January

The entire month has passed and I didnt even written a thing- I apologize. Once the Christmas and New Years rush settled and my gym subscription expired... I became bored. Quickly. For few weeks in January I can honestly say I did not do very much at all... and once my boredom accumulated to hours spent on Google Earth each day, I decided something had to be done. With one free weekend I went to Chillan to visit the exchange students (Emil from Denmark, Jennie from Boston, and Tyler and Kasey from Arizona). I spent two tonights with Emil and on the first morning I woke up with tooth paste in my hair- a friendly prank played by his little sister? Well, not so friendly since it took a while to remove it all. Besides the toothpaste incident, it was good to catch up with them and I got the chance to see a neighboring city. Before I left, Emil, Tyler, and I made the pact to climb the Volcan Antuco before the end of the month. So I returned to Los Angeles with a few dates marked on the calendar.
Its summer now... and everyone suffers from this scorching and dry weather. Thankfully before Christmas my family decided to put in a pool in the little back patio space. And so a lot of time is spent dipping in and out of the pool. Also with summer brings the fruit. I have never ever eaten fruit as I have here. They buy strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in crates of 3 or 4 kilos for less than you could buy a handful at the Village Market. Not to mention it is all absolutely delicious. I've been making smoothies daily now playing with new recipes each time.
On the 17 of Jan. we celebrated my host fathers 50th birthday and my host mother planned a big surprise party. She had a caterer come in as well as a DJ - it was a big deal. When the day finally arrived Ricardo was called for a "work meeting" in Chillan with an old client and friend. They were to arrive at around 10:00 since guests were told to be at the house by 9:30. 10:oo turned to 11:00 and 11:00 to 11:30 and it was nearly midnight before they showed up. Jokes were made that the two long time friends probably went out for a drink.... but the surprise was still genuine and everyone had a great time. I played the song Wagon Wheel for everyone after dinner.

The following week brought Antuco! I was looking very much forward to getting out in the mountains and I knew it would be a great time with friends. Initially, I had the idea for ascending the nearly 10,00ft volcano ourselves. My plan was as follows: take a bus to Albanico, a tiny pueblo 15km from the National Park de la Laguna del Laja, walk the remaining distance to the park, camp the night (I was determined I could muster a tent), and wake at around 5am to start ascending. I didn't even take into account how we'd get back. So, it became clear we needed a little help. We got a recommendation for a guide that would lead us during a night ascent with head lamps getting to the top for see the sunrise. Wow. That sounded too great to us all, so we tracked down this Victor and had him take us. There was no moon out that night and the stars were amazing. We'd walk for roughly an hour then stop for a break to just took at the sky- victor napped during our breaks.... he seemed to be a bit tired. We got up to about 2, 500m when my friend Tyler clumsily dropped his headlamp while trying to pass it to the guide. This presented a problem are moreover Victor had informed us he'd lost the route. Trusting our guide we decided to descend a bit and wait frigidly for the sun to rise so we didn't have to rely on the lamps. The sunrise was gorgeous, yet we were short from the top. In the end we decided to make our way down... the volcano defeated us.... nevertheless it was quite the adventure and we came a way with some amazing sights.
After staying up all night we had to re-adjust to a regular sleep schedule, but quickly because our friend Emily had invited us to go the the city Valdivia for a Bierfestival. The end January turned out to be a very exciting ... Kunstmann - a small artisan brewery holds an annual bierfest in the German colonized city of Valdivia. Friday and Saturday night we enjoyed a show of German music and dancing and of course a few glasses of the fine Kunstmann Bier- which is German means "Art man". During the day Saturday we took a ferry over to Corral and visit an old Spanish Fort. Emil and I went exploring in this awesome looking cave where we both stepped in what we hoped was only dog poop...fortunately we were close to the sea and could clean it off... The last week in January was nonstop. From nearly the top of Volcan Antuco to the shore of Valdivia and the Bierfest. And now I am sitting in the NOLS office in Coyhaique, Chile- a hidden city in northern Patagonia where the view of the pampas fields are endless...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I spent this Christmas without snow, a fireplace, sister´s cookies, and the family. It was of course a little triste, but in 90 degree weather it really didnt feel like the holiday let alone december. Unlike the weather, crowded malls seems to be a universal sign of xmas .... Ah! I did all my shopping with the other exchange students in LA (three girls...!)- can you imagine the day in the mall. I do however have to give Chileans credit for their practical wrapping system. Instead working your fingers wrapping oddly shaped presents like cross country skis, every street corner down town is equiped with a wrapping stand and you can have all your wrapping done for less than a dollar. With everything nicely and professionaly wrapped ,we headed to Santiago, however this time we made a new record for the latest departure and arrival times- 11pm- 4am....k loco! Chileans celebrate Christmas a little differently than we are accustomed becuase all the festivities take place on xmas eve. First we had dinner, which consisted of turkey, rice, salmon and more. They had me prepare another stuffing to acompany the bird, but this time my dad tossed in lots of blue berries and plums so in the end it was bright purple- nonetheless tasty. We finished dinner at around a around 11:45 and once the clock struck 12 we gathered around the tree to share presents. The tradition is to run out side to look for santa at 12 and when everyone comes back inside the tree is full of presents!! I received some tight, but tight underwear, a few tshirts, and a DVD of a chilean band called Los Jaivas preforming live at machu pichu- coool. And after all this I went out to a party with my host siblings until the wee hours of the night. It was a little strange becuase we slept nearly the entire day the 25th.

