-13 or R.
After the park, we walked to the Plaza de Armas, as I said before, every city in South America has one. This plaza was recently restored and it was very nice. There were many benches and palm trees to relax the day away. There were also lots of painters who would paint your picture or take a picture that you have and paint it on canvas, for relatively cheap. It was very cool. The Plaza also was home to the Cathedral, which was quite impressive. The thing that I found most impressive was that at the back of the church you can see the nativity scene for Christmas time. This nativity scene is entirely carved out of wood and was extremely impressive.
After the plaza, we walked to see the Ex-Congreso National, which was the former home to the Chilean Congress before Pinochet's dictatorship. It is closed to the public and basically is a very nice looking old building. I have read online that on special occasions it is open for tours, so perhaps in the future, I will get to go inside. Across from the Ex-Congreso, you can see the Tribunales de Justicia or the law courts. Chile has a court system and most, if not all of the courts are based in this building.
After this area of the city, we continued to the Palacio de la Moneda. This is the Presidential Palace of Chile. La Moneda means mint and this building use to coin the Chilean currency. It first became the home of the President in 1845. It did not stay the presidential palace forever. When Pinochet took power the palace was hit by a bomb and the burning building served as a historic symbol for the take over of the neo-liberal regime. The Chilean President at the time Allende supposedly killed himself in the palace before the military took power.
Again, I am going to digress, to truly understand Chile, you must understand its Politics. Like most countries, except for the United States, politics is a vital pastime. Everyone enjoys to talk about politics and everyone has an opinion. Like the US however, either you are on the right or you are on the left. The symbols of the sides are not elephants and donkeys, but instead Pinochet and Allende. If you talk to someone who leans to the right, Pinochet is a hero and Allende is the enemy. If you talk to someone who leans to the left, Pinochet is the enemy and Allende is the hero. I actually, think that this is too complicated to explain in this post, so I am going to write another post specifically on the politics of Chile, don't worry it will probably be miles long. I am currently reading a book called Politics in Chile and everyone I meet, I talk about politics with them, so I will try to have unbiased, resourceful, and interesting comments about it.
The palace was very, very, very fun for a political science nerd like me. As we were looking at the palace, up pulls a few different cars with flags flying from them. We got closer and it was really neat to see these motorcades come into the palace. We talked to the guards who informed up of what was going on. The guard said that many ambassadors from many nations were coming to sign a free trade agreement, however when I later looked up on the Presidential website the activities of the President, it said that she was actually giving the credentials to the ambassadors of various countries on that day. The guards, did not know what what going on, another reason to do your homework and not trust random strangers. It was really cool, and we walked along side the Palace only to find a military marching band. It was very neat. To see this, they also marched into the palace, I assume for the credentials ceremony. This ceremony is very important for ambassadors of other countries and tends to be very ritualistic.
After the palace, we were decided that it was time to start heading back to the hostel. We stopped at the grocery store and picked up supplies for dinner. We bought spaghetti, sauce, cheese, and a couple bottles of wine. We took the metro back to the hostel. We basically, just chilled out with many of the people in the hostel, most from the UK, and later we made dinner and drank the wine. It was a really good time. I ended up going to bed fairly early because I needed to get up for my orientation the next day.
While I was eating breakfast I met a girl from the United States. She had just arrived in Santiago from the States for a new job with the Chilean government. She was going to work with the students in Calama, Chile, a city very close to San Pedro de Atacama, where I had visited early. She explained to me that as Chile expands its influence and economy, English is beginning to be a more and more important language for trade and other items. The Chilean government asked her to come to Chile for a year to help teach students English. She is getting paid a meager wage, but enough to live on. Her housing, room, and board are all included. She has also had quite a life. She has just up and left her home often to travel the world. She is quite independent. I asked her what she was doing for the day, and she said that she was going to do a walking tour of Santiago, which is included in the South America on a Shoestring book that we both had. I actually had been thinking about doing that as well, so we decided that it was better to go and complete the walking tour together.
We both went to take showers and get ready for the day and we left the hostel probably around 11 or 12. We took the metro, a subway like train that provides a lot of the transportation to the city of Santiago. To use the transit system in Santiago, you must buy a Bip! Card, which holds a value that slowly deducts as you use the mass transit. The card costs about $2000 pesos, which is about $4 dollars. Strangely enough the symbol for pesos in Chile is also the symbol for US dollars. You can tell the price difference because the Chilean price is obviously much higher.
