Chilean Adventures: November 2011

So things with school have been wrapping up. Most people are still finishing up the semester, I'm still going strong. I joined the gym that just opened in my neighborhood for the rest of this month and now attend daily my favorite dance class "balie entretenido." It doesn't really translate well so we'll just leave it at that, but its basically like zumba: latin style. Super fun and a good stress reliever for me. Two nights ago Mia (my friend who lives two floors above me in our appartment complex) came downstairs for the last time. She is done with school and now off traveling. I will see her again but she is definitely moved out. It was really sad cause it seems like just yesterday we both moved in here not knowing anyone, but feeling so lucky to live in the same complex. We used to walk to ILP together in the morning the first month and then would constantly visit eachother or walk home together. It was your classic Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz neighborly friendship. I will miss it alot! But soon I'll be moving out too (at the end of this month) and it will be exciting to start a new chapter here abroad. I will be very sad to leave my host family who have been absoulutely amazing, but I will sure me moving on to more exciting, great things.

Me, my host family, and mom

me and mia in valparaiso

Then on Monday, Favi, Mia, Rachel and I threw a little party for our kids in El Monte to say thank you and do something nice for our last day at the school. We brought chips and "negritas" (the best cookies ever). We also made them a card and said how happy we were to get to know them and have this "taller" or workshop with them. After we played a bunch of games, like 4 corners which was by far their favorite, and different relays and stuff. Then after they all went around the table and said something nice about us as well as their teachers. It was really special for us to have that little celebration and I think it really meant alot to them as it did for us to hear all the nice things they had to say. I will probably go back to visit in El Monte next semester. I had the chance to get to know a lot of really great people there and it was really sad to say goodbye. I would put up a picture from El Monte, but I don't have one and Favi hasn't uploaded hers, so when she does i'll add one ;).

On Thursday for thanksgiving, two of my "gringa" (white foreigner, not derogatory) friends had some people over to their house for thanksgiving. Apparently her host mom has a thanksgiving potluck every year because she always has foreign students. It turned out to be really good food, and desserts!! We actually had pumpkin pie!! I took chips and guacamole and salsa, hahah, I know its not that traditional but it was all eaten!!! But it was a great evening, we had a long table with about 25 people and we all went around the table to say what we were thankful for. It was really special and I'm so glad I got to go. Once again, no pictures are uploaded so I don't have any from that either, but i'm sure they'll be coming soon. :)

HOLA blog followers! The semester is starting to wrap up which means a lot of work to do and not a lot of time, hence why you haven’t seen a blog post in a while. BUT after my mom left to go home I headed off (the next morning) to spend about 12 days in PERU, which by far was not enough! I was taken aback by how beautiful it was there, I had no idea. We had a few days off of school, which is why I got to spend so much time there. I had been anxiously waiting in anticipation for this trip for so long cause we had planned it very early on. This was because me and 5 other friends from my EAP program signed up to do that classic 4 day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu which you have to book very early cause it is so famous, books up really fast and you have to do it with a guide company. Before the Inca Trail we all landed in Lima, Peru where I spent a couple days exploring on my own as the others headed to Cusco, the town most people stay in who are visiting Machu Pichu. Most people don’t stay in Lima for more then a night because there are so many other things to see in Peru other then the huge metropolis capital, but I wanted to give it a chance. I stayed in the young, bohemian-feel area called Barranco with pretty colors (especially with all the spring flowers) and tons of cute bars and restaurants. I also spent some time in the area called Miraflores, which right next to Barranco. I fell in love with these parts of Lima for all the beautiful flowers and the amazing views of the ocean. In Lima I went paragliding one day, which was short but so beautiful and the next day went surfing. The water felt so nice and I actually caught a few waves, despite being very out of swimming shape (my arms were killing me after). After that I was off to Cusco to start the Machu Pichu adventure. After a few days in Cusco, we all headed to the start of the trail with our guides, five other people, and 11 porters, who were amazing! The porters would carry all of our stuff besides our own personal belongs like food, tables to eat at as well as chairs, cooking supplies, and tents. Their backpacks were about just as big as they were and these guys would do the trail so fast to make sure and arrive to have everything ready at our campsite before we got there and then would leave after us to clean up and put all the tents down. Not to mention about half of them were in sandles. As we were hiking whenever a porter was coming up behind us someone would say “PORTER” and we would all move to the side for them to pass. The hike was so beautiful, but so hard. I was definitely pushed to my physical limits with the difficulties breathing because of the altitude as well as the long/steep inclines up and down the mountains. The most rewarding part though, was on that last day walking the last 6km of the 43km and getting to Machu Pichu to see the clouds clear and the sun rise, from up above at the “sun-gate”. It was absolutely incredible. It wasn’t just the Machu Pichu itself that was so beautiful but the mountains and greenery and bright blue skies with white puffy clouds around it. That is the problem with the pictures is that you can see one part, but when you are there you see everything around you and get this feeling of awe and amazement that such a place exists and you have access to it, despite it being in the middle of nowhere. How the Incan’s chose this place and were able to construct this huge city is beyond me and it’s no wonder it took so long to discover and for the world to realize it was there. Especially because when it is not groomed since the climate is rainforesty the greenery grows in and can completely cover the ruins in a matter of just a couple months. We happened to be there, actually, on the 100^th year anniversary of the “re-discovery” of Machu Pichu, which was cool even though some of the indigenous people don’t like to call it the discovery because there were some indigenous living there when it was found and they people from the area knew it was there. After Machu Pichu it was back to real life in Santiago. As great as the traveling in October was, it was so nice to finally be back “home” and into my normal grove. Yes, I said “home,” it never felt more like home here until I was gone on and off for basically a month. The only bad part was that meant the beginning of final tests and papers which I am still going through right now and will be officially finished with in 3 weeks. I know this was an extremely fast re-cap of an incredible trip and definitely doesn’t do it justice, but if you ever have any questions or want to talk more about Machu Pichu I can talk your ear off about how amazing it was, so just ask :)