Bomb Threats and Beer Fests

So, last week was just a normal week in Valdivia, except Katherine’s mom and grandma came to visit. We went to cerveseria Kuntsmann one night and then to the Casino another night and it was good to get to meet them and they were super sweet. The week was riddled with bomb threats throughout the city (several on campus and then one in the casino where we were eating). And those bomb threats carried over into the beginning of this week where there was one yesterday, one today, and classes have been cancelled for tomorrow. Spectacular. Well, at least the weather is getting warmer so I think we are going to head out on a day trip to Curinanco and Parque Oncol, so we will see where we end up.

Anyways, I’ll get to that in a minute. But, the interesting thing about Friday was, aside from fake bombs, the fact that it was dia de Profe, or Teacher’s day. Yes. This was cool. So Teacher’s day here is not exactly like ‘teacher appreciation week’ in the US. Do let me explain: so I arrive at Colegio Domus Mater bright and early only to be informed that we are only going to be having one class today because all other classes had been cancelled….um? another bomb threat? Nooo silly! Teacher’s day! I was greeted by enthusiastic  hugs and kisses from students and faculty alike, thanking me and sincerely wishing me a happy day! It was incredible! Mainly because I’m not a teacher! But I guess I kind of am in their eyes…anyways, so on Teacher Day, classes are cancelled and the students hold a luncheon/brunch for the teachers where they all bring in homemade cakes, cookies, chocolate out the wazoo. It was delish. And not only that, the teachers were brought presents and gifts and the students from each grade gave a performance of some type- singing, dancing, musical what not…all in honor of the teachers. I have never seen such a spectacle. Which brings me to lots and lots of thoughts on the way teachers are viewed in terms of respect in the United States…but another day…So, with my purse full of chocolate and little presents, I headed home, thinking about how gratifying it must be to be a teacher if this is how the students view you. 

And no, I’m still not inspired. I will never be a teacher mom. Take solace in that!

So, quick review of this weekend, we attended the Artesanal festival de cervesa (or the Artisan Beer Festival). Valdivia is pretty much known for having the best beer in the region due to all the German influence in the area. So we went, watched a live band play ‘Smoke on the Water’,  saw some drunken kids storm the stage for a purely mediocre performance, pushed our way through hordes of people wearing paper German hats, tried an artisan beer (still convinced that it isn’t that good…), bought a manjar filled churro, and walked home. At least we can say that we went to the mini-beer fest. Because Valdivia apparently has a HUGE beerfest in the summer time with parades and all get up.

The international Cine Fest was also this weekend…but I failed and didn’t make it to any screening. Ah well. But, on the bright side, Saturday I was supposed to go but they re-routed the micros for the beer fest so I missed the movie. I decided that it was a beautiful day outside and that I was instead going to go juggle or shoot on the field on campus. Of course when I got there, both fields were occupied, but one of the fields was occupied with a WOMEN’S MATCH. Mind blown. Cue series of events and conversations and guess who is now going to be playing for the UACh Women’s soccer team!?!? Well, I can’t say that its going to be nearly as intense as wolfpack soccer (I’m pretty sure the girls were toe-ing the ball instead of passing it…)…but it should be more fun! The girls were really excited to meet me and we are supposed to have practice on Wednesday….bomb threat permitting. So fingers crossed I’ll be playing soccer and meeting new friends real soon! I cannot wait!

Cue Monday, another day at colegio, another bomb threat, and a random trip to el centro. Last night I was watching the professional Chilean soccer league coverage on the news, and I asked Rodolfo and Marisol who Colo Colo was. You see, there is a pro soccer team here called Colo Colo. Anyways, I remember learning in class that he was a Mapuche but I couldn’t remember the details. So I asked and Marisol said “oh he’s a Mapuche” and I followed up “yes, but what did he do?” Rodolfo chimes in “I don’t know but he must have been really good at futbol”….bahahaha I died. Rodolfo never fails to crack me up. Turns out Colo Colo was some type of valiant fighter or something and was a war chief of sorts. So I asked Marisol if the Mapuche have an issue with the soccer team using their name, essentially…and she said “No, I imagine that all of the Mapuche are Colo Colinos (Colo Colo fans)” ….oh dear. This family. Just like my own I swear. She continued to tell me this story about her nephew who, when he was younger, asked why they (Catholics) couldn’t eat meat on Friday. So his mom (Marisol’s sister) tried to explain about the Friday meat thing….Jorge Andres, not understanding, said “But mom, that doesn’t apply to us. We aren’t Catholics, we are Colo-Colinos!” ahahaha! It was too funny. Gotta love little kids, and little soccer fanatics at that.

