So, I realized I never put a link for the pictures from Frank's visit. Here it is, and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FrankInChile#
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Beach!!!
On Saturday, the Iconography class at church took an outing to El Tabo beach. Even though I'm not in the class, I got invited to go by the other college students who are in the class. I'm really glad I did, too, because I had a great time.
We left Santiago early in the morning and got to the beach around 12:00. We had "breakfast" of hard boiled eggs, bread/butter, cake, and tea, and then took some time to walk around the beach and neighboring pueblo. I mostly hung out with my friend Marjorie, but also with Patricio and Natalia, two other choir friends. We got to play being 5 years old and splashing in the waves (even though it was only like 65 degrees), and then checked out some artesania in the pueblo. There were cool chimes and things made from sea shells and different statues and stuff all with beach themes.
After that, we had a late lunch (around 3) of chicken, a variety of salads, French fries, and rice, all topped off with ice cream and tea for desert. From there, more walking and picture taking along the beach until sunset (which I do have pictures of this time), when we headed back for the bus for the two hour ride home. All in all, it was very tranquilo as they say here, but a great way to get to know people better, relax, and just have fun.
Pictures are up and running here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TallerDeIconografiaEnLaPlaya#
We left Santiago early in the morning and got to the beach around 12:00. We had "breakfast" of hard boiled eggs, bread/butter, cake, and tea, and then took some time to walk around the beach and neighboring pueblo. I mostly hung out with my friend Marjorie, but also with Patricio and Natalia, two other choir friends. We got to play being 5 years old and splashing in the waves (even though it was only like 65 degrees), and then checked out some artesania in the pueblo. There were cool chimes and things made from sea shells and different statues and stuff all with beach themes.
After that, we had a late lunch (around 3) of chicken, a variety of salads, French fries, and rice, all topped off with ice cream and tea for desert. From there, more walking and picture taking along the beach until sunset (which I do have pictures of this time), when we headed back for the bus for the two hour ride home. All in all, it was very tranquilo as they say here, but a great way to get to know people better, relax, and just have fun.
Pictures are up and running here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TallerDeIconografiaEnLaPlaya#
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Frank's Visit - Day 5
Sadly, we have come to the last day :( Monday morning, I picked up Frank and we checked out of the hostel. From there, we traveled to the center of Santiago to see La Moneda, the presidential palace. As luck would have it, we caught a military parade and learned that in an hour, the president of Hungary would be visiting and we would get to see the president of Chile as well. To kill time, we visited an exhibit about Arica (a town in northern Chile that I will be visiting in October), which was very informative and cool. After we finished that, we ran back to the palace just in time to see La Presidenta greet the president of Hungary and walk into La Moneda. Very cool! I don't think I've even seen the US president in person, so I was pretty excited. After that, we went to Domino's one last time for lunch. It was wonderful, as usual.
After lunch, we visited Cerro Santa Lucia, the place where the city of Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia. It was my first time there as well, and it was very beautiful. It was just nice to walk around, and we found a tour guide in one of the stray dogs who literally led us around the park (there's a picture coming). From there, we picked up Frank's luggage and headed to the airport. It was a sad parting, but we had great memories from this weekend and are happy that we are half way done!
After lunch, we visited Cerro Santa Lucia, the place where the city of Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia. It was my first time there as well, and it was very beautiful. It was just nice to walk around, and we found a tour guide in one of the stray dogs who literally led us around the park (there's a picture coming). From there, we picked up Frank's luggage and headed to the airport. It was a sad parting, but we had great memories from this weekend and are happy that we are half way done!
