McDonalds.

Tonight was the first time I had Mcdonalds, or any other kind of fast food item besides empanadas. I will update the blog with lots of pictures and stories tomorrow morning, but for now I wanted to share this with you before i head to bed.

cheeseburger w. fries and a Fanta :)

beach day 8)

Today was an organized trip with ISA to 3 beaches to the North. Con Con, Horcon, y Zapillar. Each beach had its own special treasure which was lovely, new, and different! We are gone all day and it was a great!

CON CON
Con Con is a beach approx. 30 minutes north of Viña. A few of my friends and I had been there a few weeks ago on our own excursion but we didn't try the horse back riding. Today we thought we would go for it! Most people know *i think* that riding a horse on the beach has always been something on my to do list. Ultimately I would have loved to be on the beach during sunset, but it was still amazing!

Redyn and I each on our horse. We were told that they were both called Rey. So we're not quite sure on the names. or perhaps they got them confused.

The horses were a little bit sad because they were definitely not fed as well as the  ones that we rode in Pucon. As we went in the water these horses were trying to drink the sea water which is NOT good for them! It was still fun though. Most of the horses were just super tired from doing the same trek everyday so they were movin along slowly.

HORCON

Horcon is a small fishing town further north than Con Con. It was super cute with small stores and an aretsania market that had lots of unique items. They are known for having VERY yummy empanadas which we all enjoyed! We had maybe an hour and half at this location and we spent our time exploring the rocks, the water, the market, and the food! Yum.

me up on the rock. almost got soaked but i had to time getting down so i wouldn't get sprayed with water

the back of a boat...gotta take pictures so i remember the names of the places we go!

It was nice to walk around a cute little town instead of being in the hustle and bustle of the citites. I am definitely looking forward to going down south to patagonia and spending some time in the small cities/towns down there.

ZAPILLAR

This beach was super classy, no stray dogs, no one running through the sand yelling HELADO HELADO HELADO, which is what happens at beaches in Viña and Valpo. We had a good 2 hours where we were able to relax and just lay down in the sun, something that earlier in the day we didn't have time for. I got a good nap in and got some color! This is the town where the owner of the equivalent of walmart lives. Super high class! Not to be too snobby, but it was nice to be in a place without trash on the ground and dirty flea dogs running around barking at the cars. 

beautiful wood houses in the lunch green hills!

 SAND DUNES.

After we went furthest north to Zapillar, we headed back south again towards the sand dunes. Im not sure exactly which town they were in, im thinking Reñaca or Con Con, but there were sand dunes. You could rent a board for about a dollar but I just wanted to trek up that dune and see the view! What a workout! It was volcano times 2, except a lot shorter! It was definitely hard to get up the dune while the sand underneath you was slipping and the wind was swiping you with sand the whole way up. But when we finally got to the top the view was GLORIOUS!!!

the top of the dune. super amazing and i will return!

some people on the trip were doing back flips. amazing and very entertaining to watch!

Today was a great opportunity to have an organized program with ISA that really showed you all the different things that Chile has to offer! I like the programs because for one, I already paid for it and why not go! and 2, they know the hidden gems of the coast and these are the things i hope to one day find on my own! but for now, i'll follow the direction of ISA.

I have this week of classes coming up and then on Saturday I leave for Patagonia down south! South be amazing but that'll mean a break for my blog!

BUEN DÍA!

Today was SO much better than yesterday! Natalie and I have OFFICIALLY booked our flights down to Punta Arenas in the south of Chile. So I won't be lounging on the beach like I have been lately. It is going to be very cold down there, so it'll be like im back there enjoying the snow with all of you guys! Natalie's host mom brought her to Sky Airlines office and she reserved flights for us. After class we went to the office and paid. Turned out be be about $260 USD which is a little higher than we wanted. but not bad!!
The plan is to leave on Saturday 4/2 and we will return on Sunday 4/10. I am taking suggestions for things to do, so do some research people! I'm counting on Uncle Don to have some free time and make a nice little spreadsheet with some amazing stops just like our road trip!

So, before we bought the tickets I had my chilean culture class. The goal for the day was to go to a local market or *feria* that is close to the University. We had a number of questions that we were supposed to ask one of the many people there.
Natalie started out by buying flowers for her host mom and then asked the woman a number of questions. I was intrigued by the many options of flowers and I decided to buy probably one of the tallest flower possible. I wanted to give it to my host mom as well, and it worked out well because they only cost about a dollar!

It's hard to see the length of these flowers but they are beautiful! I like how the flowers are in a long row instead of side by side! 

