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...

Rain is a Good Thing

Hola, mis amigos! Since we last caught up, some major improvements have been made! The first major development is in my diet, after I had a huge grocery shopping haul at Jumbo and found everything I needed to eat and more, including several delicious types of hummus that could give Sabra a run for its money. Also, I know I complained in my last entry about eating an overload of empanadas, but I want to take it all back. I love empanadas. Mainly because I found a place very near to where I live that sells healthy empanadas, made with integral, or whole wheat, dough and filled with delicious veggies and different savory types of cheeses not found in your normal, greasy empanaditas de queso. The other major change is in my allergies, since a storm helped to clear out the smog and improve the air quality in Santiago. Here, it seems to me that rain is a good thing. Not only did the rains decrease my sensitivity to the smog, the clearing of the air was also visible and allowed for some amazing views of the mountains. It was the first time that I was able to see the snow at the peaks of the Andes!

The view from Cerro Santa Lucía after a night of rain

I feel kind of bad that I am so happy about my personal benefits from the rain, because the same storm caused a lot of flooding and damage in the north of Chile. However, it was incredible to see FEN come together to collect donations of food, water, etc. to send to the north for its rescue and reconstruction operations.

I’ve also explored Santiago quite a bit more since we left off, and I’ve had the opportunity to see a little more of the country as well. In Santiago, I explored a few art exhibits and parks. In my own neighborhood, the GAM is a cultural center that offers performances and exhibits. One Wednesday between meetings at FEN, I decided to check it out by visiting a free art exhibit, Tuku Iho, which featured māori art from tribal New Zealand and was extremely interesting to see. While at the GAM, I explored one of the permanent features on Latin American art and culture and watched a video of traditions from the Chilean countryside. This was my first glimpse of the cueca, Chile’s national dance, which is a courtship dance imitating a rooster courting a hen. The following weekend at the wine festival, I was able to see a little of this in person, but I hope to experience more of it during Independence Day celebrations in September. A couple weekends ago, I also visited the Infinite Obsession exhibit of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s works at CORPARTES in Las Condes.

Infinite Obsession - room of mirrors

I was so happy when the final room of the exhibit was interactive. Polka dots

Contributing to art

are prominent in the artist’s work, and the final room was white and decorated with thousands of colorful polka dot stickers, and each visitor was given stickers to add to the décor. While in Las Condes, I went across the street to Parque Araucano, where I went inside a giant bird cage and found myself face-to-face with a peacock. I can honestly say that this was an experience I never imagined having in Santiago and that Chilean parks are apparently really cool. Another takeaway here is that Santiago is an extremely international city. There are so many times when I’m in Santiago, including when I’m enjoying art from New Zealand or Japan, that it is possible to forget I’m even in Chile. I don’t mean that in a good or bad way, but I do think that the international influences on Santiago are incredible, since I am drawn to all that is international anyway.

When I mentioned earlier having meetings at FEN, these were a meeting with a professor and a FEN buddy potluck. My Economía, Humanismo, y Valores professor met with his international students over coffee to see how we are settling in. This professor is extremely helpful—not just to us international students, but in general. For example, his other class is Political Economy, taught in English, and every Wednesday, he holds a session in Spanish for any Chilean students who did not understand the class in English. My class is taught in Spanish, but most of the readings are in English, and as an international student I am allowed to participate in class and turn in papers in English. This is really the best of both worlds, aside from being an extremely interesting class, as I get to challenge myself while learning the material and listening in class, but when it is time to prove myself, the stress of a foreign language is taken away. The other meeting, the FEN buddy potluck was also a great experience as I got to taste foods from other cultures (sopaipillas from Chile, thumbs up), meet my own FEN buddy, and hang out with a good mix of Chileans and internationals.

The cohort has spent a lot of time together recently, between a rooftop asado (BBQ) to celebrate one American’s 21^st birthday and our recent cohort trip to Colchagua wine valley. The cohort trip consisted of lots of beautiful views, a wine festival where I tried some delicious Chilean food (humitas, also thumbs up), and visits and tastings at two vineyards. For me, the obvious highlight of the weekend was riding next to the driver at the front of a horse-drawn wagon through a vineyard and taking in breathtaking views while simultaneously trying to focus on the commands for the horses (in Spanish?), as the rest of the group sat in the back of the wagon and learned about the vineyard itself.