After we bought our Bip! card we were off to the beginning of the walking tour at the Santa Lucia metro stop. We first visited the Biblioteca National, or National Library. The building serves mostly as the National Archives of Chile. It really wasn't that interesting. It was a cool building and all, but there really wasn't much to see.
After the library, we walked up to Cerro Santa Lucia. This is a park in the heart of the city that was built on a hill that actually is more like a mountain. It was very pretty, there were lots of fountains, statues, and plants to look at. The top had a decent view of Santiago and the surrounding mountains.
Let me take a moment to discuss the pollution and the mountains in Santiago. It is truly magnificent to wake up to the Andes Mountain range literally surrounding your city as a natural protection. The sad part is that the view is smudged by the crazy amount of pollution commuters, buses, and basic daily life makes in Santiago. Santiago, like other great cities of the world, including Mexico City, is situated literally in a bowl of the Andes Mountains. This has provided natural protection for Chile's capital, but today it poses a serious ecological and health risk to its residence. Winds cannot reach the metropolitan area of Santiago to push away the air pollution, thus you are left with an ungodly amount of smog, which actually has decreased in recent years according to many of the locals. This decrease can primarily be attributed to the cities aggressive efforts to change mass transit in Santiago to be more ecologically friendly. I was actually told to take a picture of the mountains if I ever saw them because it was so rare, however, I have seen the mountains everyday I have been here.
Going back to the walking tour, this park, Cerro Santa Lucia, is quite the park. It is beautiful yes, but also because of the amount of PDA, public displays of affection, you see by the youngsters in the park. Chile tends to be a very conservative country in the grand scheme of things. This is odd because in the short time I have been here I have seen signs that say PORNO,advertising for a play, see youngsters making out, or gays holding hands. Much more liberal then old New Prague or Urbana in the states. The story on the PDA is this conservatism. Parents don't allow their children to bring their boyfriend or girlfriend home to chill, sleep over, or make out on the couch... so where do they go... the streets. I don't know which is worse. Literally, you can see some touching that can't be considered rated G, PG-13 or R.
After the park, we walked to the Plaza de Armas, as I said before, every city in South America has one. This plaza was recently restored and it was very nice. There were many benches and palm trees to relax the day away. There were also lots of painters who would paint your picture or take a picture that you have and paint it on canvas, for relatively cheap. It was very cool. The Plaza also was home to the Cathedral, which was quite impressive. The thing that I found most impressive was that at the back of the church you can see the nativity scene for Christmas time. This nativity scene is entirely carved out of wood and was extremely impressive.
After the plaza, we walked to see the Ex-Congreso National, which was the former home to the Chilean Congress before Pinochet's dictatorship. It is closed to the public and basically is a very nice looking old building. I have read online that on special occasions it is open for tours, so perhaps in the future, I will get to go inside. Across from the Ex-Congreso, you can see the Tribunales de Justicia or the law courts. Chile has a court system and most, if not all of the courts are based in this building.
After this area of the city, we continued to the Palacio de la Moneda. This is the Presidential Palace of Chile. La Moneda means mint and this building use to coin the Chilean currency. It first became the home of the President in 1845. It did not stay the presidential palace forever. When Pinochet took power the palace was hit by a bomb and the burning building served as a historic symbol for the take over of the neo-liberal regime. The Chilean President at the time Allende supposedly killed himself in the palace before the military took power.
Again, I am going to digress, to truly understand Chile, you must understand its Politics. Like most countries, except for the United States, politics is a vital pastime. Everyone enjoys to talk about politics and everyone has an opinion. Like the US however, either you are on the right or you are on the left. The symbols of the sides are not elephants and donkeys, but instead Pinochet and Allende. If you talk to someone who leans to the right, Pinochet is a hero and Allende is the enemy. If you talk to someone who leans to the left, Pinochet is the enemy and Allende is the hero. I actually, think that this is too complicated to explain in this post, so I am going to write another post specifically on the politics of Chile, don't worry it will probably be miles long. I am currently reading a book called Politics in Chile and everyone I meet, I talk about politics with them, so I will try to have unbiased, resourceful, and interesting comments about it.
