La Vida Cotidiana Update

I have not really been doing anything very interesting, hence the title Daily Life Update.

1. I took my Chilean family´s dog, se llama Andres, out for a walk on Sunday and spent the first 10 minutes of our walk chasing him up and down the street after he slipped out of his collar.

2. This weekend, I went on a field trip to Rancagua with the EAP program. Located about 2 hours south of Santiago, I still don't know exactly what was the theme of the Rancagua field trip. Basically all day long we were shuttled around the various pueblos in the area to eat and try various homemade alcoholic beverages. I´m definitely not complaining being that eating is one of my top 10 favorite activities that also include annoying Andrew at home and abroad (via Skype). One of the places we went to made honey and the bee-keeper man showed us all the boxes where the bees make the honey. As he was putting the piece of wood filled with bees and honeycomb back into the box, he dropped it and a significant number of bees swarmed at him. All the EAP students ran away and then watch in horror as he calmly swatted the bees off his head and arms. He told us that happens sometimes....hmm, I don't know about that.

3. Halloween is not a major celebration here in Chile but apparently a lot of kids trick or treat in the neighborhood where I am living. I´m dressing up as an astronaut for Halloween to be cool like my dad, Steven "The Astronaut" White.

4. I booked a flight to Easter Island for the last leg of my study abroad adventure. If you want to take a peek at where I will be headed, here´s more information about Easter Island or Isla de Pascua as it is called.

http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/Easter_Island/index.html

5. I don´t like Pablo Neruda.

6. You cannot bring your backpack into the libraries at the Universidad de Chile. The books here are very expensive and I suppose the university is afraid that the students are going to steal the books, so before entering the library, you must check your bag at the security station. It is very inconvenient to have to take your computer, pens, notebooks, textbooks/ all other things you need out of the backpack, well, at least for me; I am always forgetting something that I need. So instead, Starbucks functions as EAP's unofficial library/study center.

Words of the day: volver=to return, hogar=home

Isla de Damas/Valle de Elqui

Sorry! I have been lazy and just uploaded pictures last week but I have filled in the blanks with writing now!

Here are some more pictures from our boating adventure. 

Un lobo marinero from the marine reserve...sitting atop his/her mother.

We were allowed to get out and walk around the Isla de Damas (the Isla de los Choros is not accessible to human beings) so Jeanny, Grace and I took a walk to la playa de tijeras, about a 20 minute walk away from the dock. 

La playa de tijeras (Scissors Beach) on the Isla de Damas (the island of ladies)

After spending about an hour on the Isla de Damas, we climbed back in the boat and set sail for the mainland. On the bus ride back, the entire van was asleep from our exciting day out on the water. When we got back to our hostel there was still a little bit of sun out so we headed down to the beach to see the sunset. When we walked back from the beach, the streets were filled with Chileans celebrating the soccer team's victory over Colombia which clinched their place to compete in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Chileans went crazy....every single car was honking their horn to the chant, "¡Chi-Chi-Chi! ¡Le-Le-Le! ¡Viva Chile!”. Backs of trucks were filled with Chileans flying the country's flag and shouting "¡Viva Chile!". It was very entertaining display of national pride.

On Sunday, we traveled through the Valle de Elqui to visit the house of Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1945. A dedicated school teacher, she was born in Vicuña but grew up and taught in the small village of Montegrande, about an hour way from Vicuña. When she died, she left everything she owned to the children of Montegrande. 

After going to Gabriela Mistral's house, we also visited a Capel factory where Chile's national drink, pisco sour is made. And who is the number one fan of pisco sour? My mom.

The beautiful Valle de Elqui

Word of the day: Me llamo=My name is _______(fill in the blank)

Reserva nacional Pingüino de Humboldt

On Saturday morning (October 10th), we embarked on a tour of la Reserva Nacional Pinguino de Humboldt. We took a boat out to la isla de choros to see penguins, seals, birds and of course, magical dolphins. One of the ladies on our boat had a bell that she kept ringing to bring all the dolphins to our vessel. I was skeptical at first but the bell definitely worked because the dolphins stayed near our boat the entire time. In order to see the dolphins, we traveled quite far from the island into the deep blue sea. My friend Jeanny, who doesn't swim, had a death grip on Grace and the boat the entire time. At one point she was talking about how the ocean looked like jell-o, then when she turned and saw the "You're a crazy lady" look on both Grace and my faces, she muttered, "I just don't want to think about drowning!" Hahaha.

The road out to our boat.

