Title in English: The best Chilean mom and other things :)
Holaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I'm still in Chile! Wow! How cool :) It's so strange when it's so difficult to write or say or think in English! Today I had difficulty remembering the word "crock pot" haha. Ok..sooo about Monday and Tuesday..
Monday, poor Rachel got sick :( She had a fever, but luckily we have an awesome mom that used to be a nurse, and she took REAL good care of her! I ended up going to the centro to get some more gifts and went to Dimango to celebrate Rae's b-day with Rae and Rachel's primas and with the other Katie. I ate this AMAAAAZING chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream!!! ¡Qué rico! And we got to see my favorite waiters again! :) After that, we went to one of the primas homes to see all of the primos one last time. We ate completos (I can't wait to make these when I get home!!!!!), and just mingled and took photos also. It was so good to see everyone :)
Tuesday, I studied for my very last test and chilled in Chile because it was my last day that I had nothing to do. And Rachel and I had one of our most favorite dinners ever!!! First off, our mom experienced PB&J for the first time! And she LOVED IT! They don't use peanut butter here that often, and I asked about that, and all of a sudden our mom brought out about 5 jars of peanut butter! :) She had them because a foreign exchange student from last year made PB cookies, and our mom was going to make a lot of them after she knew how good they were..but she never got to it haha. One thing we learned is that they do NOT have jelly made out of grapes here! Weird! I had a hard time believing this because wine is SUPER popular here...I guess they use all of their grapes for that maybe? But they have jelly made out of every other kind of thing you could think of--even tomatoes! haha Also, a great moment was she was trying to explain something that tastes really yummy, and she said "Chancho", well Rachel and I had nooo idea what type of animal this was, and all of a sudden she does this face that looks like a pig :) Cutest and funniest thing I have ever seen! She's adorable! We all laughed for the longest time, and I even had tears coming down my face :) I'm going to miss our mom sooooo much!
That's all for now people! See you all soon! Chau chau!
Abrazo y besitos,
Katie~
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Algunas cosas divertidas durante mi tiempo en Chile :)
Translation in English: Some funny things during my time in Chile :)
Hola!
So I just wrote, but I wanted to share with you some funny things that have happened since I have been here and some fun facts about Chile...enjoy!
1) We all get SUPER excited when there is at least one of the following in the bathrooms: toilet paper, a toilet seat, soap, or all of the above. It's really common here to not have any of these in the bathrooms here. It's definitely just one of those things we have gotten used to, and so we always bring kleenex/toilet paper and anti-bacterial stuff with us wherever we go. Also, usually we have to put the toilet paper in the garbage in the stall instead of flushing it down the toilet..for some reason the pressure is not as strong? I believe that's why we do this, but anyway, we always kid around that when we get back to the US, we're probably going to throw away the toilet paper in the trash at some point or another just because we've gotten used to it :)
2) A good day= 4 honks while walking to the centro...ok this is just a joke, but we do get honked at a lot here! It's just their way of acknowledging us I guess you could say? ;) The one day I got the most honks was when we were walking to the centro and I had my Chilean soccer jersey on! Holy cow! They do love soccer! :)
3) Chileans have a lot of different words that they use than what we have learned in our Spanish classes back home. A few include chaleta=cardigan, chaqueta=jacket, polera=t-shirt, helado=cold/freezing. BUT the biggest thing that is different here and the most common thing heard is "po". Just like we use "like" back home A LOT! the Chileans use the word "po". They add it at the end of sentences normally, and usually the most frequently thing heard is "Sí po", "No po", "Hola po", etc. but really the biggest one heard is "Sí po". It just adds a little bit more emphasize to what they said, but other than that, there's really no reason. It felt so strange to start using "po", but once I started, it was hard to stop :)
4) One time when Rachel and I were talking to our mom at the dinner table she asked us if it was cold when we want to the beach, and she used the word "helado"..let me just say that when I learned the word "helado" it meant "ice cream"..so my mom asks me if it was cold when we went to the beach, and I replied with "Yes, we had ice cream at the beach at Dimango, and it was really yummy!" :D I also didn't realize this until about 3 weeks later when Rachel told me :) haha I couldn't stop laughing when she told me because by that time I knew that the Chileans use "helado" for cold and not only for ice cream :)
5) During our 2nd to last weekend, Rachel and I were talking about returning back to the United States, and how long our layovers were in the airports..Rachel said "Quedamos en Lima por 18 años" -->Approximate translation so you understand "We have an 18 year layover in Lima" What she was attempting to say was that we have a 18 hour layover in Lima :) Our family and us laughed SO hard! It was probably one of my favorite moments ever!
6) There are stray dogs everywhere here! Usually they are pretty friendly, but once in awhile, they are mean. Also, because of the dogs, the people here don't just take their garbage and put it next to their homes. At night, the garbage men come around to the homes and there is this really loud bell that rings, and then once they hear the bell, they take out the garbage and give it right to the garbage men!
7) We light a little box thing that gives us hot water for our showers..at least most of us do! And we usually unplug everything after we use it (even microwaves and tvs). A great way to save some money!
.....The people of Arica are amazing! They are super friendly, and I'm going to miss them soooo much! If any of you get the chance to come to this beautiful place...DO IT! I'm going to miss everything about it here! Hope you enjoyed some of the random facts and fun stories about the trip so far :)
Chauuuu!
Katie~
Hola!
So I just wrote, but I wanted to share with you some funny things that have happened since I have been here and some fun facts about Chile...enjoy!
1) We all get SUPER excited when there is at least one of the following in the bathrooms: toilet paper, a toilet seat, soap, or all of the above. It's really common here to not have any of these in the bathrooms here. It's definitely just one of those things we have gotten used to, and so we always bring kleenex/toilet paper and anti-bacterial stuff with us wherever we go. Also, usually we have to put the toilet paper in the garbage in the stall instead of flushing it down the toilet..for some reason the pressure is not as strong? I believe that's why we do this, but anyway, we always kid around that when we get back to the US, we're probably going to throw away the toilet paper in the trash at some point or another just because we've gotten used to it :)
2) A good day= 4 honks while walking to the centro...ok this is just a joke, but we do get honked at a lot here! It's just their way of acknowledging us I guess you could say? ;) The one day I got the most honks was when we were walking to the centro and I had my Chilean soccer jersey on! Holy cow! They do love soccer! :)
3) Chileans have a lot of different words that they use than what we have learned in our Spanish classes back home. A few include chaleta=cardigan, chaqueta=jacket, polera=t-shirt, helado=cold/freezing. BUT the biggest thing that is different here and the most common thing heard is "po". Just like we use "like" back home A LOT! the Chileans use the word "po". They add it at the end of sentences normally, and usually the most frequently thing heard is "Sí po", "No po", "Hola po", etc. but really the biggest one heard is "Sí po". It just adds a little bit more emphasize to what they said, but other than that, there's really no reason. It felt so strange to start using "po", but once I started, it was hard to stop :)
4) One time when Rachel and I were talking to our mom at the dinner table she asked us if it was cold when we want to the beach, and she used the word "helado"..let me just say that when I learned the word "helado" it meant "ice cream"..so my mom asks me if it was cold when we went to the beach, and I replied with "Yes, we had ice cream at the beach at Dimango, and it was really yummy!" :D I also didn't realize this until about 3 weeks later when Rachel told me :) haha I couldn't stop laughing when she told me because by that time I knew that the Chileans use "helado" for cold and not only for ice cream :)
5) During our 2nd to last weekend, Rachel and I were talking about returning back to the United States, and how long our layovers were in the airports..Rachel said "Quedamos en Lima por 18 años" -->Approximate translation so you understand "We have an 18 year layover in Lima" What she was attempting to say was that we have a 18 hour layover in Lima :) Our family and us laughed SO hard! It was probably one of my favorite moments ever!
6) There are stray dogs everywhere here! Usually they are pretty friendly, but once in awhile, they are mean. Also, because of the dogs, the people here don't just take their garbage and put it next to their homes. At night, the garbage men come around to the homes and there is this really loud bell that rings, and then once they hear the bell, they take out the garbage and give it right to the garbage men!
7) We light a little box thing that gives us hot water for our showers..at least most of us do! And we usually unplug everything after we use it (even microwaves and tvs). A great way to save some money!
.....The people of Arica are amazing! They are super friendly, and I'm going to miss them soooo much! If any of you get the chance to come to this beautiful place...DO IT! I'm going to miss everything about it here! Hope you enjoyed some of the random facts and fun stories about the trip so far :)
Chauuuu!
Katie~
La última excursión: Tacna..y mi semana pasada =)
Title in English: The last excursion: Tacna...and my past weekend =)
HOLA!!!! :D
Well geez, it's getting down there on time. I can't believe how fast two months go! It's already my last week here! Well, I just thought I'd give you some quick feedback about this weekend and our last excursion to Tacna. I'm hoping this will be one of my shorter posts ;) and so sorry, no photos this time :( I didn't bring my camera to Tacna because I didn't want to take the chance of getting it stolen..Ok, so here we go :)
Friday night Rachel, her prima and prima's boyfriend, Rae, her prima and I went to a little Mexican restaurant called Jalapenos. It was SO much fun! We were the only ones there for a long time, and the owner brought out this huge sombreros and blanket things to drape over our clothes in order to take funny pictures :) It was super relaxing and a fun time to practice more español ;)
Saturday we headed to Tacna, Peru for our last excursion. We went to a couple of museums about el morro and the Pacific war that took place in the 1870s. Then we went and ate at this awesome and super yummy place that I think was called el rancho de San Antonio. They had all kinds of typical Peruvian foods, a band, and dancers that danced typical Peruvian dances! It was pretty awesome :) Then we shopped some more in the ferias afterward and drank some fruit juice-which was ammmazing! Later that night a lot of us went to a little pub above Dimango on the beach to celebrate Rae's birthday, and there was a band playing there too. Then we headed over to Drake to dance once again :) I actually stayed up ALL night again!!! Quite a few of us stayed awake until the sunrise which was pretty fun! We just spent some time near Drake and then on the beach-the ocean is just as gorgeous at night at it is during the day :) The sunrise didn't really turn out as I was hoping..it was cloudy, so pretty much the clouds just got a bit lighter haha. BUT I did stay awake all night! wooooot! :) It's so funny because I always thought prom was insane that we stay up all night and everything, but honestly, that's what they do here EVERY weekend! haha :)
Sunday was a big sleeping day and got done with my final paper and skyped with grandma, grandpa, dad, and mom. It was good to see them :) Poor grams started crying on me because I love it here so much and she's worried I'm going to come back and live here forever...I couldn't completely promise her that I wouldn't haha-->don't worry grandma, if you see this, I'll be seeing you real soon ;) hehe. Our mom here, Ligia, made us some ammmazing food for lunch! It was this type of fish that was mashed and then rolled up in an omelet kinda thing that was fried with rice that had green onion and bits of egg. ¡Qué rico! YUMMY! :) And later that night for "once" we had sopapillas! Holy cow-were those delicious!!! I plan on bringing the recipes back for a lot of the things I've tried here, and I can't wait to try them out! BUT...they probably won't turn out as good as how Ligia makes them ;) We spent some time talking with the whole family tonight, and we all couldn't stop talking about yummy the sopapillas were :) I have enjoyed getting to know my Chilean family so much! They are so sweet, special, and welcoming! I really hope to see them again someday in the future! :)
Monday, well that's today, pretty much we've just had class so far, and WE'RE IN "LA ESTRELLA DE ARICA"! -->It's the local newspaper here. We wrote articles for it, so that's pretty awesome! There are pictures in color and everything :) I'll bring some back so you can read them! But...I'm going to have to translate it for you ;) haha.