The whole flower stem and all is longer than my arm. That made for an interesting ride on the micro! It was definitely a challenge to carry those for a good part of the afternoon. Anyways, so after Natalie finished her interview i decided that I would try to buy some melons. Most people know that i like my melons! So i found a stand with a guy who looked nice enough and I bought one honey dew melon *una tuna* and a cantaloupe. For those 2 it cost me 500 pesos which is a little bit more than a dollar. Not a bad deal right! I then asked him if he was willing to answer a few questions. He was mumbling so I continued. When i went to asked him what his name was he replied "estoy ocupado". Which means i'm busy. YA RIGHT. cause im pretty sure i was the only one near his stand. he had the time but was being mean. So i laughed it off but then, i had to buy something else to actually get my interview! I bought a few peaches and finally a nice old man answered my questions. So there I was walking around with 2 heavy melons, some peaches, and flowers the length of my arm. Managing all of this while trying to keep my dress down because of the wind! Quite the multi-tasker!

The melon. YUM!

So after lugging the fruit and flowers around i finally made it home! YES. siesta time! I wanted to eat dinner early because we were going to play soccer around 8pm. Lovely raviolis for dinner. We had a few people from ISA that wanted to play, so one of the host brothers set it up. We had to go to this sporting club that had a whole bunch of soccer fields under the lights. I wish i had brought a camera but we are returning next week so i definitely will. Our field ended up being right next to the horse track so that was funny to have the trainers walking the horses and watching our game. It was great to get back on the field although I am definitely gonna feel it in the morning!

We were right in the middle of our game and pounding of horses came up behind us. I stopped and stared at the pure beauty of these horses speeding past us. I was in awe. No one else seemed to be as amazed as I was. At the way back of the pack there was a horse *sin jockey* or without a jockey on the back. ha that was funny. There were 2 races that happened while we were there and it was amazing to see them speeding past us. Great part of the day.

Once I got home mi madre served me up a nice bowl of ravioli and that nice lookin melon above. I asked her if she liked the flowers. Then she started to tear up! I didn't know what to do. She was saying that it was so sweet of me to think of something so small to brighten her day, but to her it meant the world. I'm sure she is missing her daughters who are off living in Europe and she is left with her 3 sons. Not that they don't show their affection, but us girls. you know :) The tears were welling up and then she kissed me on the cheek and said that i was too sweet and that she loved them! It was a really important moment in the bonding that will happen in my time here in Chile and Mamá Vivi. I said my goodnights and headed up to my bed. Exhausted i went to pull back the covers and i felt something hard. Curious, I pulled back the covers and found this!

Chocolate bar with almonds! So yummy!!

Mamá Vivi is amazing and I could not have asked for a better Chilean mommy. I ran downstairs and gave her kisses *besos*. Better be watching my weight with all this chocolate and pan! After I complete this bar this will be my 3rd bar of Golden Nuss consumed! oh it's so yummy!

Overall such a wonderful day on all accounts. I got to play soccer, finalize plans for Patagonia, buy beautiful flowers for a wonderful warm hearted woman, and get some exercise! 

buen día :)

Frustration!

So yesterday was the first time that I felt truly frustrated in this new country of mine. It wasn't really until the end of the day that I became frustrated. I'll try to give the scenario that you understand my feelings.
The afternoon started out with AMAZING gelato at the Bravisimo in the mall.

Natalie and I with our gelatos! I had mint chip and she had chocolate mousse. Both SO GOOD!

On our way towards home there was some confusion of which type of transportation to take home. Let me break it down for you. To get any where there are 4 means of public transportations. In this specific situation we could have chosen one of many although we chose wrong.

1. Walking. Normally not a big deal except when it would have taken us a long time to get home.
2. Metro. Unfortunately the metro does not run towards the mall and we were far from the closest station.
3. Colectivo. Basically a taxi that follows a certain route. So you have to find the right one. Usually a good option although it costs more money when we had already spent a lot of transportation that day.
4. Micro. Public buses which are just crazy. I believe I have mentioned them before and compared them to the bus in harry potter because they are insane! They drive muy rápido and slam on their brakes at every stop. We chose the micro because we thought we had to meet up with a friend. Turns out we didn't end up meeting a friend and from our micro we then needed to hop on the metro.

On the walk from the micro to the metro I was already a little heated. The whole situation had been building up since we had been trying to buy our tickets for our trip south. The plan was to go to my house after the mall to get the tickets. At this point i was NOT in the mood to walk slow, which is very different from the Chilean way. They are very relaxed when walking and i fear if they ever went to NYC they would get trampled. Weaving in and out of numerous chileans and after the metro with more crying babies than i could handle we made it to my house. Natalie suggested I eat something since i was quite annoyed at the time.  A lovely piece of fresh fruit definitely helped and I was able to focus on the task at hand. Buying tickets for our trip! Every day prices get higher so the goal was to buy them then.
We found the flights we wanted and when trying to buy them, fail. You need a card issued in Chile which obviously neither of us had. Sadly mi hermano Gonzalo took the brunt of my frustration although he lightened up the situation with some english which made me feel a little better. Let me tell you, trying to buy something as expensive as plane tickets is not something I enjoy doing in english, throw spanish in the mix and I am one stressed Gringa!

