La Serena & Valle de Elqui

Hola Todos!!

Our trip to La Serena was awesome. La Serena is about 6 hours north of Valparaíso, situated right on the coast. We left last Wednesday night and arrived in La Serena at 4:15 a.m. Luckily we arrived as scheduled because we almost missed our bus. We were waiting at the wrong terminal in Santiago until about 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave, I looked at our tickets. The main bus station in Santiago is actually split up into three different terminals. San Borja, the one our tickets were for was about 4 blocks away at the end of a shopping mall. I sprinted down the main street and through the mall with all my bags. My sweatpants kept falling down and my shoelaces came untied…I was definitely an entertaining sight for all the mall shoppers.

After we arrived we took a nap at our hostel then rented bikes. We rode all the way to Coquimbo, a small town about 4 miles outside of La Serena. Even though it was foggy (they call the thick fog “camanchaca” and cold (as you can see from the pics), we put on our gloves and scarves and peddled away. On day two we went on a group tour to Isla Damas to see penguins. Only about 12 penguins decided to show up for us, but luckily it was sea lion and dolphin play day and we saw tons of bottle nose dolphins. Olive oil is the main product in the area and Jess and I bought a bottle from the cutest Chilean woman. We wanted to take a picture with her (see below). She was so excited that she took of her hat and fixed her hair. We also saw a few lamas grazing on our drive back.

The next day we went on a tour through Valle de Elqui. Valle de Elqui is prime pisco property. There are several pisco factories throughout the area. On the tour we visited one of the oldest pisco factories in the region. I’m a fan of pisco, but my favorite part was eating the grapes from the field. The pisco was too strong for me. We stopped at a few small pueblos along the way to walk through the plazas and churches. At one of the churches, a wedding was taking place. It was really cool, especially because the bride was pregnant. One of my favorite stops was at the dam. We walked the whole length of it and saw beautiful views of the entire valley. For lunch we ate at a solar restaurant. They cook all the dishes in small solar ovens outside the front of the restaurant. I ate a goat dish. It was delicious.

That night we stayed in Valle de Elqui in a small town called, Vicuña. Vicuña is home to several of the world’s best star observatories. We did a late night tour of the Mamalluca Observatory. It was incredible. They let us look through a huge telescope at all the different stars. My favorite constellation was the Southern Cross which you can see perfectly.

On our last day, we explored on our own. We went to a spot where two rivers meet. One is a greenish grey color and the other a dark blue. Then we had lunch at an outdoor pizza café. It was a great last day to a very fun trip.

Tomorrow is a big day for our Tías and Tíos event. We are playing soccer and then taking the kids to a soccer game in Valpo. I will be sure to post again soon!

Chao!

Las primeras semanas de Mayo

Hi Everyone! I am in La Serena right now but I need to blog about the last few weeks, so you’ll get the La Serena scoop in a couple days.

School has been going great. Over the past few weeks I gave three big presentations and turned in a few papers. In my expression class I had to memorize, recite and analyze a Pablo Neruda poem. In my culture class I presented on short story by having the class play jeopardy. Also, Jessica and I did a group presentation on Sola Sierra (founder of the AFDD) and the Rettig Report (a comprehensive report commissioned by the government regarding the events that took place between 1973 and 1990).

All and all, the unit on Pinochet was extremely interesting and at the same time sad. Following the golpe de estado on Sept. 11, 1973, Pinochet and his followers tortured, murdered and abused human rights of innocent citizens for years and years. For example, the carabineros (police) would raid homes and neighborhoods looking for leftist activists (many times that included anyone and everyone that was in the area or interfered). They would take them to various locations such as stadiums, schools, private homes, mines, boats, etc. to be tortured, raped and/or murdered. The Pinochet regime used any method deemed necessary to keep communism out of Chile. The population was drastically polarized during this time and still is to a certain extent. Many Chileans did not know what happened or if they did, turned a blind eye. It is obvious to me that Chile is doing a great job of trying step into the future without giving proper acknowledgment to the true version of their collective past. They do not teach the subject in public schools and aside from a couple monuments and memorials here and there, one could visit Chile without ever knowing something horrible happened here.

In addition to lots of school projects, two weekends ago, Jessica and I visited our Chilean family in Santiago. As always, it was very refreshing to see our nieces and nephews and spend time talking with Tita and Tata. We went shopping in La Patronata with Mari, our Chilean sister, and visited Tita at work. Jess and I also went to the big cemetery to see the monument dedicated to the desaparecidos. You can see from the pictures that the wall has thousands of names listed. These are the names of people who went “missing” during the Pinochet era. Many of their bodies were never found, hence why they are called the “desaparecidos.” On Saturday we went to our Chilean niece’s food festival at her elementary school. I had a plate from every stand. That’s probably not surprising to anyone.

