Mendoza, ARGENTINA

Since we didn't have class for the rest of the week, Rachael and I took a bus to Argentina on the 19th, after Chile's Independence Day was officially over (though the parties probably still continued...).  We stayed in Mendoza from Wednesday until Sunday, but we filled every day to the brim with excursions and adventures.

After the 8-hour bus ride, we finally got off the bus in Mendoza.  We were starving, because we had skipped lunch due to the bus ride.  We stopped at the first restaurant we found open, which took a while of searching.  At five-o'clock on a Wednesday, everything in Mendoza seemed to be closed.  We stopped at a place called Cleo and ate some overly-salty French fries and THE WORST pizza that has ever come in contact with my mouth.  But we left with full stomachs anyway, thanks to the fries.

Next we checked into our hostal, which was called Campo Base, and it was located right next to the biggest plaza/park in the area.  Campo Base was quite touristy - most of the advertisements, signs on the walls, paperwork, etc. were written in English - but it was awesome because they hooked us up right away with some awesome activities, and we did all of our excursions through them.

On Thursday we got to enjoy a *free* wine tour because we booked more than three nights with Campo Base.  I'll take it!!  We went to two wineries and got to sample different types of wine.  We also learned out to properly hold the glass, give oxygen to the wine, taste, smell, find color depth... In other words, I can pretend I'm a wine snob now.  We then went to an olive oil factory and got to sample different types, and we learned about the health benefits of extra virgin oils.



That night, we went to Plaza Independencia, near our hostal, and met some cool Argentine immigrants (one from Colombia, one from Brasil) who also happened to be malabaristas (street entertainers).  One of them taught Rachael how to juggle, and I taught him some phrases in English.

On Friday, we got up early to go to the cordillera (mountains) and we got to trek up a mountain - all the way to the top.  The mountain was called El Plato (or La Plata...) and it was beautiful from the top.  After we enjoyed the views from the top, we 'scrambled' down the other side a bit, until we got to a cliff-like edge.  From there, we rappelled down three different walls that used to be waterfalls before the river dried up completely.  The last rappel was about 180 feet long!

Saturday was our last excursion, and we went on a super long bus ride through the cordillera, which we had already seen on our ride in and would see again on our return ride.  The ride was three hours long one way, and we got right to the border with Chile.  From there, we got to hike around the park of the Aconcagua.  This peak is the highest summit in the Americas.  The landscapes from this area were breathtaking.  The lakes and the mountains and the absolute nature surrounding us was more than beautiful.

Puente del Inca - Bridge of the Incas.  The Incas used to bathe in these waters, which they considered sacred.

Lago Espejo - Mirror Lake.  With the peak of the Aconcagua in the back, center.  Reflection.

A naturally seafoamy green lake.  Beautiful.

Rachael and I with the Aconcagua behind us.

Barroluco... mmm

Besides all of our great excursions, it was mandatory to eat Argentine beef while we were there.  For lunch on Thursday, we shared an enormous sandwich called a 'barroluco.'  It was a large slab of beef, with tomato and lettuce, on toasted bread.  Simple enough, but it was great meat!!!  Of course we got pictures chowing down on this barroluco, and later we munched on milanesa and choripan, which are two typical Argentine cuisine.  Other than the nasty pizza from Cleo, I'd say we did pretty well with the food.



Mendoza was a nice city, but I noticed several differences from Chile.  There are fewer stray dogs, more physical diversity among people (I wasn't the only 'blonde,' as they call me), stores closed earlier, the plazas were more lively at night time, there was a LOT more marijuana (we saw it or smelled it every day.. we couldn't get away from it!), the police are less strict, their Spanish is a bit different, there's less street art.  I enjoy Valparaiso better, and I can't define why.  The vibe it gives me is more positive.  The sea is always a plus.  I like the people of Chile better, but I can't verbalize why.  I enjoyed my stay in Mendoza, but I was glad to come home to Chile.

el DIECIOCHO

Independence Day in Chile is a HUGE deal.  If you thought, as a United States citizen, that our nation is patriotic, come take a look at Chile's Independence 'week,' because the celebrations don't just last one day.

This year, because the 18th fell on a Tuesday, the whole week was full of festivities.  My last day of classes was Thursday, and we didn't have class all of the week of the 18th.  That means I had 10 days of no class.  Viva Chile!