There was a plan that night to go to a local café and get some pizza and beer. Unfortunately I was not feeling very friendly, so I stayed home attempting to complete the purchase on my tickets. Failed. But it ended up being a good end to the night because I had a lovely conversation with Gonzalo in english because at this point spanish would have just put me over the edge! We talked about Harry Potter and he informed me of his disliking of the last book. He thought that J.K. Rowling killed off her characters too quickly and that they should have deserved a proper burial. I then proceeded to remind him of Dumbledore's burial. *i know this is not in the 7th book but i wanted to make a point*. Also now that I think of it Harry had a lovely funeral for Dobby. He lent me the 6th book in Spanish which in this particular translation is Harry Potter and the Mystery of the Prince. NOT THE SAME. how can they do that?  I would like to buy my own copy though so I can write in it.

So that was my first true Chilean frustration. It seems silly now, but at the time it was quite a lot to handle. I'm lucky to have a family that knows how to release the Abby tension.


Chao for now!

Lazy Sunday!

Sundays seem to be my laziest here. It would make sense since I finally got to sleep around 6am in the morning after coming home from the bar around 5am. I can't seem to sleep in past 11 though! Bummer. Today was a great day because I found a radio station that plays all of the classics and it has been so great. Piano man came on and it made me happy :)

I was able to catch up with quite a few people today on Skype which made me happy because it's always nice to see the faces of the people that I love! I snapped this pic while skyping Arielle, my freshman roommate. She is on spring break at home and looking for a new tv show. We were just talking when all of a sudden she picks up this lime green weight and starts lifting it with her arm hhaa. I was cracking up. So obviously i had to take a picture!! and here it is!

Also today i did my first bit of homework! It was reading a story about the Maya god Huitzilopoxtli, which is super completed to say and I most likely didn't spell it right. I was about to take a nap when mi madre asked to read it. So while I was relaxing after focusing on that story for a good 2 hours, mi madre was reading it over 3 times. When i went down for dinner tonight she started acting out the story so that I  knew for sure what was happening. There were a group of men on horses and she actually made the galloping sounds of the horse. I think i might actually understand some of these stories if she acts them out every time! I'm so glad I ended up with the family that I did. They are wonderful!

Another week of school ahead of me. 

Love this song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zp1TbLFPp8

Stairs!

Here is a picture of our stairs. Obvi I borrowed this one too so my friend Renee is in it!

Also there were some other sweet stairs so I'm just gonna put them in here. Since i am still waiting for Vivi to return home! My stairs were the blue background and the purple accent. Assisting me on these stairs were Renee (in the picture), Kelly *purple background* and Natalie *dark teal background that you can't really tell is teal haha*

This is a picture of a hotdog, or a *completo* here. Usually on completos there is guacamole, mustard, and most likely mayonesa. I have yet to try one!

This is a pretty sweet picture that Dylan, a southern cali boy did. Pretty artistic compared to our stars and polka dots!

I put my stamp on Valparaíso today!

So i've been super busy the last couple of days and have not been able to update my blog, although I'm sure you all understand that! I've been pretty good the last week and then i had a small lapse. but thats ok! because I am back. but i forget what i did those days that I wasn't on top of the blog. So here is what i did today!

But wait i remember yesterday, and it was amazing! So we went to this beach which is super close so we just walked there. and of course i got burnt. The first time getting burnt really bad so i must say i am super proud of myself so far! This is going to be a rambling blog post because as I type I am sitting here with the clicker to the gate. Mi hermano Paulo gave it to me on his way out. He said Vivi will call and then i need to open the gate for her. Here's the thing....he handed this clicker to me like an hour and half ago. and I am still sitting here waiting. As soon as she returns I am headed out to the discotec! So anyways, yes I got burnt boo! but the beach was lovely and I had some real good churros with powdered sugar on them! 6 of them to be exact. SO YUMMY! My friend took a picture of me since I didn't have my camera with me that day, so I'll add that pic later.

Today a bunch of us gathered in front of a construction store to buy some paint. 2 of the girls here has a mother who organized this. We were going to buy paint and then head to a hill in Valpo to get painting a mural.
We had so many wonderful colors!!

The blue at the very bottom is mine :) Super cute! but all of the colors were wonderful. 

So, we were told to only paint the face of the step, not the actual place where you walk. The girls I was painting near decided that we would coordinate all of our colors and we chose some good ones! This is a picture of us in the process! (ps all of these pictures were borrowed because I once again did not have my camera because I didn't think it would be THIS cool!)

 So today was pretty cool! We beautified a street and it was funny because a bunch of Chileans walked past us today and took pictures of us painting. So for once we didn't feel like the tourists! Also a small child was walking down our steps and i asked him in spanish if he liked our colors... he just stared at me blankly. The rest of his family was walking down behind him and we noticed they were speaking english. The one time i try my spanish out and it was pointless! He was super cute though!! Here is the last pic until i am able to borrow some more :)

Renee and I painting our steps. Doesn't really look like we were doing much but you get the idea of where we were painting!!

Guess I can check off earthquake of things to experience while in Chile!