Well, I think that's about it so far...not to much else has happened here lately, just enjoying our last few days here. Hope you are all doing well! Not sure how much more I'll be writing before I get back...but I'll be seeing you soon (if you're reading this from the US)! Take care everyone and I love you all!
Abrazos y besos,
¡Chauuuu!
Katie~
HOLA!!!! :D
Well geez, it's getting down there on time. I can't believe how fast two months go! It's already my last week here! Well, I just thought I'd give you some quick feedback about this weekend and our last excursion to Tacna. I'm hoping this will be one of my shorter posts ;) and so sorry, no photos this time :( I didn't bring my camera to Tacna because I didn't want to take the chance of getting it stolen..Ok, so here we go :)
Friday night Rachel, her prima and prima's boyfriend, Rae, her prima and I went to a little Mexican restaurant called Jalapenos. It was SO much fun! We were the only ones there for a long time, and the owner brought out this huge sombreros and blanket things to drape over our clothes in order to take funny pictures :) It was super relaxing and a fun time to practice more español ;)
Saturday we headed to Tacna, Peru for our last excursion. We went to a couple of museums about el morro and the Pacific war that took place in the 1870s. Then we went and ate at this awesome and super yummy place that I think was called el rancho de San Antonio. They had all kinds of typical Peruvian foods, a band, and dancers that danced typical Peruvian dances! It was pretty awesome :) Then we shopped some more in the ferias afterward and drank some fruit juice-which was ammmazing! Later that night a lot of us went to a little pub above Dimango on the beach to celebrate Rae's birthday, and there was a band playing there too. Then we headed over to Drake to dance once again :) I actually stayed up ALL night again!!! Quite a few of us stayed awake until the sunrise which was pretty fun! We just spent some time near Drake and then on the beach-the ocean is just as gorgeous at night at it is during the day :) The sunrise didn't really turn out as I was hoping..it was cloudy, so pretty much the clouds just got a bit lighter haha. BUT I did stay awake all night! wooooot! :) It's so funny because I always thought prom was insane that we stay up all night and everything, but honestly, that's what they do here EVERY weekend! haha :)
Sunday was a big sleeping day and got done with my final paper and skyped with grandma, grandpa, dad, and mom. It was good to see them :) Poor grams started crying on me because I love it here so much and she's worried I'm going to come back and live here forever...I couldn't completely promise her that I wouldn't haha-->don't worry grandma, if you see this, I'll be seeing you real soon ;) hehe. Our mom here, Ligia, made us some ammmazing food for lunch! It was this type of fish that was mashed and then rolled up in an omelet kinda thing that was fried with rice that had green onion and bits of egg. ¡Qué rico! YUMMY! :) And later that night for "once" we had sopapillas! Holy cow-were those delicious!!! I plan on bringing the recipes back for a lot of the things I've tried here, and I can't wait to try them out! BUT...they probably won't turn out as good as how Ligia makes them ;) We spent some time talking with the whole family tonight, and we all couldn't stop talking about yummy the sopapillas were :) I have enjoyed getting to know my Chilean family so much! They are so sweet, special, and welcoming! I really hope to see them again someday in the future! :)
Monday, well that's today, pretty much we've just had class so far, and WE'RE IN "LA ESTRELLA DE ARICA"! -->It's the local newspaper here. We wrote articles for it, so that's pretty awesome! There are pictures in color and everything :) I'll bring some back so you can read them! But...I'm going to have to translate it for you ;) haha.
Well, I think that's about it so far...not to much else has happened here lately, just enjoying our last few days here. Hope you are all doing well! Not sure how much more I'll be writing before I get back...but I'll be seeing you soon (if you're reading this from the US)! Take care everyone and I love you all!
Abrazos y besos,
¡Chauuuu!
Katie~
Friday, July 22, 2011
¡Fútbol! ¡VAMOS CHILENOS!... y más cosas de mi semana pasada =)
Title in English: Soccer! Let's go Chileans!...and more things from my past week =)
Holaaaaa!
How is everyone?! Hope everyone still has the majority of their hairs on their head after they read my last post ;) It was crazy right? Well, I haven't had any super crazy adventures like that lately, but I've still been having some fun times in Arica! Mostly this post is summing up what I did this past week...and how amazing it is to watch fútbol! It took me forever to actually realize that this whole trip isn't a dream. I realized it when we returned from Peru :) But, I still think it's crazy that I'm actually here! Ok...on with my week!
Ok starting with Monday the 11th, after classes I went with Rachel, her prima, Rae, and her prima to the centro, and we looked around at the "Hippie Feria" here, where there are little artifacts and gifts that are from the area..so pretty much little souvenirs. Then, we went to eat at Schopdog, a restuarant in the centro. Got me some empanadas, hot dog, fries, and I think that was it :) Oh and of course, mayo to go with it! They eat mayo with everything here!! Also, a side note, most of the ketchup here tastes a lot different; it usually is sweet instead of salty..so when I get some good ole' salty ketchup-I enjoy it a lot! Ok, so anyway, then Carolina came a little bit later, and she helped me find a Chilean soccer jersey! I finally found one that fit after going to a few places. I tried on a few that were super tiny because I wanted the #7, but I could hardly fit my head into the head hole of the shirt...Carolina had to help me. WOW did we giggle our heads off! :) It was a great time, and I finally found one, but it is #17--but this fútbol player is very good looking to AND..he's a good fútbol player! haha ;) It was great spending time with Carolina, and it's so cute->She was trying to continue speaking Spanish with me, but she kept switching over to English (she studied at UNI this past semester, and her English rocks!)..but then I'd continue in Spanish, and she'd realize she was speaking English ;) hehe Love ya, Carolina, if you're reading this! :) So anywho, thanks to Carolina, I was ready for my first Chilean fútbol game the next night!...
Ok, so Tuesday, pretty much the only thing I did was go to a pub called "Naif" to watch the fútbol game. The game was Chile vs. Peru in the American cup..a pretty big game because Peru and Chile are pretty much big rivalries :) It was so funny, I was walking to the centro with Rachel to watch the game, and I had my Chilean jersey on..I have never got honked at and yelled at so much in my life (more than normal here in Chile)! Everyone was so excited about the game :) There's a picture of me with a huge picture on some wall in the centro with Medel-the player of who's jersey I have :) Anywho, at Naif, Rachel and I ordered this Chicken with BARBECUE, empanadas, and some brocheta thing..HOLY COW-I never realized how much I LOVE bbq sauce haha :) We took lots of pics that day, but we made sure to take them before, because once the game starts..it's time to concentrate on the game! Nothing else ;) You can see the pics below. One with Carolina and I, and also part of the group there. There were SO many close goals! It was cute to see Carolina get so upset that Chile was doing so well...BUT in the end, ¡CHILE GANÓ! CHILE WON!!! Pretty much to sum up the scene, the people in the pub including myself, and everyone else in the country of Chile were jumping up and down, screaming with excitement, hugging and high-fiving and cheering "¡CHI-CHI-CHI-LE-LE-LE-VIVA CHILE!" Everyone was SO excited! It was pretty much one of the best feelings I've ever experienced! Everywhere we went people were yelling stuff about Chile :) Rachel and I went with Carolina to Dimango afterward for some ice cream, then we went to a little part in the centro-in front of the morro-where there were all kinds of people with Chilean flags, fireworks, posters..some had painted faces and funny hair (look at pic below for a good description hehe), and everyone was yelling Chilean chants and stuff like that :) GREAT TIME! There were even police with those shield things near the street so no one would go out into the street and get hit by a car..or if things got out of hand. INSANE! I have NEVER in my life experienced a national pride like this..which is kind of weird, because it wasn't even for my native country. I felt so proud to be a part of Chile in that moment! (I even wrote an article about this night and how cool the national pride is here for the Arica newspaper called "La Estrella de Arica" or translated "The star of Arica". It'll be in it this week!). When we were leaving the centro, there were a group of guys that all of a sudden came over to me and surround me jumping and chanting. I kind of freaked out right away because I thought they were going to jump me, but then I started jumping up and down with them and singing the chant they were singing :) haha Great times!
Not a whole lot happened Wednesday-a study day..and Thursday was another day to try and get stuff done. Rachel and I went downtown instead to try and study and ate at T&T another one of the many cute centro restaurants. Then we went to Dimango for a coffee and to study more. The waiters know us pretty well there :) It's pretty great! haha. The cutest thing was, when we received our coffees there was a drizzle of chocolate on the top..but it said something! Mine said "Dimango" and Rachel's said "hello"(pic below of Rachel's). Haha, this is something they don't normally do:) We ran into some more United States people there who were visiting for a weekend in Arica but are mostly spending time in Peru for a ministry thing. One of the girls was from Brainerd, MN! Crazy!
Friday was a FABULOUS day! Rachel and I bought ourselves Harry Potter tickets (pic below with the sign of Rachel and I), and then we headed to the beach to watch the sunset. All I have to say is GORGEOUS (pics below)! While I sat there, all I could think of is, I can't wait to come back here! I really would like to come back and study for a semester..but if all else fails, I'm definitely coming back to visit someday! Thinking this is the only way that I know that I can leave next week haha. After we enjoyed the calmness and the beauty of the sunset, we turned around to head to Dimango on the beach..and guess what?! There was a HUGE moon (Pic below w/ the palm tree)! It was so cool to have just seen the beautiful sunset, and to turn around, and there's the giant gorgeous moon :) After Dimango, we headed to Harry Potter-the final movie!! Boy-was that an experience. We had to wait in this super duper long line, that went up the hill next to the theater, and Rachel and I were starting to get nervous that we weren't going to get in, even though we had tickets. Eventually, we got in, and the movie started with Spanish subtitles..I got SO excited because I thought it might be in English!! I was jumping in my seat even! BUT this was only because there were signs in English. Sad day..but it was quite the experience. I concentrated so hard the first part of the movie to try and understand the Spansih, that I had to close my eyes for a part of the movie ;) hahaha Anywho, I could understand most of it, which was pretty exciting, but I'm excited to see it in English when I get back. There were a couple jokes I didn't understand..and the Chileans all shhhhhh when people start talking haha. It's kinda great. AND they all started applauding when people were killed in it :) haha ooooh Chileans, how I will miss your reactions and emotions! Afterward, Rachel and I celebrated with a toast to Harry :)
Saturday was a relaxing day, and then we celebrated Phil's birthday at this house, and then we went to a little club called Estres afterward. There weren't too many people at Estres because it was closed for awhile, so many people thought that it was closed..So Tiare, Carolina, Jonna, and I went to Drake, and we danced until it closed. I stayed up until 6 am that night! WOW! I was actually really proud of myself..This weekend my goal (which I have had since I've been here) is to see the sun rise while near the ocean. I'm super excited haha!