The palace was very, very, very fun for a political science nerd like me. As we were looking at the palace, up pulls a few different cars with flags flying from them. We got closer and it was really neat to see these motorcades come into the palace. We talked to the guards who informed up of what was going on. The guard said that many ambassadors from many nations were coming to sign a free trade agreement, however when I later looked up on the Presidential website the activities of the President, it said that she was actually giving the credentials to the ambassadors of various countries on that day. The guards, did not know what what going on, another reason to do your homework and not trust random strangers. It was really cool, and we walked along side the Palace only to find a military marching band. It was very neat. To see this, they also marched into the palace, I assume for the credentials ceremony. This ceremony is very important for ambassadors of other countries and tends to be very ritualistic.
After the palace, we were decided that it was time to start heading back to the hostel. We stopped at the grocery store and picked up supplies for dinner. We bought spaghetti, sauce, cheese, and a couple bottles of wine. We took the metro back to the hostel. We basically, just chilled out with many of the people in the hostel, most from the UK, and later we made dinner and drank the wine. It was a really good time. I ended up going to bed fairly early because I needed to get up for my orientation the next day.
Bus to Santiago
I woke up around 7am from the steward on the bus who was shaking me to give me my breakfast. It was quite meager. It consisted of some juice box, which in general I do not like much, so I offered mine to an older couple sitting close by, and a oatmeal raisin cookie, which I quickly devoured. There really wasn't much to this day. It was a lot of reading on the bus and watching the scenery. It was neat because for most of the trip the Andes Mountains were on my left and the cliffs down to the crashing waves of the Pacific were on my right. Quite the contrast.
Around 3 or 4 we arrived at a rest stop, where we could get out and purchase a cheap meal provided by the bus company. Cheap it was, but actually, it was quite good. It included chicken, rice, jello, a soda, salad, and bread. What more could you ask for. I also treated myself to some chocolate at the stop. I felt I deserved it after almost 20 hours on the bus.
We arrived at the Santiago bus station around 6pm. The sun had already gone down and it looked a little suspicious, so I took a taxi to my hostel. I am glad I did because it ended up taking almost 20-30 minutes in the taxi to get to my hostel. When I arrived, I found a great hostel. They welcomed me, showed me my bed, and informed me that it was free pisco sour night. Weee! After a 23 hour bus ride I was ready for a drink. This hostel had many people from the UK staying there, which I always find really fun. I chilled and talked with them for a couple hours and had some pisco sour. I eventually decided to go to bed. It had been a long enough day.
Around 3 or 4 we arrived at a rest stop, where we could get out and purchase a cheap meal provided by the bus company. Cheap it was, but actually, it was quite good. It included chicken, rice, jello, a soda, salad, and bread. What more could you ask for. I also treated myself to some chocolate at the stop. I felt I deserved it after almost 20 hours on the bus.
We arrived at the Santiago bus station around 6pm. The sun had already gone down and it looked a little suspicious, so I took a taxi to my hostel. I am glad I did because it ended up taking almost 20-30 minutes in the taxi to get to my hostel. When I arrived, I found a great hostel. They welcomed me, showed me my bed, and informed me that it was free pisco sour night. Weee! After a 23 hour bus ride I was ready for a drink. This hostel had many people from the UK staying there, which I always find really fun. I chilled and talked with them for a couple hours and had some pisco sour. I eventually decided to go to bed. It had been a long enough day.
San Pedro de Atacama 3
So, in my last post, I told you that I was up, kind of late talking with the guys about women and my tour to the Geysers de Tito was a very early wake up call. So, I ended up being very tired in the morning. We were suppose to leave at 4am, so I set my alarm for 3:40, much to early. I woke up and got ready for the day. I waited with a worker at the hostel, but no one came. I waited until about 5am, but eventually I decided to go back to bed. I was actually alright with this because I was extremely tired. As soon as I returned to bed, I heard a bus pull up and I was quite upset, because I was just getting back to sleep. The hostel owner came into my room and woke me up, and in a few minutes, I was off to the geysers. We arrived at the geysers just before sunrise. We could see all of the steam rising from the ground. It really was a cool sight to see. This geyser field represented 10% of the worlds geysers, which I felt was quite the accomplishment.