So today was like any other day. I had class at 10am and spent the majority of the day in Valpo around the area of school. We had a meeting with ISA this evening starting at 7pm to talk about Culture Shock and just to get together to see how things were going. We were in the middle of our meeting when our chairs and the room started shaking. It wasn't that strong but enough to notice and then Lizette our director was like yep, that was a temblor. It was pretty strong but not strong enough to be considered a terremotto which is just a really strong earthquake.
After a few minutes of people talking Lizette got right back into the things for the meeting and we continued. I was sitting right by the window and life didn't seem to stop for this thing that happened. It was so weird. We just had an earthquake, and everyone just continued on like nothing happened.

I got home and right before I got on skype we had another one! The second was definitely not as strong and it only lasted for a few seconds. I'm not as freaked out as i think i should be, but I'll definitely start freaking if things start falling off the the walls and I can't stand up straight.
Not much to note today besides the earthquakes. Just looking forward to a good nights sleep because we might go to a local irish bar here to celebrate St. Patricks Day tomorrow :)

I must admit, I'm living the good life :)

Finally Exploring Valpo!

I had some time this morning before my first class and my friend here from the University of Maine asked me if i wanted to walk around Valpo before class. Of course i was excited to walk around and be cultural instead of laying in bed all morning. We got on the metro and headed towards the ISA office so we could drop off our lunches. We picked up my other friend Natalie, from California, on the way and we headed out to explore the city!
We stumbled upon this random street that had a nice area to sit that was covered with tiles that made a special little gem in the middle of no where...this is what we were hoping to find!

Natalie and I sitting on a bench in Valpo

We continued walking a little bit further and found what is called the Open Air Museum which is basically a bunch of murals along the walls of these streets that has been made into a museum. There is this man who has completely transformed one street from DRAB to FAB. It was this old run down street which is now covered in bright murals and beautiful pictures. When we arrived there he was working on a self portrait of himself. 

Painter, unsure of his name

This painter really liked my friend Redyn and asked if he could draw her portrait. We didn't have time today but she made plans to go back on thursday so that he could practice his people drawing skills. As we were walking alway he was yelling to us, JUEVES! to make sure that we knew he would be expecting her back there to paint. I think i will join her on this trip because that is super cool. Too bad he didn't want to draw a picture of me but I think it'll turn out amazing. I'll be sure to take pictures if i actually join. 

This is one of my favorite things that he did. he turned the steps into a mural and it looked really cool! Imagine living on this street!! You would get to see beautiful artwork every day instead of the boring tan walls that it used to be. 

the steps in the open air museum.

Then he let us paint on the wall...very cool right! We each took turns painting and this is what we ended up with! I'm excited to go back on JUEVES (thrusday) to see if it is still there!

3 hearts with our first initials. (Redyn, Abby, Natalie). Hopefully that'll be there forever! I am definitely going to return to see if its still there! Hopefully he'll spice it up a little bit so it doesn't look like kindergardeners painted on the wall.

Overall, great day! I felt very cultural and I even started planning some trips of my own around Chile and Argentina. If anyone has any suggestions of where to visit please let me know!!

New Page!

Check out my new page, 30 Days, 30 Meals! I know everyone wants to know what I have been eating, so here you go!

Short but Sweet.

I barely had the energy to get off the ground as you can probably see! and that smoke behind me, thats the volcanic smoke! It smelled horribly of sulfur and when the wind was blowing just the right way it could burn off your nose hairs! Not exactly what I was wanting after hiking up there to the top!

What did you do this weekend....oh nothing, just climbed Volcán Villarica

YES! I CLIMBED A VOLCANO, and it was probably one of the hardest things I have EVER done in my life. It was challenging on every level. I dont think I could write enough words to describe how amazing the experience was. And it started very early!
630am we were required to be up and ready! We were a little bit late getting out the door, but we got to the office on time and changed straight into our clothes. It was still dark out and we were bundling up for our day. We got on the bus and I was half asleep, but I was able to get a picture of the volcano with the beautiful sunrise!

view of the volcano from the bus

We got up to the base and got a lesson on what we would be getting ourselves into. The base of the volcano is one of the hardest to climb just because it is a slippery volcanic rock. There was a ski lift to bypass this part of the climb. By taking that and paying roughly 10 dollars I saved an hour of walking. Good thing I did because I barely made it to the top as it is! There were only about 10 people that decided to walk the first part, and the majority of them did it because they didn't have any money on them at the time! ha. 

bag in front ready to get on the ski lift

Once we got off the ski lift we had to gear up with all of our warm clothes. I was fully dressed and quickly realized that that was NOT going to happen. I was way to hot for all of the recommended items, but my picture turned out pretty funny though!

all dressed. I could barely breathe so I quickly took off the face mask!

The trek was quite exhausting. The high altitude did not help and I was definitely challenged. I didn't think I was going to make it and neither did my guide at first, but once we got near the top we decided we had to continue on! Just to give you an idea of what it was like, below is a picture of us just taking a small breather. 