Frank's Visit - Day 4
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, and I picked Frank up to go to church at 10:45 (he also thought sleeping in on Sundays was a cool idea). We got to church, and Frank got to meet Fr. Francisco. We had matins at 11, and about half way through, Christine, the choir director, thought Frank's singing was so good, she recruited him to sing the rest of the service in the choir. Considering it was all in Spanish, Frank did a great job. Liturgy was beautiful as well, and at the end Fr. Francisco gave a very warm welcome to Frank and congratulated us on our upcoming wedding. Following Liturgy, we spent a little bit of time talking afterward, and then headed to lunch at Gatsby's, a nice restaurant near the church, and had buffet. After lunch, we went to the National History Museum and learned about the history of Chile from pre-Hispanic indigenous peoples to the coup of 1973. All in all, it was a very informative trip.
After that, we took a short detour to my house to charge my phone and discovered that restaurants do not usually open for dinner on Sundays (who'd a thought, right?). We did manage to find a restaurant open next to Frank's hostel, and we were very pleased with our choice. That was pretty much our day on Sunday, and we were both exhausted at that point, so we went home to bed.
After that, we took a short detour to my house to charge my phone and discovered that restaurants do not usually open for dinner on Sundays (who'd a thought, right?). We did manage to find a restaurant open next to Frank's hostel, and we were very pleased with our choice. That was pretty much our day on Sunday, and we were both exhausted at that point, so we went home to bed.
Frank's Visit - Day 3
Saturday, we got to sleep in a little bit. I went to pick up Frank around 8:30, and we headed to Cerro San Cristobal, a large and beautiful park in Santiago. As the teleferico (cable car thingy) didn't open until 10, we took our time exploring the Japanese garden and talking. My camera decided to work again, so we have pictures of that. We then bought our tickets to the teleferico, and took our first ride up the hill. About half way, we stopped and got off to explore Jardin Gabriela Mistral, which is like a huge playground. We walked around that for a while, and then continued up the hill. We stopped for a quick snack of ensalada de palta (avocado!!) and drinks, and then hiked up the last leg of the hill to see the statue of the Virgin Mary of Santiago. From the top, we could see all of Santiago, which was breathtaking. We then headed to the artisan fair and bought souvenirs :) Took the teleferico back down the hill to the bottom, and set off walking to the metro, which we took back to Providencia for lunch. We decided to try Domino, a famous hot dog place. After Frank's first vienessa Dinamica (a hot dog smothered in avocado, mayonnaise, tomatoes, green salsa, and Americana [which we're still not 100% sure what it is, but it has something to do with carrots]), he was in love and had to have another one, a desire which was shortly granted. We also enjoyed two large glasses of pineapple juice, which consists solely of juiced pineapple - amazing! After lunch, back to the Santiago version of Bravissimo for ice cream (just a chocolate cone this time), and then to the grocery store for party snacks. We headed over to church where the iconography class was throwing a Fiestas Patrias party, so we brought our snacks to that. Frank got a chance to meet a few of my friends there, and we had a good time talking and watching some of the students dance cueca (I even got a chance to try!). Then it was dinner time!! For nostalgia's sake, we opted for sushi (pronounced "suchi" here) and headed to this place one of the lady's at church recommended - great idea! The restaurant had just opened, so we were the only one's there, and the food was to die for. The best sushi we had ever had! And plenty of it! Then it was back to bed to rest up before church on Sunday.
Fiestas Patrias and Frank's visit - Day 2
Soooo....
