Firsts and More

A little preview of what is to come...
My favorite seat in the dome's front yard

Hola, amig@s. What’s that symbol doing in that word? Don’t worry, it’s just an easy way for me to include my amigos and amigas! Anyway, we have some serious catching up to do! I haven’t posted in a blog in a month, so I hope you’re in for a post that’s even longer than usual. As far as why I haven’t blogged lately, I’ll blame school. I’ve completed many readings and assignments and even given a presentation (in Spanish, no less). I guess this is why it’s called studying abroad! One of my assignments involved planning out what I want my life to look like in 2020, 2025, and 2035, which was stressful, but helped me hone in on the things I want and need to accomplish in the next few years. To give you just a small sample, I’m thinking of teaching English abroad in the near future, studying abroad in a graduate program for economic development after that, then somewhat settling down in an economic development career for a while before eventually really settling down as a professor and researcher. I’m writing this down as much for myself as for anyone else, because I think it will be interesting to see how much all of this may change as time goes on. After all, absolutely none of those things were anything I had envisioned for myself just one year ago. Anyway, you can see that I must have been really busy thinking all that up and looking into it all to see if it could be somewhat feasible. However, this week is the semana solemne at FEN, giving me some time for myself and for my blog. It’s kind of ironic that midterm week is a typical week off for international students, but hey, let’s all just accept it! And don’t get concerned—no, schoolwork and contemplating the future aren’t all I have done this month. I have also had some of my favorite experiences in Santiago and around Chile, I have become closer to my friends here, and I have had more firsts in a month (well, really, in a weekend) than I probably have had in years.

I have celebrated the birthdays of several friends, realizing birthdays are the best excuses to eat out at nice, not-necessarily-budget-friendly restaurants, and they’re really the only good excuses for eating cake from the pastelerías around the city. So far, I have determined that any dark chocolate raspberry cake is extremely delicious. The manjar cakes are pretty rica also, but are so sweet that it’s only recommendable to have a couple bites at a time. I took home some leftovers of this cake after a birthday party, and it took me a week to finish my slice, as I had one bite after every meal. But birthdays aren’t the only reasons to celebrate! Random rooftop asado? Let’s celebrate! Faculty member comes in from USC to promote the IBA program? Let’s celebrate that with another asado! A friend is leaving for a trip the next day? Hmm, we won’t see him for a couple weeks, so let’s celebrate with him while we can. Food festival? I can celebrate food.

One of many recent birthday dinners

Sweet (long-lasting) manjar cake

The view from a food festival atop Cerro Santa Lucía

I have started wandering around the city alone, little by little. I am usually pretty nervous about being out on my own, hardly ever doing it without a nearby destination (school, grocery store) in mind. I’m also guilty of paying to take the metro and taxis to obviously walking-distance locations just to avoid being out on the streets alone. Honestly, this has little to do with Santiago’s actual safety and a lot to do with my history and personal bias of feeling unsafe, which I feel even in South Carolina. But I’m starting to get into a groove of walking around (mainly in the daytime) more. Like one day this week, when I was sitting and reading at FEN and decided it was time for a late lunch, aka a right-on-time lunch for Chileans, but the cafeteria (casino) at school and my usual sushi lunch spot across the street looked too crowded for comfort. I walked a bit down the street, and then another, and then even more, just to see what else I might find, and ended up walking all the way to Bellavista to enjoy a quesadilla at what is probably my new favorite restaurant in the city, a cheap fast food taco place that I discovered just days before when celebrating Cinco de Mayo, a clearly gringo holiday, with the other gringos. This was probably my first time eating out alone in Santiago, at least this far away from my apartment, and I actually really enjoyed it—not just the fact that I was eating possibly the only spicy food in Chile, but also the ability to be alone and watch and overhear people.