I was extremely tired and I was finding it hard to breathe at the high altitude. I have to give all my thanks to my tour guide (guia) Patty who carried my back pack for a good hour. That thing must have weighed at least 25-30 pounds. Patty also assisted me by letting me latch on to her hand for a good amount of the time. Without the encouragement and physical assistance from Patty I don't think I would have been able to make it on my own. When we finally got to the top I had to give her a big hug and take this picture! 

Patty and I atop the Volcano!

Overall it was an amazing experience, and I don't think I will have one like it ever again. I climbed a volcano, I can say I did it, but I don't think I'm ever gonna do it again! These guides were amazing. During the high season they climb up the volcano anywhere from 4-7 times a week! Truly amazing. 

When I finally got to the top and had a chance to rest...this was the view!

view from the top

I was exhausted and I sill am! The way down was SO much better! We went down on our butts the most of the way. In our backpack that was provided for us along with all of the other equipment we were given this thing they call a diaper. Pretty much a waterproof piece of fabric that we clipped on our butts so that we were able to slide down the snow. It was terrifying and many times there were bumps that ended up with me landing on my butt which hurt, A LOT! To slow yourself down I was told to dig my ice pick into the snow although, most times I was flying so quickly that my ice pick didn't do much. So there I am sliding down on my butt and I see the guides flying past me practically skiing. They didn't have skis though, nope just them sliding skillfully down on their feet looking so graceful while I am sliding down on my butt and getting a frozen wedgie and snow in the face. Not my favorite part of the trip for sure. 

It took a complete 6 hours to go up and down the Volcano Villarica and it was an amazing experience. I am still sore and it takes me a while to get up stairs. I have never been more happy to be at sea level in my life!

12 hours back on the bus and I returned home this morning at 630 am. Straight to bed I went and then I was back into the swing of classes in no time. I was able to Skype Rachel Macklin for her 19th birthday! She showed me her cake and it made me miss all of those amazingly good tasting disgustingly unhealthy American foods! 

cannot wait to sleep! 

Everwood anyone?

The town of Pucón is super quaint. For anyone who is as big a TV fan as I am, it reminded me of the town in Everwood, a show that was wrongfully ended on the WB.
Saturday morning I had no morning plans so some friends and I walked around the town. It was also my dad's birthday on the 12th of March, which I was not able to call or get online to wish him a happy birthday! Skyped with him today though and heard he had a nice dinner at the PUB 97 so that was good to hear!
While walking around we came across the lakes with some stray dogs. They were so cute! At first they were a little bit scary, because we just wanted to get to the water and they would get in front of us. It took us a while to figure out that they just wanted us to throw the wood for them, so of course we did!

teasing the dogs a little bit :)

After walking around and looking at some of the hand made crafts (artesania) shops we went to lunch at this small restaurant. There were only a few other tables occupied. It was here that I had THE BIGGEST hamburger that I have ever seen in my life! It was filled with tomatoes, avacado, cheese, mayo, lettuce. There is no way that I would have been able to eat the whole thing! I cut it in half and let the other people I was with try it and I finished the rest for myself. OH BOY was it good! Could have done without the mayo, but they're into la mayonesa here.

it was practically the size of my face!!

After that amazing lunch it was time to go horseback riding! I was looking forward to this because I have always had a fascination with horses. They scare me because they're so powerful and could crush you in a second, but they are amazing creatures! I had a horse named Morena. She was 14 years old which apparently is prime time for a horse because they live to be about 36. I was with a group of 7 girls who chose to go on the horses (las/ los calbagatas/caballos). We started up this dirt road and it took us a while to get used to our horses. One of the girls had a horse that had a small problem with gas! that was funny haha. Morena was lovely and did most things I told her to do :) We were going uphill for a while until we came to this field where we got off the horses for a little trek. Little did i know it would be an intense lets climb down the side of this cliff and go see a waterfall kind of a trek. But it was amazing!! here is the view of what we saw when we started our trek. 

amazing view right?!

So then from here we hiked for maybe 20 minutes until we got to another water fall. Every waterfall that I have seen so far has just taken my breath away! It is such a change from the central Chile where they do not have as much rainfall. Central Chile has more temperate weather and is definitely not as GREEN as the south of Chile. 

you sort of get an idea of how tall it is...

Right before we got back on our horses we decided we wanted a picture with one of the tour guides. He was an older man and he didn't quite have all of his teeth. I was standing next to him for the picture and before the picture was taken he said something to me which I didn't understand. (This is normal for me. I don't understand most Chileans unless I am expecting the question like do you like it here or how is your horse). The man apparently asked me if I liked the heat of a man. So weird right!! I am glad I didn't understand him because I do not even know how I would have responded if I had. Thanks to all my advanced spanish speaking friends to fill me in on all of the things I am missing!

Another hour on the horse and we were being picked up to go back to the cabin. I didn't want to say good bye to Morena and I had a good photo shoot with her before I had to leave. She was wonderful and just stood there as I had my friend Natalie snap at least 20 photos. 

This is one of my favorites :)

Shipping off to Pucón.

