Return to Lota, Plus Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

So last weekend we stuck around Concepcion, except for taking a day trip back to Lota to interview various people for our project. I interviewed my "hermana"'s mom, who is a schoolteacher in Lota. It was overall very interesting, discussing politics, education, etc. She was wonderfully welcoming, and unexpectedly fixed us all a feast of a lunch!

Last week during the week we had an evening performance of all of our poetry/interpretive dance performances for our Chilean literature and theater class (we do study literature as well, but this part was more interpretation of poetry-- more free form). They closed a restaurant for all of us to perform, and it was great to see what everyone else had done. Ours turned out very well, the highlight probably being Dipika playing her clarinet.

This past weekend we went to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, on the coast parallel to Santiago (so North of here). Valparaiso is Chile's third largest city (after Santiago and Concepcion) and its most important port. Vina del Mar (about 20 minutes away) is where Santiago's elite have their summer homes on the beach.

We took the night bus Thursday night, and arrived early Friday morning. We found a hostel then set off to see Pablo Neruda's home in Valparaiso (San Sebastiana), winding along the hills and seeing the sights of the city (too bad it was such a foggy day). Valparaiso reminded me a lot of San Francisco, with all of its steep hills, colorful homes, and nearby bay. We then went out to lunch at a lovely restaurant and in the afternoon headed for Vina. We went to the National Botanical Gardens just outside of Vina then to the Reloj de Flores (Flower Clock) and the famous Hotel Del Mar (luxury hotel and resort on the water).

Saturday we set off for Isla Negra (an hour and a half from Valparaiso), Pablo Neruda's most famous home. Our guide was wonderful, slowing down a bit for us and talking to us all about our experience in Chile. She also allowed us to take photos in the home, even though it was prohibited! So, please enjoy these extra special photos! In the evening we went to a flamenco show in Vina's gorgeous theater. We got cheap (less than $4) student tickets, so we were way up in the rafters. But we could see just fine, and it was a lovely show!

We then took the night bus back Saturday night because today (Sunday) was election day here, and as voting is mandatory ($70 fine for not voting), everything is closed. It's a good thing we did because we could not sleep at all on that bus (due to changing our tickets at the last minute, we had seats in the very back next to the bathroom). So, I slept till mid-afternoon here. We just studied and hung out most of the rest of the day. By the way, the elections here were purely local elections, so there aren't any huge results to report (not that most Americans even know who the President of Chile is anyway-- by the way, she is Michelle Bachelet, a Socialist). But, the Mayor of Concepcion will remain the same-- she is a moderate conservative, which makes my host dad happy but my host mom very unhappy-- she wanted the Socialist man to unseat her.

Basically that's all from here for now. We are halfway through the program now, which is already making me sad to leave my family here. We have a packed schedule for the remaining weekends, so let me keep you up-to-date. This weekend to Santiago with Karen, my host sister. Next weekend we go to Pichilemu, a small coastal town, with the program. The weekend after we are off to Atacama, the driest desert in the world, which is in the very North of the country. The following weekend we head to Pucon, a volcano which also has nearby hot springs, to stay in the cabin of one of Karen's friends. We will then stay here one weekend to hang out with/say goodbye to our families. Finally, we will spend Dec. 5-10 (after classes end) in Torres del Paine, at the Southern tip of Patagonia, to see the famous national park and penguins and such. I'll be back in the US on December 13th! Yikes!

Finally, with 8 days left to go, Obama-Biden '08!

Lebu, etc.

This past weekend we went to Lebu, a small mining and fishing town which is also home to the poet Gonzalo Rojas, a couple hours South of here. This was a mandatory trip organized by the program in order for us to see the poorer, rural side of Chile. We were placed randomly with high school students from Lebu for the weekend-- they guided us around Lebu, and we stayed at our homes. Basically, I think this trip could have been a lot of fun, but my student was a real jerk. He was just incredible immature and inconsiderate, which made the trip very annoying, given that I had to stay with him most of the time. But, parts were fun (mostly the parts without him). We went to the beach there, which is gorgeous and as these amazing caves that open up right on the ocean. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. We also all went out to a club, which was quite fun too (because all of the students were there). Finally, my student's sister, who was also my roommate, was very nice, and I talked to her for several hours. Overall though, it's not an experience I want to relive much, which is perhaps why I've been delaying writing this block. I think many parts of the experience reminded me roughly of the difference a Chilean would see in visiting UC students and visiting high school students in say, Tappahannock, Virginia (just to refer to somewhere I actually know). But, I must admit I learned a lot.

