Decemblog

Ok. So a lot has happened since the last entry. But then again, when has that not been the case? The good news is that I’m writing this in Word before posting it on the internet. That means correct punctuation for once! Woooo!`

At any rate, a lot has happened this December and now it’s time to break it down into main points. This will not be a standard blow-by-blow of what has happened as I feel that is somewhat impossible at the moment. Rather, there are a few things from December that are noteworthy.

First up, I went back to Argentina for not one but two destinations in mind.

One of which was Puerto Iguazu which is really the gateway town to Iguazu Falls. The only notable thing we did there was go on a wildlife reserve tour of a bunch of birds that were endangered. It was cute but we were really there to see Iguazu Falls.

The park was magical. The entire time I was there all I heard was the rush of thousands of gallons of water at all times. Some wildlife too. We saw these crazy things called Coati that would come right up to people and eat their food if they happened to be snacking on something. They looked kind of like a raccoon and an anteater combined. It was cute. The falls themselves were pretty awesome as well. We took a tour that led us through the jungle in this insane jeep thing to a port by the river. We got in a boat from there and drove right up to one of the waterfalls there. Once we drove under it, we became completely drenched. There was so much water there. It was like, so much water that you couldn’t hear. You couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even see Alice sitting next to me. It’s like water was dominating all of my senses in that moment. And not in the “crap! I’m drowning!” way but in the laugh-out-loud “this is so ridiculous. I can’t believe this is happening” way.

The park itself consisted of many different elevated pathways that swerved in and out of the jungle as well as over the rivers and falls themselves. We ended up taking a relaxing raft tour down one of the rivers. Our “guide” (if you want to call him that) didn’t really talk at all. He even slowly drifted the boat to one side of the river and we were like “what is he doing?” because he wasn’t explaining anything. Then all of a sudden we realized that there was a sleeping alligator there. Crazy! Oh. There were also like, a million billion zillion butterflies there… approximately. In one area they were all hovering around and it was just insane. Iguazu Falls was a trip to remember and I’m thoroughly glad I got to get there. And hey, that 18 hour overnight bus ride was not that bad at all and totally worth it.

The next place I went to for a few days was Buenos Aires. I figured if I’m in South America I might as well check out one of the most famous cities there. We went and got steak the first night we were there and they brought a tiny stove to the table so that if our meat got cold, we could rest it there and heat it up. So awesome. We spent most of the time there walking around the streets. There was a lot to see simply doing that. For example, there are many street performers in BA that do tango right on the street. We saw a few of those. Also, on that Sunday we went to a market in San Telmo. They were selling antique versions of pretty much anything you could think of. One night we went out to a Brazilian dance club. It sounded more exciting than it actually was. Let me put it this way: Brazilian dancers are way more talented than me, so I think that club mainly catered to them. Lastly, they have these cake things in Argentina called alfajors that are delicious. And of course, my preference is definitely the Oreo flavored alfajor. It’s like eating two double stuffed Oreos at once except it’s bigger. So good.

While in Buenos Aires, we took a side trip to see this place called El Tigre. This town was about a half hour train ride away from the city but it ended up taking us about 2 hours to get there total from Lonely Planet’s “recommended route” that involves not going to the bus station, but taking a specific train in the city. It sucked. Don’t ever do that train. Just do the bus station. Sometimes lonely planet is just plain wrong. As for El Tigre, it was somewhat notable. What ended up happening is we took a boat to a neighborhood that was located in an area with a lot of rivers. So everyone that had a house also had a dock. This area would have been a lot cooler if it wasn’t COMPLETELY in infested with mosquitoes. I didn’t get bit that much but Alice got rocked. She was slapping herself so much she looked like Michael Jackson. So yeah… noteworthy, but that’s about as cool as it gets.

Back in BA, we visited the zoo they had in the city and it was incredible. Easily the best zoo in South America and maybe one of my favorite zoos of all time. There were a lot of animals (duh) but also a lot of animals NOT in cages running around with people. I’m not even kidding when I say that dozens of jackrabbits, ducks and wombats accompany you through the park as you gaze at other creatures. It’s the cutest thing ever. They also sell this generic pellet animal feed. About half of the animals in this zoo can be fed. Sometimes it’s by putting the pellets on a little slide that goes into their cage but most can be fed directly through the cage itself! Once again, great zoo. Loved it.