I'm going to try to make these posts as clear as possible because there was a lot that I did and I want to try and put as much information as I can in each post. So I'm going to split each day up into different posts..that way you don't feel like you're reading a book when really it was just my amazing weekend :)

So to start we left of thursday at 930pm. It was a 12 hr drive approx, so we left at night so that we wouldn't miss any sunshine!
Or so we thought! We got there and what was it doing, RAINING! que horror! We had a tour planned for the whole day and it rained...all day! We arrived there around 10am and was brought right to our cabana. It was a lovely cabin that had a wood stove and nice beds.
When we first got to our cabañas we saw this...

they were adorable and so cute! they let us hold them and they were really the only thing i would feel comfortable holding without worrying about getting fleas!

I was exhausted and wanted to just take a nap, although one thing i have learned from ISA is that there are no breaks. The majority of the time there is something planned to do. Within an hour after arriving we were off on our adventure for the day. It started with going to the travel agency that we used to hike the volcano. I had to be fitted for boots, jacket and pants etc.
After taking care of some tourism business we headed on the bus to start the tour. Our first stop was a waterfall (un salto). The waterfall was named La China. It was pouring but still an amazing sight to see! We ended up seeing 2 saltos, but we were able to get closer to the biggest one.

La China

Next on the tour we went to a couple more spots in the forest. The tour was in spanish so I didn't quite get all of the information, but they were beautiful sights to see! After we were all freezing and wet (mojada) we went to see a typical Mapuche hut (una ruca). The Mapuche are the indigenous people of Chile. The woman lives in a normal house today but has kept her hut and her Mapuche values. 

inside la ruca

It was nice to warm up by the fire and dry up a little. We were served coffee y tea along with some special bread that tasted like fried dough! It sure was yummy! I wish that my memory were better so that I could relay all of this information back to you guys, but I'm REAL bad at remembering things. I think I might start carrying around a small notebook so that I can write things down!

After the Mapuche part of the tour we got to my personal favorite: the hot springs!! It was so nice to sit in there and relax. We were cold all day and by the time I was just stepping into the hot springs my feet were already wrinkled! We had a good 2 hours at the hot springs which was greatly appreciated!

some people in the hot spring

It was a wonderful tour and I learned a lot, although it doesn't seem like it because I can never remember the things! Overall it was a super rainy day that ended wonderfully all curled up with a cup of hot chocolate sitting next to a warm wood burning stove! 

And so ended day 1 in Pucón. Un Poco Del Sur de Chile

2 weeks ago, I was in Mass.

I can't believe that 2 weeks ago today I was getting on an airplane to come here! it seems like a whole world ago!

I think one of the biggest challenges for me here is going to be the spanish. now that may seem obvious because it is definitely a whole different ball game going into a place where I don't understand the language. But for me its going to be able pushing through and speaking spanish even when i am compltely fed up with the language instead of just going back to my room and listening to some english music, or even write this blog. So far I have been really good at getting away from spanish when i want to, but the challenge will come when i force myself to stay immersed in the spanish language!

So far my classes seem to be exactly the level that I want them to be at! they are not too stressful that I find myself working all the time, but at the same time I am definitely not sitting back listening to someone blab at me in english. I am taking 4 classes and 3 of them are in spanish. the one class in english is for my art general education requirement and it is almost as hard to understand the teacher speaking english as it is for me to understand others speaking spanish. I have to actively try and understand everything that i hear in all of my classes.

It is so nice to be near the water here! any time i have a couple hours in between class i can head to the beach! one of the main reasons i chose Valparaíso! Here is a picture of a few girls that I have been hanging out with! We are standing on an anchor, although it is kind of hard to tell from that angle ha

So after my classes were done a few of us walked down to the beach. On our way to the beach we saw this out in the water and there were Sea Lions bathing in the sun! It was so cool to see them so close! This is definitely not a sight that we see up in Maine unless we are out in the boat.

So Viña del Mar is super different than Valparaíso. Viña is know for its tourism and it is so easy to tell. I think I will need to spend more time exploring both cities before I determine which one I like better. But this clock that is at the entrance to Viña is definitely something that i LOVE! and it is a real working clock with a second hand! And yes it was really that sunny at 7pm! it's amazing here and I love the fact that the sun is out this late, although this will be changing after daylights savings time. 

So this weekend there is an excursion that comes with the program that I am on. This weekend we are headed to this place called Pucón which is 12 hours south of where we are on the coast. To optimize our time there we are leaving tomorrow (thurs) around 930 at night. This will put us arriving in Pucón in the morning and then we jump into our days activites! So many amazing things are going to be happening! There's a volcano to be climbed, hot springs to relax in, horses to ride, camping, kayaking, zip-lining through the forest. Anything outdoors thats you could imagine, it will probably be there. There is no internet there, or at least I will not have my computer, so the blogging with have to wait until I come back with some AMAZING pictures!! So, don't think I have fallen off the face of the earth or something happened to be, because I will be relaxing without internet for the weekend and I will have lots of stories to tell when I return!

PHOTOS!

