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A little preview of what is to come...
My favorite seat in the dome's front yard
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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.
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| One of many recent birthday dinners |
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| Sweet (long-lasting) manjar cake |
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| I can't get enough of a private beach! |
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| The beach house |
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The whole beach house crew!
Photo credits to Hector, the best bus driver ever |
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| Seeking shelter from the freezing Pacific and the rocks beneath our feet |
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| Exploring after (only two of us took) a cool dip in the ocean |
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| A view I could get used to |
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| 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.
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| 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
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| I have a feeling I will return to this place... |