Vineyard view

Proof that I was allowed to ride up front!

Since this is a long holiday weekend, I decided I must take one day to go to the beach. Yesterday, I visited Valparaíso to play tourist and returned to Viña del Mar via the Valparaíso metro to relax on the beach and repeatedly run in and out of the chilly waves.

Touring Valpo requires a good pair of sneakers and some pre-workout stretches, because the best views are on top of really high hills and require some hiking and a few hundred stairs. This is only a little bit of an exaggeration. Sure, you can just go up one set of stairs and have one solid view, but it is recommendable to climb up as many different ways as possible to have different views. Of course, there are funiculars, and though I did not take advantage of them yesterday, today I wish I had. Especially worth the climb is La Sebastiana, one of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s houses that has been turned into a museum. From the third and fourth floors of the house, the view is unmatched. Unfortunately it isn't allowed to take photos in the museum, so I’m forced to recommend that if you are ever in Chile, you should really go there and see it for yourself!

At least the steps in Valparaíso are cute!

Before I wrap up this post, I just want to write down a few random observations from my life in Chile so far.

#1) Everything is in a bag. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, ketchup, mayonnaise, yogurt, you name it. If it is possible to be bagged, you can bet that there is at least one option to buy it in a bag.

#2) You can buy pretty much anything on the street. The informal economy here seems to me to be quite large. It is common for me to see prepared foods, produce, candy, toys, SIM cards, electronics, jewelry, hand crafts, toilet paper, socks, and everything in between sold on the streets of Santiago. These past few days, I have seen a new most popular street sale item: Easter chocolates. Don’t worry, Mom, I bought my chocolate bunny from the grocery store, not from the street. But really, this informal economy interests me, and I plan to make an effort to learn more about it.

#3) Enrique Iglesias’ new music is quite popular here. I’m not even entirely sure why I consider this to be an interesting observation, but I guess I expected to come to Chile and hear a lot of Chilean music. There is plenty, sure, and I really enjoy Chilean reggae, but for some reason it stands out to me that you can’t go more than a few minutes listening to Chilean hit radio without hearing Spanish artist Enrique Iglesias’ newest few songs. It is really catchy, though! Listen to canciones “Bailando” and “El Perdón” for some good examples.

Those of you sticking with these posts, gracias! Nos vemos!

One month in Chile

Hola! Como estai? This is the greeting I am now used to. You would think between cachai and estai, I should be used to this tense, but I still do a double take when someone asks me como te llamai? However, I am beginning to sprinkle po into my daily vocabulary, so I think that means I’m headed in the right direction with my handle of Chilean Spanish, or at least Chilean slang. Now, if I could only add a little more variety to my diet, I would be set for life here. I am currently searching for Chilean vegetarians to meet so I can learn the tips and tricks, like where to find goodies like tofu, hummus, and almond milk at stores and where to eat out and order something other than cheese empanadas. This weekend, my first free weekend in the country, I plan on making a point to check out the outdoor markets and the grocery store at the mall that have been recommended to me so far. Hopefully by the time I post my next entry, I will have improved my diet, but hey, I always say that as long as I have bread, cheese, and chocolate, I’ll be fine, and those necessities are not at all hard to come by here! And speaking of chocolate—if you’re ever in Santiago, head over to Barrio Lastarria and try the manjar blanco flavor of ice cream at Emporio La Rosa. This is equally as good as the dulce de leche I tried in Buenos Aires. It’s similar (manjar and dulce de leche are basically one and the same), but has pieces of chocolate and a bit of spicy flavor reminiscent of gingerbread. Also try the rosa flavor, if you don’t mind kind of sort of feeling like you’re eating a flower.

