ME ENCANTA CHILE!!! :)

Hola a todos!
Estoy en Chile y me encanta Chile!!!!!! (I'm in chile and I love Chile!!!!!!). Just to warn you this is a REALLY LONG POST :D

Four flights,
over 30 hours of traveling,
not sleeping for about 40 hours,
arriving to the SPECTACULAR city of Arica....PRICELESS :)

Ok, so let's begin with the beginning. Oh, and all of the photos are on the bottom, and I didn't proof read-sorry :)
We had a long day and a half of flights. We were in Cedar Rapids (mom and dad saw the plane take off even!), Minneapolis, Atlanta, Lima (Peru), and Tacna (Peru). Then we took a taxi from Tacna to Arica. They are both border towns; Tacna in Peru, and Arica in Chile. All of the flights went really well. My favorite was actually the longest one of the day. 6 hours from Atlanta to Lima. I got on the plane while I was talking with mom on the phone,and I originally was sitting next to a girl about twelve years old. I told mom this, hoping that her fears would go away. As soon as I hung up, a man around 30 came to the young girl and told her that that was his seat (At least mom thought everything was ok for those 6 hours). I was excited to talk with the young girl, but that was the best seat change I have ever had! The man's name was Luis. He was born in Peru, but has lived in the United States for some time. We began speaking in English, but then I told him that I was going to study Spanish in Chile, and then he made me speak Spanish with him haha. I got SO nervous that I turned red and became hot and sweaty haha. He had to fan me with his pamphlet even :P After awhile we began to talk with Katie (another UNI student that was sitting in the row in front of us) and her "seat partner." All four of us talked and talked and talked! Her seat partner was a 19 year old boy from Lima named Rodriguez. The four of us talked nonstop for 6 hours! No kidding! I became MUCH more comfortable speaking Spanish, and I thank Luis and Rodriguez for this! It helped me become a lot less nervous when the time came to meet my host mom. The picture of the man in the plane with me is, mi amgio, Luis :)

Ok, when we arrived in Lima, everything was a little different and we definitely became the minority haha. There were all kinds of people waiting for their loved ones in a certain area, and they even had a balcony. It was crazy! And everyone looked at us haha. We needed to make sure to hold on to our things tightly just in case-especially because we are obviously American. We had to wait from 11:10 pm until 630 am for our next flight. A lot of the students fell asleep, but I only rested for about 45 minutes. I ordered my first coffee in Spanish at the airport..but it was more Spanglish than anything because the workers try to use some English haha.

I saw the ocean for the first time on my flight from Lima to Tacna. It was amazing! When we arrived in Tacna, everything was A LOT different. The airport was very and I mean VERY small. It was also very open (they only get rain here about once every 7 years). Pochy (my coordinator from Chile) picked us up at the airport with a taxi bus. The driver was the coolest man in the world haha! We got ALL of our luggage and our suitcases in that bus (the one pictured). It was amazing! This was also the time that I saw my first palm tree! It's very dry here, but everything is SO beautiful :) Ok, so our taxi man drove us around for awhile in Tacna because there was a tsunami simulation that everyone that lives here needed to participate in. Everyone needed that lives close to the coast to go further into the land (I hope that makes sense, and that all of this does. I'm already forgetting words in English! It's crazy). So we stopped and we got an Inca Cola, a popular pop here. To me it tasted a bit like bubble gum, but to others it tasted like a Piña Colada haha.

Finally, we crossed the border (you can see pictured me at the border with the Chilean flag...my first steps in Chile!). We had to take out ALL of our luggage and ourselves to go through the border! Craziness! Then we had to pack it all back up again haha. Our taxi man and Phil (the only guy on our trip haha) did most of the work with the luggage. Our host families picked us up at the university. That was the only time I was a little bit nervous haha :) But everyone was so happy to finally meet each other. It was great! I'm staying with my Chilean mom Ligia and another UNI student named Rahcel. They are BOTH so nice! We unpacked our things and had lunch(two salads-tomatoes with cilantro and then celery with avocado and parts of a palm tree. We also had some really good thing that consisted of rice with chicken celery and a really good white sauce), then we took una siesta (a nap). After that Ligia took Rachel and I to el morro (the big rock that overlooks the city. There is also a statue of Jesus that is on top of el morro in order to keep peace after the war between Peru and Chile. It was SO pretty. you'll see pictured my host mom (Ligia) and I pictured at the top of it. Also you'll see pictured my favorite picture of my first night in Arica. It's GORGEOUS, and it actually does justice! Most pictures I feel don't capture how beautiful a place really does, but that photo does. Then Ligia drove us around. We saw the beach up close! Beautiful and tranquil! I love the sound of the ocean :) Also, we had ice cream in a restaurant close to the beach. The weather here is perfect by the way. It's like a summer day minus the humidity. Perfecto!

Ok, and then today, I woke up and we met the other students at McDonalds(and no, we didn't eat there haha), and then we met our primos ("cousins); they are our conversation partners while we are here. They're English students, so we are both able to practice the different language. Scott is my primo, and he's really nice! He showed us all around the downtown, and I bought some things I needed. We also tried dulce de leche! It's FANTASTIC!!!!!!! It's a sweet creamy type thing that you can spread on bread or use in recipes or eat plain :)

Ok, yes, you are finally done reading this post. It took forever I'm sure ;) There were many things that have happened since I have left Iowa haha. I hope you are all doing well, and I'll talk to you soon! Love you all too!

Adios de Chile :)