Friday morning, Frank was a great sport and got up to meet me at 7:30am! Unfortunately, what we didn't realize was that the metro didn't open until 8:00. Oops. So, we caught a cab to the bus depot where we caught the 8:30 bus to Vina del Mar, a beautiful Chilean coastal city. After the two hour bus ride, we narrowly managed to dodge salesmen selling tours and decided that walking at our own pace was more what we wanted for the day. So, we headed out to a museum on Easter Island; unfortunately, due to the national holiday (Armed Forces Day), it was closed :( However, we did get some cool pictures in front of the moai statue - the big heads from Easter Island. From there, we walked around the city, getting to see some cool castles and a bay where the river and the ocean meet - I thought that was really cool! Took some pictures, and then headed downtown for lunch. We stopped at this great Chilean bistro and got to try some of Vina's famous shellfish plus empanadas, palta (avocado), and sopaipillas. Afterwards, headed to Bravissimo for ice cream and split a HUGE chocolate sundae. After enjoying our dessert, we took a leisurely stroll to the beach :) The weather was cool (like 75), but I changed into my swim suit anyway after managing to soak my jeans from a stray wave that was a lot bigger than it looked while trying to wet my feet. Took turns sun basking and walking in the water, and then just relaxed and watched the little kids flying kites on the beach (note to self: will learn to do that one day). We then got to watch some people make sand sculptures, which was pretty impressive, and then changed clothes. Must make a note here: Frank was the hero of the day and went back to the dressing room, by himself, to ask the changing room attendant, in Spanish, to let him in and find my sunglasses...what a brave guy! From the beach, we went to dinner at a restaurant that advertised "More than 40 flavors of empanadas" which we thought was really funny, because when we counted how many flavors they had, they had 41. From there, we started heading back to the bus depot via the beach and got a chance to watch the sun set over the ocean. Truly a gorgeous site that I will never forget. Unfortunately, no pictures because my camera had decided to fizzle out by this point. So, back to the bus depot and the 2 hour ride back. Then, I dropped Frank off at the hostel and headed home to sleep and get ready for Saturday.
Friday morning, Frank was a great sport and got up to meet me at 7:30am! Unfortunately, what we didn't realize was that the metro didn't open until 8:00. Oops. So, we caught a cab to the bus depot where we caught the 8:30 bus to Vina del Mar, a beautiful Chilean coastal city. After the two hour bus ride, we narrowly managed to dodge salesmen selling tours and decided that walking at our own pace was more what we wanted for the day. So, we headed out to a museum on Easter Island; unfortunately, due to the national holiday (Armed Forces Day), it was closed :( However, we did get some cool pictures in front of the moai statue - the big heads from Easter Island. From there, we walked around the city, getting to see some cool castles and a bay where the river and the ocean meet - I thought that was really cool! Took some pictures, and then headed downtown for lunch. We stopped at this great Chilean bistro and got to try some of Vina's famous shellfish plus empanadas, palta (avocado), and sopaipillas. Afterwards, headed to Bravissimo for ice cream and split a HUGE chocolate sundae. After enjoying our dessert, we took a leisurely stroll to the beach :) The weather was cool (like 75), but I changed into my swim suit anyway after managing to soak my jeans from a stray wave that was a lot bigger than it looked while trying to wet my feet. Took turns sun basking and walking in the water, and then just relaxed and watched the little kids flying kites on the beach (note to self: will learn to do that one day). We then got to watch some people make sand sculptures, which was pretty impressive, and then changed clothes. Must make a note here: Frank was the hero of the day and went back to the dressing room, by himself, to ask the changing room attendant, in Spanish, to let him in and find my sunglasses...what a brave guy! From the beach, we went to dinner at a restaurant that advertised "More than 40 flavors of empanadas" which we thought was really funny, because when we counted how many flavors they had, they had 41. From there, we started heading back to the bus depot via the beach and got a chance to watch the sun set over the ocean. Truly a gorgeous site that I will never forget. Unfortunately, no pictures because my camera had decided to fizzle out by this point. So, back to the bus depot and the 2 hour ride back. Then, I dropped Frank off at the hostel and headed home to sleep and get ready for Saturday.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Fiestas Patrias and Frank's visit - Day 1
From September 18-21, Chile celebrates its day of independence, when the first meeting of patriots met to plan their separation from Spain in 1810. I had the great blessing (and it truly was a blessing) to spend my first Fiestas Patrias with my fiance, Frank, who came to visit me for this weekend. Since he was only here for five days, we tried hard to accomplish many things in a very short period of time. Thus, there is lots to write (and lots to read). As it is getting late (12:30 already) I will limit this post just to our first day. Pictures will also be coming soon (naturally).