Sunday was another fun day...but super sad. All I'm going to say is that Chile lost the game vs Venezuela and were out of the American Cup. It was pretty depressing, and it definitely shows. I have never seen Arica SO quiet before. Kinda of eerie!
Monday, I did nothing, and Tuesday I spent the day being a beach bum once again. Geez I love the ocean :) It's so beautiful! Rachel and I went for a long walk on the beach, and we even saw some police men on horses that were on the beach :) funny stuff! I decided to wade a little bit further into the ocean this time, but I didn't go all the way in. The waves are just a tad intimidating :) That night we went over to the Rachel's prima (Jacqueline)'s house. We were able to meet her whole family: her dad, mom (who was SO much like my own mom), brother (16 years old), and sister (3 years old). We watched a Chilean movie, which was pretty funny..something like American Pie, but in Spanish. Then, Jacqueline's mom served us some amazing appetizers, pizza, and this giant burger thing that was on a hamburger bun with I think bologna with fries and tomatoes , and A LOT of it. That burger thing was the size of probably the biggest burger in the U.S. No joke! :) It was wonderful! When we were about done eating, the lights went out (this seems to happen quite often here?), so we went home :)
Wednesday-I studied my butt off because we had to study for our literature final which was either Thursday or Friday (we didn't know which day we would have to go). So I move on to Thursday..I didn't take my final, and later that night Rachel and I got together with Loren and we had a knitting party! THE BIGGEST EVENT OF ALL: I SAW A WINEBAGO MOTORHOME IN CHILE! This is a huge deal! People that don't know, Winnebago motorhomes are made in my hometown, so when I saw that logo that has meant so much to me while growing up-I kind of freaked out! haha :) (Pic below!) Ok, so we made it to Lauren's after my crazy excitement, and I learned to knit, which was pretty great, but it is difficult! I enjoyed it though :) We also watched a Glee episode and played with Loren's to little twin sisters from here. They were adorable! It was one of my first times communicating with little Chileans. A strange experience because it's difficult to understand them sometimes, but I loved when they used only one word and I could figure out what they said ;) haha. After that, Rachel and I walked to the centro to get some Dimango ice cream..I can never turn down good ice cream! And... the waiters there are pretty much some of my favorite people here :) Plus, one of them is super good looking ;) haha.
Friday-We got out pictures taken for the newspaper. We had a class assignment where we had to right an article about something about Arica, and obviously if you've read everything you would know I chose to write about the Chileans national pride, and more specifically about fútbol. It'll be in the paper this week! And, I am officially done with literature now! Woot woot! I'm going to miss my professor! She was the one I had a lot of difficulties understanding in the beginning, but by the end, I could and I loved her class. She's hilarious :) After class, Rachel and I went with Ligia to this little place to buy some goodies that are made from the area. As we were in the car about ready to go, Ligia said she received a letter from my mom and dad :) I was going to try and translate it for her, and next thing I know, she's translating it! She can't speak English, but she's able to translate English to Spanish! Rachel and I were shocked hahaha :) Funny times, but anywho-mom if you read this, Ligia loved the letter and sends many thanks :) Tonight was wonderful! We went to that little place that has foods first, and then we went to a little place with arts and crafts that the people make right there! How cute! Got a couple things there too ;) It was great spending some quality time with Ligia. All three of us had some good ole' laughs tonight, and during our dinner tonight we talked about Amish people :) She was really interested about it! I'm really going to miss her a lot! She's a special woman :) ...ok I can't talk anymore about missing people..sheesh!
I'm just busy enjoying my days here...I guess that's about it. Like I said, not as exciting as my crazy trip to Peru, but it'll be really nice to look back at this. It's been really a couple great weeks! Ok, well see you all soon I guess! I don't know how many more times I'll write since it's getting close to the...well..I'm not going to say it. Haha :) Take care all! And I love you!
Chau Chau! Un beso!
Katie Wencl
Holaaaaa!
How is everyone?! Hope everyone still has the majority of their hairs on their head after they read my last post ;) It was crazy right? Well, I haven't had any super crazy adventures like that lately, but I've still been having some fun times in Arica! Mostly this post is summing up what I did this past week...and how amazing it is to watch fútbol! It took me forever to actually realize that this whole trip isn't a dream. I realized it when we returned from Peru :) But, I still think it's crazy that I'm actually here! Ok...on with my week!
Ok starting with Monday the 11th, after classes I went with Rachel, her prima, Rae, and her prima to the centro, and we looked around at the "Hippie Feria" here, where there are little artifacts and gifts that are from the area..so pretty much little souvenirs. Then, we went to eat at Schopdog, a restuarant in the centro. Got me some empanadas, hot dog, fries, and I think that was it :) Oh and of course, mayo to go with it! They eat mayo with everything here!! Also, a side note, most of the ketchup here tastes a lot different; it usually is sweet instead of salty..so when I get some good ole' salty ketchup-I enjoy it a lot! Ok, so anyway, then Carolina came a little bit later, and she helped me find a Chilean soccer jersey! I finally found one that fit after going to a few places. I tried on a few that were super tiny because I wanted the #7, but I could hardly fit my head into the head hole of the shirt...Carolina had to help me. WOW did we giggle our heads off! :) It was a great time, and I finally found one, but it is #17--but this fútbol player is very good looking to AND..he's a good fútbol player! haha ;) It was great spending time with Carolina, and it's so cute->She was trying to continue speaking Spanish with me, but she kept switching over to English (she studied at UNI this past semester, and her English rocks!)..but then I'd continue in Spanish, and she'd realize she was speaking English ;) hehe Love ya, Carolina, if you're reading this! :) So anywho, thanks to Carolina, I was ready for my first Chilean fútbol game the next night!...
Ok, so Tuesday, pretty much the only thing I did was go to a pub called "Naif" to watch the fútbol game. The game was Chile vs. Peru in the American cup..a pretty big game because Peru and Chile are pretty much big rivalries :) It was so funny, I was walking to the centro with Rachel to watch the game, and I had my Chilean jersey on..I have never got honked at and yelled at so much in my life (more than normal here in Chile)! Everyone was so excited about the game :) There's a picture of me with a huge picture on some wall in the centro with Medel-the player of who's jersey I have :) Anywho, at Naif, Rachel and I ordered this Chicken with BARBECUE, empanadas, and some brocheta thing..HOLY COW-I never realized how much I LOVE bbq sauce haha :) We took lots of pics that day, but we made sure to take them before, because once the game starts..it's time to concentrate on the game! Nothing else ;) You can see the pics below. One with Carolina and I, and also part of the group there. There were SO many close goals! It was cute to see Carolina get so upset that Chile was doing so well...BUT in the end, ¡CHILE GANÓ! CHILE WON!!! Pretty much to sum up the scene, the people in the pub including myself, and everyone else in the country of Chile were jumping up and down, screaming with excitement, hugging and high-fiving and cheering "¡CHI-CHI-CHI-LE-LE-LE-VIVA CHILE!" Everyone was SO excited! It was pretty much one of the best feelings I've ever experienced! Everywhere we went people were yelling stuff about Chile :) Rachel and I went with Carolina to Dimango afterward for some ice cream, then we went to a little part in the centro-in front of the morro-where there were all kinds of people with Chilean flags, fireworks, posters..some had painted faces and funny hair (look at pic below for a good description hehe), and everyone was yelling Chilean chants and stuff like that :) GREAT TIME! There were even police with those shield things near the street so no one would go out into the street and get hit by a car..or if things got out of hand. INSANE! I have NEVER in my life experienced a national pride like this..which is kind of weird, because it wasn't even for my native country. I felt so proud to be a part of Chile in that moment! (I even wrote an article about this night and how cool the national pride is here for the Arica newspaper called "La Estrella de Arica" or translated "The star of Arica". It'll be in it this week!). When we were leaving the centro, there were a group of guys that all of a sudden came over to me and surround me jumping and chanting. I kind of freaked out right away because I thought they were going to jump me, but then I started jumping up and down with them and singing the chant they were singing :) haha Great times!
Not a whole lot happened Wednesday-a study day..and Thursday was another day to try and get stuff done. Rachel and I went downtown instead to try and study and ate at T&T another one of the many cute centro restaurants. Then we went to Dimango for a coffee and to study more. The waiters know us pretty well there :) It's pretty great! haha. The cutest thing was, when we received our coffees there was a drizzle of chocolate on the top..but it said something! Mine said "Dimango" and Rachel's said "hello"(pic below of Rachel's). Haha, this is something they don't normally do:) We ran into some more United States people there who were visiting for a weekend in Arica but are mostly spending time in Peru for a ministry thing. One of the girls was from Brainerd, MN! Crazy!
Friday was a FABULOUS day! Rachel and I bought ourselves Harry Potter tickets (pic below with the sign of Rachel and I), and then we headed to the beach to watch the sunset. All I have to say is GORGEOUS (pics below)! While I sat there, all I could think of is, I can't wait to come back here! I really would like to come back and study for a semester..but if all else fails, I'm definitely coming back to visit someday! Thinking this is the only way that I know that I can leave next week haha. After we enjoyed the calmness and the beauty of the sunset, we turned around to head to Dimango on the beach..and guess what?! There was a HUGE moon (Pic below w/ the palm tree)! It was so cool to have just seen the beautiful sunset, and to turn around, and there's the giant gorgeous moon :) After Dimango, we headed to Harry Potter-the final movie!! Boy-was that an experience. We had to wait in this super duper long line, that went up the hill next to the theater, and Rachel and I were starting to get nervous that we weren't going to get in, even though we had tickets. Eventually, we got in, and the movie started with Spanish subtitles..I got SO excited because I thought it might be in English!! I was jumping in my seat even! BUT this was only because there were signs in English. Sad day..but it was quite the experience. I concentrated so hard the first part of the movie to try and understand the Spansih, that I had to close my eyes for a part of the movie ;) hahaha Anywho, I could understand most of it, which was pretty exciting, but I'm excited to see it in English when I get back. There were a couple jokes I didn't understand..and the Chileans all shhhhhh when people start talking haha. It's kinda great. AND they all started applauding when people were killed in it :) haha ooooh Chileans, how I will miss your reactions and emotions! Afterward, Rachel and I celebrated with a toast to Harry :)
Saturday was a relaxing day, and then we celebrated Phil's birthday at this house, and then we went to a little club called Estres afterward. There weren't too many people at Estres because it was closed for awhile, so many people thought that it was closed..So Tiare, Carolina, Jonna, and I went to Drake, and we danced until it closed. I stayed up until 6 am that night! WOW! I was actually really proud of myself..This weekend my goal (which I have had since I've been here) is to see the sun rise while near the ocean. I'm super excited haha!