Other funny things Rodolfo has said recently:

-          Rodolfo: “Why isn’t Cathy coming to lunch?”

-          Me: “I dunno…she just called me and told me she wasn’t”

-          Rodolfo: “Oh! That’s right, I remember, she told me she would be setting off bombs at the university this afternoon”

-          Me: “BAHAHAHHA tell her to STOP!!”

Rodolfo on the salmon we had at lunch that was served with tomatoes:

-          Rodolfo: “Would you like a ‘tomate marino’”

-          Vale: “uhh what?”

-          Me: “AHAHAHA a marine tomato! Because it’s with the fishes!”

-          Vale: “uyyyy you two….ridiculous”

I know that I encourage him, but he really is funny. 

Anyways, that’s the weekly update. I sent some emails to my professors to see if I can finish classes a week earlier than planned. And I also received a box full of cookies and brownies from the Kaplan House crew back in Raleigh! Shout out to y’all!!

Alright that’s it.

Chao, besos, nos vemos!

So easy a GRINGA can do it.

Things we did this weekend: 
1. Bussed to Frutillar Bajo
2. Experienced old-time Germanic-ally influenced Chile
3. Explored a German settlement and bought horseshoes from an old Chilean man who promised us good luck
4. Broke into a forestry reserve
5. Screwed around on the shores of Llanquihue
6. Ate at a tavern and had a sandwich situation
7. Ate delicious kuchen #1
8. Woke up and ate delicious kuchen #2 after spending the night in a mini-market
9. Missed a bus to Puerto Octay
10. Converted a Colectivo driver into a personal chauffer
11. Had an octogonal building to ourselves on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
12. hitchhiked to Las Cascadas
13. Hiked to a waterfall and through Jurassic Park
14. Hitchhiked back to the farm
15. Erin lost some valuables
16. Ate dinner and delicious kuchen #3
17. Woke up and went kayaking for dirt cheap all morning
18. Had valuables remarkably returned
19. had unexpected layover in Osorno with nothing to do but eat
20. Bought the most expensive bus tickets because they were literally the last seats left
21. Got back to Valdivia and plopped down in bed

Overall- our little weekender adventure was fun. Too much quality time, but we lived to tell the tale. We definitely took the road less traveled on this one by hitting up small towns that see a tourist once a year. I'm going to upload pics and videos in the near future and maybe even a map or something. Really- it was cool and traveling through Chile is so easy, even a gringa can do it.

Loving Chile, life, and long blog entries (Sorry mom!)

Hooray to being not sick anymore!! I’m all healed up and should play catch up now on the blog I suppose.

Welp. Sunday, there was a new development. And the only reason I am relaying this information is because it becomes critical in the near future. The dryer broke. Yep. The ancient clothes dryer that would only work if you strategically placed an old broom handle just so on the door that it was held shut. Yep. That sucker broke. So Marisol made a family announcement that we would be air-drying clothes until they got a new one. And ‘soon’ she assured us. But we all know the time sensitivity of things here in Chile.

I guess I’ll jump around for a second. Well I spent pretty much a week and a half, a little more. Coughly and sickly and grossly lying in bed. Boring. Aka I didn’t do anything worth bloggage. I went to Domus Mater and got to meet the 5^th grade class, which was fun because they were all kinds of excited about my being there and as such, they bombarded me with questions. One little boy, Pablo, grilled me about my soccer knowledge- which, to be honest, astonished him that I knew the difference between Barcelona and Man U. Let’s just say I’m Pablo’s new hero, and maybe I’ll even bring him one of the player cards mom sent me down with…anyways. The other kids quizzed me about my pop culture knowledge “Who is your favorite band?” (my response: haa what genre says the music buff) “Do you know Michael Jackson?” (personally? Yesh. No, I’m joking, MJ is dead. Sorry kids) “Do you like the Jonas Brothers?” Now, this last one was a critical question in establishing myself with the class. Do I like the Jonas Brothers? No, I can’t say that I do. 