This week has been pretty busy as I'm settling in. School is getting busier, but more importantly other things are picking up. I am starting to volunteer two days a week in a school for children with Down Syndrome. I went to my orientation on Monday and will start right away. We also now have seminars one or two afternoons a week, discussing various topics about Chile (health, law, etc.). Today I went on a tour of a free community health clinic in a poorer part of Conce-- this is part of a three part tour of this clinic, the public hospital, and a private hospital. The tours are run by the director of this clinic. It was overall very interesting and pointed out what even a poorer country can do if it is committed to public health (as we are not in the US).

This weekend I am staying in Conce, except for a day trip to Lota to conduct interviews for a project. I think I need a break after all my traveling! Anyway, hope this finds all of you well and that Obama wins the debate tonight! FYI, daylight savings has already happened here-- we are now 4 hours ahead of California.

Settling In, Then Chiloe!!

So last week was rather uneventful, mostly just settling into the routine. Monday night we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant for a girl in the program's birthday, and I met one of Karen's best friends. Tuesday we went to "Day of the Translator" at the Univ de Conce, which wasn't that fun, but then we went out to a bar afterwards-- me, Evan, Evan's "hermano," Juan, and two of his friends. They are all really cool, and we talked a lot about US politics, Chilean politics, racism, American culture exported overseas, impressions of Chile and the US, etc. Unfortunately most of this was in English, but the subject was so interesting that I didn't feel too, too bad. Wednesday night I went out with Karen and two of her girlfriends, which was a lot of fun, and we spoke in Spanish the whole time (and they complimented me!), so overall great. Thursday night a small group of us gringos found a really nice cafe near the university which has hot chocolate (where they give you a chocolate bar and steaming hot milk and you melt it yourself), coffee, and delicious snacks and desserts. Later Thursday night, we left for Chiloe!

So 12 of us from the program went to Chiloe this past weekend. Chiloe is an island (the second-largest in South America, the largest is Tierra del Fuego) in northern Patagonia (but nine hours south of here). It is known for its incredible beauty and strong Mapuche (indigenous) culture. So, we left Thursday night and spent the whole night on the bus, arriving in the morning in Chiloe. Chilean buses are very nice (unlike most American buses), as they are the main means of transportation for the middle class. It reminded me much more of Amtrak than say Greyhound. Part of the busride was actually on a ferry, and this part was in the morning, so we got to go out and look around. The hostel owner picked us up at the bus terminal in his van and drove us to the hostel, which was very nice and close to the city (Castro).

In the afternoon we went to Achao (a smaller island but considered part of Chiloe) to see the oldest church on the island. These churches are famous because they are very old and made completely out of wood. To be honest, the town was farther than we had thought the hostel owner said and the church not as interesting as promised, so everyone was somewhat grumpy (after an all-night busride, an hour and a half more wasn't so welcome). We went to a restaurant there, which had decent food but terrible service and was overpriced (we joked they had brought us the separate gringo menu!). But while there we did see the most gorgeous rainbow! My slides are finally up, so you can check it out for yourself. You'll notice that some things were so amazing that I took quite a few pictures! I think it's that the pictures didn't quite measure up to the real thing, so I kept taking more. Oh so after the rainbow things got better, we went back to the hostel, bought some food and drink, and played mafia for a couple hours.

The next day was what made us feel the long busride had been completely worth it. We paid the hostel owner a bit to drive us and be our guide in the National Park. We went hiking through the forest, but the best was the beach! I can't quite describe it, but there is something different about the lighting here (Southern hemisphere, more towards the poles-- maybe like Alaska somewhat?). I think the pictures will describe it better than my words, but the pictures certainly don't capture it either. The entire scene was magical-- the ocean, the countryside, the mountains, the lighting. And to top it off it's springtime here, so we saw calves and ponies too! They were up close and so, so cute! You can see again that I took quite a few pictures of them. Also, two people in our group had a bet with a hostel owner up north in Valparaiso that they couldn't go swimming in Chiloe, so they did! How brave!

After the national park, we had a delicious, cheap lunch (always go with a local!) and shopped in the artisanal shops. At night we went to a party in the country. It was basically a lot of local country people, including some indigenous, playing folk music. It was very interesting, but very cold (sort of inside this wood shelter). We got back late, slept little, and woke up early Sunday for the long, long busride back to Conce. Overall, it was very much worth it! Please enjoy the pictures, now that I finally have them up (this trip definitely motivated me to do that).

A Taste of the US, and then Lota!