Sunday was another fun day...but super sad. All I'm going to say is that Chile lost the game vs Venezuela and were out of the American Cup. It was pretty depressing, and it definitely shows. I have never seen Arica SO quiet before. Kinda of eerie!
Monday, I did nothing, and Tuesday I spent the day being a beach bum once again. Geez I love the ocean :) It's so beautiful! Rachel and I went for a long walk on the beach, and we even saw some police men on horses that were on the beach :) funny stuff! I decided to wade a little bit further into the ocean this time, but I didn't go all the way in. The waves are just a tad intimidating :) That night we went over to the Rachel's prima (Jacqueline)'s house. We were able to meet her whole family: her dad, mom (who was SO much like my own mom), brother (16 years old), and sister (3 years old). We watched a Chilean movie, which was pretty funny..something like American Pie, but in Spanish. Then, Jacqueline's mom served us some amazing appetizers, pizza, and this giant burger thing that was on a hamburger bun with I think bologna with fries and tomatoes , and A LOT of it. That burger thing was the size of probably the biggest burger in the U.S. No joke! :) It was wonderful! When we were about done eating, the lights went out (this seems to happen quite often here?), so we went home :)
Wednesday-I studied my butt off because we had to study for our literature final which was either Thursday or Friday (we didn't know which day we would have to go). So I move on to Thursday..I didn't take my final, and later that night Rachel and I got together with Loren and we had a knitting party! THE BIGGEST EVENT OF ALL: I SAW A WINEBAGO MOTORHOME IN CHILE! This is a huge deal! People that don't know, Winnebago motorhomes are made in my hometown, so when I saw that logo that has meant so much to me while growing up-I kind of freaked out! haha :) (Pic below!) Ok, so we made it to Lauren's after my crazy excitement, and I learned to knit, which was pretty great, but it is difficult! I enjoyed it though :) We also watched a Glee episode and played with Loren's to little twin sisters from here. They were adorable! It was one of my first times communicating with little Chileans. A strange experience because it's difficult to understand them sometimes, but I loved when they used only one word and I could figure out what they said ;) haha. After that, Rachel and I walked to the centro to get some Dimango ice cream..I can never turn down good ice cream! And... the waiters there are pretty much some of my favorite people here :) Plus, one of them is super good looking ;) haha.
Friday-We got out pictures taken for the newspaper. We had a class assignment where we had to right an article about something about Arica, and obviously if you've read everything you would know I chose to write about the Chileans national pride, and more specifically about fútbol. It'll be in the paper this week! And, I am officially done with literature now! Woot woot! I'm going to miss my professor! She was the one I had a lot of difficulties understanding in the beginning, but by the end, I could and I loved her class. She's hilarious :) After class, Rachel and I went with Ligia to this little place to buy some goodies that are made from the area. As we were in the car about ready to go, Ligia said she received a letter from my mom and dad :) I was going to try and translate it for her, and next thing I know, she's translating it! She can't speak English, but she's able to translate English to Spanish! Rachel and I were shocked hahaha :) Funny times, but anywho-mom if you read this, Ligia loved the letter and sends many thanks :) Tonight was wonderful! We went to that little place that has foods first, and then we went to a little place with arts and crafts that the people make right there! How cute! Got a couple things there too ;) It was great spending some quality time with Ligia. All three of us had some good ole' laughs tonight, and during our dinner tonight we talked about Amish people :) She was really interested about it! I'm really going to miss her a lot! She's a special woman :) ...ok I can't talk anymore about missing people..sheesh!
I'm just busy enjoying my days here...I guess that's about it. Like I said, not as exciting as my crazy trip to Peru, but it'll be really nice to look back at this. It's been really a couple great weeks! Ok, well see you all soon I guess! I don't know how many more times I'll write since it's getting close to the...well..I'm not going to say it. Haha :) Take care all! And I love you!
Chau Chau! Un beso!
Katie Wencl
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Una pesadilla hermosa~Mi semana libre en PERÚ
Title in English: A beautiful nightmare~My free week in Peru
Holaaaaa!
Ok, so I really wanted to write about my REALLY CRAZY experience in Peru last week. Let me just say that my group and I had many problems during our trip...but you're going to have to read the whole thing to see what actually happened ;) Yes, this blog post is going to be long, but it will be worth it! Trust me haha. I'm going to write it almost exactly how I wrote it from my diary that I kept on the trip sooo here goes nothing :) Enjoy and please don't lose too many hairs on your head from reading this!
domingo-03 de julio de 2011 (Sunday 3th of July, 2011)
We started our vacation/ free week today. I skyped with mom and dad right before I left:) They were so happy although it was a short time. Then, Rachel and I said bye to Ligia and we were on our way. I met up with the girls from my group and we got a taxi to the terminal. 1st problem: we went to the wrong terminal for a taxi from Arica to Tacna. So we asked a lady in the bus terminal, where the taxi terminal was, and so we went outside to the next place where the taxis were. A man with a tourist van tried to get us to go with him, but he wanted $50!!! A guy sitting in the back of his van shook his hand/head no to Jonna while we were talking over our options. After we walked away from the man with the van, the guy that shook his head no came over and he took us to where needed to go. Our 1st angel on the trip! We had another scare when we were waiting in our taxi-the man took our passports and...walked away with them! Jonna and I started freaking, so Janae went to ask what was up. He just gave it to people that needed them to fill papers out to cross the border to Peru, and he was waiting for one more passenger. Ok, eventually, we got dropped off at the wrong terminal again in Tacna! But a nice security man told us where to go for our bus and to exchange money. Also, he taught us how to tell if the money is real because there's a lot of fake money in Peru. We eventually made it to the correct place and saw the other girls from the other group. A relief! We eventually found the other group, and we all made our way onto the bus (pic below of Jonna and I and bus), which was SUPER nice and roomy! If anyone travels in Peru, I do recommend Cruz del Sur (although, we did have a little trouble with the bus line...you'll read about later). The roads from Tacna to Arequpia were super scary!!! Rachel was freaking out BIG time! It was bad, but I jut thought of other things and played BINGO :) We arrived late, and we were a bit hungry because we hardly received anything for bus food, so we went to a little restaurant after we checked in with our hostel. Our hostel wasn't terrible, but the beds were super hard, and when I attempted to shower the next morning it was FREEZING!
lunes-04 de julio de 2011 (Monday, 4th of July 2011)
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!! After my freezing shower, I went up to the balcony of our hostel with Jonna, and WOW was it beautiful! There was a HUGE volcano called Misti volcano close to the city, that I really had no idea was there the night before. Pretty much we walked around the city after that, there was a super cute centro, which actually had some architecture that reminded me of Europe. We found a feria during our time in the centro, and to be honest, we spent most of our day in there. There were so many cute little things for gifts and stuff, and we were even able to bargain with the people-a new experience for me! After that we toured a giant cathedral that is right in the centro, and the picture of me and the centro was actually on top of the cathedral. We then wanted to have a half way decent meal, so we went to a restaurant that overlooked the centro! HOW PRETTY! We went around 5 so we could see the sunset (pic below of the church at sunset), and we even got to wear ponchos that the restaurant gave us!! The other picture below of me in a poncho is with the man that came up and played some really nice music for us. It felt like a scene out of a movie ;) To eat, Liz tried some guinea pig! It actually tasted pretty good-similar to chicken + bacon. It was the WHOLE body of the little guy! I got some shrimp dish that had full shrimp..It was a struggle for me to eat, especially since I had NO idea HOW to eat it haha. Pic below of my lovely shrimp friend and I ;) So after that, we headed to the bus station to continue on our way onto the next city of the trip: Cuzco! We got there, and WOW the bus waiting spot for Cruz del Sur was phenomenal! Comfy orange couches, internet, free coffee or tea, and fútbol (soccer-Chile vs Mexico) was on the flat screen! Definitely felt a little like first class :) Everyone else finally got there, we got there super early just in case anything would go wrong...but guess what?! That didn't help at all! We waited the whole time, and when we were going to board the bus the man was looking for our name on the list, and THEY WEREN'T THERE!!! A girl from our group of 4 had booked them for the 5th of July-not the 4th. I was SO shaken up, thinking that we would not be able to make it to Machu Picchu on Wednesday-which was the WHOLE point of this trip for me. We figured it out though, that we should be able to make our train on Wednesday for Machu Picchu, so we said bye to the rest of the groups and found a different hostel (actually met some girls from ISU helping out in Peru, and they gave us a name of a nice hostel they stayed at). All the hostel had left were two couple rooms, so Jonna and I shared the honeymoon suite haha. It was REALLY nice compared to our last hostel, and we hurried and turned on the fútbol game-CHILE WON!!! So since we just needed to relax a bit after our panic attacks and celebrate the win of the game, we went to a little restaurant and got some ice cream :) it was SO yummy! I swear there was some extra sugar or something in it because we could NOT stop laughing! I was to the point where I was crying from laughing so hard :) So after a really stressful part of the day, it turned out pretty decent!
martes-05 de julio de 2011 (Tuesday, July 5th, 2011)
We woke up and shopped some more today in the ferias, went to another cathedral (said some more prayers to keep us safe), and we also went to a museum that had an ice maiden-a frozen Incan girl who was given up as a sacrifice to the Gods-they believe she would become a God. When it was time for the sacrifice-the Incas chose the most talented and beautiful chile. Supposedly, she was from royalty because the artifacts buried with here were the best of the best. We saw the frozen girl, her name was Juanita. She was hit on the head after she drank strong alcohol, and then she was left on top of the volcano. her tiny body was so creepy, but precious at the same time. Then later that night we ate at Ekeko Restaurant. Ekeko is the god of abundance and prosperity in the mythology and folklore of the people from the Andean Altiplano-he also brings good luck-and is in the pic below with Jonna and me! Our waiter was awesome there-there's a picture with him and us four girls too. We then went back to the super nice bus station and said "Hello again" to the workers haha. We actually left this night, and have a whole bus ride from 9 pm to 6 am. Goodnight from the road!