New Years lasts just about the entire night as well. We left the house at around 10:30 to go to a family friends house for dinner. We were with about 4 other familes and it seemed more or less like the parties held at the McCurdy household, but with a few new traditions. For some reason your supposed to wear yellow underwear on new years? By coincidence I was wearing my yellow boxers with hotdogs on them so I was safe there. Next, I was given a piece of paper and told to write down all the bad things I had done during the year of 2008. Now, I thought we were going to read these out loud or something so I wrote things like, "didnt make my bed all the time" and "got home after curfew, once"... but in the end what we did was fill this paper mache, scare crow looking puppet´s head with all our wrongdoings and when the clock struck 12 we burned him out side. Apparently this is a common tradition in Ecuador. Next, we all ate a spoon full of cold, unseasoned lentils- I have no idea why. This was followed by taking turns running around the house with an empty suitcase- which is to ensure you safe travels. I want to do thse all next year. At around 2 all the kids and I went out to this huge fiesta called La Tranka. There I saw just about everyone I´d met in Chile thus far. Classmates, the other exchange students, nieghbors, people I had met in the gym... it was a good time. And I got home this morning at good time to eat breakfast... Tomorrow I´m going to Chillan¡

Al Fin del Mundo

Before the Christmas vacation we had our Rotary trip al Sur, it was incredible. We took a flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas (one of the southern most cities in the world). The first thing I got acustomed to was the wind- te juro que I´d never been in plane that landed with so much trubulence. Now, in STGO it was upwards to 90 degrees, but as the plane doors opened in PA we stepped into 40 degree weather with wind that blew the rain sideways... We were a group of about 25 exchange students from Finnland, Denmark, Canada, Germany, and the US and we drove all over in a coach bus piloted by an absolutely crazy driver. The first thing we did was vist a tiny hacienda where we ate a typical cordero asado and greeted the Rotarians of the Punta Arenas club. After, we retreated to our hotel in the center a Punta Arenas- where I quickly went out to buy some a mate and a cheap gord. Unfortunately-- Chileans dont drink as much mate as I had hoped, but in the South you can find it everywhere! We took a city tour the following morning and saw all the sights. In Punta Arenas you can see a view of La Tierra del Fuego in the distance. The peguins were in like a zoo- I suppose you could call it- but luego en el día fuimos to see a colony of penguins in their true habitat. Our next destination was Puerto Natales, which is a bout 3 hours north of Punta Arenas and at the out skirts of the Parque Nacional Los Torres del Paine. We stayed at the Hotel Glaciers- and I was psyched to see some ice. Through out the whole trip I was on a mission to find this book titled In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin. Every thing I had read prior to the trip refered to this Englishman´s travels in the Patagonia, however, it was very difficult to find. Every tourist and souvenir store we went to I asked and I got the same response each time, "No, lo siento no lo tenemos en este momento, pero es un libro que siempre debría estar..." Well, genial... We set off for Los Torres de Paine 6am the following morning after stopping at La Cuerva de Milodon- a giant cave that had been carved out by the melting glaciers.
In the above picture, im with my buddy Javier Rojas at the first sight of the famous blue towers. The flag were holding is the flag of the 12th region in Chile also known as the flag of Magallanes (Magellan). The yellow represents the plains of the Patagonia (pampas), they meet the white Andes mountains, and in the sky is the southern cross. I think its awesome. For the longest time I had no idea who they were refering to when they said Magallanes...not becuase of my lack of a proper history class (grandma), but becuase the pronunciation is completely different... In the park, or for most of the trip rather, we were in the bus... which at times absolutely killed me. Nonetheless, it really was amazing and I expect ill be back- hopefully to do the 10 day loop throughout the whole park. Nearly 100% of park visitors are foreign... My camera battery died once we entered.... We prepared traditional whisky cocktails using ice from Glacier Grey, ran around with the guanacos (type of llama), and ate lunch on this hotel with an incredible view which was located on an island in one of the glacial lakes...