I have added some photos under the photos page. I have not quite mastered how to add them yet, but I was able to put some up there for those of you who aren't able to see my facebook collection :)

and to answer Lindsay :) (the first question!)

The typical chilean dinner....hmm it ranges. Usually there is the main meal which most of the times would be enough for me! The main dish usually ends up being something like lasagna, meat and potatoes, chicken patties, or just recently we had a shepherd's pie type deal. The main part is most likely something that you would heat up in the microonda (microwave).

Then for the sides there are usually 2. Fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables. Fruit can be anywhere from peaches, honey dew melon, to pears. Most of the time it is cut up perfectly with the skin peeled off which I am definitely excited that the fuzz is off of the peach! Then the fresh vegetables! Lately it has been fresh tomatoes, sometimes with the skin off sometimes not. Cucumbers are usually in the mix as well! Sometimes  in the beginning there was ice berg lettuce but we have cut that out and have gone straight for the tomatoes and cucumbers now :)

Then it's usually the exact same thing for lunch! Leftovers are a huge thing here! I think it would be a tad crazy for me to expect that mi madre make me something different at every meal! That would take a lot of effort haha.

I will take a picture of my little tray that mi madre Vivi sets up my food on. It is lovely and usually no matter what time in the day I will be able to go down to the kitchen and my food is right there waiting for me! It's an amazing gift, and I will definitely miss that aspect when I head back to the states! but that won't be for a while...so I am soaking it all up while I can!

El Primer Día!

So today was the first day of school! Crazy right! I had my first day of classes today and the majority of my friends back in the states are struggling with Midterms!

Yesterday I did the irresponsible thing of talking on skype until 2am, which was lovely to chat with my dear friend Kimberly Mayo, although it caused problems when I had to wake up at 6:45am. I took a super quick shower, because i haven't quite figured out how to get the shower less than scalding hot, and then to severe freezing. Breakfast was my usual fresh fruit and yogurt. I headed to school with Gonzalo (or Gon Tom, my favorite from his list of nicknames) today. This morning I had Contemporary Latin American Short Stories which went well, although I could barely understand the teachers assistant who was teaching us.
After class I went to JUMBO, the store that if i have it right is owned by Walmart, and I bought myself a cell phone. They like to keep it simple here so I'm rockin an old school Samsung phone. it's got some blue on it so I like it :)

I made it home and took una siesta...i'm getting to be really good at these! I woke up around 12:30 and had lunch on the patio in the sun. It felt so nice to sit outside with my book and not worry about anything! So lovely! Then I had to hop back on the metro to go to my second class of the day which was Grammar para extranjeros (foreigners) 3.  This class doesn't get me credit at my school I don't think, but I think it will help me with my spanish speaking and writing!
Another trip on the metro and I was home once again! I passed a beach on the metro home and ALMOST stepped off for a little time at la playa, but i didn't have my book so I made plans for tomorrow! I must soak up as much sun as possible before it gets cold here!! Then.... I took another nap. I know what you're thinking but let me tell you it wasn't planned! I was just planning on listening to some music and then next thing you know it's 8pm! It's ok though because I can sleep in as long as I want tomorrow because I dont have class until 2pm!
Dinner today was an omelet with green beans and pepper, which wasn't my favorite but was interesting to see the difference in the cookings of an omelet. Of course on the side I had some fresh fruit, today was honey dew melon and also some tomato and cucumber! Very yummy! The only thing i'm missing in the mix is some ranch dressing to dip those in!

lazy sunday!

Today was the first day i have lounged and boy did it feel good! I went to be early last night around 11 and woke up around 11 this morning. It felt so good to get a nice amount of sleep! After stretching in bed for a little bit I headed downstairs to find my nice little floral tray where mi madre puts my food. On it was a beautifully grilled piece of bread here, which isn't like a normal slice of bread but more like a bagel shaped/sized piece of bread like a roll consistency. It was grilled and on top was an egg over easy. How did Vivi (mi madre Chilnea) know that I had been craving a bagel! it tasted almost the same to me! SO GOOD! and of course on the side i had my usual yogurt with fresh fruit in it.

Most people who are reading this know that I love fruit. I could eat it all day, and here I do! I had a peach when I first woke up. Then had a banana in my yogurt and for lunch which I didnt eat until 4pm I had honey dew melon! I could not be happier with the fresh fruit here!

I was looking to get some sun without leave the house, so I ate my lunch out on the patio that is really in the middle of their house here. It was so nice to soak up some sun while eating my fresh fruit and chatting with Viviana. I could not have asked for a more relaxed day :)

Oh yea siestas. They're a big thing for me... I love them and here they are socially acceptable. So HA to all of those people who used to make fun of me for taking naps! A lot of people do it here! perhaps its because spanish is so hard to understand and my brain gets exhausted after a couple hours of spanish! or ....maybe that's just me! anyways I have found it very frustrating to try and keep up with my shows from the states. Every show i try to watch from hulu or sidereel or whatever else says that they're only for people in the US. so i have been watching shows from sketchy websites that are not legit. but they work!

tomorrow is my first day of classes :/ I have a class at 8:15am. wowzers. ok I will definitely update you guys on that tomorrow. i like this once a day blogging thing, although we'll see how well i can keep it up!

an attempt at a daily update...