Thursday, my host sister Sandy and I got up early and drove to the airport to pick up Frank. After a little scurrying around, we finally found him. It was so great to see each other after so many months. We left the airport and drove Frank to the hostel where he would be staying the next couple of days. The hostel is run by Don Ignacio and attended to by my host mom, Veronica. It is a small, but comfortable converted house in the comuna of Providencia, one metro stop away from the church and about a half an hour bus ride from my house (in other words, really convenient). After unpacking and resting for a bit, I took Frank to my host family's house where we had a huge lunch to celebrate 18 (dieciocho). We had steak, rice, potato salad, a variety of other salads, and dessert of fruit and cream, all washed down with Gato Negro red wine (it comes in a box, but is actually very good). After a post-lunch nap, Frank and I headed to the Providencia Fonda, which is basically a huge fair set up to celebrate dieciocho. There were different stands with traditional Chilean games, such as climbing a greased pole, something similar to bocci, and kite flying; a zoo with native Chilean animals, including llamas; clowns and a circus; exhibits from different parts of Chile showing traditional housing and artifacts; live music and dancing, including a cueca competition (cueca is the national dance of Chile and is supposed to simulate the rooster chasing the hen; it is actually very pretty to watch, but very difficult to do); and, of course, food. We tried the traditional Chilean combo of chica and empanadas, and then spent the evening browsing the artesan tables and looking at hand made jewerly, clothing figurines, etc. After that, it was back to the hostel for a good night's sleep for Frank, and back home for me to get ready for Friday - a trip to Vina del Mar!
Thursday, my host sister Sandy and I got up early and drove to the airport to pick up Frank. After a little scurrying around, we finally found him. It was so great to see each other after so many months. We left the airport and drove Frank to the hostel where he would be staying the next couple of days. The hostel is run by Don Ignacio and attended to by my host mom, Veronica. It is a small, but comfortable converted house in the comuna of Providencia, one metro stop away from the church and about a half an hour bus ride from my house (in other words, really convenient). After unpacking and resting for a bit, I took Frank to my host family's house where we had a huge lunch to celebrate 18 (dieciocho). We had steak, rice, potato salad, a variety of other salads, and dessert of fruit and cream, all washed down with Gato Negro red wine (it comes in a box, but is actually very good). After a post-lunch nap, Frank and I headed to the Providencia Fonda, which is basically a huge fair set up to celebrate dieciocho. There were different stands with traditional Chilean games, such as climbing a greased pole, something similar to bocci, and kite flying; a zoo with native Chilean animals, including llamas; clowns and a circus; exhibits from different parts of Chile showing traditional housing and artifacts; live music and dancing, including a cueca competition (cueca is the national dance of Chile and is supposed to simulate the rooster chasing the hen; it is actually very pretty to watch, but very difficult to do); and, of course, food. We tried the traditional Chilean combo of chica and empanadas, and then spent the evening browsing the artesan tables and looking at hand made jewerly, clothing figurines, etc. After that, it was back to the hostel for a good night's sleep for Frank, and back home for me to get ready for Friday - a trip to Vina del Mar!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
New Picture Links
So, I did hear some complaints about the previous snapfish links for my Chile pictures (I didn't realize you had to have an account to see them). So, I uploaded the pictures to Google Picasa, which (hopefully) should be easier to use. Here are the links to those albums:
Parish Feast Day: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FiestaPatronalYAniversario#
San Pedro de Atacama: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/SanPedroDeAtacama#
Museo de Bellas Artes: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/BellasArtes#
Cerro San Cristobal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/CerroSanCristobal#
Teatro Municipal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TeatroMunicipal#
Enjoy!
Parish Feast Day: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FiestaPatronalYAniversario#
San Pedro de Atacama: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/SanPedroDeAtacama#
Museo de Bellas Artes: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/BellasArtes#
Cerro San Cristobal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/CerroSanCristobal#
Teatro Municipal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TeatroMunicipal#
Enjoy!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Church pictures
Here's the link to some pictures from last Sunday. Enjoy!