miercoles-06 de julio de 2011 (Wednesday, July 6th, 2011)
Well, the bus ride wasn't too terrible. I attempted to sleep, but it was kind of difficult. I woke up this morning around 5:50 (remember the bus was supposed to arrive around 6). beginning from the time I woke up, I was SO nervous about making it to Machu Picchu. The adrenaline began...We got ready on the bus, washed our faces & makeup. More time passed..Still NOT at Cuzco. 30 more minutes until our train left the Poroy station..20 min..10 min..well our train left and we were still on our bus. We weren't going to be able to see Machu Picchu!!! :( My hope was almost gone, but we still grabbed our stuff and RAN off the bus. We started shouting as we ran that we need a taxi!! Finally, a taxi man asked us where and we said to the Poroy train station to Machu Picchu. He drove fast and took us there, even though we all knew we missed the train, but when we got there-he and the lady that worked for the train station told us we could get on the SAME train at a different station that was about an hour and a half away(my adrenaline is rolling right now typing this hehe). There was also a 21 year old guy named Brian from Massachusetts who had the exact same difficulties as we had. We all ran back to the taxi-Brian also- and we shoved our backpacks in the back and we were on our way again! Our driver was awesome (but did rip us off a bit), but he drove SO fast and wanted us to get to the train station so bad. Picture of Brian, Liz, me, and Jonna below in the crazy taxi ride! The Andes mountains were BEAUTIFUL, but I didn't even care about taking any more pictures because I was SO anxious and hopeful and nervous to try and make our train. We FINALLY made it to the city of Ollantayatambo (where the other station was located), and our driver pointed and yelled "El tren!" (The train!) We could see it! BUT we had to drive through town to get to the station! All I could think of were the WHAT IFS-pretty much what if we are THIS close to making it on that train and we don't make it!?! We drove like crazy through the tiny town, but there were all kinds of speed bumps-that the bottom of the car hit because we were so weighed down in that tiny car- and there were SO many police. Our driver said that they were most likely there because the president was supposed to be going to Machu Picchu for the 100 year of discovery anniversary which took place the next day. We FINALLY made it to the station-literally jumped out of the taxi-grabbed our bags and RAN!!!!! We ran, a police officer or 2 tried to stop me, but I said "El tren!" and showed them my ticket, then they told us to go! I was waving my tickets in the air yelling "EL TREN! EL TREN! EL TREN!" Then we realized there was a line, but they told us to go to the front. A police officer told the train to wait, and let us through without even checking us over. Then I kept running and had to get to the B carriage which was on the opposite side of where we came in..so I kept yelling "B! Permiso!" over and over. We ran and ran-pretty much it felt like a scene out of a movie! And finally-I handed my ticket to the man and he told us to hurry and get on!...Deep breath...WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the group's faces were SO happy and shocked. I wish I could thank everyone that got us this far onto the train again :)
Ok, so we got off the train, ready to see one of the seven wonders of the world. My group of 4 had to take a quick bathroom stop, and the other groups kept going with the crowd, so everyone else had already found their way by the time that we realized where to go. It wasn't very well marked for an international visit site, but we found our way. There were SO many people dressed up in their traditional and festive clothing for the 100 year anniversary (picture below with me and some dressed up people in background). We saw the other girl group and Emily mentioned that we needed to buy an entrance ticket. So we walked over to get one and we asked the lady if the ticket was just for the bus, and she said eys, then we asked if we needed anything else if we were just going to hike the trail, and she said no. So we started to begin our hike to Machu Picchu. We were sooo happy/tired walking (picture of Jonna and I during the walk up-gorgeous!)! The mountains were so big and beautiful-definitely breathtaking! I couldn't believe how massive and green they were-and the sky so blue! I have seen many mountains in my life, but none like those (It probably doesn't help that I've been in a desert for the past month-so all of the vegetation and rivers were EXTRA pretty to me!). It took us a long time to hike up, and we were about 30 minutes from the top, and there were some people that told us that we needed to hurry because they were closing the park at 2 pm...it was 1 pm! We started hurrying even faster, which sucked because we were exhausted! We decided to take a 1 minute rest and drank some water. We were ready to go and stood up, when all of a sudden Janae yelled "OW!" We turned around and she was leaning over with her hand on her hamstring. Her muscle was in a lot of pain..all I could think it that we have to hurry, but she's in a pain..ahh what do we do? We waited a little bit longer, and then Jonna and I started walking a little bit ahead..when all of a sudden...BOOM "Ahh-ow!!!" Jonna fell and was yelling in pain. Right away I asked if she broke anything-I started thinking of all the scenarios-we're so close, but what if it's broke-what the heck are we going to do?!? Thank goodness she was able to stand up, and slowly we all made our way up to the top. I felt so bad her continue because she was in so much pain, but luckily we were only 10 minutes away and WE MADE IT!!!...to where the bus drops people off to hike a little bit more?!?! WHAT? MORE hiking?! Well, we walked up to the entrance part where the security people are and handed the lady my passport, and then she asked for my ticket. I asked her "um..my train ticket?" She said no, no the ticket for Machu Picchu. WHAT?!?!? Tears started rolling down my face. All I could think was we were screwed and we just spent all of that money and time to get there and we are SO close-it's right over the hill...and we won't get to see it! I have never ever felt so upset/sad/ disappointed in my life. The lady told us that one of us should ride the bus and attempt to buy our tickets before 2 pm-otherwise tomorrow was already booked because of the 100 year festival. I told Liz and Janae to go-I was panicking waaay too much. So then Jonna and I just waited and waited and waited up at the top while all of these HAPPY people around us were going or leaving the site of Machu Picchu..and we were just panicking. The police man and security lady felt so bad for us haha. My stomach felt sick was so nervous, and each tiem a bus drove up, my hope would go up, and then when Liz and Janae didn't get off, it would go waaay down. After 45 minutes of waiting, Jonna and I decided to get a hot dog and ice cream-thought we might as well "enjoy" our time where we were. We both felt a bit better after that, and we even started laughing about everything-we were starting to go a bit crazy. I started taking pictures becuse it finally suck in that where we were was as far as we were going to make it. I wasn't going to see Machu Picchu...After an HOUR of waiting and giving up ALL of my hope, we watched people get off another bus and FINALLY we saw Janae and Liz!!! Jonna and I ran to see them-they had solemn faces on, but when I looked and saw Liz had the tickets in her hand-I ran to go hug them and Jonna and I yelled with happiness!!!! OH MY GOSH! My heart and body way overflowing with happiness and adrenaline. We had until 5 to see the park (which Jonna and I found out after the girls left to buy the tickets), and that's when it officially closed for the night. Everyone around us stared and had smiles on their faces including the police man and security lady :)
When I saw the 1st bit of the most beautiful place ever I said"hey girls wait! Thank you SO much!" I started bawling with joy-after thinking I wasn't going to actually see Machu Picchu about 3 times..I FINALLY was seeing it! (Picture of Janae and me right after our BIG hug and cry hehe) It was a dream come true and a HUGE relief after a physical and emotional day. We started taking pictures right away and we turned a corner and then I saw THE site that I've seen only on TV, postcards, and pictures-I stopped in my tracks and my jaw dropped (that's ME with that one heck of a view!)! Thinking back on that moment brings tears to my eyes. It was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE SITE I HAVE EVER SEEN! I'm so impressed with the Incas-how the heck did they build that place?! But I definitely can understand why they built it there...it's gorgeous! There were rooms, 'homes', pyramids, a condor, farming area, and so much more-just made out of rocks! BREATHTAKING! There were even some llamas (or alpaca?) near the pyramid. We had to walk around one of the llamas to continue up the pyramid (pic below!)! hehe. It was really cool to because as we walked around the place, there was music in the background-people were dancing to music in one of the places for the 100 year anniversary-so over all it was pretty much an amazing experience :) It was difficult to leave a place that beautiful, but I was okay with it, because I was just happy I was able to see it (picture of just Machu Picchu, one of me chilling and soaking in the view, and also one of Jonna and I right before we left-needed one more! hehe) ! I tried some ceviche that night- a typical Peruvian dish-it was pretty much trout with some good seasonings (pic below that looks like raw fish), and of course we had to have a little more trouble..the lights went out 3 times as we ate! haha. Anywho, I fell asleep on the train back to Ollantaytambo, then we got off and went to our hostel for a good night sleep.
jueves-07 de julio de 2011 (Thursday, July 7th, 2011)
So we woke up this morning and had a great breakfast at our hostel-scrambled eggs have never tasted so good to me! We then looked around the town a bit (picture of the tiny town/pueblo with the ruins in the background), and decided to just leave because there was only another feria and some more Incan ruins that we could see from a far. Good thing we left and got a taxi when we did because they weren't letting any more cars into our town because of the president-once again! So luckily, we got one of the last taxis out of that town!! And we were on our way to Cuzco. By the time we got there, we were all pretty tired. Got some GREAT food (burger with BBQ SAUCE!!! How I miss BBQ sacue!) in a little cafe, went to a chocolate museum, and then went back to the cafe for some dessert (pic below of THE best dessert ever!) :) Pretty much after that, we headed back on the bus to our lovely town of Arica! Not too many problems after our crazy day, except for our taxi driver saying we needed t be super careful and alert while in Cuzco because there were many thieves, especially with the 100 year anniversary. The centro of Cuzco was really cool-there were people dancing in the streets in costumes and it was SUPER busy! (Picture below of some dancers and then, finally, the last picture of me and one of the many of the 100 year anniversary of discovering Machu Picchu signs)
Well, I'm still alive after a crazy trip in Peru...I think the title of my blog pretty much sums it up- a beautiful nightmare! ;) INSANE, but in the end SO worth it! I hope you enjoyed this crazy story, and I hope to write about this past week soon. It was a super busy week with lots of homework, so I didn't have much time to write this. CONGRATS if you actually read the whole thing ;) Enjoy the pictures below, and take care! I love you all :)
Chauuu! Un beso!
Katie Lea~
Holaaaaa!