Cue uproarious applause and cheering from the 5^th graders. I couldn’t understand why until they all went around and introduced themselves to me in English, telling me a special fact about themselves while they did. Example “Hi I’m Pablo and I play on a soccer team”. Great. Except approximately 90% percent of the introductions were as such: “Hi, I’m Patricia and I like Justin Beiber” “Hi, I’m Paola, and Justin Bieber is my favorite singer” or “Hi I’m Macarena and my favorite movie is ‘Never Say Never’” (Which sidenote, is the same thing as saying your favorite singer is J. Biebs) and the best one: “Hi I’m Juan, and I’m a ‘belieber’”. Well, at least I know where the loyalties lie of the 5^th graders. Jonas Brothers is a dirty word, and non-beliebers are blasphemous. Well, I’m glad we got that settled 5^th grade.

Moving on…So Cathy and the gang were all out of town in Pucon last weekend so I hit the town with my Chilean friend Luz, some of her friends and…brace yourselves…THE Katherine Haddock. Yep that’s right, Katherine agreed to go out dancing with us! I was excited to introduce her to the night life of Valdivia to say the least. So, how this actually went down was that one of Luz’s friends was singing in a Karaoke competition (Is that weird? Well it shouldn’t be because she was reallyyyy good). So we got free tickets and got to get into the casino for free to watch the show. I’ve never seen Karaoke done so well. There is like this closet Karaoke culture that must exist in Chile because this turned out to be a regional competition. Remarkable.

After that, we hit up a disco where us gringas were immediately scoped out by the eagle-eyed hawks that are Chilean college guys. With no class and no worries, its only natural that we are the new ‘project’. So with that being said, a pair of guys came up and asked us to dance, I wasn’t really feeling it (sorry, they weren’t number 16 on the Torreones…)so I glanced back at Luz with desperate eyes and said ‘no entiendo’ (I don’t understand) which in girl language means ‘get me out of this PLEASE’ but she just laughed and pushed us onward. I swear they must get a kick out of our awkward dancing and lack of rhythm…anyways so I danced with this rando guy for a solid 10 minutes or so and had fun because if I’m gonna be dancing with a rando guy, I might as well have fun with it. Anyways, in the process. And this is the point of this whole build up. Homeboy asks me if my boyfriend is good looking, to which I instinctually replied ‘oh I don’t have a boyfriend’ MISTAKE. Dang. I really need to learn to make up a fake macho boyfriend for instances like this. So of course my dancing partner says ‘oh no boyfriend? But you are so beautiful. I can take you out tomorrow night do you have a phone number?’ me: ‘no. no phone’ (lies, I do obvs have a phone) him: okay then what’s your name? I’ll find you on facebook. Me: ‘uhhh Jessica Smith’ (liar liar pants on fire). So I thought I was done with him. But little did I know that when he said he would find me on facebook, he would find me at all costs. And not, I repeat, NOT under my pseudonym of Jessica. Fracken ay. So, now that he is on the blocked list on facebook, I’m just hoping that I don’t run into him on campus or anything….potentially awkward moments.

So on Saturday I went to another Deportes Valdivia game, I think I’m becoming a regular, and my real Chilean love interest #16 scored two equalizing goals from defense…DEFENSE. Yeah, for those of you who know me well enough, you know why my heart was melting and why I am now officially scheming on ways to get a press pass so I can get onto that field and interview him. I already have my questions lined up: ‘Hey ::glances at notepad:: Daniel, good game today. How bout them goals! So do you have a girlfriend?’ follow up question: ‘No, you don’t have a girlfriend…Okay, what are you doing tonight?’ Seriously, somebody hook me up with this kid. I wish he would awkwardly ask me to dance at a discoteca geez!! Hahaaa

So anyways, Monday was another day at Colegio followed by Tuesday where we went to a charity fashion show that benefitted single mothers (shout out to my momma!!). It was fun and Erin’s host mom was a model. We had good cake. And Erin won a raffle prize: a romantic dinner for two. SPECTACULAR. Now she can take her over indulgent fake Peruvian boyfriend to dinner. Perfection. Ha. Wednesday was a pretty sweet day too. I had my first  PE class and after waiting for an HOUR (time sensitivity…mersch mersch…) for the coach to arrive, I was pretty much destroyed by fitness. Thus commenced my first ‘personal training’ session. On the real, I was the ONLY one in class and upon discovering that I was a little on the athletic side, my circuit training only got harder and harder, faster and faster, more and more as the time went on. By the end of the circuit, my muscles were shaking, I was out of breath, and I was sweating in the 50 degree weather that accompanies spring time in Valdivia. But, in consolation, my coach grabbed my by the cheek when we finished and said ‘you did so good today sweetie!’ well, at least that’s positive. But I only imagine that this will get harder. This borderline military type training isn’t exactly the zumba I’ve grown accustomed to here in Chile. As long as he doesn’t utter the words ‘Dena Fartlek’, I know I’ll be okay.