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=243100835/a=30405193_30405193/t_=30405193
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=243100835/a=30405193_30405193/t_=30405193
Church goings on
So, I'm realizing that a large chunk of my time here in Chile (especially on the weekends) has been spent in church, so I thought I'd dedicate this post to some of the activities I participate in and some of the people I have met at La parroquia de la Santisima Virgen Maria (parish of the Holy Virgin Mary).
Fr. Francisco and Lorena have been extremely wonderful. They always greet me warmly every time I come, and I've been over their house a few times just to visit as well. It's really nice to have them so close.
Last Friday night, I went out for a carrete (party) with the youth group/iconography class at church. We went to a disco close to the church and spent the night (yes, the whole night...1am) dancing (don't worry, no alcoholic drinks were involved...just good clean fun). After that, we went over one of the girls' apartments, sang Chilean folk music, and talked about church, religion, high school (that was funny), etc. until about 5am. Then we all went home.
On Saturday night, I sang with the choir for a wedding. The bride was actually Catholic, so there were a few Catholicisms evident, but all in all it was very nice. The music came out beautifully, I feel, and I even got to help sing Rimsky-Korsakov's "Our Father" in parts (yeah, Russian music with Spanish words is truly a multi-cultural experience).
Sunday was the parish's anniversary/feast day celebration. Bishop Sergio of Chile celebrated liturgy with Fr. Francisco and Fr. ?? (the other priest whose name I can never remember), and that also came out very nice. I videotaped parts of it, and hopefully I will be able to put all the pieces together and upload it for those of you who are interested. Afterwards, we had an "agape" which consisted of lots and lots of Arabic food and sweets :) Yum!
Wednesday, I went to liturgy again, and got to read the Epistle (again). I enjoy reading, but lets just say that some of them are more difficult than others...yeah, Wednesday's was one of those. But, I was told it all came out well, even though I think I only understood about 75% of what I was reading (not my favorite way to do things, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do). It was also funny, because prior to the service, Christine (the choir director from Pittsburgh) and I were talking (in Spanish) about different things and Fr. Francisco walked in and was like, "You guys talk in Spanish to each other?" and when we said yes, he shook his head and said (in English) "Lord have mercy". Not sure what that necessarily means, but I thought it was funny.
So, a run down of the people I hang out with at church:
Marjorie - history major that goes to my University and is getting chrismated tomorrow (yay!!)
Patricio - law student who sings in the choir and rides my bus home with me on Sundays (and makes sure I get off at the right stop, because I have a tendency to pass it)
Roberto - guy who sings in the choir and helps out all the time around church
Christine - choir director and wife of the iconography teacher, Geronimo
There are other people too, but these are the main ones.
On another note:
So, I got my poetry test back and I got a 5.9, which is about a B+, so I'm pretty happy about it (it was a tough test). Still waiting for the anthro test. Starting to work on an essay for history and education, and hoping that all works out.
I also visited the Museum of Pre-colombian Art, which was wonderful! I'm totally going back and buying souvenirs. It was an ex-anthro major's dream come true :)
Anyway, that's about it from here. I miss you all, and love receiving emails, facebook posts, etc. I sent out one batch of postcards, and others will be coming soon. Love you all!
Fr. Francisco and Lorena have been extremely wonderful. They always greet me warmly every time I come, and I've been over their house a few times just to visit as well. It's really nice to have them so close.
Last Friday night, I went out for a carrete (party) with the youth group/iconography class at church. We went to a disco close to the church and spent the night (yes, the whole night...1am) dancing (don't worry, no alcoholic drinks were involved...just good clean fun). After that, we went over one of the girls' apartments, sang Chilean folk music, and talked about church, religion, high school (that was funny), etc. until about 5am. Then we all went home.
On Saturday night, I sang with the choir for a wedding. The bride was actually Catholic, so there were a few Catholicisms evident, but all in all it was very nice. The music came out beautifully, I feel, and I even got to help sing Rimsky-Korsakov's "Our Father" in parts (yeah, Russian music with Spanish words is truly a multi-cultural experience).