I have never been to Yellowstone National Park, but I assume that its geysers are more impressive, because these were quite small. The one thing that I believe was different and exciting was that there were no barriers between the tourists and the geysers. If you wanted to you could walk right into them, which was not recomended. It was really cool though to see these natural wonders go to work. You could hear the gurgling of the water and see the steam come from the ground.
As we were walking around the geysers, all of a sudden the sun burst from behind the mountains and it was quite the sight. I have forgotten to talk about how cold it was. The tour guide said that it was about a 0 degrees Celsius or freezing at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, which made it extremely cold. But the sun was a welcomed sight as you could feel its heat immediately on your face. It really was great.
After we toured the geysers, we went to another part of the geyser field where the water literally ran into a pond where people could go swimming. Many people were stripping of their clothes, in the very cold temperatures and going for a dive. I decided not to, mainly because I was worried about the temperature after I returned from the swim. Most of the people there, said it was a really cool experience though. I happened to run into the tour guide from the valley of the moon and also the Dutch couple I met during the tour. It was neat to see them again and they urged me to get into the water, but I declined.... and I am glad that I did, because it was so cold.
After this we drove on a bus throughout the highlands checking out many of the animals, flora, and fauna, of the area. It was very neat. We eventually arrived at a small town were we could get out and stretch our legs. Literally this town was in the middle of no where. Only 80 people lived their and they mainly thrived off tourism and farming. A local farmer was cooking up fresh llama meat, and I tried some and found it very good. A local weaver was selling hats, sweaters, and blankets. I didn't buy anything, but took a good look at the handiwork because it was quite impressive. I also tried to buy a homemade empanada, which is basically a fried pocket of bread that is filled with meat, cheese and anything else you can think of. They are very good, as I tried some in Peru, however, the line was too long and I never got one... which is probably very good because I really didn't need the calories.
After the town we returned to San Pedro, where everyone got dropped off. I went back to my hostel, took a shower, and gathered all of my stuff to get ready to leave. My bus wasn't scheduled to leave until almost 8 in the evening and it was noon, so I had plenty of time to spare. I walked around town some more, ate a good lunch, and spent some time reading and checking up on the computer. Around 7 I got my stuff from the luggage storage room at the hostel and walked to the bus stop. I got on the bus and I was off to Santiago. I really fell asleep almost immediately. San Pedro wore me out because there was so much stuff to do in such a short period of time. It was great though.
I have never been to Yellowstone National Park, but I assume that its geysers are more impressive, because these were quite small. The one thing that I believe was different and exciting was that there were no barriers between the tourists and the geysers. If you wanted to you could walk right into them, which was not recomended. It was really cool though to see these natural wonders go to work. You could hear the gurgling of the water and see the steam come from the ground.
As we were walking around the geysers, all of a sudden the sun burst from behind the mountains and it was quite the sight. I have forgotten to talk about how cold it was. The tour guide said that it was about a 0 degrees Celsius or freezing at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, which made it extremely cold. But the sun was a welcomed sight as you could feel its heat immediately on your face. It really was great.
After we toured the geysers, we went to another part of the geyser field where the water literally ran into a pond where people could go swimming. Many people were stripping of their clothes, in the very cold temperatures and going for a dive. I decided not to, mainly because I was worried about the temperature after I returned from the swim. Most of the people there, said it was a really cool experience though. I happened to run into the tour guide from the valley of the moon and also the Dutch couple I met during the tour. It was neat to see them again and they urged me to get into the water, but I declined.... and I am glad that I did, because it was so cold.
After this we drove on a bus throughout the highlands checking out many of the animals, flora, and fauna, of the area. It was very neat. We eventually arrived at a small town were we could get out and stretch our legs. Literally this town was in the middle of no where. Only 80 people lived their and they mainly thrived off tourism and farming. A local farmer was cooking up fresh llama meat, and I tried some and found it very good. A local weaver was selling hats, sweaters, and blankets. I didn't buy anything, but took a good look at the handiwork because it was quite impressive. I also tried to buy a homemade empanada, which is basically a fried pocket of bread that is filled with meat, cheese and anything else you can think of. They are very good, as I tried some in Peru, however, the line was too long and I never got one... which is probably very good because I really didn't need the calories.