Despite some struggles with understanding Chilean Spanish and eating a balanced diet, and a stint with bad allergies (tip: don’t sleep with your bedroom windows open), I am having the most amazing experience here. So far, my list of touristy places visited in Santiago includes Cerro Santa Lucia, Cerro San Cristobal, Plaza Italia, Barrios Bellavista and Lastarria, La Piojera, Parque Bicentenario, and the Costanera Center mall that is part of the tallest building in South America. My favorite place so far is the pool at Cerro San Cristobal. Jumping into a huge, gorgeous pool makes walking halfway up a hill that might as well be a mountain in the strong Chilean sun well worth it, and from the area surrounding the pool, there are incredible views of Santiago on all sides. I’m also a very big fan of the Lastarria neighborhood in its entirety, partly because of ice cream, but also because of a beautiful park with a cute playground and lots of Chilean trees (because Chile is so geographically isolated by its desert, mountain, water, and ice sides, a lot of plants here are different from those growing elsewhere in the world), and because of the neighborhood’s general hipster charm. Luckily, this neighborhood is only a few blocks from FEN so I can indulge in it as often as I want.

My first view of the Pacific Ocean!

My list of places visited in Chile outside of Santiago is small at the moment, but Viña del Mar and Cajon del Maipo were good first experiences. I visited Viña del Mar for the main purpose of dipping my toes into the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and I really enjoyed this cute beach town. Maybe it is because the town is somewhat of a tourist attraction, but it was interesting that while I was there, I didn’t necessarily even feel like I was in Chile—that beach could have been any beach in the world. I couldn’t help but get all the way into the ocean once I felt the familiar feeling of sand between my toes, and now I know it won’t be long before I’m off and visiting my next Chilean beach town. What was uniquely Chilean about that trip was the Chilean hospitality. The FEN buddy of one of the USC girls I went with is from Viña and was home for the weekend, and not only did he pick us up from the bus terminal, but he also gave us a grand tour, making sure we saw both the tourist attractions and a very cool, relaxed beach. Chileans being incredibly nice and welcoming and having fun showing me around has been a recurring theme here, and I’m loving it. I’m convinced that Chilean hospitality not only rivals but beats southern hospitality. As far as my other trip, Cajon del Maipo is not far outside of Santiago but is a cool, hilly (mountainous, I would say, but Chileans would disagree) area that many FEN students are rather familiar with. At the beginning of every semester, FEN buses its students to a park in Cajon for one day to hang out, barbecue, drink, and dance. The mechones, or freshmen, also compete against each other in challenges on this day, representing different color teams. For me, this trip was a fun way to get out in the fresh air, meet lots of FEN students, and learn to dance to reggaeton like a Chilean.

I also experienced Lollapalooza, an international music festival that sets up shop in Santiago for a weekend and entertains huge crowds of Chileans and foreigners alike. I love live music, so I had a great time singing and dancing along to both the small acts in Spanish and the big international acts. I also had a funny realization about living abroad while I was at Lollapalooza. When abroad, speaking English is something that can quickly bond you to strangers. Think about it—at a music festival in the States, you would never turn around and start a conversation with the people behind you solely because they are speaking English. But when abroad, it seems somehow normal to want to talk to people and ask where they’re from just because you overheard their language. I hope that someday I’ll connect with people speaking Spanish in the same way, with them asking me where I’m from or where I learned to speak Spanish.

Another memorable moment was orientation day at FEN, when we broke up into groups to go around the parts of the city closely surrounding FEN and competed to take funny photos with traditional Chilean things. At FEN, there is an International Student Association that plans events for international students, and after orientation, many of us went with ISA to Bellavista, and that was my first time ever enduring, I mean, enjoying friends’ karaoke performances. Most recently, I had a memorable moment at a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration at an Irish pub fit with all of the Scottish bagpipes and kilts you can imagine. I’m not sure if I’m the only one who found the Scottish/Irish thing so humorous, but to me, it was hilariously worthwhile.