EL 17

Of course there were lots of parties and activities during the weekend before the 18th - that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but the real celebrations started Monday the 17th.  My family had an asado - a barbeque, essentially, but way more meat.  The party started at noon and didn't end until around 11 that night.  Ricardo (my host dad) had his extended family over to the house and we drank wine, ate snacks, cooked meat, and ate some more.

Empanada pino - typical Chilean food.  Pino includes ground meat, onion, hard boiled egg and one black olive.

Traditional-style Chilean garb - Felipe (my host-brother-in-law) is dressed as a 'huaso' - the campo, cowboy man of Chile (NOT to be confused with the Argentine 'gaucho' - I learned that the hard way!)  On the right is Marisol, Felipe's mother, dressed quite festively as well in cueca clothing - cueca is the national dance of Chile.

Ricardo and his nephew setting up the asado spit! It's not a Chilean party without this keystone item.

 Just a few items that we had for almuerzo (lunch).  After the pre-asado hors d'vours that we munched on while the meat was spinning over the coals, this was the biggest part of the fiesta.  Besides the red meat, which was the main event, we had potato salad, peas and onions, porotos (beans), rice and corn, celery, carrot salad, olives, and of course, red wine.  Salud!!!

To finish off the fiesta, dessert was 'mote con huesillos' - a typical Chilean dish of half a peach with barley.

EL 18

 Day two of the celebrations we spent in the countryside with Nedda (Mom)'s extended family.  This gathering was considerably larger, and there were plenty of cute babies to go around.  We spent the day at a place called Casa Blanca, on a beautiful lot with green grass, a swimming pool (though it was too chilly to swim), cabanas, a bar, a soccer field, and lots of space to lay in the grass, or of course, set up an asado.

The day passed marvelously.   We were at Casa Blanca from noon until 8 PM when it started getting pretty cold out.  However, the day was beautiful, warm and sunny.  There were sack races, a soccer game, and we got to ride 'Uncle' Renato's four-wheeler.

One Chilean food that I couldn't really wrap my head around, but I did wrap my teeth around it:  'pata de chancho.'  That means 'foot of pig.' Mmmmm...  Well, when's the next time I'll be offered pig foot?  Hopefully never.  But I tried it anyway.  Oh, by the way, it's not cooked.  Buen provecho!

A man carving the pata de chancho........ and me munching on it.  Not a fan, but at least I tried it!


Chileans like to drink a LOT on the 18th.  Felipe, my brother-in-law, told me that 'la meta del dieciocho es emborracharse por toda la semana' - that is, the goal of the 18th is to get yourself drunk all week long.  He even told me that if I don't participate in that particular custom, that I'm being unpatriotic.  Well, I don't find that particularly enjoyable, but I did sip on some champagne.  And wine.  And a pisco sour, of course.  Gotta be patriotic!

Rachael and I trying our first terremoto!  It literally means 'earthquake,' but it's a Chilean drink made of white wine and pinapple ice cream.  Who wouldn't like that?

Independence Day in Chile - an excuse to drink too much wine and eat too much meat

esto es septiembre

en septiembre
el viento es fuerte, 
pero el sol es cariñoso
hay la tristeza del golpe, 
pero también la felicidad de las fiestas patrias
comemos y tomamos demasiado, pero nos deseamos, 'salud!'
lloro pero sonrío más


la positividad siempre vence

the grass ain't greener anywhere else

Okay, now that I'm over my near-death viral experience, I can return to my cheerful What's-Not-To-Be-Happy-About attitude.  Hear me out.

My new volunteer job (starting week two!) is awesome.  Essentially, it's my life dream.  Rachael and I are volunteering at a public school called Colegio Santo Domingo in Playa Ancha, which is actually about a forty minute bus ride from home, thirty minutes from the university, about a $0.75 ride to the "hood" as our culture professor calls it.  But it's not hood at all.  It's darling.

We work with three levels of students.  All three are in their teen years, but they're not angsty at all.  Some of them sit with their guitars on their laps in class, some of them come up and ask if my hair is real and proceed to pet it, some of them kiss us good-bye at the end of class (can you imagine what WC's education department would say about "Professional Distance" ???? GASP!)