Sunday was the parish's anniversary/feast day celebration. Bishop Sergio of Chile celebrated liturgy with Fr. Francisco and Fr. ?? (the other priest whose name I can never remember), and that also came out very nice. I videotaped parts of it, and hopefully I will be able to put all the pieces together and upload it for those of you who are interested. Afterwards, we had an "agape" which consisted of lots and lots of Arabic food and sweets :) Yum!
Wednesday, I went to liturgy again, and got to read the Epistle (again). I enjoy reading, but lets just say that some of them are more difficult than others...yeah, Wednesday's was one of those. But, I was told it all came out well, even though I think I only understood about 75% of what I was reading (not my favorite way to do things, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do). It was also funny, because prior to the service, Christine (the choir director from Pittsburgh) and I were talking (in Spanish) about different things and Fr. Francisco walked in and was like, "You guys talk in Spanish to each other?" and when we said yes, he shook his head and said (in English) "Lord have mercy". Not sure what that necessarily means, but I thought it was funny.
So, a run down of the people I hang out with at church:
Marjorie - history major that goes to my University and is getting chrismated tomorrow (yay!!)
Patricio - law student who sings in the choir and rides my bus home with me on Sundays (and makes sure I get off at the right stop, because I have a tendency to pass it)
Roberto - guy who sings in the choir and helps out all the time around church
Christine - choir director and wife of the iconography teacher, Geronimo
There are other people too, but these are the main ones.
On another note:
So, I got my poetry test back and I got a 5.9, which is about a B+, so I'm pretty happy about it (it was a tough test). Still waiting for the anthro test. Starting to work on an essay for history and education, and hoping that all works out.
I also visited the Museum of Pre-colombian Art, which was wonderful! I'm totally going back and buying souvenirs. It was an ex-anthro major's dream come true :)
Anyway, that's about it from here. I miss you all, and love receiving emails, facebook posts, etc. I sent out one batch of postcards, and others will be coming soon. Love you all!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Long time no post / San Pedro Part 2
Hey everyone!! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Things here have started getting really busy!!
Ok, so let's continue the San Pedro story...
Saturday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out to the Salar de Atacama, which is this big salt flat. After learning about the ecology behind the salar, its biodiversity, and some geological facts, we got a chance to wander around and shoot pictures of the awesome scenery and, yes...flamingos!!! Who'd a thought that there would be flamingos in one of the world's driest deserts? But there are!
After that, we made a pit stop in Tocanao, a pueblo that is heavily influenced by its primarily aymara residents. We got to see artisan shops, a llama, and a church that showed a very interesting fusion of Catholic and indigenous practices.
We ate lunch back in San Pedro, and then headed back out into the desert for a trip to Death Valley and Valle de la Luna (valley of the moon). The scenery was breathtaking (see below for link to pictures)!! We climbed la Luna (a big sand dune) just in time to watch the sun set...and for things to get REALLY cold!
After that, we headed back to San Pedro for dinner and sleep.
The plan for Sunday was to wake up at 4:00am and travel to some really famous geysers. Unfortunately, at 4:00am on Sunday, I woke up with a 102 fever. Needless to say, I spent that day sleeping and trying to recover for our 3:00pm flight back to Santiago. Hence, no pictures. Good news is everyone I talked to who did go said it was incredibly freezing and not all that exciting, so I didn't miss to much. Better news is I got better and made it home to Santiago in one piece :)
Classes have been going well...won't bore you with the day by day details. I took a test in Poesia Chilena and another one in Antropologia. I feel pretty good about them, but will have to wait to find out my grades. This last week, I went to a seminar with my education class on the current state of Chile's educational system. It was incredibly interesting and I learned a great deal.
I have started volunteering with the church's youth group at a local girls' shelter - el Hogar de Ninas. It's a lovely set up, and the girls are incredibly loving. I spend time playing with different girls and helping them with homework. This last Thursday, the directors of the Hogar put on a party for the girls complete with clown (payasita) and games. The girls all had a great time, topped off by completos (hot dogs loaded with ketchup, mustard, mayo, guacamole, and tomatoes).