Now, onto why I’m really here, the study in study abroad. FEN is great—each day I’m amazed at how nice and welcoming everyone is, how interesting my classes are, and how much I am able to learn inside and outside of the classroom. I mentioned earlier the FEN buddy program, and although I haven’t yet met my assigned FEN buddy, part of me feels like every FEN student is my FEN buddy. Between IBA cohort members, ISA members, FEN buddies of friends, and the students I’ve met in my classes, I feel as though I can’t go fifteen minutes inside FEN without running into some nice Chilean who is willing to offer a smile and whatever help I need. The FEN students are also great about wanting to speak both English and Spanish with me, and I’m always appreciative of the chance to practice Spanish. Actually, yesterday, I attended the first Habla Po! session, a weekly chance to sit around with Chileans and practice their English for one hour and our Spanish for the next hour, put on by ISA. When it comes to classes, I am most enjoying my two classes in Spanish, yoga and Economia, Humanismo, y Valores. These classes are unlike anything I have taken before and between the language and subject matter, I can feel that I’m being challenged. Especially in Econ, I am really gaining an insight of Chilean students’ opinions and understandings of things (well, from what I can actually make of their rapid-speaking participation). My two classes in English are also interesting, but are overlapping much more with things I’ve learned in the past. In those classes I have opportunities to meet other international students and cool Chileans who are interested in a cultural exchange with us gringos, so that has been beneficial. So far I have had a quiz in only one of my classes, and it was essay-style and open-resources (notes, class readings, Google, whatever we wanted). I really like that style of assessment, not only because it is lower-stress and prevents cramming, but also because it is much more like what life after college will really be like (sorry, all due respect, multiple choice). I am looking forward to the assignments and group projects that are to come in my classes and to keep learning more Spanish every day.

Until next time! Nos vemos!

PD (that’s what PS is here): Please excuse the missing accent marks in many of the Spanish words used in this post. New goal: figure out how to add languages to my new computer before it’s time to write my first essay in Spanish. 

The view from Cerro San Cristobal's pool

A view while walking up Cerro San Cristobal

Piscina Tupahue on Cerro San Cristobal

On Cerro San Cristobal (can you tell I really like Cerro San Cristobal?)

 A cute beach

Our tour of the beach town

Some of the cohort, always representing the Gamecocks, and some of the FEN faculty supporting the program

Lollapalooza at night

Buenos Aires

Hola a todos! Thanks for sticking with me as I blog my way through South America. I realize my last post was a bit rushed, so I am going to embrace Chilean culture with this one and take my sweet time. First, to catch you up, I am now in my second week of classes at FEN and I’m settling in here in Chile. But now, let’s rewind back to where we left off.

A couple weeks ago, I was enjoying Buenos Aires and all it has to offer. To be completely honest, I was afraid that I liked Buenos Aires too much! As we roamed around the city, taking in the sights and sounds and flavors, part of me was enjoying everything immensely and another part of me was increasingly nervous that I would not like Santiago as much and would always compare it to Buenos Aires. Fortunately, I’ve now had equal time in Santiago and I can happily report that this is not the case. Santiago has plenty of sights and sounds of its own. I may need some help with the flavors, but more on that later.

I want to give a quick run-through of my time in Buenos Aires and everything I loved so much about it, partially for my own memory’s sake. As I mentioned last time, we arrived on a Friday and spent some time waiting outside our plane, just casually on the runway. I immediately noted how lax Argentina is about immigration and customs, at least compared to Chile. Case in point, we all paid a hefty reciprocity fee online to enter, and had our printed confirmations ready and waiting to be checked at immigration. But did anyone check the fees? Of course not! This is Argentina! But do not fear, the fees finally came in handy to reenter Argentina after our day trip to Uruguay. And are there dogs sniffing luggage in Argentina like in Chile? In my experience, no, there were not. It does make sense that Chile is stricter with its customs seeing as It is more geographically isolated (by deserts in the north, the Andes in the east, glacial regions in the south, and the Pacific on the west) and has more species that are unique to Chile and as yet unharmed by invasive species. Anyway, we finally made it out of the airport with enough money exchanged to pay for the taxi that Mabel, our Airbnb host, helped set up for us. We ended Friday by getting extremely lost and calling it a night early to plan for our week, and I’m glad we did because our planning really came in handy.