After the town we returned to San Pedro, where everyone got dropped off. I went back to my hostel, took a shower, and gathered all of my stuff to get ready to leave. My bus wasn't scheduled to leave until almost 8 in the evening and it was noon, so I had plenty of time to spare. I walked around town some more, ate a good lunch, and spent some time reading and checking up on the computer. Around 7 I got my stuff from the luggage storage room at the hostel and walked to the bus stop. I got on the bus and I was off to Santiago. I really fell asleep almost immediately. San Pedro wore me out because there was so much stuff to do in such a short period of time. It was great though.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
San Pedro de Atacama 2
I woke up around 7:30 and got ready for my next tour which was suppose to leave around 8am. The tour was to the Altiplano Lakes. It was a really interesting tour.
We started out by going to an oasis in the desert. It had many different trees with different fruits. It also had the largest clumps of pompous grass that I had ever seen. I am sure that my dad, who is always trying to get pompous grass growing in our backyard would have been extremely jealous. It was really interesting to see what a difference a little bit of water in a stream can make in the desert. The area literally only had a little stream of run off water from the mountain, but this little stream allowed a lot of flora and fauna to grow in this oasis. In the oasis, we also saw some drawings from ancient peoples on the rocks. It was quite interesting and hard to see at first, but after taking a picture of the rocks and studying them for a little while, I could make them out. I will have to put the pictures up on this blog.
After the oasis, we headed to the Chilean National Reserve for Flamingos. This is located in the salt flats. This was one of the most interesting parts of the trip. We saw an entire flat covered with salt rocks, literally all salt. It was very interesting and unlike anything I had ever seen before in my life. The geological formation is created when water seeps into the ground from snow melting on top of the mountains. The water goes into the ground and eventually settles into the flats where it mixes with the ground and pushes upward forming salt rocks in the flats. It was absolutely amazing. While at this site we also had the opportunity to observe three types of Flamingos. These birds are some of the most awkward and odd shaped birds I have ever seen. At the same time their pink bodies were absolutely stunning. As we sat and observed the flamingos, we were told about the flamingo nests, which are built in the middle of the 'lakes' because it protects the eggs from fox and other animals who may want to eat the eggs. Flamingos are very romantic birds. Flamingos pick a mate for life and never change. When one flamingo dies, its mate soon follows because the mate essentially commits suicide by not eating. That is really love even after death us do part. Flamingos can also be gay. A woman on this trip told me that a couple of Flamingos were brought to a zoo in her home country of Germany and they were both males. They ended up being mates for life. Supposedly they tried and tried to have an egg, but they couldn't, so the Zoo designed a wooden egg and gave it to the flamingos and they have been happy ever since. Crazy huh? Maybe people need to take a lesson from the flamingos in both acceptance, understanding, love, and devotion. During our tour, we saw flamingos fly above us a couple of times. It really was a neat experience.
After the salt flats we drove to the Altiplano lakes. On the way we stopped at a very small town to make reservations for lunch at a little cafe. We arrived at the lakes and it was really nice. These lakes were beautiful, but I actually ended up being quite disappointed. All we really did was look and take pictures at the lakes which were, as I said absolutely beautiful, but that was it.
After the lakes, we returned to the town to eat lunch. We had some really good soup, chicken, and potatoes. It was really a good meal.
After the meal we went to a town south of San Pedro de Atacama, that was named Temuco. It was a very small town. It had three tourist attractions. The church, the church bell tower both built in the 1700's before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and a llama that was in a small pen so tourists could pet it. Quite the little town.
We returned to San Pedro de Atacama, and I needed to get money from an ATM. What a hassle this was going to be. I went to both ATMs in town, and both were out of cash. I needed cash for the entrance fees for my tours the next day. So, I found two Chileans, who were in the same predicament. We talked for a while and we decided, that what I could do, was go to get a couple drinks and food with them, and then I could pay with my credit card and they would pay me in cash. It was a good idea and the girls were very nice and helped me with my Spanish, so that is what we did. We went and I got 2x1 Pisco Sour drinks, a pretty good deal. It ended up working out that I had money, two friends, good conversations, and good memories by the end of the night.