And so as I was leaving the gym to head to Ecology class, my PE coach suggested that I go meet ‘the blacks’ as he nodded to two guys playing basketball on the court who I hadn’t even given a second thought. I was a little taken aback by this because it’s just not something that we call people of color in the States. I always have to remind myself that Chile is not a diverse country at all, so it is something really unusual (hence the lack of racial sensitivity) when two tall black guys walk in and start shooting hoops at the gym. Anyways, so I walk over to the guys and introduce myself and they were…quite ecstatic to meet me. “GIRRRRLLL get OVER HERE. What is YOUR name?? come here give me a hug. That English is music to my ears. GIRL yousa a soccer player aintchoo? Where you from? Etc etc” The guys are professional basketball players from the States and they are here in Chile for some reason or another (Cody said its because of the NBA strike or something) I’m not sure. But they are here and they are more than eager to be bffs with me. They were relieved to meet someone who speaks English, let alone someone who knows the ropes a bit. They loaded me up with questions about food and cell phones and all kinds of things (still…I’m in a rush to get to class). They promised to cook an ‘American breakfast’ for me once they move into their apartment and they threw me around in a hug rotation before finally letting me go to class. I was assured that they would find me on facebook and that they would send me their game schedule. So that’s pretty cool I guess, just friends with the local pro-bballers no big deal.

And today, nothing too exciting. I’m pretty sore from my military grade workout, but at least I haven’t been this sore for a while so I don’t really have much to complain about considering I’ve successfully avoided another painful year of soccer in exchange for this amazing experience. Oh the sacrifices one must make…haha. Best decision I’ve ever made. Anyways, today I went to the centro and ran a bunch of errands only to realize that I forgot that today is ‘protest day!’ yippee! Well, it seems like Thursdays are just the quintessential day of protest here for the students because not only were there protests at the university, but there were protests at the Liceos (public schools) today as well. Let’s just say I was all up in some tear gas today. But at least now I always walk around prepared with my bandana stashed in my backpack. Other than that, I got a postcard to send to Mr. Turner (my high school geography teacher/soccer coach/ sit in father figure who collects postcards from around the world for his classroom display), I picked up some pantuflas for Claire at the artesania, I printed off my ‘Florida is my home’ project for colegio tomorrow, and I got my health insurance card laminated. All very critical things that definitely had to be done…aka it was a beautiful sunny day in Valdivia today and I wanted an excuse to walk around and soak it all in. 

So remember at the beginning of this book...I mean blog entry (sorry yall I know they are long...) when I said to remember that the dryer broke. Welp. Kelly had to do laundry today. And so I hung my clothes up to air dry above the wood burning stove as specifically instructed. Sooner than  I realize Marisol is dashing up the stairs as a smell of burning something or the other fills the house. oh dear. well, what had happened was that somebody had adjusted my clothes to add more to the hangers and my clothes pressed up against the chimney part of the stove...burning them. Yep. charred. but luckily, the house isn't! Marisol felt so bad, but I told her not to worry that they are only clothes!! And the only things that truly got burnt were my pajamas and my new Chilean hoodie (which I tried really hard not to be upset about, because its just a hoodie). I think I successfully concealed my discontent because in reality, a hole didn't even burn through it, its just looks like someone forgot to take the iron off of part of my jacket. haha. I told Marisol that they are battle wounds of living in this house and she told me that I am very silly and that she's so glad I have a sense of humor. Yep. I'm glad too. If only some of those clothes from the fashion show had been pressed up against the Lagos family chimney...on the real. It be good if someone burned some of those outfits. haha.

So, this weekend, I believe it has been decided that we are going to Frutillar, a small town on the shores of Lago Llanquihue (near Puerto Varas). Fingers crossed for a beautiful weekend of kayaking on the lake and eating good empanadas. Cathy and Kaya may join us so that should be fun. Another holiday on Monday will make for another long weekend. Sometimes, I just love that national holidays are Catholic holidays.Which is funny in comparison because Momma just had school off for Rosh Hashanah...gotta love Boca. I can name all the high holy days but  I can't tell you what's going on on Monday. Ah well.