We also managed to tour some fancy art museums and old buildings in the city as well as check out their cemetery. At the cemetery, we saw the grave for Evita. And SPEAKING of Evita, we also toured the… I think it’s called the “Casa Rosada”? sure. It’s like Argentina’s White House except it’s Pink and it is where Evita lived. That was pretty sweet. They also had a Japanese garden but if you ask me, the one in La Serena, Chile is way better. ANY ways, my overall impression of Buenos Aires is thus: it’s an awesome city with a lot to offer but it’s the most Americanized part of South America I’ve seen thus far. I heard so much English there and honestly, I hated it. Speak frickin Spanish, people. On the flipside of this, when you would try to speak Spanish you got mixed results. For example, in Chile if you try to do this they’re at least like “oh you’re trying to speak our language. That’s cute. Ok well I’ll help you out and be patient”. However, in Buenos Aires it’s more like “What? Speak up. Use correct connotation. I have no concept of main ideas. Speak correct Spanish or I’m done with you”. I liked Buenos Aires a LOT, but I definitely don’t want to live there. Ever.

I’m not sure if my hatred of the English language is an early sign of reverse culture shock or not. They say one of the symptoms is that you hate your culture of origin upon returning from a long stay in a foreign country. I could see that. I could definitely see myself going back to the U.S.A. and being like “Jesus all these people are loud and obnoxious. Hasn’t anyone ever heard of a little common courtesy?”. But I guess that’s both the appeal and the downside to Americans. Our right to free speech has made us speak as much as possible.

Between Buenos Aires and Christmas, I tutored a guy named Sergio for four straight days of intensive 6 hour classes prepping him for his TOEFL test. It was a lot of hard work but he managed to get his desired score and that was an amazing feeling. Probably one of the best feelings I’ve had teaching. After the class, we ended up hanging out a lot and he’s become a new friend of mine here. He always takes me to these crazy places to get food. In fact, while I was tutoring him, he bought me lunch one day at Club Providencia. It was this ridiculous meal called the “Escalopa Kaiser”. This is (and believe me, it’s true) steak stuffed with ham and cheese… wait for it… FRIED. It looks like a giant hash brown but it’s filled with essentially an entire dinner. I also had it “A La Pobre” because my student recommended that I do that so I had that meal on top of caramelized onions, fried eggs and French fries. It was delicious but I don’t think I’ll ever eat it again because it’s essentially like eating 2 meals.

Christmas was very relaxed. Alice and I exchanged gifts in the morning and had a movie marathon of “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “A Christmas Story”, “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation”, “A Christmas Carol” and “Love Actually”. I think we also watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special at one point that day. We also had some people over for dinner. We made spaghetti with homemade sauce and homemade garlic bread. They were both pretty big hits. We had Lemon pie for dessert. I can’t wait to go home and cook for my family/friends. Cooking has been a big part of my life this year and I’m ready to take it home.

New Year’s Eve, Alice and I went to Valparaiso. We had heard it was supposed to be “the best place in the world” for this specific holiday so we decided to give it a shot. Sure enough, it was. Although before celebrating, we took a bus to Vina Del Mar and hung out on the beach. I think this is the only time in my life I can say that I was sunbathing on New Year’s Eve. After about an hour or so of that, we hopped on a bus back to Valparaiso. Thousands of people were flooding the streets at night. We met up with some friends for the countdown. Once the clock hit midnight we were all instantly drenched in confetti, champagne and silly string from all directions. Suddenly, fireworks shot FROM THE WATER into the sky. We were luckily situated on the hill far from the rioting madness of downtown Valparaiso. This also meant that we had a spectacular view of this outstanding display of fireworks. Not only that, but if you looked down the shore, the other 8 or 9 towns you could see from our view point were ALSO doing this same thing. I have never experienced anything in my life quite like seeing 8 or 9 different fireworks displays happening at the same time all down the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Valparaiso is TRULY the best place to be in the world on New Year’s Eve.

Oh. also worth mentioning: it was a full moon. a full moon on New Year's Eve only happens once every 19 years. :)

The aftermath of the countdown was not that exciting. We would have stayed out and went clubbing (which we heard was essentially a shitshow) but we were tired and not dressed for the surprisingly cold weather. Our hostel was weird. We ended up sharing the room with a baby and her mother for a while (I’m not kidding). They eventually explained that the baby belonged to one of the owners of the hostel and there was nowhere else to put it, but it was still weird. And yes, of course, I got sunburned.