After having a couple drinks with these girls, I went back to the hostal to go to bed, but instead, I found three guys, one Chilean, one Dutch, and one American chilling in the dorm room. We started talking about things, mostly they talked about women problems they had and they offered to let me have a beer with them. So, I said sure, they poured me a small glass --- which was fine with me, and I listened to their complaints for a little longer, before I realized that listening to sap stories about women wasn't my thing, so I retired for the night.
We started out by going to an oasis in the desert. It had many different trees with different fruits. It also had the largest clumps of pompous grass that I had ever seen. I am sure that my dad, who is always trying to get pompous grass growing in our backyard would have been extremely jealous. It was really interesting to see what a difference a little bit of water in a stream can make in the desert. The area literally only had a little stream of run off water from the mountain, but this little stream allowed a lot of flora and fauna to grow in this oasis. In the oasis, we also saw some drawings from ancient peoples on the rocks. It was quite interesting and hard to see at first, but after taking a picture of the rocks and studying them for a little while, I could make them out. I will have to put the pictures up on this blog.
After the oasis, we headed to the Chilean National Reserve for Flamingos. This is located in the salt flats. This was one of the most interesting parts of the trip. We saw an entire flat covered with salt rocks, literally all salt. It was very interesting and unlike anything I had ever seen before in my life. The geological formation is created when water seeps into the ground from snow melting on top of the mountains. The water goes into the ground and eventually settles into the flats where it mixes with the ground and pushes upward forming salt rocks in the flats. It was absolutely amazing. While at this site we also had the opportunity to observe three types of Flamingos. These birds are some of the most awkward and odd shaped birds I have ever seen. At the same time their pink bodies were absolutely stunning. As we sat and observed the flamingos, we were told about the flamingo nests, which are built in the middle of the 'lakes' because it protects the eggs from fox and other animals who may want to eat the eggs. Flamingos are very romantic birds. Flamingos pick a mate for life and never change. When one flamingo dies, its mate soon follows because the mate essentially commits suicide by not eating. That is really love even after death us do part. Flamingos can also be gay. A woman on this trip told me that a couple of Flamingos were brought to a zoo in her home country of Germany and they were both males. They ended up being mates for life. Supposedly they tried and tried to have an egg, but they couldn't, so the Zoo designed a wooden egg and gave it to the flamingos and they have been happy ever since. Crazy huh? Maybe people need to take a lesson from the flamingos in both acceptance, understanding, love, and devotion. During our tour, we saw flamingos fly above us a couple of times. It really was a neat experience.
After the salt flats we drove to the Altiplano lakes. On the way we stopped at a very small town to make reservations for lunch at a little cafe. We arrived at the lakes and it was really nice. These lakes were beautiful, but I actually ended up being quite disappointed. All we really did was look and take pictures at the lakes which were, as I said absolutely beautiful, but that was it.
After the lakes, we returned to the town to eat lunch. We had some really good soup, chicken, and potatoes. It was really a good meal.
After the meal we went to a town south of San Pedro de Atacama, that was named Temuco. It was a very small town. It had three tourist attractions. The church, the church bell tower both built in the 1700's before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and a llama that was in a small pen so tourists could pet it. Quite the little town.
We returned to San Pedro de Atacama, and I needed to get money from an ATM. What a hassle this was going to be. I went to both ATMs in town, and both were out of cash. I needed cash for the entrance fees for my tours the next day. So, I found two Chileans, who were in the same predicament. We talked for a while and we decided, that what I could do, was go to get a couple drinks and food with them, and then I could pay with my credit card and they would pay me in cash. It was a good idea and the girls were very nice and helped me with my Spanish, so that is what we did. We went and I got 2x1 Pisco Sour drinks, a pretty good deal. It ended up working out that I had money, two friends, good conversations, and good memories by the end of the night.
After having a couple drinks with these girls, I went back to the hostal to go to bed, but instead, I found three guys, one Chilean, one Dutch, and one American chilling in the dorm room. We started talking about things, mostly they talked about women problems they had and they offered to let me have a beer with them. So, I said sure, they poured me a small glass --- which was fine with me, and I listened to their complaints for a little longer, before I realized that listening to sap stories about women wasn't my thing, so I retired for the night.
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