The next day, again at 6am, we departed for the Argentinian side of the Patagonia to Calafate. It was a six hour drive..... but what we saw was worth while. The Glacier Perrito Moreno- for some unknown reason this glacier is one of the only slabs of ice that sustains its size year after year. While all other glaciers are receding as much as 4 meters anually, Perrito Moreno gains back all the mass it loses during the summer months. The view was incredible.

It was in Calafate that I finally found my book! And so that was our last day in the Patagonia. The trip was short, but we were constantly doing something. The following day of travel consisted of a 2.5 hour bus ride to Punta Arenas, 4 hour plane ride to STGO, followed by a 7 hour bus ride back to LA. Exhausting... pero te juro impresionante!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday and I wasnt going to let it just pass by while out of the country. My friend down the road Emily and I had big plans for preparing a thanksgiving feast for our family and friends- traditional, but with some chilean estilo. We split up family recepies and came up with a brief menu- turkey, mash patatoes, green beans, gingered carrots, corn, salad, cranberry sause, pumpkin and apple pies, stuffing... the works. I was in charge of the bird. Now, I thought stuffing a turkey was normal, but apparently its not a universal technique. My host father, who was also a first time turkey chef, was very concerned about our stuffing recepie and I kept on telling him were just going to "wing in", make this mix of almost everything we´ve got, and throw it in the bird. Saturday morning (thanksgiving was on saturday in Chile becuase we didn´t have time off) we woke up "early" 11:00am and began to prepare. Rubbed and stuffed we tossed her in the oven and let her cook. The ovens down here don´t have temperature dials-- so we turned the controls to what I would call "sorta hot" and set a tentative timer. Six hours later, that little red button popped up and my host dad and I got overly excited. At 8:30 our gests began to arrive. Emily and her family, the other exchange students in LA, and the two Españoles (I mean Basques, pardon me). We had a brief cocktail hour before thanksgiving which included home made pisco sours and appetizers- we had too much food. My parents even bought an eletric knife... just to carve the turkey. It was a little exessive, yet funny watching Ricardo and Oscar, Emilys dad, figure out how to cut it... The Pumpkin pie was a hit- they intially didnt like the idea, but the two pies were gone in the end. Oscar, who is an absolute character I wish everyone could meet him, insisted on bringin chamange- im not even sure if thats custom for thanksgiving, but we had it. We were definetly on a differnt time frame. At home we´d eat early in the evening then roll over and fall sleep in front of a football game. In Chile, we ate and conversed until about 1 in the morning and then all the kids went out.... Nonetheless it was a typical and traditional thanksgiving and I was glad to share with people here in Chile.

Friends from Vasco

Last night I was invited over to the neighbors, where another exchange student from NY is staying, for a BBQ. The family also invited a boy and a girl from the country of Vasco (Spain), who are here in Chile for six months learning more about the forestry companies in Los Angeles. They´re a bit older than Emily and I, 20 and 21, but we got along great. I knew roughly about the regions in northern Spain, but it was pretty amazing to actually meet someone from the area and talk about their culture- which is very distinct from the other parts of Spain. I am so accustomed to Chilean Spanish that hearing a European speak with a slisp and in the vosotros form was just strange. Having visited Salamanca and Madrid, I´m aware of the dialectical differences, but they caught me by surprise. You wouldn´t know it, but there first language is not Spanish, but Vasco, Basque, or Euskaldunak- however you´d like to say it. Ironically enough my neighbor and Sebastian share the same lastname Uribe- which is a traditional name from Vasco. So that would mean that the name Uribe was carried from Spain, or rather Vasco, to Chile probably some time in the 16th century. The more we talked the more interested I became in Vasco. The Basques live in a very differnt world than regular Spain. Its home of the terrorist group ETA, who were initially blamed for the 2004 traing bombings in Madrid. These kids have no ties with ETA, however, they make it clear that they want to be independent from Spain and consider themselves their own country. Simply living in Vasco, they are automatically asociated with ETA radicals and are often picked out from crowds when traveling to be searched and interrogated. It was really interesting to talk with them and moreoever Sebastian is an avid rock climber and mountaineer- so we had a lot in common. They´re here until march and we´ve got plans to get together again.

La Guerra de Agua!