The penguins in Chile smell as bad as the ones at the San Francisco zoo.

Lone penguin.

Starfish! This is for you, Kelly Morris!

Just around the river bend....

Word of the day: Luz=light

La Serena

On Thursday night (October 8th), I left on a midnight bus to La Serena with two friends. We spent our first day exploring the city however there wasn't very much to see in this town so we just wandered around the town for majority of the day. Founded in 1544, La Serena served as the sea link city between Santiago and Lima. We ended up spending a couple hours in the city's Pedro de Valdivia Park filled with soccer fields and a small zoo complete with vultures, ostriches, reindeer and goats...it put the San Diego zoo to shame...haha.

In general, Chile's northern skies are famous for their clarity and transparency and therefore, is the ideal location to make astronomical observations in the Southern Hemisphere. Located approximately an hour away from La Serena is the small town of Vicuña where many of the observatory towers are located. At 7:00pm on Friday, Jeanny, Grace and I went to the Mamalluca Observatory Tower to observe nebulas, other galaxies, Jupiter (pronounced Who-Pee-ter in Español), constellations and the remains of an dead star.

Mamalluca Observatory Telescope

Pedro de Valdivia Park/zoo

One of the 29 churches in La Serena. Every corner of this city has a church on it.

City life in La Serena

Words of the day: estrella=star, rezar=to pray

Dolphins

This weekend I went to La Serena, a city located about 5-6 hours north of Santiago. We took a boat out to a national marine life reserve and saw penguins, seal lions and dolphins. At one point, the dolphins were jumping out of the water approaching our boat. See the video below of the dolphins!

ENEG, the geography conference that never was

On Monday (September 29^th), my friend Victoria told me about a Geography Conference that she was going to in Concepción and invited me to come along. Encuentro Nacional de Esudiantes de Geografía or ENEG is a conference of several different universities in Chile where students meet to talk about environmental and geographic issues in Chile at the Universidad de Concepción…I figured it would be interesting so I jumped on board. After our EAP class on Tuesday night, we rushed back to our houses, got our bags and met at her facultad of Geography, Architecture and Urbanism to catch the bus to Concepción at 11:00pm. Waiting for the buses was a group of about seventy Universidad de Chile students, drinking their beers, wine, piscolas and basically having a big party in the parking lot. Leaving Santiago on the buses was the first indication that this geography conference was in fact an excuse for a three day party vacation. We met up with another EAP student to make for a grand total of three gringos on the Chilean ENEG trip. We arrived in Concepión in the morning after a six hour bus ride from Santiago and went to our first and last geography curso or seminario of the day. The seminar we went to discussed the implementation of solar panels in the Atacama desert as a source of renewable energy.  In the afternoon, we went to took a bus about forty minutes to visit a Peruvian warship that was captured near the coast of Chile during the War of the Pacific (Chile vs. Peru and Bolivia) and now functions as a naval museum. 

Unlike the Universidad de Chile, the Universidad de Concepción is organized more like the universities in the United States with a central campus containing all the different schools (school of medicine, humanities, engineering, etc.). At the Universidad de Chile, the various facultads are spread throughout the city so you could have one class at the facultad of humanities and for your next class, you might have take a forty minute metro ride to get to the school of government. Most Chileans students have all their classes at one facultad but for foreign exchange students, we often have classes in different places and are always rushing via the Santiago metro to get to class.

The Universidad de Concepción is surrounded by the forest and is a very visually aesthetic campus.

After visiting the warship, we  took the buses back to the place where would spend the night. Aptly nicknamed the "shithole" by Victoria, our gymnasium hostel was filled with one hundred plus students from the Universidad de Chile and La Católica. It was quite a sight to see this volume of people sleeping in a gymnasium. Some students were super prepared and set up tents but Victoria, Reese and I just put our sleeping bags on the gym floor along with the majority of the other students. Although I have never spent the night in a homeless shelter, I would imagine that it would be something similar to my two nights in this gymnasium. We did not end up sleeping until about 2:30am because the students turned the empty parking lot in the back into a major party complete with a bonfire, guitar playing and campfire songs although unfortunately there was no "She'll be coming round the mountain" or "Red River Valley".

Thursday morning, the wake up call was at 7:00am and we were on the bus by 8:30...very little sleep was actually obtained during this trip to Concepción. Like the day before, we went to one seminar, ate lunch at the cafeteria and took the bus to Lota with a group of La Chile students. Located about an hour away from Concepción, Lota used to be a major mining town but now it serves as a tourist attraction with guided tours of the carbon mine, the Chiflón del diablo.