Ok, so I really wanted to write about my REALLY CRAZY experience in Peru last week. Let me just say that my group and I had many problems during our trip...but you're going to have to read the whole thing to see what actually happened ;) Yes, this blog post is going to be long, but it will be worth it! Trust me haha. I'm going to write it almost exactly how I wrote it from my diary that I kept on the trip sooo here goes nothing :) Enjoy and please don't lose too many hairs on your head from reading this!
domingo-03 de julio de 2011 (Sunday 3th of July, 2011)
We started our vacation/ free week today. I skyped with mom and dad right before I left:) They were so happy although it was a short time. Then, Rachel and I said bye to Ligia and we were on our way. I met up with the girls from my group and we got a taxi to the terminal. 1st problem: we went to the wrong terminal for a taxi from Arica to Tacna. So we asked a lady in the bus terminal, where the taxi terminal was, and so we went outside to the next place where the taxis were. A man with a tourist van tried to get us to go with him, but he wanted $50!!! A guy sitting in the back of his van shook his hand/head no to Jonna while we were talking over our options. After we walked away from the man with the van, the guy that shook his head no came over and he took us to where needed to go. Our 1st angel on the trip! We had another scare when we were waiting in our taxi-the man took our passports and...walked away with them! Jonna and I started freaking, so Janae went to ask what was up. He just gave it to people that needed them to fill papers out to cross the border to Peru, and he was waiting for one more passenger. Ok, eventually, we got dropped off at the wrong terminal again in Tacna! But a nice security man told us where to go for our bus and to exchange money. Also, he taught us how to tell if the money is real because there's a lot of fake money in Peru. We eventually made it to the correct place and saw the other girls from the other group. A relief! We eventually found the other group, and we all made our way onto the bus (pic below of Jonna and I and bus), which was SUPER nice and roomy! If anyone travels in Peru, I do recommend Cruz del Sur (although, we did have a little trouble with the bus line...you'll read about later). The roads from Tacna to Arequpia were super scary!!! Rachel was freaking out BIG time! It was bad, but I jut thought of other things and played BINGO :) We arrived late, and we were a bit hungry because we hardly received anything for bus food, so we went to a little restaurant after we checked in with our hostel. Our hostel wasn't terrible, but the beds were super hard, and when I attempted to shower the next morning it was FREEZING!
lunes-04 de julio de 2011 (Monday, 4th of July 2011)
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!! After my freezing shower, I went up to the balcony of our hostel with Jonna, and WOW was it beautiful! There was a HUGE volcano called Misti volcano close to the city, that I really had no idea was there the night before. Pretty much we walked around the city after that, there was a super cute centro, which actually had some architecture that reminded me of Europe. We found a feria during our time in the centro, and to be honest, we spent most of our day in there. There were so many cute little things for gifts and stuff, and we were even able to bargain with the people-a new experience for me! After that we toured a giant cathedral that is right in the centro, and the picture of me and the centro was actually on top of the cathedral. We then wanted to have a half way decent meal, so we went to a restaurant that overlooked the centro! HOW PRETTY! We went around 5 so we could see the sunset (pic below of the church at sunset), and we even got to wear ponchos that the restaurant gave us!! The other picture below of me in a poncho is with the man that came up and played some really nice music for us. It felt like a scene out of a movie ;) To eat, Liz tried some guinea pig! It actually tasted pretty good-similar to chicken + bacon. It was the WHOLE body of the little guy! I got some shrimp dish that had full shrimp..It was a struggle for me to eat, especially since I had NO idea HOW to eat it haha. Pic below of my lovely shrimp friend and I ;) So after that, we headed to the bus station to continue on our way onto the next city of the trip: Cuzco! We got there, and WOW the bus waiting spot for Cruz del Sur was phenomenal! Comfy orange couches, internet, free coffee or tea, and fútbol (soccer-Chile vs Mexico) was on the flat screen! Definitely felt a little like first class :) Everyone else finally got there, we got there super early just in case anything would go wrong...but guess what?! That didn't help at all! We waited the whole time, and when we were going to board the bus the man was looking for our name on the list, and THEY WEREN'T THERE!!! A girl from our group of 4 had booked them for the 5th of July-not the 4th. I was SO shaken up, thinking that we would not be able to make it to Machu Picchu on Wednesday-which was the WHOLE point of this trip for me. We figured it out though, that we should be able to make our train on Wednesday for Machu Picchu, so we said bye to the rest of the groups and found a different hostel (actually met some girls from ISU helping out in Peru, and they gave us a name of a nice hostel they stayed at). All the hostel had left were two couple rooms, so Jonna and I shared the honeymoon suite haha. It was REALLY nice compared to our last hostel, and we hurried and turned on the fútbol game-CHILE WON!!! So since we just needed to relax a bit after our panic attacks and celebrate the win of the game, we went to a little restaurant and got some ice cream :) it was SO yummy! I swear there was some extra sugar or something in it because we could NOT stop laughing! I was to the point where I was crying from laughing so hard :) So after a really stressful part of the day, it turned out pretty decent!
martes-05 de julio de 2011 (Tuesday, July 5th, 2011)
We woke up and shopped some more today in the ferias, went to another cathedral (said some more prayers to keep us safe), and we also went to a museum that had an ice maiden-a frozen Incan girl who was given up as a sacrifice to the Gods-they believe she would become a God. When it was time for the sacrifice-the Incas chose the most talented and beautiful chile. Supposedly, she was from royalty because the artifacts buried with here were the best of the best. We saw the frozen girl, her name was Juanita. She was hit on the head after she drank strong alcohol, and then she was left on top of the volcano. her tiny body was so creepy, but precious at the same time. Then later that night we ate at Ekeko Restaurant. Ekeko is the god of abundance and prosperity in the mythology and folklore of the people from the Andean Altiplano-he also brings good luck-and is in the pic below with Jonna and me! Our waiter was awesome there-there's a picture with him and us four girls too. We then went back to the super nice bus station and said "Hello again" to the workers haha. We actually left this night, and have a whole bus ride from 9 pm to 6 am. Goodnight from the road!
miercoles-06 de julio de 2011 (Wednesday, July 6th, 2011)
Well, the bus ride wasn't too terrible. I attempted to sleep, but it was kind of difficult. I woke up this morning around 5:50 (remember the bus was supposed to arrive around 6). beginning from the time I woke up, I was SO nervous about making it to Machu Picchu. The adrenaline began...We got ready on the bus, washed our faces & makeup. More time passed..Still NOT at Cuzco. 30 more minutes until our train left the Poroy station..20 min..10 min..well our train left and we were still on our bus. We weren't going to be able to see Machu Picchu!!! :( My hope was almost gone, but we still grabbed our stuff and RAN off the bus. We started shouting as we ran that we need a taxi!! Finally, a taxi man asked us where and we said to the Poroy train station to Machu Picchu. He drove fast and took us there, even though we all knew we missed the train, but when we got there-he and the lady that worked for the train station told us we could get on the SAME train at a different station that was about an hour and a half away(my adrenaline is rolling right now typing this hehe). There was also a 21 year old guy named Brian from Massachusetts who had the exact same difficulties as we had. We all ran back to the taxi-Brian also- and we shoved our backpacks in the back and we were on our way again! Our driver was awesome (but did rip us off a bit), but he drove SO fast and wanted us to get to the train station so bad. Picture of Brian, Liz, me, and Jonna below in the crazy taxi ride! The Andes mountains were BEAUTIFUL, but I didn't even care about taking any more pictures because I was SO anxious and hopeful and nervous to try and make our train. We FINALLY made it to the city of Ollantayatambo (where the other station was located), and our driver pointed and yelled "El tren!" (The train!) We could see it! BUT we had to drive through town to get to the station! All I could think of were the WHAT IFS-pretty much what if we are THIS close to making it on that train and we don't make it!?! We drove like crazy through the tiny town, but there were all kinds of speed bumps-that the bottom of the car hit because we were so weighed down in that tiny car- and there were SO many police. Our driver said that they were most likely there because the president was supposed to be going to Machu Picchu for the 100 year of discovery anniversary which took place the next day. We FINALLY made it to the station-literally jumped out of the taxi-grabbed our bags and RAN!!!!! We ran, a police officer or 2 tried to stop me, but I said "El tren!" and showed them my ticket, then they told us to go! I was waving my tickets in the air yelling "EL TREN! EL TREN! EL TREN!" Then we realized there was a line, but they told us to go to the front. A police officer told the train to wait, and let us through without even checking us over. Then I kept running and had to get to the B carriage which was on the opposite side of where we came in..so I kept yelling "B! Permiso!" over and over. We ran and ran-pretty much it felt like a scene out of a movie! And finally-I handed my ticket to the man and he told us to hurry and get on!...Deep breath...WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the group's faces were SO happy and shocked. I wish I could thank everyone that got us this far onto the train again :)
Ok, so we got off the train, ready to see one of the seven wonders of the world. My group of 4 had to take a quick bathroom stop, and the other groups kept going with the crowd, so everyone else had already found their way by the time that we realized where to go. It wasn't very well marked for an international visit site, but we found our way. There were SO many people dressed up in their traditional and festive clothing for the 100 year anniversary (picture below with me and some dressed up people in background). We saw the other girl group and Emily mentioned that we needed to buy an entrance ticket. So we walked over to get one and we asked the lady if the ticket was just for the bus, and she said eys, then we asked if we needed anything else if we were just going to hike the trail, and she said no. So we started to begin our hike to Machu Picchu. We were sooo happy/tired walking (picture of Jonna and I during the walk up-gorgeous!)! The mountains were so big and beautiful-definitely breathtaking! I couldn't believe how massive and green they were-and the sky so blue! I have seen many mountains in my life, but none like those (It probably doesn't help that I've been in a desert for the past month-so all of the vegetation and rivers were EXTRA pretty to me!). It took us a long time to hike up, and we were about 30 minutes from the top, and there were some people that told us that we needed to hurry because they were closing the park at 2 pm...it was 1 pm! We started hurrying even faster, which sucked because we were exhausted! We decided to take a 1 minute rest and drank some water. We were ready to go and stood up, when all of a sudden Janae yelled "OW!" We turned around and she was leaning over with her hand on her hamstring. Her muscle was in a lot of pain..all I could think it that we have to hurry, but she's in a pain..ahh what do we do? We waited a little bit longer, and then Jonna and I started walking a little bit ahead..when all of a sudden...BOOM "Ahh-ow!!!" Jonna fell and was yelling in pain. Right away I asked if she broke anything-I started thinking of all the scenarios-we're so close, but what if it's broke-what the heck are we going to do?!? Thank goodness she was able to stand up, and slowly we all made our way up to the top. I felt so bad her continue because she was in so much pain, but luckily we were only 10 minutes away and WE MADE IT!!!...to where the bus drops people off to hike a little bit more?!?! WHAT? MORE hiking?! Well, we walked up to the entrance part where the security people are and handed the lady my passport, and then she asked for my ticket. I asked her "um..my train ticket?" She said no, no the ticket for Machu Picchu. WHAT?!?!? Tears started rolling down my face. All I could think was we were screwed and we just spent all of that money and time to get there and we are SO close-it's right over the hill...and we won't get to see it! I have never ever felt so upset/sad/ disappointed in my life. The lady told us that one of us should ride the bus and attempt to buy our tickets before 2 pm-otherwise tomorrow was already booked because of the 100 year festival. I told Liz and Janae to go-I was panicking waaay too much. So then Jonna and I just waited and waited and waited up at the top while all of these HAPPY people around us were going or leaving the site of Machu Picchu..and we were just panicking. The police man and security lady felt so bad for us haha. My stomach felt sick was so nervous, and each tiem a bus drove up, my hope would go up, and then when Liz and Janae didn't get off, it would go waaay down. After 45 minutes of waiting, Jonna and I decided to get a hot dog and ice cream-thought we might as well "enjoy" our time where we were. We both felt a bit better after that, and we even started laughing about everything-we were starting to go a bit crazy. I started taking pictures becuse it finally suck in that where we were was as far as we were going to make it. I wasn't going to see Machu Picchu...After an HOUR of waiting and giving up ALL of my hope, we watched people get off another bus and FINALLY we saw Janae and Liz!!! Jonna and I ran to see them-they had solemn faces on, but when I looked and saw Liz had the tickets in her hand-I ran to go hug them and Jonna and I yelled with happiness!!!! OH MY GOSH! My heart and body way overflowing with happiness and adrenaline. We had until 5 to see the park (which Jonna and I found out after the girls left to buy the tickets), and that's when it officially closed for the night. Everyone around us stared and had smiles on their faces including the police man and security lady :)
When I saw the 1st bit of the most beautiful place ever I said"hey girls wait! Thank you SO much!" I started bawling with joy-after thinking I wasn't going to actually see Machu Picchu about 3 times..I FINALLY was seeing it! (Picture of Janae and me right after our BIG hug and cry hehe) It was a dream come true and a HUGE relief after a physical and emotional day. We started taking pictures right away and we turned a corner and then I saw THE site that I've seen only on TV, postcards, and pictures-I stopped in my tracks and my jaw dropped (that's ME with that one heck of a view!)! Thinking back on that moment brings tears to my eyes. It was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE SITE I HAVE EVER SEEN! I'm so impressed with the Incas-how the heck did they build that place?! But I definitely can understand why they built it there...it's gorgeous! There were rooms, 'homes', pyramids, a condor, farming area, and so much more-just made out of rocks! BREATHTAKING! There were even some llamas (or alpaca?) near the pyramid. We had to walk around one of the llamas to continue up the pyramid (pic below!)! hehe. It was really cool to because as we walked around the place, there was music in the background-people were dancing to music in one of the places for the 100 year anniversary-so over all it was pretty much an amazing experience :) It was difficult to leave a place that beautiful, but I was okay with it, because I was just happy I was able to see it (picture of just Machu Picchu, one of me chilling and soaking in the view, and also one of Jonna and I right before we left-needed one more! hehe) ! I tried some ceviche that night- a typical Peruvian dish-it was pretty much trout with some good seasonings (pic below that looks like raw fish), and of course we had to have a little more trouble..the lights went out 3 times as we ate! haha. Anywho, I fell asleep on the train back to Ollantaytambo, then we got off and went to our hostel for a good night sleep.