A couple weeks ago, FEN had its International Student Week, complete with an International Fair where I enjoyed dark chocolate, pancakes with maple syrup, crepes, nutella, and more. Though at first glance these could all seem like food items I miss from the States, they were actually representative of Belgium, Canada, France, and Germany. What an incredibly globalized world we live in! I also proudly rocked my time at the USA table, dancing along to some "Country Girl Shake it for Me" while American flags, Gamecock footballs, thin mint cookies, and apple pie created the perfect backdrop. On the day of the fair, I also sent a piece of mail to the United States. As far as I know, it has not yet been received. But it's fine, because now I know where to but envelopes, or sobres (one of the cutest possible translations, in my opinion). 

International Fair in FEN's main hall

Also since we left off, I got to have the incredible experience of paragliding over Colina, an area of Chile I had never before been to. I barely have words to describe how amazing this was, so thankfully I have photos that can only begin to show it! Listening to The Summer Set’s “Someday” while looking at the photos also adds to the ambiance, just saying. Feeling weightless that high up in the air and looking down and out at all the beautiful hills and plots of farmland is something that I can highly recommend to every adventure seeker in Chile. I can also recommend doing it the way I did, which was on a day trip organized by Santiago Exchange Network, an organization that plans parties and trips for exchange students. I usually assume that their trips are too overpriced, but this trip seemed reasonable, especially considering that it included transportation, photos, and a barbecue in addition to the flight with a trained professional. There is something to be said for the convenience of letting a trip organizer take the pressure off of planning, especially seeing as I would have no idea how to get to Colina otherwise!

Finally, it’s time for me to gush about my favorite weekend so far! Knowing I had a long weekend coming up with a free Friday off of school, I began browsing Airbnb a couple weeks ago. If you know me, you know I love the beach and want to take advantage of every last possible moment of beach weather, I decided it was time to head up north where it’s still a bit warm. Of course, I don’t have a lot of experience planning Northern Chile beach trips, so I started by searching for places to stay in La Serena, solely because I know some Chilean friends's families have beach houses there and that it is north of here. Some cabanas in La Serena led me to a “similar listing” of a dome beach house near a small, rural fishermen’s town called Caleta Chañaral de Aceituno. I requested more information from the host on how to get there (apparently, in a bus from La Serena driven by a nice man named Hector every morning at 9) and immediately started sending information to two of my good friends here, a German girl and an American girl. Of course, I also sent along adorable photos of penguins because I was convinced we would get to see the Humboldt penguins on a nearby island. For whatever crazy reason, my friends agreed to take this trip with me and we posted in the Facebook group for FEN exchange students to see if we could manage to come up with a group of 8 people to best split the cost of a night in the beach house. Our group ended up being 8 international students: 3 Americans, 3 Germans, and 2 French. Within a couple days, we were buying overnight bus tickets, booking the Airbnb and an additional night at a hostel in La Serena, and making plans for our free time in the region. Organizing this trip was really fun, but also stressful enough to make me feel like I needed a vacation (how convenient)! And then the firsts began:

First overnight bus ride: surprisingly decent! I came prepared with ear plugs, an eye mask, and a light blanket. We were in semi cama class, meaning the seats reclined and our legs could rest at an angle “semi bed” style. To my excitement, there were blankets available like on overnight planes, and on the overnight bus ride back to Santiago a few days later, we were even given breakfast. I wouldn't say these was the best nights of sleep I ever had, but the long bus rides seemed much shorter than they actually were.