Currently, I’m putting off writing personal statements, internship applications, and next semester’s scheduling in favor of reading poetry by Violeta Parra, googling hostels for this weekend, and chatting with Marisol for hours after once about nothing in particular.

Loving Chile, Loving life.

Chao!

Coughing and Cussing

I'm still sickly, and so I've been fracken around on the computer applying for summer internships and the like...slowly realizing that its already almost October. Where has the time gone? It's days like these, when I feel gross, that I realize how much I am going to miss Chile and when I realize that I want to do something meaningful with every day that I have here (as opposed to sitting tucked up in my bed coughing my head off). I know that's not exactly possible, but it just makes me wish a little harder that Chilean classes would start up so I can really get immersed in this whole Chilean culture bit, play some soccer with the kids, learn all of the local ins and outs. The usual. But on the bright side, I can tell that my spanish has improved dramatically since I've been here because I can speak now often times without pausing to process the words that I'm saying. Although tonight at dinner Marisol did a run through of Chilean cuss words (since I apparently still have problems processing those)... but I've already forgotten them to be honest! she always says 'well it's better if you hear them from me first!' which is true. Sometimes I just picture how my mom would try to explain these things to an exchange student and it just makes me laugh. :)


speaking of my momma...In other news: Momma finally bought her ticket! Cox girls taking on South America Episode One.

I CANNOT WAIT!

That's about it for now, nothing too exciting to report. Josh is on a mission to find someone that can serve as my sit-in assistant for planning the Red and White Classic for the next couple of months- so if you know of anyone who is interested...hit me up!

Just the first pitch of many for my tournament I'm sure...
Alright, I'm off to movie night with Kaya and Cathy! Should be a good time!

Chao!

Tos-ing and turning (You see what I did there?)

26-09-11

 

Brief update on the last week I suppose…

Wednesday I went to Osorno with my Pueblos Originarios class to the Pilauco archaeo-paleontological dig site! What! super cool! I was actually really surprised because when I say “dig site” what do you think of? Welp. I think of like dusty Egypt maybe some mountains or something in the background, kind of Indian Jones setting the scene a bit. So yeah, the Pilauco site was actually quite the opposite. We ventured into the wilderness of…suburbia Osorno. Yep. That’s right, this dig site was in the middle of a neighborhood quite similar to my own here in Valdivia. Picture it…house…house…house…kids playing in the street…house…house….ancient fossils of really big pachyderms. Not so much typical. Anyways, the ‘dig site’ looks more like somebody ripped up a house and tore through the foundation  and just happened upon some mega-fauna bones. No big deal. Just another day in Chile. Anyways, we got a tour of the site, which was um…limited since its no bigger than a normal house and we got to see the most recent discoveries! Eek!! I took a bunch of pictures but the scientists told me not to post them online because this information has yet to be released to the general public. Yeah, what’s up, we are what you call exclusive. Anyways, one of the really cool things about this site is that, well, to throw a little bit of history at you…so there was this ancient river called Rio Damas that flowed through Osorno. River = fresh water = animals. Also, the peat moss from the river is what helped to preserve the remains so well. But here’s the kicker…there aren’t just animal remains, there is evidence of humans too! Ah!! Mind blown right? The scientists found tools, post holes for huts, and even human footprints from thousands of years ago, all in this dinky neighborhood in the middle of Osorno! They believe that this site was used to prepare the freshly caught food to be cooked up and eaten, they obviously can’t know for sure, but I’m gonna go ahead and support that theory, just because its so darn cool. This Pilauco site is also, debated of course, to be the oldest site of humans in South America. So there you have it. My class is legit. When I signed up for Pueblos Originarios, roughly translates to ‘native people’, I didn’t actually think that I would be seeing this kind of stuff. Man, Chile’s pretty cool.

And so, classes on Thursday were cancelled due to a ‘manifestation’ in front of campus. The kids are getting all kinds of riled up again because the university pretty much announced that classes would start on Monday. As in today. As in…they didn’t.

But, Friday marked my first day of Colegio!! First day of school! First day of school! So, while I’m down here I will be volunteering my time with some of the English classes at Colegio Domus Mater. Marisol’s sister in law is like the equivalent of vice principal there for the primary school so she wiggled me into the schedule. Which is saying something because they stopped having exchange students help out at the colegio a while ago due to a bad experience or something, so I was warned that I have to tread lightly, be a good girl, and understand that they are doing this as a favor to me. Which isn’t reallyyy true. But that’s what Cecelia told me that the attitude would be towards me, so I’ll take it with a grain of salt I suppose. Anyways, I am going to spend Monday and Friday mornings volunteering with the classes and the students I will be working with range from elementary to middle school. So, it should be interesting. 