So Friday we didn't have much to do (given that we can't go anywhere this weekend since the Lota trip is Saturday), so Evan and I went to the mall. We needed to buy more minutes for our cell phones, some school supplies, and a hat for him (none of which he liked here). Mostly I just wanted some gelato, and we were probably a bit homesick. Anyway, we watched Viaje al Centro de la Tierra (Journey to the Center of the Earth). It was dubbed in Spanish, so it did actually have some educational value for us. But basically we just enjoyed feeling like we were a bit at home. I would feel guilty about this if I were only here for a little while on a trip, but given that I'm here for three months, I feel that it's ok to be somewhat American every once in a while (and malls are actually probably pretty universal by now).

In the evening, we watched the debate. It was covered on CNN International and was exactly the same as in the US (exact same program broadcast here- complete with Wolf Blitzer, David Gergen, et al.). Generally my family here didn't watch it but more just wanted my synopsis. My host sister's boyfriend watched some of it with us because he is a law student and interested in such things. I found out that they don't have debates of this format (one-on-one) here in Chile. Overall, I'm very glad to see Obama back on track and doing so well! I only hope this carries through the election.

Today we went to Lota, a small mining and fishing town an hour west of here on the ocean. The bus ride was early in the morning but very fun. We spent it practicing Spanish and English tongue-twisters with the Chilean students. The town of Lota is poor but absolutely gorgeous (I guess you would expect it to be given that it's on the ocean). First, we took a tour of the mine which closed ten years ago but is now open to tourists. It was really amazing getting a small taste of how difficult that work is. We then went and watched bread being made in a brick oven (the traditional way of the country) and of course ate some. Afterwards we had lunch-- salad, fried fish, rice, and ice cream-- but it wasn't very good mostly because it was just too salty. Luckily, we had a lot of delicious bread. We then went to an incredibly gorgeous park which I really can't describe. It's sort of like the Japanese garden in Golden Gate Park in that it's so manicured and nice, but it's a lot bigger and not quite in the same style. Maybe it's like an English garden. Anyway, I really need to figure out how to post a slide show. If anyone knows, let me know.

The other news of the day is that I think I can feel my Spanish getting better. I thought it was stagnant there for a while, but today I started to feel like I've made progress, at least on the understanding part. I was mostly able to understand the guide on the mining tour, and tonight at the dinner table the second wave of laughter for at least one joke was because I understood when they didn't expect me to, rather than because I didn't understand. So, hopefully I will continue to progress.

First Week of Classes

So my ear is completely better; I am just now having to finish out the course of antibiotics. Classes began in earnest this week, so I guess that's my biggest news. My intensive Spanish course consists of three classes-- pronunciation, writing, and grammar. In reality, they all overlap somewhat and all include reading and speaking (if you're wondering why those aren't one of the three), it's just that each one of the three does some reading and speaking but only really deals with one of the above subjects in addition. Each of these three classes has different professors. My pronunciation instructor is in her last year of getting her Ph.D. here and is from Mexico, which helps her in teaching us about the regional differences in Spanish. My writing instructor is also in his last year of Ph.D. training in Chilean literature and is from southern Chile but will start as a full professor of Chilean literature at a university in Santiago next year. My grammar instructor is also a professor at the Univ de Concepcion and our professor for our practicum course (go out and interview Chileans, write about it, present it) and is our program coordinator as well (meaning she coordinates housing and the "hermanos" program). They are all extremely nice; the writing instructor is the strictest but is very intelligent and engaging (kind of reminds me of Mr. Roberts). The other two are just very good and nice.

For my Latin American Studies course, there are two classes-- one for history and one for literature and theater. The history professor seems quite nice, but she assigns A LOT of reading (given that it is in Spanish and we all have to look up sooo many words). The literature and theater professor is an actor, which means that the course involves incorporating literature into theater more than the reverse. We read a lot of poetry, but we also do a lot of acting. We will be putting on a play later in the term (not exactly what I expected, but entertaining nonetheless).

I went to the mall with my family this week, and it is exactly like malls in the US, except bigger (although I think we have more; theirs is more concentrated all in one area). While there I had the best gelato I have ever eaten (better than Italy even)! It is kind of far away, but I plan to return to the mall just for that! We haven't been out much this week since we're all still a bit sick, but we plan to go out tonight (since we don't have classes on Friday).

This Saturday we (my school group) are going to Lota, a former mining town about an hour from here that is now a fishing and tourist town. Two of the "hermanas" (including mine) are from there and will be our guides on the trip. We will be touring the mine, a museum, and the park and will also have lunch and some time on our own. We will later return to Lota to do our practicum (see above).