First dome beach house in a town so small it doesn't have an address: amazing! There have been a couple times since leaving the United States that I have thought to myself “this is the coolest thing I have ever done,” and this was certainly one of those moments. Never before have I been in a place where the ocean, mountains, and desert are all within view. Waking up in a dome to a panoramic view of beach, ocean, and insane desert rock structures and the sounds of waves crashing and birds chirping is unlike anything I had ever done before. But, while we’re on the topic of birds, I will admit that birds were also the bane of the weekend. Unbeknownst to the Airbnb hosts, a bird had been living in their beach house. I’ll let you imagine the mess this made. I’ll also let you imagine how awkward it is to eat, drink, and play cards in the living room after dark while a bird stares into your eyes, obviously angry that you have invaded its territory. Even worse, we did not actually get to see any penguins. The boats in town were just too small to take on the rough waters that weekend to get us out to the island. Though I was disappointed at not seeing any penguins, I was able to make jokes about it for the rest of the weekend, and I have a good excuse to travel back to my now favorite region of Chile. Other experiences at the house and in Caleta made up for the utter lack of penguin interaction. For example, on Saturday morning I trekked on my own up some tall rock structures above the water to sit and watch the waves crash in. Since the waters were so rough, each wave created a great splash and a mist that caught the sunlight in perfect rainbow form.

I can't get enough of a private beach!

The beach house

The whole beach house crew!
Photo credits to Hector, the best bus driver ever

Seeking shelter from the freezing Pacific and the rocks beneath our feet

Exploring after (only two of us took) a cool dip in the ocean

A view I could get used to

Being welcomed to town by a new friend

First hostel: so-so, but I’ll keep trying. When eight people with reservations walk into a hostel and are told there are no beds for them, that’s disappointing. When something goes wrong, like a hostel losing a reservation made online for two dorms of four people each, the customer service here leaves something to be desired. When voices are raised and eight beds magically become available, it’s a little curious as to why there was no room ten minutes ago. When eight people are told they can join an organized tour of Valle del Elqui for 49,000 CLP per person, it seems quite odd that two other people were told the same tour would cost 29,000. Obviously, we did not have the greatest experience with the hostel worker who checked us in, but we did have a pretty good experience with the one who checked us out and gave realistic recommendations other than tours. As far as meeting travelers in the hostel, well that was as cool as I thought it would be and a British traveler even joined our next day’s adventures. As far as sleeping in the hostel, I would say it was comparable to sleeping on the overnight bus, really not great but also not terrible.

First valley in the Andes: beautiful! On our last day in the region, we took a bus to Pisco Elqui. Luckily, I had been informed at the hostel that the views from the bus are truly part of the experience, so I knew to keep myself awake. The views in the beginning were similar to those from our previous trip to Caleta, basically desert, hill, and cactus as far as the eye can see (awesome in its own right). But as we got closer, into the Andes… once again, there are few words. All I will say is that appreciating nature here is easy.

Some people think this valley is mystical... there really might be some magic in this view

First hitchhiking: exhilarating! After walking around Pisco Elqui’s town center and eating, our group split in two. All of us ladies decided to make it to Fondo Los Nichos. When asking several different residents for directions, we always were told it would be an hour long walk “in that direction” or that we could always hitchhike. Hey, if the locals think it’s a good idea, it must be a good idea, right? So when a van with a female driver began to appear behind us, the experienced hitchhikers in the group held out their thumbs. The six of us piled in and chatted with the driver as she happily chauffeured us to our destination. On the way back, we upped our game by getting back to town in a pickup truck.

First pisco distillery and tasting: interesting! As soon as we got out of the van, things got interesting. Six girls in their twenties were asking three small Chilean boys playing in the grapevines where the pisco is. I really hope this is the first time that has ever happened. We finally realized our driver did not lead us astray and it was actually right across the street, and we embarked on a very reasonably priced tour of the facility. The tour came to a happy ending when we all got to taste to different types of pisco and one sweet wine. I do recommend this tour and tasting, but I do not recommend the taste of straight pisco. So there you have it.

Finally, I commend anyone who took the time to read all of this and catch up with me! You all deserve a vacation, too! Anyway, I hope to have more excitement to note after midterm week, and we will all catch up again soon! Meanwhile, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to comment. I am interested to know what everyone wants to hear more about—school, the city, travels, you name it.

Besos! xx

I have a feeling I will return to this place...