At the Chiflón del diablo( in English, the Devil's Blast), we put on our mining equipment and were ready to go on the tour. In the elevator, we were lowered 16 stories o pisos below ground level and when we turned all the lights off, very, very black...too dark. Our guide told us that boys as young as eight years old used to work in the mines and when a boy was around the age of thirteen, they were considered full fledged miners. 

Too dark

The three Gringos

After our trip to the mine ended, we made our way to the beach to reconnect with our Pacific Ocean roots. 

However, perhaps the best part of the trip was discovering a burrito/Mexican food restaurant right near the Universidad. So dinner on Thursday and Friday night was burritos....very delicious. 

Send me emails! ecwhite@ucdavis.edu

Word of the day: mina=mine, enviar=send, llamar=to call

Machu Picchu

In the afternoon, Steve found a Peruvian tour guide to tell us more about the history of Machu Picchu.

Fun facts:
The Incas used to make sacrifices in the temples in Machu Picchu but human sacrifices (young females) were not made in the city. During times of drought or crisis, human sacrifices would be offered to the Incan gods to remedy the problem.

Approximately 500 people lived in Machu Picchu but as many as 1,000 Incas lived in the city at one time.

Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911 but Yale archaeology professor Hiram Bingham but it is highly suspected that a German explorer arrived at the ruins during the late 1800s and plundered much of the gold and riches from the city.

The llama, snake and condor were the three most important animal figures in Incan culture, representing the three levels of the world, the underworld (the snake), earth (the llama), and the sky (the condor).

Nobody is allowed on the grass area in the center of the ruins. Only the llamas are allowed and if any of the tourists meander onto the grass, the guards will blow a whistle at you.

More fun pictures














The Lost City of the Incas















The Inca Bridge





























The International Man and the International Woman atop Machu Picchu

















Words of the day: rosado=pink, rojo=red, azul=blue, verde=green, amarillo=yellow, narajana=orange

Machu Picchu

On Tuesday (September 15th), we woke up 4:40am to get a jump start on Machu Picchu. After chomping down breakfast, we headed toward the bus stop to catch our ride up to the ruins. Buses start running at 5:30am and we arrived at Machu Picchu around 6:15 only to be greeted by a line of about 200 people waiting to get in. Finally, we passed through the ticket and security check points and began walking the trail to the ruins. Just from my first view of Machu Picchu, I was awestruck. If ever you have the chance to go see this wonder of the world, you need to go because words fail ever time I try to describe it.

Before it got too hot, my dad and I went for a brisk hike to the Inca Sun Gate. Very advanced in math and science, the Incas constructed this gate in which the sun would beam through these two columns directly into the temple of their city.















View of Machu Picchu from the Sun gate















I think I was an Inca in my past life.














More Inca terraces

Pisac and the Sacred Valley

On Sunday morning (September 13th), we left Cusco on the local transportation to head over the hill to the city of Pisac. Our luggage was slung onto the roof of the van, tied on with ropes and off we went, three gringos and the rest of the locals. Forty minutes later, we arrived in Pisac and managed to find our way to the Main Plaza where our hotel was located. After dropping our stuff off, we explored the Pisac open air market. Rows and rows of colorful bags, earrings, flutes, headbands made for very cheap shopping.

The very colorful market of Pisac

In the afternoon, we went the Pisac ruins located about 20 minutes away from Pisac by taxi. Our tour guide told us that in the hills is one of the largest burial sites in the worlds. With 10,000 grave, the Incas used to bury their dead in the fetal position simbolizing rebirth after death. When the Spanish arrived to conquer the Incan Empire in the 1500's, they ransacked all the graves to collect the gold. The guide also told us that there are several villages located above the ruins and that some children have to walk two hours each way to get to the school in Pisac.

 Pictures from the ruins at Pisac

Peruvian women selling fruit at the market.

Extensive terrace system

View of the Sacred Valley

After our tour of the Pisac ruins, we ate dinner at a restaurant called the Blue Llama. A huge bowl of pumpkin soup, a main entrée, a drink or bebida, and a postre or dessert only cost approximately 6 US dollars for each one of us and the food was delicious. The next morning before we left Pisac, we went there for breakfast and for $3 US dollars, I had all you can eat pancakes. If you ever go to Peru, you need to make a stop in Pisac just to eat at this restaurant because everything was so good.