On Thursday night I also went to a cueca class. Cueca (not salsa, unfortunately) is the national dance of Chile, and our whole exchange group got a chance to learn the various steps involved. It's a lot harder than salsa...bummer! All in all, we had a good time, and finished it up with empanadas and strawberry wine (yum!)
Tonight, I'm hoping to get together with some of the college students from church to go out for drinks and fellowship. I'm starting to make good friends with one of the girls there who also happens to go to my school. We've gotten to hang out a few times already. Tomorrow night I get to sing with the choir for a wedding, which I'm really looking forward to. And to top the weekend off, Sunday is the parish's anniversary/patronal feast day, celebrating 30 years. The bishop will be serving, and I'm hoping to videotape the service (for those of you who are interested).
I think that catches me up, and I hope to be better this week about writing. As promised, here's the link to the San Pedro pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=242897504/a=30405193_30405193/t_=30405193
Ok, so let's continue the San Pedro story...
Saturday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out to the Salar de Atacama, which is this big salt flat. After learning about the ecology behind the salar, its biodiversity, and some geological facts, we got a chance to wander around and shoot pictures of the awesome scenery and, yes...flamingos!!! Who'd a thought that there would be flamingos in one of the world's driest deserts? But there are!
After that, we made a pit stop in Tocanao, a pueblo that is heavily influenced by its primarily aymara residents. We got to see artisan shops, a llama, and a church that showed a very interesting fusion of Catholic and indigenous practices.
We ate lunch back in San Pedro, and then headed back out into the desert for a trip to Death Valley and Valle de la Luna (valley of the moon). The scenery was breathtaking (see below for link to pictures)!! We climbed la Luna (a big sand dune) just in time to watch the sun set...and for things to get REALLY cold!
After that, we headed back to San Pedro for dinner and sleep.
The plan for Sunday was to wake up at 4:00am and travel to some really famous geysers. Unfortunately, at 4:00am on Sunday, I woke up with a 102 fever. Needless to say, I spent that day sleeping and trying to recover for our 3:00pm flight back to Santiago. Hence, no pictures. Good news is everyone I talked to who did go said it was incredibly freezing and not all that exciting, so I didn't miss to much. Better news is I got better and made it home to Santiago in one piece :)
Classes have been going well...won't bore you with the day by day details. I took a test in Poesia Chilena and another one in Antropologia. I feel pretty good about them, but will have to wait to find out my grades. This last week, I went to a seminar with my education class on the current state of Chile's educational system. It was incredibly interesting and I learned a great deal.
I have started volunteering with the church's youth group at a local girls' shelter - el Hogar de Ninas. It's a lovely set up, and the girls are incredibly loving. I spend time playing with different girls and helping them with homework. This last Thursday, the directors of the Hogar put on a party for the girls complete with clown (payasita) and games. The girls all had a great time, topped off by completos (hot dogs loaded with ketchup, mustard, mayo, guacamole, and tomatoes).
On Thursday night I also went to a cueca class. Cueca (not salsa, unfortunately) is the national dance of Chile, and our whole exchange group got a chance to learn the various steps involved. It's a lot harder than salsa...bummer! All in all, we had a good time, and finished it up with empanadas and strawberry wine (yum!)
Tonight, I'm hoping to get together with some of the college students from church to go out for drinks and fellowship. I'm starting to make good friends with one of the girls there who also happens to go to my school. We've gotten to hang out a few times already. Tomorrow night I get to sing with the choir for a wedding, which I'm really looking forward to. And to top the weekend off, Sunday is the parish's anniversary/patronal feast day, celebrating 30 years. The bishop will be serving, and I'm hoping to videotape the service (for those of you who are interested).
I think that catches me up, and I hope to be better this week about writing. As promised, here's the link to the San Pedro pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=242897504/a=30405193_30405193/t_=30405193
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