On Saturday, we had an amazing day full of good food and adventure. We walked to Plaza Serrano in Palermo and admired the handicrafts and clothing for sale before settling into the outdoor seating of a very cute restaurant called Querida Gonzalez for lunch, where I tried my first mate and our saint of a waitress taught me how to prepare it. Yierba mate is a strong, bitter green tea packed into a gourd or mate and sipped through a bombilla, a silver straw that filters the leaves. This first time, I tried it dulce, or with sugar, but by the end of the trip, I was drinking my mate amargo as it should be! I love the mate culture of Argentina and Uruguay. A person will carry around a thermos of hot water and a packed mate of yierba all day or all morning and will keep refilling it and sharing it with family and friends, all drinking from the same bombilla. There are many traditions that go into mate, from passing it in a certain direction to heating the water to a certain temperature. It is very cool to watch the locals drink their mate in parks and on the streets. Later in the day, we joined a free (with propina) walking tour of the city. We opted for the aristocratic tour (which we lovingly dubbed the bougie, or bourgeoisie tour), where we made friends with other foreigners, saw many palaces, parks, and monuments, learned about the history of the city and the country, and finally received a recommendation for the best ice cream in the world (I mean…. In Buenos Aires…)! Seriously, if you are ever in Buenos Aires, try the dulce de leche sabor de helado at Freddo. Fun fact: Freddo also delivers. If there is one thing I am sad that we did not do in Argentina, it is order delivery Freddo. Saturday ended in the true porteño (Bs As local) way, by having a dinner reservation at 9:30, staying at the restaurant until midnight, and going out at 2AM. Dinner was right across the street from our Airbnb at a Resto Bar (restaurant that turns into a bar after midnight) called Peron Peron, and the entire restaurant is basically a giant shrine to Evita, which just so happens to also serve good food.

On Sunday, we went to the Feria San Telmo, where I couldn’t help but purchase two handmade mates and a bombilla! We had brunch of croissants, or medialunas, near there, and then had lunch on Florida Street. Unfortunately, this was the first time that I did not give my whole vegetarian spiel to a server (Soy vegetariana, no puedo comer ni carne ni pollo, etc, etc). There didn’t seem to be any need for this spiel, since all I ordered was spinach pizza with white sauce. But no! Of course spinach pizza isn’t vegetarian, of course it comes with ham! Am I the only one perplexed by this? Anyway, I ended up with a vegetable sandwich and the important lesson to always ask if something is vegetarian, no matter how obviously vegetarian it seems. Also, while I am on the topic of ordering in restaurants, I’ll discuss my other restaurant-related culture shocks. In South America, you seat yourself. If you stand around and wait for a host to seat you, you the run the risk of making everyone present look very uncomfortable. Also, don’t expect drinks to come before the meal unless you specify. Even water! And speaking of water, unless you are a fan of carbonated water, you should specify that you want agua sin gas. And finally, separate checks are not at all a thing in this hemisphere from what I can tell. Maybe for these reasons, we decided to cook for ourselves Sunday night. Well, until we realized that the lighter to light the gas stove no longer worked, at which point I suggested Chinese delivery. But the Chinese delivery took over an hour longer than our confirmation stated, and by the time it came, a new lighter was purchased and the pasta was made. But it’s fine, it was quite the adventure and we had plenty of Chinese in the fridge that came in handy in the next few days.

Monday was probably my favorite day in the country. We took a taxi to El Caminito in La Boca to take photos and be touristy. Our taxi driver was hilarious and told us all the phrases he knows in English, most of which sounded like they probably came from The Sopranos, and he sang along to all of the music on his playlist. Most humorously, he sang Walk Like an Egyptian, and pronounced it like “Eshypshin.” Interestingly, this was the same day that we had two other sheismo incidents, which my Phonetics & Pronunciation class at USC luckily helped prepare me for. Basically, the main difference in the accent in Argentina is the use of the “sh” sound in words that incorporate “j” or “ll.” So when one of us ordered cebolla on a sandwich, the reaction was confusion and then “oh! Cebosha!” and when one us ordered vainilla ice cream, the Freddo workers actually did not understand until one of us said “vainisha.” Though I knew about this phenomenon, I had no idea that it would actually inhibit Argentine people’s understanding of those who do not have this accent. Nor did I realize how weird it would be to say “asha” in Chile after I got used to saying it in place of “alla.” Fortunately, other than the sheismo, it was very easy to communicate with people in Argentina, so we got some good practice there and grew more comfortable speaking Spanish before delving into the Chilean accent, which isn’t just one thing, but everything. I digress. El Caminito was gorgeous and then we went to Recoleta Cemetery. Believe me, a cemetery is not my idea of a good time, but this one was worth visiting. On Monday night, we went to a steel drum band concert, Bomba del Tiempo, and were surrounded by many other foreigners and lots of very hip porteños, which I have to admit made me feel pretty cool by association, and the music and dancing were incredible. Another anecdote of the lax “rules” in Argentina—posted all over this venue were signs saying No Fumar, but the majority of the crowd was smoking. We decided to use a flier we were given at the entrance of Bomba del Tiempo to get in free to an after party and Bahrein, a really cool place that played a good mix of old American pop music and new reggaeton. By the way, Buenos Aires never sleeps. I’m convinced. Our fliers allowed free entrance before 1AM and we were actually some of the first people there. And when we left, people were still waiting to enter.