And that about covers December! If you want a preview of the next entry, let me just say that I’m writing this on a bus in Patagonia. Expect a similar “main ideas” entry in the next few weeks before I come back to the states. It will be my last blog entry in Chile as I come back to the U.S.A. on January 29^th (cue tiny violin). Until then… chau!

days and days of holidays

Ok. So I think the last time I updated this blog was when i got back from Peru. a LOT has happened since then. so let me break it down for you.

A short while after i got back from Peru, I saw Prodigy live. Prodigy is on my list of about 6 or 7 bands that i need to see live before i die so this particular night was particularly amazing. the show itself was good minus the sound quality of certain songs. i really wish i heard the synthesizers way more than i heard the drums and bass. but it was Prodigy. i don't think i could have asked for more. something really cool happened though after the show. i went by myself and was just hanging around the Teatro Caupolican when i noticed that there was an after party there. people were going in and out with wristbands. i really wanted to get into this party so i basically just waited around for someone to leave that didn't need their wristband any more. sure enough, someone did leave the party and sure enough, they gave me their wristband. i showed the security guy my band and i was in! there was a DJ spinning techno music and many people dancing. smoke and alcohol were everywhere. i didn't care about anything but the fact that i wanted to try to meet Prodigy. i asked a security guard where they were and in Spanish he said something along the lines of "dude, there's no way it's happening". so i just basically hung around and danced for a while. i actually ended up meeting some pretty cool Chileans that spoke English. we ended up sharing a cab together. one of the guys bought us all orange juice. they were really nice. overall, it was a pretty amazing night.

also, Halloween happened. alice and i wanted to dress up and go out somewhere but we didn't exactly figure out what we were going to be or where we were going to go until about 10pm on Halloween night. we had a bunch of ideas that got scrapped due to lack of materials available. we ended up being zombies and coloring our faces with black and red markers. but then we needed a place to go. we got invited to this Halloween party by one of Alice's friends but it ended up being really far away and inconvenient for us so we tried hitting up the Gringo bar. now, by the time we got there it was like 2am, so it was pretty packed with people that were dressed up. like, it was so packed that we couldn't get into it. so we met up with some other people that alice knew and ended up going to Subterraneo. this club (i think i've talked about it before), plays a lot of american pop and is pretty fun in general. and yes, we did hear "Thriller" that night so it was all worth it. again, it was a fun night.

alice had a few visitors in this past month. one of which was her friend Stephanie. the three of us ended up doing a lot of touristy things together all around Santiago. but one particularly notable weekend, we went to Valparaiso. why was it notable? because we took a harbor tour which we had never done before! now, let me explain something. this tour is not the most glamorous thing in the world. we paid i think like $3 for it and got shoved on a boat that barely held 30 people but somehow we squeezed like 45 on there. i honestly felt like the thing could capsize at any minute. the tour itself lasted about a half hour and we saw some decent things such as gigantic boats. the coolest thing we saw though were 2 sea lions chilling on a buoy. they were just napping and yawning. it was cool (see facebook for pictures). the only thing that really sucked about valpo that day was that i looked like a tomato afterward. i swear. i get sunburned so easily. and i'm pretty sure it was so bad that my skin bubbled a little. haven't gotten burnt that badly since the infamous 2nd degree sunburns from the River Rave in 2000. yeesh. let's move on, shall we?

you know what else? Thanksgiving happened. and i'm not talking some kind of measly like, only 2 or 3 dishes meal kind of Thanksgiving. no. this was like, extravagant. how did this happen, you ask? well, alice's friend katie invited us to her place for Thanksgiving dinner and every person made something traditional pot luck style. since about 20 people showed, the list of food available to everyone was kind of massive. there was turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, french onion dip, 2 kinds of salad, a potato salad and more for the actual dinner. for dessert someone made squash pie and i made chocolate covered apple slices (which people really liked). before we ate we even went individually all around the table saying what we were thankful for that year (predictably, a lot of people said "for being in Chile!"). i honestly couldn't believe i got to eat a REAL Thanksgiving dinner that year. it honestly blew my mind a little. it truly was a holiday to be thankful.