A note on the food, since some have been asking: Breakfast and "once" (eaten in the evening), consist of roughly the same thing: bread (chilean bread is somewhat different from american bread, sort of like italian bread or italian rolls but denser) toasted with options of cheese, ham, mashed avocado (this is really good!), quesillo (something which we don't have but which most resembles the indian cheese paneer if you've ever had it; i also really love this!), marmalade, and manjar (a dulce de leche spread which is also really yummy). Tea is also always drinken with breakfast and once, and on special occasions you have sopapillas (fried pastries sort like beignets, which are also yummy). Lunch is the main meal of the day and tends to be basically like American dinners. There is always some sort of appetizer: salad (lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, onion, egg with a dressing of oil and lemon), soup, or artichoke is what I've had so far. There is then a main dish, which varies a lot, but some of what I have had is: pasta (bowtie with tomato sauce and vegetables and ground beef), chicken and rice, empanadas (pastry filled with cheese or a meat mixture-- very traditional chilean), sandwiches (not that common), asados (BBQs) for special occasions etc. For dessert, we usually have fruit (most often cherimoya, something I had never eaten before) and tea.

I actually quite like the food here, despite some telling me it isn't that good. It isn't anything like Mexican food (not spicy at all), which is a common misconception of Americans. I do miss the variety available in the US, but there are some things I wish I could smuggle back into the US, some of which we have but which just taste better here and some which we don't have: Chilean bread, marmalade (much better than in the US), avocados (also better), manjar, quesillo, juice (especially raspberry and apricot), and of course the gelato!

Anyway, sorry this turned out to be so long. Ciao!

Las Termas de Chillan

So, of course, nothing went as planned. Las Termas de Chillan was gorgeous (I am trying to figure out how to post a slideshow on a blog), but I got an ear infection, which really ruined my trip. I couldn't go in the termas (hotsprings-- see left the pools surrounded by snow and the Andes in the background), and I couldn't really go out much due to the ear infection. I also had to go to the doctor at the hotel and get some antibiotics, which was sort of a pain for Dipika's family. I think there was also some difficulty in their understanding that what I had was not just a cold, that I could not just drink liquids, rest, and hope it went away. I felt like such a burden, and some of what they said confirmed that I was in fact a burden. Anyway, I am thankful that her mom did take me and that I am on the mend now. Also, I am glad to be back here with my wonderful family that cares so much about me.

The area was gorgeous, however, and it was really wonderful to see the Andes mountains covered in snow. We went and looked at the termas but didn't go in. We also spent a good amount of time at the main hotel because Dipika's family likes to gamble a lot. None of us do, so we just hung out in the bar and watched the band. My favorite part of the whole trip was actually just hanging out in the cabin, which was really cute and rustic. We ate sooo much, which is very customary for the weekend of el dieciocho. Also, another girl from the program (also from UCSD) was there too because her mom is friends with Dipika's mom. So, we got to know her very well and are excited to have a new good friend in the program! I'll try to get pictures up ASAP, and please don't worry about my health. I am on the mend now. Classes start tomorrow so, ciao!

La Semana del Dieciocho

So this week is the week of el dieciocho (the 18th), which is the Chilean Independence Day. The official day is actually tomorrow, but tomorrow we leave for Las Termas de Chillan, which will be a separate post. So, on Monday we had our language placement exam, and on Tuesday we got the results-- all three of us are in Group 3 (the most advanced)! Hooray! Monday afternoon a big group of us met at the university, walked in the hills around there to a waterfall, and went out for ice cream.

Yesterday morning we had a general and academic orientation which discussed the basics and handed out syllabi for our classes (two intensive Spanish classes, one Latin American Studies class and one practicum-- going out and talking to people, etc.). Last night there was a party with our "hermanos" from the Universidad Santo Tomas. To be honest many of us felt like we didn't have as much in common with these students-- this university is more like a community or career college, and they are all culinary students. But, there was food, music, and dancing, so it was still fun.

Today in the morning we had cueca (traditional Chilean dance which is performed mostly at el dieciocho) clases, taught by our TAs (students from the Universidad de Concepcion). It was very fun and not as hard as I thought it would be (not that I'm an expert or anything)! Today in the afternoon we went to a cafe but then mostly just rested and packed.

Which brings me to the weekend plans-- Dipika and I are going with her family to Las Termas de Chillan. This area is in the mountains about an hour and a half from here and has skiing, hot springs, spas, a casino, shops, and restaurants. Her family has a cabin there (see picture, which was actually taken later than this post was written), and they told her she could invite one friend, so that's me. A group of guys (including Evan) is leaving Friday and renting a cabin of their own. So, we will meet up with them there. I don't plan to ski but will enjoy the hot springs and many other activities. I will be back on Sunday and update then or soon next week when classes start! Ciao!