On Tuesday, the highlights were a personal tour of Museo Bellas Artes and seeing Puerto Madero at night. Of course, we did not realize we would get a personal museum tour, and actually the main reason we wanted to tour the museum was to practice Spanish comprehension, but our tour guide loved showing off and speaking to us in English, so we made the most of the experience anyway. This is a common theme. Whenever we most want to practice Spanish, we end up speaking English. So many people in Buenos Aires seem to know English, and out of pride or curiosity, they want to speak it with tourists. Our most authentic language experiences usually happened to be with taxi drivers.

On Wednesday we had our day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. Colonia is a gorgeous, historic little town, and most of it is an untouched UNESCO World Heritage site. In Colonia, we climbed a lighthouse, had many lovely photo opportunities, and alternated between walking and sitting, whether in parks, on docks, or at restaurants. I highly recommend going to Colonia, but I do not recommend spending the whole day there unless you really enjoy leisurely vacationing. If I go back to Uruguay, I will make a point to go to Montevideo, and I really want to because the Uruguayan people are so nice and welcoming. We never once had to wait to cross a street in Uruguay because drivers would stop and wave us on, no matter what. Compared to Buenos Aires, we were sometimes afraid to cross streets even at red lights, and where we had fun counting the red lights that our taxi drivers ran, this was a nice change of pace. My other recommendation is to wait until you are in Buenos Aires to purchase your ferry boat tickets to Uruguay. That way, you can opt out if rain is in the forecast. It rained on our way back to Buenos Aires, and let’s just say I could have lived without the experience of spending an hour on a boat that I was convinced would tip over.

On Thursday, we spent time at the gorgeous Rosedal of Bosques de Palermo, a huge flower garden complete with an island. Then, we went to MALBA and took in the exquisite Latin American art exhibits there. On Thursday night, we managed to get our names on a list to get into what is supposedly a very cool place to spend Thursday nights. But once we got in and got over the initial enthusiasm of being on a list, we soon realized that everyone there was extremely rude to us. This is interesting because we were warned before coming to Buenos Aires that people there might be rude and unhelpful to tourists (of course, the people of Chile and Argentina don’t like each other, so we took this with a grain of salt). This warning was not the case for us at all, until our very last night there. As a whole, the people of Buenos Aires were extremely friendly and helpful. But I think it’s actually a good thing that our last night there wasn’t as great as the others, because it helped make it feel like it was time to move on to our next adventure (in Chile, po)! And on Friday morning, we flew “home.”

Since this post has already grown longer than I had anticipated, and because I need to go to class soon, I promise to post again soon about my new home in Chile and the experiences I have had here so far! Nos vemos.

Gourds for drinking yierba mate purchased at San Telmo Fair

A palace in Buenos Aires that is still used for residential living (casual)

In Recoleta - seen on walking tour

Colorful El Caminito

In Recoleta Cemetery - believe it or not, this is minimalist compared to the rest

Puerto Madero

Colonia, Uruguay

El Rosedal in Palermo

The view from the lighthouse in Colonia

Arrival in South America

Written on February 21, 2015

I'm writing from the beautiful terrace of my Airbnb in the Palermo Hollywood neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina while I wait for either of my travel buddies to wake up.