So, for the past month now the un-known date of this war of water has been tourturing the 3rd years. Every year, the 4th years plan this "hazing" event. I imagined a simple water balloon fight, but I couldnt have been more wrong. About 5 weeks ago the 4th years cut the power to our class rooms and began to stomp on the ceilings (their rooms are located directly above ours). Everyone went wild expecting this notorious battle to begin... but nothing happened. That was some five weeks ago. Since then the seniors have done every thing possible to psych us out. I got a glimpse of what we were getting into the morning we found a boar´s head on a silver platter in our classroom and threatening notes written on the white boards. For the rest of the day there was an awful smell in that room. Every afternoon for nearly a month we were told that tomorrow would be the day- but it never came. Until today, the 19th of November. Before lunch, we were wrangled into a single room and one by one a victim was taken out. Once outside we ran through a gaunlet as the 4th years threw things at us. I couldn´t even tell what somethings were but I was hit with eggs, vinegar?, a mix of flour and water, mud, waterballoons, rotten vegetables, paint, yougurt (I think?), hand fulls of dry flour... it was disgusting. Once through the gaunlet it was war. For quite some time we continued to hurl miscellenous and absolutamente asquerozo weas at eachother. This was all taking place outside in a closed in patio as the other grades and teachers were watching safetly from inside. It was the food fight that Tim Canty never allowed- except worse. I suppose it was with good intention since everyones friends- despite the the eggs I had a great time. Once everyone was absolutely flithy and no one could find anything else to throw- we ran out to the soccer fields where firetrucks waiting to spray us all down. It was hilarious. Despite the decent hose down we way too dirty to get into cars so we were transported in pickup trucks to our houses. I walked up to my house shirtless, no shoes, and dripping wet with like sludge. I didnt have any of my belongings so the nana let me in- she was astonished at my appearence. I walked right to the shower... I still feel dirty and I have streaks of what I think is spray paint on my back . This friday were having a party to say good bye the the leaving seniors- should be a good time granted no one brings rotten eggs...

Catch up

I realize I havent written in quite a while so im just going to ramble here to fill in the gaps. My fishing incident in October was followed by Halloween, which wasn´t celebrated up to my expectations- no one dressed up! However, by chance this under-celebrated religous holiday landed October 31st and we didnt have school. Taking advantage of every possible chance to make the trip, my family and I drove to Santiago for the three day weekend. Making the 7 hour trip for the 5th time now, I had gotten used to their routine- drive exactly one hour to Copec gas station in Chillian, continue to Tambo for lunch with the grandparents (which is always delicous), and then arrive very late at their apartment in the city. It was nice to get the the chance to go out with my host siblings Daniela and Ricardo, who I dont know very well since they live in Santiago. On saturday, I went to an indie film festival with one of Dani´s good friends Luis- all of her friends, including her boy friend, work for La Ofis- coool. In the plaza of El Cine Arte, we were entertained by circus preformers and other strange acts- I thought of my sister molly... We went to support a director of one of the shorts, who had recently returned from the states and was very eager to talk to me. He told that when he left Chile he had his doubts about the States and felt a little antiamerican, but told me that he an absolutely great time and was very enthusiastic. His short was worth seeing, however the others were beyond strange... Saturday night we went to visit some other relatives, one of which is a student at the Military School in Santiago- It was neat to talk to him and hear what he does. He told me he had a few friends from the states also studying with him at the university. Apprently, West Point and other military institutions from other countries do exchanges as well. I thought that was particualary interesting.


Back in Los Angeles and the Deutsche Schule I got the change to go to El Parque Nacional del Laguna de Laja- which is about an hours drive toward the mountains. There, we ran around on Los Senderos de Chile and I enjoyed every second of it. To end the day a few friends and I took the leap in to La Laguna de Laja, which was absolutely freezing seeing as the snow and ice is still melting for the peaks. That friday we had a guys night at a friends house named Tomi. They ordered two giante buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken and asked me if I had felt at home...they even let me keep the the souveiner bucket (im bringing it home with me). Every year the music department hosts a music event called Unplugged and, by popular request, I preformed some classic bluegrass accompanied by the harmonica. It was a different sound for them, but everyone seemed to like it.

Since I have lots of free time, I joined a gym near my house. Its a pretty intense place and reminds me of that gym from Dodge Ball. I get the feeling that " here at Globo Gym were better than you, and we know it". Nonetheless I´ve enjoyed working out there and they have nice facilities.

Last Saturday I went with my parents to the 4th Annual Jazz Festival held in Los Angeles. Three bands played: a trio of all basses, which was awesome, a standard jazz band, and then a well known Chilean Blues Band. Not quite sure which one I liked best.

Next week might be "La Guerra de Agua"...