alice's cousin, Lindsey, visited too. so, once again, the three of us did the "tour of Santiago" walk. we also did some different things with Lindsey though. for example, we went out clubbing. we walked to bellavista and found this discoteca called "La Barra". since none of us had ever experienced this place before, we decided to check it out. we actually ended up getting in for free! probably because we were gringos. but still, usually at clubs if anyone gets in free it's only the ladies. but the bouncer guy was like "todos gratis" so we were just like "sweet" and headed in. the club was a hot sweaty mess with tons of people crammed into a small space. y'know... typical of Chile. the DJ played an incredibly diverse style of music for about a half hour (reggaeton, gangster rap, jock jams, punk) until some guys came out on stage to get the crowd moving. the way they did this was they would play songs and if you sang along to the songs really well, they would throw beer at you. like, full cans of beer. so ridiculous. so then once the hype guys left, the crowd was amped for more DJing. however, instead of more DJing, these two guys came out with ACCORDIONS and started playing cueca music!! in a discoteca!! how absolutely ridiculous is that? since i'm part polish and cueca music is basically like Chilean polka, i was kind of secretly loving it. but after enough time, this music gets repetitive. after about 45 minutes of accordion madness, we decided to peace out. since we got into that club for free, we decided that it would be reasonable for us to try getting into another discoteca (this was at like 4am). so we walked from bellavista to providencia (which takes about an hour) to go to... you guessed it... Subterraneo. unfortunately, it was closed! we were shocked as most discotecas in Santiago stay open until the wee hours of the morning. but whatever. we were exhausted any ways so no pasa nada.

also, while Lindsey was here, the three of us got invited to a soccer game by one of my students! it was Colo Colo versus La Serena. since it was a playoff game, it was kind of a big deal. Colo Colo are like the Yankees of soccer here because they win all the time and, because of this, most other people in Santiago hate them. i wasn't really rooting for either team but i didn't care because i was experiencing a soccer game in Chile. safety was the main concern that day. for example, from the car to the stadium, i was advised to not speak English. we were also advised to not wear blue or red and encouraged to wear black and white. i felt like i was in L.A. or something. luckily, my student bought me a Colo Colo hat which is like saying to everyone else, "don't beat this guy up". once in the stadium, our seats were in an incredibly safe section. i looked onto the other sections and it was like, madness. flares shooting. fireworks going. cheering and singing. people jumping everywhere. massive flags waving all over the place. i would have brought my camera if i wasn't afraid of it getting stolen from me. the game was a little boring. in the first half, no one scored. but in the second half, Colo Colo scored a goal and the place went apeshit. after that, the game was almost over so we tried to leave early and beat the crowd. we would have been successful if some asshole hadn't parked his truck behind our car in the parking lot. so we ended up waiting about a half hour for the game to end and sat through traffic any ways. i wasn't bothered by it considering it only took like a half hour for us to get back on the highway once we were going and, at a typical Patriots game, it takes at least 4 times that long to leave the stadium. so now i can say i've experienced a soccer game in South America. it was honestly pretty fun and i'd love to try to do it again.

those were the big events that happened lately. in between these events, i've been working my ass off trying to find classes. the 2 private classes i've had kind of fizzled out. one with a guy and one with a girl. the guy ended up being kind of lame. i would go to his house and he would call me a half hour after the time the class is supposed to start and tell me that he can't make it. since it's a big deal for me to go to his place because of sitting on the bus during rush hour traffic, i told him that if this happened again, he would have to pay for the class any ways. then for a long time he didn't contact me about classes. i kept bugging him and eventually he said he was going to cancel the classes because he got a new job that involved him moving to the south of Chile. wonderful. the other private class i have with the girl also got canceled. she just found out that she's pregnant like, 4 weeks ago and has been getting ready for that. unfortunately, with the pregnancy comes morning sickness. and for her, it's more like "24 hours a day sickness". which translates to her being too sick to have English class at all. of course i understand but still... there goes my source of weekly income.