Last weekend was another big Tías y Tíos event. We took the kids to the Botanical Gardens. Not only were the botanical gardens beautiful because all the leaves were falling, but the kids had an amazing time. We played soccer, volleyball and walked around the small lake. They were stuffed full of food and exhausted by the time we took them home. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

On the home front, my sister, Katie, graduated from high school this past week. CONGRATS KATIE BO BATIE!!! Kevin drove out to AZ for a few days to see the ceremony and hang out with my family. My Nana, the best Nana in the world hands down, was also in AZ, so she was able to meet him for the first time. I wish I could’ve been there but Kevin gave me the scoop on everything.

Jess and I are going to head out of La Serena soon…I’ll be posting in a couple days about our trip! Chao!

Tias y Tios, Bikram and Estudios

Hi everyone, I have many updates!

First and foremost, our service project Tías y Tíos is officially up and running. You may be wondering why it’s called Tías y Tíos…the kids call us Tía y Tío, so it just fits.

We had our first big event this Sunday. I went to pick up the kids from the house and we met up with all the Tías y Tíos at Telepizza. First we played a get to know you game with M & M’s and ate pizza. Then we broke up into teams for the scavenger hunt. Each team had 2-3 kids and 3-4 Tías y Tíos. I was on the Los Tigres team with Diego and María Jose and Tía Angela from Columbia and Tía Julie from Indiana. We walked all through the hills of Valpo. Luckily, it was a beautiful day. I was apprehensive as to whether or not the kids would enjoy it, but not only did they have a blast, they were super intense. We jogged for an hour and 15 minutes straight so that we could check everything off the list and get back to Telepizza on time. After the scavenger hunt we did a journal activity. They had to write down a reflection about the activity along with a personal goal and academic goal they hope to accomplish before the next activity. The Scavenger Hunt surpassed my expectations, and I know the kids enjoyed every second of it. Our next activity is going to be on May 17, 2009. We will be doing a pot luck spaghetti dinner then going to a museum and doing an art project.

School is going ok. I am really enjoying my Culture class. We are learning about the Pinochet era. Pinochet is a very controversial figure in Chile. Some Chileans consider him to be the Chile’s most violent dictator in history and very similar to Hitler, while others consider him to be Chile’s saving grace. Let’s just say Pinochet is not something I’ll bring up during a dinner table chat. We haven’t finished this unit yet, but when we do I will give you a summary of who he was and what it was like in Chile during that era. Stay tuned for that!!!

My other classes are so/so. It has been a roller coaster the past few weeks on the Spanish front. One day I’ll feel really confident, and I have no problem blabbing away. Other days, I want to crawl under a rock. Also, I am not required in any of my classes to apply what I’ve learned. For example, I am used to doing worksheets or exercises in which I put into practice concepts learned during lectures. It is an extremely rare occasion that I do worksheet or exercise in class or for homework. I am learning the subjunctive, que v. cual, ser v. estar, accentuation, etc. but am not asked to put them to use. I have lectures everyday and then poof, there is a quiz or test. This is on top of the fact that there are no textbooks. I am trying to use on-line resources to do exercises, but if I have a question I don’t have a professor in front of me that I can ask. (Dr. Factor…maybe you have some suggestions???)

Our new Chilean roommate Helen is also trying to help me with my Spanish. I am very thankful that she wants to correct me, but after a long day at school it is sometimes frustrating to be corrected. It is a work in progress.

Last weekend, Jessica and I went to Santiago for our Chilean sobrino, Diego’s, baptism. It was a huge deal for the Munoz family and I was so happy that we were invited to attend such an important family event. Even though the service was an hour and a half, it was well worth the wait to eat Carla’s homemade alfajors. (Carla is our Chilean sister)

It is starting to get cold and foggy here. The season changed really fast. Jessica and I are whipping out the ear warmers and warm socks. I get so jealous when I talk to Kevin or my family because summer is well on its way in sunny LA and AZ. I felt bad that this Saturday the weather wasn't ideal because our friend Keong Te from language school came to visit us and we treked through Valpo in our winter coats and scarves.

I've started doing Bikram Yoga here. I am amazed that they have a studio!! For those of you who don't know what Bikram is, it is hot yoga and the poses are the same every class. You do each pose twice. It is hard core yoga...none of that kum-bi-ya stuff. I bought a month pass. I also am joining the PUCV's basketball team. Our first game is tomorrow and I just hope I get to play for a few minutes. There are a lot of girls on the team but I'm the only gringa :)

I also got my first piece of mail!! My sister, Katie, sent me her graduation invitation. She will be graduating from high school on May 22, 2008. Samie, my other sister, was inducted to National Honor Society last week too. GOOO PEORIA PANTHERS. I am so proud! What can I say...they learn from the best.

Well, I need to get to bed. Bikram Yoga is at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.