Anyway, we're teaching them English.  The kids are peaches.  All of them.  Some of them are quite eager to learn and actually like English.  They're all rather friendly.  I have struck up a particular fondness for the oldest class called Cuarto Medio, which is chock-full of seventeen-year-olds of all different characters.  My favorites are Pablo, the suave Don-Juan of a ladies' man, and Felipe, the introverted, intelligent soft-spoken fellow who wants to study engineering.

Anyway, Rachael and I are planning on taking over ASAP with lesson plans and conducting class activities and whatnot.  Spoiler alert: we're going to be teaching THE HUNGER GAMES!  How awesome is that?  I'll keep you posted on that further on.  I'll also be taking pictures, because we want to present all our fun educational experiences at the Undergraduate Research presentation at WC in the spring. YES.


If that's not fun enough, here are some adorable pics of puppies.

Also, Mina cleaned the mold out of my shower (after I tried to pronounce its translation in Spanish - moho - imposible), so I can go ahead and shower myself again whenever I'm good and ready.

Have a great week!! Learn something new and love what's around you!! BESOS XX

Don't worry everyone - I'M ALIVE

Well, I suppose I should update my MILLIONS of followers on my current state of being, because they are either concerned about my latest state of poor welfare, unaware of my recent illness, or the thought hasn't even crossed their minds.

Great, well here we go.

On Friday night, I went to a bar with Rachael and our Chilean pal, Cesar.  We were hangin' out and I had drank 2 beers, which is weak in comparison to the rest of humanity but impressive for me because I hate beer and usually can't even choke it down.  I got up to use the lil' girls' room, and when I got back to the table I was so overcome by complete nausea, and the aroma of tortilla chock-full of sausage and chunks of onion that had just arrived didn't help.  So, instead of waiting for the sensation to pass, I bid my buddies farewell and took a colectivo taxi home.  My intuition must have known about the madness that was about to ensue, and I'm so glad I wasn't stuck at a bar downtown for this.

Less than an hour later, I was vomiting.  What the heck?! I had only had 2 beers!  (I later told Tony, THIS is why I don't drink beer.)  Well, let's skip past the yummy details and I'll summarize for you:  from 12:30 until around 6, maybe 7 AM, I threw up eight times total.  That's madness.

So around 7 in the morning on Saturday, I'm laying in bed, dehydrated as heck, and I was too weak to stagger toward the kitchen for water.  No one was awake, so I couldn't call for assistance.  So I laid in my bed in a delirious misery for another hour before I couldn't take it anymore.  I wobbled to the kitchen, filled up a glass of water, and upon my return to my room, I blacked out (but managed to land the glass on the nightstand without spilling it on my laptop) and hallucinated a ringing sound growing in my ears.  Turns out this illness is called Rota Virus (or something along those lines), and hey - I SURVIVED IT.

Well, that's as interesting as it gets.  My weekend was consumed by my viral exorcism and the subsequent rehabilitation of my poor little bod.  My host family was wonderful, and Rachael was a peach too.  They made sure I had everything I needed and provided me with various sick-people foods:  soggy apple slices, agua crackers, celery, and a stein of limonada salt-remedy water.  DELICIOUS.  Shout out to Rach for keeping me company but also letting me fall asleep while she was talking, and being a good pal in general.

Well everyone, I hope you all had a better weekend than I did.  Maybe my next post won't be depressing!  Chaooo

una onda

Mira, como el viento afecta a las aguas

como tranquilas estaban

photo props to Rachael

y como suave desarrollan las olitas...

sin saber que ha pasa'o

pero ahora muy diferentes se sienten esas aguas

y luego cuando se tranquilen

parecen pacíficas

pero han cambiado

y jamás estarán así

Buen Provecho III

I don't know what week it is anymore.

We had this quick store-bought soup that was a chicken broth base and with baby little shell noodles in it but it just tasted like crappy chicken noodle soup from home and it was completely perfect in that way.

Then we had fried up spinach ("espinacas," which is super fun to say) with baked coins of potato, a hard boiled egg, "ensalada" (aka chopped up lettuce) with lemon juice as a dressing, and tea. Despite the little bit of fried-ness, it was way healthy and made me feel happy.

Maybe it doesn't look so appetizing.... Well, I know it doesn't, but it was great.  I gobbled it up so fast it was half-gone before I realized I had to take a picture.