it hasn't ALL been bad though. i was incredibly lucky this past month and picked up a teaching gig through polyglot that involved prepping this student for the TOEFL test for 4 days for 6 hours per day. that class essentially paid my rent for this month. the class itself was actually pretty rewarding, too. he said he went into the test feeling confident and that it was not hard. he was so thankful for it, he invited me, alice and lindsey to the aforementioned soccer game. also, while i was helping him, he treated me to lunch for 3 of the 4 days i taught him. we ate every day at this fancy restaurant that was a 4 minute walk from his depto called "Club Providencia". i ended up eating a churrasco con queso which was a lot like a steak and cheese sub. i also had this absolutely insane thing one day called the "Escalopa Kaiser A Lo Pobre". check this out: this thing was ham, cheese and steak all breaded and fried into one solid thing. and it was ON TOP OF two eggs cooked sunny side up, caramelized onions and fries. if Chile has taught me anything, it's how to clog my arteries as fast as possible.

so that class was good. but then the other 2 classes i have with polyglot ended. and since i'm leaving at the end of December, it's been even MORE difficult to find classes. i've even tried other forms of getting money quickly. i heard about this "cultural training" class where i would go in, answer questions about the United States and get paid like $500 for it but that fell through. then, after posting something on vivastreet (Chile's version of craigslist), i got contacted by someone telling me about an audition for a commercial. she said they were looking for gringos so i was like "sweet! this will be great!". i get to the audition and everyone else there looks like a supermodel. "huh. that's weird." i thought. "well i bet i speak English better than these people do so that should give me an advantage" and i was half right. all of the people there either didn't have English as their first language or butchered it significantly. but after waiting 2 hours at the audition, i went in and was ready. i was instructed to turn left, turn right, face forward, and smile. and that was it. no speaking at all. so my English was actually NOT an advantage and the audition was solely based on appearance. and since there were like 50 people when i went, that can only mean that a few hundred people at least are auditioning for this. all of which look like Calvin Klein models. so yeah. probably not going to get this part.

i knew this last stretch would be kind of lacking in the financial department. i guess i just didn't count on the private classes getting canceled permanently. oh well. at least today i'm paying my rent for the last time ever in Chile so that's exciting. also, at the end of this month i get my security deposit back and i get paid a probably measly check from polyglot so i'll have SOME cash coming my way.

there are also things to look forward to. i mean, the reason i'm updating this blog is because basically a lot of crazy stuff is about to happen in the next 2 weeks. on Monday, alice and i are leaving for Buenos Aires and staying until December 16th. while there, we're taking 2 separate 18 hour bus rides to and from Iguazu Falls. so to say i'll have a lot to write about afterward would be a pretty big understatement.

oh and did i mention that this weekend we might buy our plane tickets for January's trip to the south of Chile which will be more than double the length of our trip to Buenos Aires? and that we're still planning on going to Valparaiso for New Year's Eve which i've heard is "the best place in the world on new year's eve" according to my Chilean room mate who has traveled all around the world? well those are also happening, if you're keeping track. i think my life will just gradually get more insane right up until the day i leave to fly back to the U.S.A..

...

damn. i fly back to the U.S.A. in less than 2 months. jesus. that blows my mind.

...

at any rate, for those that are still reading i would like to say thanks for being so immensely curious about my life and you should probably get your eyes examined from looking at a computer screen for this long. i will update again in about 2 weeks before i travel to valpo for new year's and the south for January. until then, chau and que te vaya bien.

Fam, Bam, Thank you, Ma'am

WELL THEN. this blog definitely deserves an update after what just went down in this past week or so. you see, i was recently lucky enough to be graced by the presence of Marcy and William Timothy Rose. Together, we had a blast running all around Santiago and then traveling to Peru! what follows is a not-so-brief-but-probably-still-brief account of absolutely everything we did (or at least everything i remember). without further ado, let's get to it!

my mom and dad arrived on a Saturday at around 9am. i opted to meet them at their hotel since they had a ridiculously early arrival. it was SO GOOD to see a familiar face. i mean sure Alice has been here this entire time and i at one point saw Aaron Goodman but no one from my burlington home or anything. it was excellent. i love them. they were exhausted but wanted to walk around so we went to my departamento and i showed them where i live. after that, they were hungry so we walked down the street to Domino and had our first typical Chilean meal which consisted of Completo Italianos and Completo Dinamicas. they marveled at the amount of avocado on their respective dogs and i simply said it was only the beginning. after a hearty and filling meal my parents (as they typically do), took naps. both because the meal was filling and that they'd just flown a good 18 or so hours. so we took that short break for a while.