I arrived in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday morning after an overnight flight and a very long day of travel. Yesterday, we flew to Buenos Aires. So far I've only had Wednesday and Thursday to spend in Santiago and although those were days of errands, I already love the city. On my first day, I moved into my apartment and then Josh, an American from the cohort met up with me there and we embarked on our errands. We went to the bank to pay my landlord, found FEN and walked around the campus and up and down the stairs of a couple buildings, grabbed lunch from the convenience store that's right downstairs next to my apartment, went to a very confusing electronics shop so Josh could buy another adapter, and did a little grocery shopping at Lider Express. Side note: if anyone knows where to purchase refrigerated liquid milk, or better yet, almond milk, in Santiago, please let me know. I was exhausted from my flight, so after all this, I went back to my apartment and got some tips from my roommate on things to see and do in Santiago, as he has been there for half a year now. It wasn't long before I decided to stop unpacking and to just go to bed. 

On Thursday, I woke up early to meet up with Josh and Ceci, one of the Chileans in the cohort and also my guide and guardian angel for the day. We first walked to the international police building to register our visas. Thank God Josh asked about this at immigration in the airport. I knew I would have to do this within 30 days of entering the country on a student visa, but I hadn't connected that I would have to do it before leaving and re entering the country. The system there was even more confusing than the one at the electronics store, and we waited there for several hours. Imagine a giant DMV with more lines, more checkpoints, and more waiting. It was a good thing we thought to pull a number for Kady, too. These types of government and official offices close at 2, as do banks, and we had yet another building to do business at after this one to get our RUN numbers and apply for cédulas, or identity cards. Kady is another American friend in the cohort, and she arrived at the first office with Vale's mom and little sister, guardian angels #2 and 3. Vale is another of the Chileans in the cohort, and she and Kady will live together this year. By the time we finished up at both offices, it was after 2 and we were all hungry. After walking for what felt like a really long time to find a fast place that may be acceptable for me, the difficult vegetarian, McDonald's was decided on. I was actually happy here because I tried only things that you can't find in McDonalds back home (at least I think not, although I can't tell you the last time I was there). Vale's mom took over ordering for all of us and even treated us to lunch. I somehow ended up with 9 cheese empanadas (I could only eat 7 and that was only because this was the hungriest I think I had ever felt) and a bag of "shake shake fries." You put French fries in a bag, sprinkle a little packet of cheddar cheese powder over the top, and shake the bag. Spoiler alert: carbs and cheese are pretty much the only things I've eaten in South America so far. Maybe I should try to fix that today. In addition to lunch on Thursday, Josh, Ceci, and I also had some fun. With them, I took my first touristy pictures around Santiago, walked around a couple cute plazas and barrios, and stopped in La Piojera, a traditional Chilean restaurant/bar decorated with more banderas than I've ever seen in one place and with traditional art behind the bar and murals and graffiti on the walls. When we walked in, there were several people standing around in what I'll call a hallway for lack of a better word, but it was actually this wide open space with pretty plants and flowers all around and with no ceiling, and further back there was the restaurant (with a ceiling). Here, we tried terremotos (translation: earthquakes) and enjoyed people-watching and listening to the live music of a man who played for tips and had this great booming, Italian-sounding voice. On Thursday I also had my first experiences with the metro system of Santiago, which I think is actually really fast and cool, but also can be packed body to body depending on the line and the hour. After such an eventful day, I still had to unpack and repack before I could head to bed and head out to Buenos Aires in the morning. 

Yesterday in Buenos Aires, we had a fun, crazy, and exhausting day. Argentina doesn't feel like real life. From the moment we stepped off the plane and waited a while for a bus to come and let us off the runway, things already felt surreal. I mean seriously, who lets people wait on an airport runway? Yesterday was also eventful because we got lost and had to walk quite a long way back to Palermo. Even though we were actually there when we started and got ourselves lost. Yeah, I don't want to talk about it. But today, we will carry around a physical map and purchase a SIM card so that we can have some cell data and minutes in case we need emergency directions, translations, or to get a cab. After such a long day, we decided to stay in last night and spend some time with our wifi, researching and planning out some more things to do and see on this trip. 

Yesterday was also so beautiful! The weather, the plazas, the buildings, the trees lining the busy city streets all are so beautiful here. And now that I think about it, I'm ready to get back out there. Excuse me while I attempt to wake up Kady and Josh. 

Included are a few photos from the past days. Many more to come! Here we have me and Josh at the international police. I think they were calling around number B150 at this point. Then there's graffiti and the outside mural of La Piojera. And then there is me and Kady taking in Buenos Aires!