jueves-07 de julio de 2011 (Thursday, July 7th, 2011)
So we woke up this morning and had a great breakfast at our hostel-scrambled eggs have never tasted so good to me! We then looked around the town a bit (picture of the tiny town/pueblo with the ruins in the background), and decided to just leave because there was only another feria and some more Incan ruins that we could see from a far. Good thing we left and got a taxi when we did because they weren't letting any more cars into our town because of the president-once again! So luckily, we got one of the last taxis out of that town!! And we were on our way to Cuzco. By the time we got there, we were all pretty tired. Got some GREAT food (burger with BBQ SAUCE!!! How I miss BBQ sacue!) in a little cafe, went to a chocolate museum, and then went back to the cafe for some dessert (pic below of THE best dessert ever!) :) Pretty much after that, we headed back on the bus to our lovely town of Arica! Not too many problems after our crazy day, except for our taxi driver saying we needed t be super careful and alert while in Cuzco because there were many thieves, especially with the 100 year anniversary. The centro of Cuzco was really cool-there were people dancing in the streets in costumes and it was SUPER busy! (Picture below of some dancers and then, finally, the last picture of me and one of the many of the 100 year anniversary of discovering Machu Picchu signs)
Well, I'm still alive after a crazy trip in Peru...I think the title of my blog pretty much sums it up- a beautiful nightmare! ;) INSANE, but in the end SO worth it! I hope you enjoyed this crazy story, and I hope to write about this past week soon. It was a super busy week with lots of homework, so I didn't have much time to write this. CONGRATS if you actually read the whole thing ;) Enjoy the pictures below, and take care! I love you all :)
Chauuu! Un beso!
Katie Lea~
Sunday, July 10, 2011
La excursión tres~PUTRE, CHILE =)
Name of title in English: Excursion three~PUTRE, CHILE =)
Holaaa!!!
How have you all been? It feels like years since I have written on here, and gosh it kind of has been a long time. SO much has happened since my last blog post, but I'm going to cut this into two posts. And first, I'm going to start with last week...here goes nothing :) and a forewarning-I have not reread this or made corrections! So sorry-just don't have enough time right now for that :)
During the middle of the week last week, a few of us walked to the "island" of Arica to see the sunset. The ocean amazes me every time I see it! The sound of the waves (although they crash hard against the rocks, the sound is so calming), the fact that the ocean goes on and on and on, and the ships are SO giant! It was beautiful to see the sunset and spend time with friends. There's a picture below with Cynthia-a friend of mine from Chile- and I at the island.
The next day for our writing class, we took a little field trip to the port of Arica. This port is extremely important and is used by the world. It's especially important for one country in particular other than Chile, and that would be Bolivia. Bolivia is landlocked, and so in order to receive and export items, they use the port in Arica. We saw the fish market also, which was pretty cool, but it smelled really awful haha. The best part of the field trip was that we were able to ride in this boat along the coast! It was really cool to see Arica from the ocean; it's beautiful from every view! haha I wish I could share more facts from that day, but our tour guide was speaking in Spanish (obviously he should be haha), but it was really difficult to understand him while we were on the boat. The wind kind of carried his voice. BUT we did see "lobos marinos"-translated literally this means sea wolves, but really in English it would be sea lion (picture below!). I even got a video of some jumping from the ocean onto the buoy! I'll be sure to put that on facebook :) There's a pic of some of the girls from the group and I on the boat below :)
What more-the "toma" or "takeover" is still on at our University...actually, right at the moment I can hear a lot of screams and drums and noise coming from that direction (probably a little protest at the school...if not that, probably something to do with soccer and the American cup haha). Anywho, after school one day, there was a march down one of the main streets. Rachel and I really wanted to see it, so we hurried and dropped our bags off at home, and went back. We had to run a LONG ways until we finally caught up with the march, but we were able to see it! That's when it really hit me, that these students are truly fighting for what they believe in, and it is serious business for them! If all of their education is privatized-what are they going to do? What will Chile be like in twenty years? These things hit me as I was watching the students march with pride and courage. There's a picture below of some of the guys from the march that really wanted their picture taken haha. It was definitely an emotional and eye opening experience for me.
What more? Well, I may as well talk about the title of this blog huh? So, for our third excursion we went to Putre, Chile, but this time we took a lot bigger of a bus. We left around 2 pm and arrived around 6 pm. It took us a long time because we made a lot of stops along the way to see interesting places and things. The first things we saw were these holes dug into the ground made by aliens...ok not really by aliens, but it did kind of look like that ;) They were created by the Incas, and it was how they kept their food cool for a long period of time. We also saw some more geoglyphs.
Our next stop was at a super old and beautiful church and cemetery (I forgot how old though..). It was really interesting to understand the religious side of things a little bit better here. Near every cemetery here there is a "mountain" that has a cross on the very top of it, and every march (or may?) the people make a trek to the top to praise the cross (I hope I understood all of this information correctly). The Indians of the land used to climb to the top in order to praise the Earth Goddess called "Pachamama", but then the Spanish came, and put the crosses on top, and so everyone continued to climb to the top of the mountain to "praise the cross", but really the Indians were climbing to praise Pachamama...Like I said, the people of these areas still make this trek once a year. Also, they mountains are supposed to keep watch over the dead. The depth of the meaning of everything here is so interesting to me! There's a picture of Pablo (our tour guide) talking below of how the people will eat "with" the person on their birthday and during holidays.
The roads along our trip were super sketchy! I was kind of scared out of my mind the whole time! But I'm still alive haha. Along the way we stopped and were able to take pictures with a type of cactus that can't be found anywhere else in the world. (You'll see a pic of me and Rachel below with one). We also saw a "tambo"-I honestly don't really know what that means, but pretty much it was this small little building made out of stones haha (pic with me sticking my head out of a window). We also had to make a pit stop at this little restaurant in order to drink some Coca tea...pretty much it was hot water with coca leaves inside and I added A LOT of sugar haha (pic below of my tea and my snack). It didn't taste terrible, and it actually helped make me feel a lot better. And yes, coca leaves are used to make cocaine, but here they use the leaves in tea and candies and to chew to help out with altitude sickness and digestive problems. We needed to drink this during this trip because we made such a dramatic change in altitude-from sea level up to around 12,000 feet. BIG difference in just four hours.
What more? We stopped in a little town called Socroma. It was really beautiful, but strange at the same time. It kind of felt like a ghost town to be honest. We didn't see anyone, but a couple farmers working in the distance. We stopped in this town to see a church that has a table that is chained to the wall. The natives have this legend that the table walks in the middle of the night, and whichever house in the village it stood in front of, someone would die from that house. Creepy right? haha We actually weren't able to go inside, however, because the keeper of the keys was not around. But, the city was really pretty even though there was hardly anyone there. A lot of the people go there during the weekends to get away from the city life. There's a picture below that I really like-and it definitely captures how dead this city was haha.
We finally made it to Putre, and we stayed the night in a hostel. For many people it was there first time to stay in a hostel (mom and I stayed in one in Berlin last summer), so I knew kind of what to expect...BUT the ONLY type of heat that this hostel had was body heat!!! No joke-and yes where most of you are reading this (back in the USA) it's super hot and you're probably sweating while you're reading this and wondering why the heck I would want heat in the summer...BUT remember it's winter here and it was FREEZING!!! I even slept all bundled up and most of us shared a bed with another person just to have some extra heat haha. We were fed a really good meal at the hostel, and we chowed down(there's a picture of my professor and I below in the restaurant..let's just say I'm starting to be able to understand her more..and her laugh is one of my favorite laughs in the world! One can't help laugh when she starts to laugh).