Friday was my first day and the two English teachers that teach all of the classes were so wonderful and friendly and great. Really, just great. They were thrilled to have me for their students, but they were even more thrilled that they would have an English speaker to talk to on a regular basis! So Friday came and went and I think I am going to be pleased with my new position. Today, I think I found my favorite class, and although I think I like working with the middle school/high school better, those 3^rd graders today were awesome. No inhibitions, dancing around the classroom to the English songs (you know the ones, those funny grammar ones that are the equivalent of our Spanish songs…’vamos a la playa a mi me gusta baila! Baila! Baila! Baila!’…but this time it was ‘Hello!! (hello) how are you!! (how are you) I’m fine!! (I’m fine) and you!! (and you) ) We had a bit of a round table with the third graders today and they got to ask me questions about the United States, English, and well…about me. Almost every one of my responses was met with exclamations of ‘AH QUE BACAN!!’ aka ‘OH HOW COOL!!’ they were excited to have me there, which made me excited to be there. Which is good all around.

In other news, I’m sickly sick. I have a cough and a sore throat and I’m not a very happy camper. See title of this blog post ^ (tos means cough...and yes i'm punny). I ran out of cough syrup that momma packed me so I went to the farmacia this morning to get some more. I told the lady what I was looking for (At pharmacies here, all of the medicines, even the over the counter ones are literally behind the counter.) and she handed me a ‘remedio’ that was all natural. Hm. Mmkay. And then I asked for cough drops and I got those too. But here’s the thing- my natural remedy literally tastes like watered down honey. My cough drops are honey flavored. And Rodolfo suggested today that I make a drink of half milk half honey for my cold. And then Vale told me to make a different drink with honey. So, I’m starting to think that I’m not the only one with a fixation on Chilean honey and that it might well be a ‘cure-all’. And if it is, so be it. I’m all about this Chilean honey thing.

Oh, also, Paola- the oldest daughter of my host family who lives in Santiago, came to visit this weekend. She’s super cool, but I wish I was feeling better so I would have been more up to talking to her. Marisol covered for me (before rushing me off to bed) and told la Pao that normally, I am much more animated and that I am clearly a sick Kelly. Truth truth.  Also, I went to another Deportes Valdivia game and that was super fun. I got a jersey, but it’s a little too big for me. But for now, it will suffice to show my newly acquired Torreones pride when I attend future games. Paola said that soccer in Valdivia should be called ‘sucker’ because it sucks. Which may well be true, actually…yeah its true. I’ve seen better soccer in my day…but that’s not the point. It’s the atmosphere. And the fact that, as we discovered last game, #16 is gorgeous. So, #16, if you are reading this (sooo possible)…please holla atcha gurl. I told Katherine that I’m convinced that all of those boys go to our school because they are all our age…so maybe if I walk around campus enough, fate will happen. Yep. That’s how it works. Well at the very least, the girls got a kick out of it…literally. Gawsh I am SO punny. Speaking of punny, for those of you who missed my status on facebook yesterday, willis asked me what I was drinking while I was skyping her yesterday and I said ‘jugo’ (said hoo-go aka juice) and she said “jugos…there” (who. Goes. There.) I love ‘er I really do.

Thats about it on the home front. I swear I’m going to bed early tonight.

Chao!

Bariloche is kick ASH...volcanic ash that is.

Advisory Warning: Pictures to come. Just haven't gotten around to uploading them yet.

Simply put, Bariloche, Argentina is ah-maze-ing. Literally. This place is super cool, and we had a great time and I would love to go back one day. So we took off via bus through the Andes pass, one fine Friday morning. After hours of driving through a perpetual Thomas Kinkade picture, see pictures below, and two border crossings, we arrived in Bariloche. We successfully found our hostel  and were informed that if we stayed 3 nights we would get a 4^th night free because of the Rugby world cup or something. Not sure, doesn’t matter, we stayed an extra night. So, for around $9USD a night, we stayed at a great hostel, met some cool people, and on top of that- breakfast was included. Gotta love traveling through South America.