Words of the day: sabor=flavor, pancacas=pancakes

Cusco

Hello again, thanks to Gina and Alvin for reminding me that it was time for a Chile update! The last three weeks or so have been quite a whirlwind. My parents arrived in Santiago on Wednesday, September 9th and on Thursday, September 10th, I had two papers due in addition to a 50-70 minute presentation on a 140 page book for my environmental economics class. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to get on the plane to Peru on Friday morning. From Santiago, we flew to Lima and then from Lima to Cusco. When filling in our customs papers for Peru, my dad asked me what I wrote down for my occupation. I told him "student" and asked what he wrote to which he naturally replied "astronaut", showing me his customs card. Laughs ensued between my mom, dad and I especially when my mom said that when the Peruvian police stopped and questioned him, she and I would walk away and pretend not to know Astronaut Steven White. While the pilot was attempting to land in Cusco, he could not get a visual of the runway and told us that he would circle for 15 minutes and if a visual could not be confirmed, we would return to Lima. Luckily, we landed on the second attempt.

Cusco primarily serves as a tourist destination on the road to Machu Picchu. Filled with artensian craft markets (which all the look the same after awhile), Peruvians dressed in native clothing charging tourists to take pictures with them and aggressive street peddlers demanding that you look at their drawings/necklaces/take a card for their masaje or massage business. Located at approximately 11,000 feet (according to my trusty friend Wikipedia), it took a little time to adjust to the drastic change in altitude. Coca tea made with coca leaves is the natural remedy promoted by the Peruvians to deal with the altitude so we drank the tea and for the most part avoided major altitude induced headaches. Our second day in Cusco, we toured the ruins around the city and some of the museums. 

The museum Qoricancha showcased the excellent craftsmanship of the Incas. The seams in between these rock blocks are practically nonexistent, not even a sheet of paper could slip in between them!

The Cathedral of Cusco....I am not really a fan because it was high way robbery to get into this Catholic Church and our guide told us that only 8% of the proceeds go to education in Cusco meanwhile 30% goes to the Church.

The view from the Museo de Sitio de Quricancha

Next we traveled to the Saqsayhuamán ruins which are considered to be pre-Incan ruins. 

At the ruins of Tambomachay, our guide told us that some legends say this is the Fountain of Youth. And here is Steve filling up his Nalgene with Fountain of Youth water.

Unlike Santiago, Cusco was filled with Mexican food restaurants so I was a happy camper in this city.

Words of the day: No me gustaría un masaje=I would not like a massage,  plata=money, las ruinas=the ruins, astronauta=astronaut

The Arrival of Colleen and Steve

Colleen and Steve have arrived in Santiago, Chile safe and sound. 

That is all.

Words of the day: El vuelo=flight, el avión=airplane

Death March through the Cordillera

As part of the Education Abroad Program in Chile, we can participate in three cultural activities which include a snow/ski day in the Andes, a trip to Valparaiso, a day spent learning about Mapuche culture and heritage, a viaje (trip) visiting Chile's agricultural valley and a trekking weekend in the Andes. 

At the beginning of the program, I was disappointed because I was not chosen to go on the weekend trekking adventure. Nonetheless, I was determined to get on the trip somehow. Monday morning (August 24th) I emailed the EAP coordinator asking if there were any more spots available for the trip. Ten minutes after I sent my email, she sent a message to everyone on the trekking waitlist saying that an extra spot had opened up and the first person who sent her a response would get the spot. So the spot was mine! On Saturday, August 29th, we met at 11:00pm at Campus Oriente and after an hour and a half bus ride deep into the Cordillera, we began our trekking adventure. On the first day, the hike was very pleasant, not strenuous and by 5:00pm we made it to our camping ground. Since the trekking weekend was booked through an outdoor adventure company, our six guides did all the grunt work and carried the tents and dinner for thirty five people. Dinner consisted of ravolis and a packet of kiwi flavored powder to make even more delicious the taste of the nearby stream water where we all refilled our waterbottles (I'm joking, the water tasted like dirt). Around 10:00pm, we headed to the tents to sleep. We woke up at 6:30am the next morning to begin our long long long day of trekking up to the Cerro Durazno.

This is where we started on  Saturday morning and the top of the mountain is where we ended up by Saturday afternoon. It was a magical/my butt still hurts when I think about it experience.