We began the next day bright and early by taking a bus ride to the national park where Lago (Lake) Chungara is, which is one of the highest lakes in the world! On our way, we were able to stop and take some pictures with some llamas-this was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip haha. There is one main llama named Lolly who is the favorite of the tourists because she stays near the police building where the people stop, and then all of the tourists give her bread to eat...Now there are a few llamas that realized Lolly was pretty smart, and so there was a whole pack waiting in front of our bus door for us :) Pictures below- 1st one of the smaller llamas and me, 2nd Lolly (all white), and last a really sweet pic of the llamas with the volcano in the background :)
We finally made our way to Lago Chungara, and WOW was it beautiful! Not only is the lake pretty, but right next to it is Parinacota Volcano. I guess there really isn't a whole lot to talk about this place...there really aren't words to describe how pretty it is either..so please just enjoy the picture below :)
We then attempted to visit this super old church, but the key keeper wasn't there either..so we finally went to our last destination which was the hot springs! and oofta were they HOT! There is a legend of the natives of a princess that lived for many many many years! When one husband died after many years, she would then marry another. All of her husbands wondered why she still looked so young when they were all old and wrinkly. Finally, the fifth husband followed the princess one day, and realized that the secret to her staying young was that she bathed in hot springs. When she wasn't around, he decided to bathe in them also, BUT she ended up finding him and said "JURASI" and I'm pretty sure this means to boil..so her husband that she loved "oh so much" died..and she was no longer able to live forever. Good story huh? :) So anywho, these same hot springs that the princess bathed in were the ones that we visited..so maybe I'll live a little bit longer now?? ;) I wasn't going to include a picture, but the owner of the place was super excited about taking one picture of me..and next thing I know he has my camera and is telling me to follow him. He was practically running from one hot spring to the next and making me sit down and take a picture :) It was pretty funny haha.
Well that is enough for one blog post...more than enough actually. I'm hoping to write my post about Perú really soon... Just a forewarning- the Perú post will be THE best post of my entire blog. We had quite a crazy adventure with many problems...that's all I'm going to say for now ;) You'll have to wait for my next blog post. Hope you're not all sweating to death back home...I'll try not to freeze to death here. I swear I'm becoming more Chilean every day. The weather was PERFECT today for normal me, but for the Chilean Katie...well let's just say I had a sweatshirt AND a scarf on today and I was still cold. My sister here, Rachel, just a t-shirt on. hahaha :) Ok...for reals, I wills top writing now :) Take care everyone!
Chau chau! Besos!
(Bye bye! Kisses!)
Holaaa!!!
How have you all been? It feels like years since I have written on here, and gosh it kind of has been a long time. SO much has happened since my last blog post, but I'm going to cut this into two posts. And first, I'm going to start with last week...here goes nothing :) and a forewarning-I have not reread this or made corrections! So sorry-just don't have enough time right now for that :)
During the middle of the week last week, a few of us walked to the "island" of Arica to see the sunset. The ocean amazes me every time I see it! The sound of the waves (although they crash hard against the rocks, the sound is so calming), the fact that the ocean goes on and on and on, and the ships are SO giant! It was beautiful to see the sunset and spend time with friends. There's a picture below with Cynthia-a friend of mine from Chile- and I at the island.
The next day for our writing class, we took a little field trip to the port of Arica. This port is extremely important and is used by the world. It's especially important for one country in particular other than Chile, and that would be Bolivia. Bolivia is landlocked, and so in order to receive and export items, they use the port in Arica. We saw the fish market also, which was pretty cool, but it smelled really awful haha. The best part of the field trip was that we were able to ride in this boat along the coast! It was really cool to see Arica from the ocean; it's beautiful from every view! haha I wish I could share more facts from that day, but our tour guide was speaking in Spanish (obviously he should be haha), but it was really difficult to understand him while we were on the boat. The wind kind of carried his voice. BUT we did see "lobos marinos"-translated literally this means sea wolves, but really in English it would be sea lion (picture below!). I even got a video of some jumping from the ocean onto the buoy! I'll be sure to put that on facebook :) There's a pic of some of the girls from the group and I on the boat below :)
What more-the "toma" or "takeover" is still on at our University...actually, right at the moment I can hear a lot of screams and drums and noise coming from that direction (probably a little protest at the school...if not that, probably something to do with soccer and the American cup haha). Anywho, after school one day, there was a march down one of the main streets. Rachel and I really wanted to see it, so we hurried and dropped our bags off at home, and went back. We had to run a LONG ways until we finally caught up with the march, but we were able to see it! That's when it really hit me, that these students are truly fighting for what they believe in, and it is serious business for them! If all of their education is privatized-what are they going to do? What will Chile be like in twenty years? These things hit me as I was watching the students march with pride and courage. There's a picture below of some of the guys from the march that really wanted their picture taken haha. It was definitely an emotional and eye opening experience for me.
What more? Well, I may as well talk about the title of this blog huh? So, for our third excursion we went to Putre, Chile, but this time we took a lot bigger of a bus. We left around 2 pm and arrived around 6 pm. It took us a long time because we made a lot of stops along the way to see interesting places and things. The first things we saw were these holes dug into the ground made by aliens...ok not really by aliens, but it did kind of look like that ;) They were created by the Incas, and it was how they kept their food cool for a long period of time. We also saw some more geoglyphs.
Our next stop was at a super old and beautiful church and cemetery (I forgot how old though..). It was really interesting to understand the religious side of things a little bit better here. Near every cemetery here there is a "mountain" that has a cross on the very top of it, and every march (or may?) the people make a trek to the top to praise the cross (I hope I understood all of this information correctly). The Indians of the land used to climb to the top in order to praise the Earth Goddess called "Pachamama", but then the Spanish came, and put the crosses on top, and so everyone continued to climb to the top of the mountain to "praise the cross", but really the Indians were climbing to praise Pachamama...Like I said, the people of these areas still make this trek once a year. Also, they mountains are supposed to keep watch over the dead. The depth of the meaning of everything here is so interesting to me! There's a picture of Pablo (our tour guide) talking below of how the people will eat "with" the person on their birthday and during holidays.
The roads along our trip were super sketchy! I was kind of scared out of my mind the whole time! But I'm still alive haha. Along the way we stopped and were able to take pictures with a type of cactus that can't be found anywhere else in the world. (You'll see a pic of me and Rachel below with one). We also saw a "tambo"-I honestly don't really know what that means, but pretty much it was this small little building made out of stones haha (pic with me sticking my head out of a window). We also had to make a pit stop at this little restaurant in order to drink some Coca tea...pretty much it was hot water with coca leaves inside and I added A LOT of sugar haha (pic below of my tea and my snack). It didn't taste terrible, and it actually helped make me feel a lot better. And yes, coca leaves are used to make cocaine, but here they use the leaves in tea and candies and to chew to help out with altitude sickness and digestive problems. We needed to drink this during this trip because we made such a dramatic change in altitude-from sea level up to around 12,000 feet. BIG difference in just four hours.
What more? We stopped in a little town called Socroma. It was really beautiful, but strange at the same time. It kind of felt like a ghost town to be honest. We didn't see anyone, but a couple farmers working in the distance. We stopped in this town to see a church that has a table that is chained to the wall. The natives have this legend that the table walks in the middle of the night, and whichever house in the village it stood in front of, someone would die from that house. Creepy right? haha We actually weren't able to go inside, however, because the keeper of the keys was not around. But, the city was really pretty even though there was hardly anyone there. A lot of the people go there during the weekends to get away from the city life. There's a picture below that I really like-and it definitely captures how dead this city was haha.
We finally made it to Putre, and we stayed the night in a hostel. For many people it was there first time to stay in a hostel (mom and I stayed in one in Berlin last summer), so I knew kind of what to expect...BUT the ONLY type of heat that this hostel had was body heat!!! No joke-and yes where most of you are reading this (back in the USA) it's super hot and you're probably sweating while you're reading this and wondering why the heck I would want heat in the summer...BUT remember it's winter here and it was FREEZING!!! I even slept all bundled up and most of us shared a bed with another person just to have some extra heat haha. We were fed a really good meal at the hostel, and we chowed down(there's a picture of my professor and I below in the restaurant..let's just say I'm starting to be able to understand her more..and her laugh is one of my favorite laughs in the world! One can't help laugh when she starts to laugh).
We began the next day bright and early by taking a bus ride to the national park where Lago (Lake) Chungara is, which is one of the highest lakes in the world! On our way, we were able to stop and take some pictures with some llamas-this was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip haha. There is one main llama named Lolly who is the favorite of the tourists because she stays near the police building where the people stop, and then all of the tourists give her bread to eat...Now there are a few llamas that realized Lolly was pretty smart, and so there was a whole pack waiting in front of our bus door for us :) Pictures below- 1st one of the smaller llamas and me, 2nd Lolly (all white), and last a really sweet pic of the llamas with the volcano in the background :)
We finally made our way to Lago Chungara, and WOW was it beautiful! Not only is the lake pretty, but right next to it is Parinacota Volcano. I guess there really isn't a whole lot to talk about this place...there really aren't words to describe how pretty it is either..so please just enjoy the picture below :)
We then attempted to visit this super old church, but the key keeper wasn't there either..so we finally went to our last destination which was the hot springs! and oofta were they HOT! There is a legend of the natives of a princess that lived for many many many years! When one husband died after many years, she would then marry another. All of her husbands wondered why she still looked so young when they were all old and wrinkly. Finally, the fifth husband followed the princess one day, and realized that the secret to her staying young was that she bathed in hot springs. When she wasn't around, he decided to bathe in them also, BUT she ended up finding him and said "JURASI" and I'm pretty sure this means to boil..so her husband that she loved "oh so much" died..and she was no longer able to live forever. Good story huh? :) So anywho, these same hot springs that the princess bathed in were the ones that we visited..so maybe I'll live a little bit longer now?? ;) I wasn't going to include a picture, but the owner of the place was super excited about taking one picture of me..and next thing I know he has my camera and is telling me to follow him. He was practically running from one hot spring to the next and making me sit down and take a picture :) It was pretty funny haha.
Well that is enough for one blog post...more than enough actually. I'm hoping to write my post about Perú really soon... Just a forewarning- the Perú post will be THE best post of my entire blog. We had quite a crazy adventure with many problems...that's all I'm going to say for now ;) You'll have to wait for my next blog post. Hope you're not all sweating to death back home...I'll try not to freeze to death here. I swear I'm becoming more Chilean every day. The weather was PERFECT today for normal me, but for the Chilean Katie...well let's just say I had a sweatshirt AND a scarf on today and I was still cold. My sister here, Rachel, just a t-shirt on. hahaha :) Ok...for reals, I wills top writing now :) Take care everyone!
Chau chau! Besos!
(Bye bye! Kisses!)
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