Hola Todos!!!

My Chile clock is winding down…and I am jam packing it with activities!!!

Two weekends ago Jessica and I hiked to La Mina in the national park, La Campana. It was by far the most difficult hike I’ve done. It was vertical and rocky the whole time. It took about 4 hours in all. The views were beautiful. Everything was green and there were tons of flowers. We even found flowers that look like little clogs (shoes) and a crazy colored lizard.



I also celebrated my 26th birthday last week. I am so old…j/k. My roommates sang to me and so did all my Tias y Tios kids…all in Spanish of course. I also called my Nana who sang to me as well, but in English. We ate at the Pizza Hut and had Tres Leches cake.

Halloween was next. Chile doesn’t really celebrate Halloween so we did our best to dress up. Jessica and I were birds. We only found masks with feathers and that was the extent of our costume. It’s the effort that counts right! A nice surprise was that my Chilean brother, Nacho, his girlfriend and some of their friends drove to Valpo from Santiago to go out with us. We all went to Bre and Blake’s apartment and then to a discotheque.

School has been really busy. Today Jessica and I turned in a 15 page paper for our Mexican Revolution class, yesterday I turned in an 8 page take home test for Narrativa, last week I turned in a 6 page paper for Globalizacion and the week before that a 9 page paper for Teatro. Thursday I have Teatro presentation and report due. That is just the writing part…we’re reading plays, stories and novels on top of all these “trabajos.” It just doesn’t stop. School definitely keeps me on my toes.

Tias y Tios has been incredible. The Dunes were really fun! The kids could not get enough of it. Even Julio who sometimes has trouble doing our more physical activities was a champ. They had sand in their eyes, mouth, nose, shoes, ears…everywhere. Gina said they were exhausted and filthy when they got home.

We also went up for once to check on the house. As you can see from the pics, it actually looks like a house on the inside. The kitchen is all set up and aside from some painting and lighting, things are good to go.

This Sunday we had a big beach day with them. The sun decided not to come out, but let me tell you, the kids did not care one bit! Romanet swam and boogie boarded for hours. The boys also spent most of the time in the water. We played volleyball, paddle ball and cards. Javiera taught me game called 15 which made it very clear that my math skills are below that of a 4th grader. She got a kick out of my inability to add.

I also have some big news. Jessica’s Rotary Club in Arizona is going to be donating funds for a fridge for the kids. Their fridge broke a few months back and they been running out of the house every time they need to by cold items. We surprised her with the news yesterday. She is ecstatic. Could you imagine a family of 10 living without a fridge??

I’ve also been busy planning for my Rotary Club’s visit in a few weeks. They come the 16th-23rd of November. I met with my host Rotary Club president and past president to start scheduling visits, dinners and activities. It will be a jam packed week but lots of fun!

I leave on Friday for Patagonia. I will be trekking through the national park, Torres del Paine, for 4 nights and 5 days. We are back packing which means we are carrying our food, tent, sleeping bags, everything. This will be my first backpacking experience, and I’m just praying that it doesn't rain. Send dry thoughts my way. I checked the weather today and it was 5 degrees Celsius with showers…yikes!!!

I'll blog when I get back!!! I hope all is well stateside!!

:)

Kelly