The second day of trekking was unbelievable. We literally climbed straight up the back of mountain. As we climbed, we began to see increasing numbers of snow patches and eventually, we were trekking through the snow. Unfortunately, most of us had no idea that trekking would involve climbing up the mountain in snow drifts up to our knees so we were ill prepared with our running shoes, sweatpants and jeans. From 12:00pm until I returned to Santiago at 9:00pm, my shoes and socks were completely soaked. As you can see from the picture below, we followed the foot steps created by the guide but frequently, the snow steps would give way and you would be stuck in the snow past your knee or for height challenged people like myself, around mid thigh. 

And we begin our climb.....up! up! and away we go!

The most memorable part of the trip was climbing up what felt like a practically vertical surface. At one point, we were reaching for branches from nearby bushes to prevent falling down the mountain because of the slippery sludge created by the dirt and melting snow.

Where's Waldo? Ten points if you can find me.

Still smiling! And representing UC Davis Women's Rugby from the top of the Andes.

After an exhausting climb, we reached the top, took a 20 minute break and proceeded to climb back down the mountain. 

Climbing/running down the mountain.

At 7:00pm, we were all very happy to climb on the bus back to Santiago. 

Byebye! Have a good weekend! I will be writing papers all weekend for my classes so email me and tell me about your life because I will be looking for distractions! ecwhite@ucdavis.edu

Words of the day: consejos=advice, voy a morir=I am going to die, mojado=wet, mis zapatos y mis calcetines son mojados=my shoes and my socks are wet, dolor=pain

Chilenismos

Here in Chile, it often feels like there is an entire language apart from Spanish to learn. Chileans have a very distinct set of vocabulary words called "Chilenismos". These words are used in everyday conversation. Last week, I was having once (afternoon tea, eaten around 5 or 6 pm) with my friend, Victoria and the family she is staying with and they asked me to list the three most important Chilenismos to survive an everyday Chilean conversation. As soon as I listed the my three words, Victoria and her family burst out laughing because our lists were practically identical. Here are some important Chilenismos so you will not be in the dark when you visit Chile:

Victoria and my list:

1) pololo/polola=boyfriend/girlfriend. In Spanish class in the US, I learned that novio/novia is the definition for boyfriend/girlfriend but in Chile, novio/novia is the term used for people who are engaged. Chile is very much a couple dominated culture and you always see pololos sitting on the benches in the parks or walking on the streets hand in hand. 

2) Cachai?=got it? understand? On the TransSantiago buses, I like to listen in on conversations and will hear the phrase Cachai? about twenty times before I exit the bus. Chileans say Cachai? as frequently as they take breaths.

3) Carretear=to go out, party and drink

3) Bacan= cool, excellent

Chileans also like to add -po to the end of words. For example, "si", will be changed to "sipo", a simple no, will be converted to "nopo".

And Patrish, here is a slang word for you. The word huevón means asshole or jerk but it is often used in conversations between friends. 

This weekend I went on a trekking adventure in the Andes which made a Steve White hike look like a walk in the park. Unfortunately, my camera died on the second day of the trip so I am waiting for people to put pictures up on facebook and then steal them. Check back next week to hear about the Death March through the Andes!

Weekend in Pucon

On Thursday night (August 13^th) a group of friends and I left Santiago at 11:15pm for a ten hour bus ride to Pucon (located in the southern part of Chile in the Lakes Region). We arrived around 10:00am the next morning and found a cute hostel located two blocks away from the bus station. After settling in, we took a bus up to Los Polzones, a set of thermal baths (termas) built next to a river. The first pool was around the temperature of a lukewarm bath which would have been nice had it not been raining and very freezing outside. The next terma was the exact opposite; we all felt like lobsters in boiling water and by the end of fifteen minutes, my legs were bright red. I went and sat in the frigid river for a little bit to cool off. After spending about four hours at the thermas, we returned to our hostel where we made tacos. Never have tacos tasted so good. We even found taco seasoning at the supermercado for taco meat!

The next day we woke up around 7:00am to go skiing/snowboarding on the Volcan Villarrica. The Volcan Villarrica is an active volcano with a lava lake within its crater. Before I left for Pucon, I was talking to my cousin Sean on facebook chat and he said I had to go skiing/snowboarding in the Andes. Even though I had never been snowboarding, I took Sean’s advice and joined the ski/snowboard group and now I can say that I snowboarded on the side of an active volcano! Basically, the entire time we were in Pucon it rained, so as we made our way up the Volcan Villarrica, it was snowing pretty heavily. 

Stopping to put chains on the car was an excellent opportunity to play in the snow.