Thomas Kinkade painting

The Andes Pass (I'm still trying to figure out how to flip it)

So, the first day we arrived we were told that The Wailers. As in THE Wailers were in Bariloche that night. What. Bob Marley’s remnants of a band- yes we should go. So after a, might I say, delicious dinner of quite possibly the most amazing steak I’ve ever eaten in my life ($7USD…see picture) we walked down to the club where the band was staying only to find the tickets a little to pricey for our tastes. Yeah, I would like to see the Wailers, but let’s not get crazy. So we headed back to the hostel and watched a movie and crashed early. Only to be kept  up all night by a girl/couldhavepassedasaman who’s snoring was so loud that it sounded like she was swallowing her tongue/ making some sort of moose-type mating call/ actually trying to shake all of the bunk beds in the room and succeeding. Needless to say, the first night’s sleep wasn’t fantastic. But I had earplugs, and thus survived to tell the tale. Lessons learned after living in an on-campus dorm for the past two years of my life.

We woke up early the next morning and headed out to circuito chico- a kind of loop trail system that is normally done on mountain bikes, or by car….so naturally we decided to walk. Our first stop was Cerro Campanario, notably in National Geographic’s top 10 views. And so it was. After a straight up, uphill hike (switchbacks not included), slipping through the volcanic ash that composed the top 3 to 4 inches of the trail, we made it to the top. At least now we know why there was a chairlift option to get to the top- should have been a red flag, but eh, cosas que pasan. Out of breath, we became increasingly more so once we caught sight of the amazing view. Literally- it took our breath away!! The gorgeous Andes mountains, silhouetted by a bright blue sky so clear and vast and cloudless, with lakes acting as mirrors, reflecting it all just in case you missed it the first time. Purely amazing. We ran into an Argentine couple at the top and they told us that they have been coming to this spot for over 10 years, and that this is the most beautiful day they have ever seen. Without volcanic ash spoiling the view, without clouds, with a sun as bright as it was, and so forth and so on…Really, we lucked out- and we were thrilled. We continued our trek along the circuito chico (which means short circuit, and in my personal opinion, not so very short…), and we hiked along Lago Moreno and Lago Escondido only to be met with similarly stunning views. For those of you who know me, you know I’ve seen my fair share of big mountains from the Rockies to the Alaskan range- but I’m telling you, this was truly spectacular. Every vista, every lookout point, every mirador was beautiful and different in its own way. At one point along Lago Moreno, I felt a strange compulsion to get into the crystalline glaciar fed lake. And so I did. I know the girls thought I was crazy, but I just looked at Katherine and said “Welp. I think I’m going in”. Off came the shoes, the socks, and yes the pants too. It was so worth it- and hey maybe I am crazy, but when is the next time I’m going to be able to go swimming in a glaciar fed lake in the South of Argentina in the Andes Mountains? So I took advantage of the opportunity, and if you want to blame someone, blame my mother because she would have done the same thing.

After this, we came to the realization that the day was growing old and we wouldn’t be able to complete the whole circuit, so we met up with a couple from New Zealand and began walking down the road in the direction of the ever-elusive ‘bus stop’. Ah yes. Just a little bit down the road we were instructed. Past experience has taught us that this means an hour or more walking down the road and it was fair to say we were tired. So, after a pit stop on a bridge where we saw the biggest trout I have ever seen and also where I stared enviously at a man climbing a multipitch just across the way, it was thumbs out to hitch a ride. A woman, her young daughter, and friend picked us up and we learned that she owned a restaurant/hotel in the area and that both her and her friend had studied abroad in the United States. So between broken English and broken Spanish, we successfully made it to the bus stop and took the bus back into town (I make this sound easy, but the reality is, I had to convince the bus driver that we needed a ride because apparently only some of the city buses take cash, the rest are run by a bus pass system. This bus did not accept cash. Good thing there are good people in the world- because that bus driver drove us for free all the way to the next stop. Sometimes I’m glad I look like an innocent little gringa who doesn’t know any better).