Ok so here we go. im going to ATTEMPT (key word there) to put a daily update. this way you will be able to look at it and catch up with my daily life instead of reading a full 8 paragraph thing every once in a while.

Today we went to the beach again! so fun! we decided to go a little bit further up the coast this time to a place called Concón. In order to get there you have to take the public bus system which is called a micro. I'm pretty sure I have already mentioned these Harry Potter crazy-esk buses. It costs about 330 pesos which comes out to be about a little more than 50cents one way up the coast. It took about an hour total from the time I left my house to the time we were on the beach. Crazy buses but I guess they are so cheap that it is worth it!

I heard at this beach you can ride horses and when we arrived sure enough there were a bunch of horses just waiting to have us on their backs! Unfortunately we were not well prepared for horse back riding and decided to wait till a later time when we will be wearing pants. Can't wait!!

So a spanish lesson for you all:
Palta=avocado
Califont= the little hot water heater that they use to heat their water here. everything is super energy conscious, so in the afternoon they turn off the flame and if you want hot water you have to lite it up.

I know there is more vocab but at the moment i can't think about anything other than this sting i feel on my back from the sun. There is a hole in the O-zone layer down here so the sun is so much stronger! I will not complain about my sunburn because I know most of you are in freezing weather up there in good ole North America!

oh and another thing i learned today. I CAN'T WATCH HULU HERE! so tragic. apparently because of their licensing they're only allowed to show it to the US and US territories. shame!

My mom pointed out this blog to me where the woman asks if any of her readers have any questions, so I guess I'll do the same. It'll be better this way so you can actually find out things that you want to know about my daily life instead of just reading me ramble about whatever comes to mind. So, feel free to leave comments with questions and I will answer them in the following blog post or in a comment as well.
opps this turned out to be another long post. oh well!

<3

algunas fotos

this is the maine port in Valparaíso looking down from a hill

sea lions that we saw on our harbor tour of the port!! they were adorable! 

this is me on the boat tour. we all had to wear those really old life jackets haha. luckily no one got sick!

some sweet chicas on the beach! this is right before a huge wave came up and got the majority of us soaking wet!

yea, Chile is awesome!

Welcome to my life...there is a lot going on all the time. so i'lll try to give you a little preview of what i've been doing.
This week has just been crazy orientating myself around the cities with the help of the ISA staff. We have had tours around both cities and it is so funny to see the difference between the two. Viña is more tourist  city with block streets and lots of stores. Casinos and bars and tourist attractions.

this is the view from the beach of Viña

so you sort of get an idea of how everything is all pretty and touristy, and now here is a picture of Valparaíso, which is more hippy and run down from the port.

this is a house that is meant to look like a boat. it is one of the most famous houses in Valparaíso. The majority of the city is up in the hills and most of the walls are covered in graffiti! so pretty!!

its amazing the artwork that these people put on walls. its so pretty and soon we will be going to an open aire museum that is known for their beautiful art work! im excited about it although im super nervous to bring my super nice camera out into the streets because they're known for pick pocketing here. although i bet i would be fine, i dont want to risk it!


We went to the beach yesterday and it was so warm and beautiful! it's really weird cause the weather can be so weird. one day it will be completely sunny and the next day really cold and cloudy. i think it almost rained today! that would have been the first for my time in chile. anyways the beach was amazing and hopefully if we have nice weather we will go there tomorrow! here is a picture of us at the beach. we were jumping because we were just so happy to have the sand in our toes and the sun shining down on us :)

Last night i went to a party...that was an interesting experience! i was just getting home from a day at orientation and Gonzalo forgot to pick me up! The ISA staff had to call and remind him that his "gringa" thats me, was waiting for him! He was running and was completely out of breathe and i was the last one waiting for him. I finally got home and eat dinner muy rápido. Showered and then we were out the door to a birthday party for his friend named Ignacio, or UMPA. Craziest bus ride ever! We were walking like in the sketchiest areas ever and the buses that they have here are like that bus from harry potter. They move so quick in and out of traffic and they stop for maybe a few seconds to let you off... i have a day dream that im going to loose my sandal and it'll be lost forever because they will not go back for that. Then they just stop on a dime. good thing i had my hand out otherwise i def would have hit it on the seat in front of me. maddness for sure. thats the only thing i can use to describe my night last night. We left the house to go out at 10pm. now usually, im already in bed exhausted and wanting to turn the lights off at that time. one of the girls i was talking to said that bars normally close around 4 or 5 am. HA. funny. So we got there and there were so many chilenos...many of them wanted to speak english so i got a night off from spanish! Hopefully pictures will be tagged of me so keep an eye out for those on facebook :)


thats a good update for now. i'll try to be more on top of this blog thing but it is definitely hard when im just trying to organize my life. which i have now done. i have classes in order and next thing i just need to figure out where they all are!


buen día!