When we were purchasing our lift tickets, the cashier told us there was a significant possibility that the lifts would close due to the weather conditions. We took our chances and our gamble paid off; we were practically the only people on the runs and the snow was the freshest powder imaginable. However, for the first hour and a half on the Volcan, I was miserable. I could not stand up on the snowboard and every time I ventured forward, I always seemed to be heading close to the trail marker and into illegal territory. These were not exactly the best conditions to learn in: I could barely see the trail in front of me and strong winds turned the snow into ice bullets. So for the first hour and a half, I pretty much threw a pity party for myself. However, my snowboarding skills improved and by the second half of the day, I was carving and actually making it down the mountain on the snowboard and not on my butt. This week, I went snowboarding again and went down the intermediate and advanced runs. Progress! I would post a picture of the Volcan Villarrica but unfortunately due to the weather conditions, we never even saw the volcano that we skied/snowboarded on. 

Our ski group at Ski Pucon

On Sunday morning, we went to the Transcura canopy which is the longest zipline in all of South America. This 1 kilometer zipline was a little different than the canopy in Cajon de Maipo. Instead of Firestone tires, each individual person was their own breaking system. We were given a pair of thick leather gloves and braked using our hands. I prefer the Firestone tires because you could feel the heat from the friction when you put your hands on the cable. This activity was also done in the rain and by the time we all completed the canopy, we were muddy and soaked. We returned to the hostel, changed and went to the Lago Villarrica. 

So happy to be in Chile!

Sunset on Lago Villarrica

Scenery in Pucon

And so concludes my weekend trip to Pucon!

Words of the day: superficie=surface, carpa=tent, oro=gold, nieve=snow, lluvia=rain, debo visitar Eliz en Chile =I should visit Eliz in Chile

Life in Santiago

Today I have officially been in Chile for two months although it frequently seems like I just got off the plane. School has been in session for the past three weeks or so and I have three classes for the semester. My classes include a Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral poetry class (with a professor who is Neruda's number one fan), an environmental economics/natural resource management class and the Education Abroad Program history/politics/culture/many other random themes of Chile class with the rest of the University of California students. The Neruda/Mistral class is often referred to as the Ultimate Gringo class because it is completely filled with extranjeros (foreigners) from the United States. In addition, I also have an internship at a place called Chileambiente, an environmental corporation based in Santiago. For the next two or three months, I will be doing a research project about how solar energy from the Atacama Desert in the North could be used instead of hydroelectric power derived from damming parts of Patagonia. One of Chileambiente's main goals is to keep Patagonia sin represas or without businesses.

Other fun life in Santiago facts:

Entertainment on the TransSantiago buses is provided by numerous musicians who ride buses around the city singing and playing their guitars and then collect their pesos from fans.


Student protests are frequent at the Universidad de Chile. Last week at the facultad de humanidades y filosofia, the police force used tear gas to squash a student protest against the killing of 24 year old Mapuche by police. The student population is very politically active and student protests are very common at the Universidad de Chile.


My new nickname here in Chile is Ellie. I gave up introducing myself as Liz because Ellie is much easier for Chileans to pronounce.


Chileans do not like to eat their tomatoes with skin so all the salads with tomatoes have the skins taken off the tomatoes.


One of my friends from UCLA found a capoeira class at one of the local Santiago gyms and so we have been going every week to the class. Capoeira is a form of Brazilian street dance fighting with a lot of gymnastics incorporated into the class. From capoeira, I learned that I have no coordination and now know why my parents never enrolled me in ballet or jazz or any other form of dance class. Smart people.


Words of the day: angustia=stress/anxiety, desayuno=breakfast, almuerzo=lunch, cena=dinner

Cajon del Maipo

On Saturday morning, I went to Cajon del Maipo, located about an hour away from Santiago. A stark contrast exists between the industrialized city of Santiago and this beautiful canyon which could be considered Santiago's equivalent to the Russian River or Muir Woods. We started off the day with a hike to La Cascada de Las Animas (pictures are below). After, we went ziplining! The picture above show the zipline route across the rio Maipo. 

And this was my face as the  guide was explaining the ziplining rules....I was a little uncertain at first.

The guides did not tell us how we were going to stop on the zipline until we had reached the other side of the rio Maipo and suddenly rammed into four Firestone tires. Very efficient braking system but a little jarring.

After ziplining, we went on horse back riding/ more like horse back walking on a trail up to the top of the canyon. You can see the moon in this picture.

View from the top.

Words of the day: cantar=to sing, la parada= the stop, derecha=right, izquierda=left, caminar=to walk