After dinner at great Italian spot (Argentina is known for its Italian influence- hence the great food, and the great wine!) we stopped for some dessert and headed back to our trembling room of the great snorer almighty. The next morning we had signed up for a tour to go see Cerro Tronodor, a black glacier, some waterfalls and other cool outdoorsy things. Another beautiful day, albeit more ash in the air, we (after a substantial amount of car trouble…don’t get me started) made it to the glacier. It was really an amazing sight and our guide told us that we should feel privileged to be able to see this glacier as it is now because it is one of two black glaciers in the whole world and its fading fast. As she pointed to the first lookout spot, about 150 yards from where we stood, she told us that only 75 years ago, the glacier used to be right up on the fence where people could reach out and touch it. As the glacier receded a new lookout spot had to be created. Now, the current lookout spot is several football field lengths from the actual glacier. It’s really incredible, and our guide says that she can see the glacier melting more and more every day. It’s things like this- glaciers that are millions of years old, and that have melted to more than half their size in less that 100 years, that makes me wonder how people can dismiss global warming. I turned to the girls and said “How can people not want to protect this? How can people sit there and say that the speed of melting of this glacier is natural? Will somebody please bring Rick Perry out here and show this to him?” Because really, and I don’t want to talk politics right now, but Perry dismisses global warming as a ‘natural heating cycle’, it’s apparently not anthropogenic, and he says that climate scientists are just trying to make a quick buck off of a trend….right. Rick, I’ll be the first one to tell you that Argentina doesn’t want its only black glacier to melt, actually, I’m pretty sure they don’t want any glaciers to melt. So if this is just a conspiracy to make money- please enlighten me why they would melt, intentionally, a huge source of tourist income? Really just unbelievable. Due to more car troubles we arrived back at the hostel rather late, with me being rather angry, and we headed out to grab dinner. We came back to the hostel to find a new dorm mate- Claudia from Mexico. She was wonderful, and assured us that she didn’t snore.

The next day, we had secured a tour to visit Cerro de Leones, las cavernas de Viejo volcan. So pretty much- in a nutshell- there are these caves on the outskirts of town where the Mapuche people lived for thousands of years. The mountain is called ‘de Leones’ because pumas (mountain lions) used to run rampant through the area and were a serious problem for the health and well being of the Mapuche…naturally. So we went on this really cool tour and got to hear the history of the caves, see some actual Mapuche cave drawings, and even get to do a pseudo caving expedition (hard hats included) where we ventured into the inner caverns to see the pristine lake within. Seriously, cool stuff. There was also a cypress tree there that is recorded to be the oldest tree in the area, well over 1000 years old. This kind of history really blows me away- I find it so interesting that the caves I was walking through, were the same ones that were walked through by Mapuche men and women thousands of years ago. Cool stuff, on the real. Also, I finally got to see what rose hips look like! Now I am familiar with the delicious little fruiting bodies that make the homemade jam of Marisol so delicious. Mosqueta. Gimme some a dat. Anyways, after this, we headed downtown and acquired some of the world renowned chocolate from Bariloche, specifically, Mamuschkas. There are several artesan chocolate shops and factories throughout Bariloche, but Lonely Planet said “Don’t skip Mamuschkas, really, don’t skip it.” So we didn’t. I got to hand pick the chocolate I wanted and had it put in a cute little red box with the signature Mamuschka Russian dolls on the top. This was guarded with my life, as it bought it as a gift for my host family- and let me tell you, it took some serious self control! Erin and Katherine both got chocolate too, Erin much more than the rest of us- but we don’t judge because that chocolate was seriously the bomb. We grabbed dinner at another excellent Italian place (and after sample a fair share of Argentine wine, I can tell you I’m still quite partial to Chilean grapes), made a quick stop for some dessert, and then back to the hostel where I stayed up a little too late on google chat with Clairey entertaining ideas about everything and anything and lots of travel. God I love that girl 

Our final morning in Bariloche was spent at the Patagonian museum learning about local history and Argentine history. We then made a quick dash to the chocolate factory down the road and then pretty much sprinted to the bus terminal. After a smooth Argentinian border crossing we were met with strict customs at the Chilean border, fully equipped with sniffer dogs. And yes, we were busted for trying to smuggle sandwiches across the border with lunchmeat and cheese on them. Criminals at large, I’ll tell you what. The snow had melted from the trees as we made our way back through the pass, but the Andes were still stunning. The part that we traveled through seemed very similar to the Southwest in the US, and Katherine and I even bore witness to one of those mini-cyclone things of volcanic ash. I was beat when we got home, but the weekend was all in all a blast. Hugs from my host family and a mad dash for my box of chocolate made for a comforting night at home. I’m glad to be back in Valdivia, and let’s hope I brought some of that Bariloche sunshine back with me

Con chocolate y abrazos...Chao!