later in the day before the sun went down we took the metro to Quinta Normal and i showed them all around the park. we even saw parts of the park that i had never seen before. they were still pretty beat but i think they enjoyed seeing all the museos and little kids in that area. after that it was a very short walk to Peluqueria Francesa (the barbershop converted into a restaurant) and had dinner there. dad and i got some sandwiches with black olives, palta, tomato, and i think turkey? my mom got an ensalada and a crepe filled with crab meat (per my recommendation). while eating we talked about toilet paper in the wastebasket and other Chilean quirks. once we finished we walked home. on the way back to my depto we saw a man juggling sticks of fire in the street. earlier in the day we saw another guy juggling cleavers. welcome to chile, guys. for dessert we went to Bravissimo and my parents had helados there. my mom tried a manjar flavored one and loved it. glad they got to see the ice cream store because it's a huge part of my existence in Chile. they passed out very shortly after arriving back at their hotel. i went back to my depto and did the same.

the next day was our first big giant day of Chile. we got up early and i met them at the hotel. they were now fully rested which was good because this day was going to be a full fledged day of walking. we began by taking the metro to La Vega. basically because i needed food and wanted to show them the giganticly awesome market there. while there, i bought green peppers, red peppers, carrots, cereal, pasta, apples and oranges. typical day at La Vega and a totally successful trip. it clocked in at just under an hour so i took this opportunity to show them Bio Bio. this is the market that's like La Vega except instead of food, it just has stuff. since it was only open on saturday and sunday i felt like i had to take this opportunity. while there we bought some clothes for Chelsea which, i gotta say, are pretty bad ass. also, they're from Chile so now she's got a good story to go with it. we also glanced at some furniture and laughed at how Bio Bio has the most random shit ever like blender parts, spider man coloring books and guns (all within about 10 feet of each other).

after Bio Bio, we were very close to Palacio Cousino so i decided to show them that place. we took a really quick tour of the richest house in Chile and, as i suspected, my parents absolutely loved it. if you think I take a lot of pictures when i travel, you should see theirs! at least double. but yeah. they loved it. once we finished that tour it was getting close to lunch time so we went to an empanada stand that was very close to Palacio Cousino and my parents had their first empanadas. we all went with napolitana style ones and we all got postres afterward. so delicious. it was also a beautiful day. did i mention how lucky we were with weather? the only thing that was kind of weird was that a homeless guy threw a cup of coffee at a car while we were eating. he didn't bother us but he looked crazy. at any rate, once we were done eating we continued our journey.

we were very close to this awesome walkway that led back into central Santiago (we were in the southern part). we passed many fountains and spotted a lot of typical beautiful graffiti in Santiago. i chose this particular walkway because it led to La Moneda. my parents were pleasantly surprised to learn that Chile's president is a woman. they took many pictures of the yard in front of and behind the building. we took a quick trip to the Bano in the Museo attached to La Moneda and went on our way. i led them down Paseo Ahumado to Plaza De Armas. luckily, the giant amazing church was open so we went inside and looked around in there a little bit. grandiose catholic stuff. y'know. typical church with amazing artwork. i knew my mom would like it because of her catholic past. she did. after Plaza De Armas we took a quick walk to Bellas Artes. since the entry to this museo is free on sundays, we took a tour. it wasn't anything new for me but my parents loved the artwork and sculptures there. there was a cool multi-media presentation of the universe there.

after our afternoon tour of Santiago's sites, we decided to try to get up Cerro San Cristobal to watch the sunset. we hopped in a cab to get to Bellavista. cabs are such an insane concept to me in this city. mainly because they cost an arm and a leg and i'm all about saving money here. but my parents didn't mind and they could use the break from walking. i felt bad because i felt like i was marching them through this city without breaks. but in the end, they did see a lot so overall i'm happy about it. in bellavista we recharged our batteries by getting some coffee. at this point, Alice called my cell phone and invited us over to her place for once. we graciously ditched the San Cristobal idea (it was cloudy any ways), bought some bread and headed over to Alice's. she made us some palta and we spread it on bread. it was delicious. she told us all about her trip to Cajon De Maipo which i'm not going to elaborate about here but let me just say that it was not so excellent. after once, we decided to try and hit up the Peruvian place on Manuel Montt but unfortunately it was closed. probably because it was a Sunday (duh, Josh). so we changed our mind and decided to go to Tiramisu for dinner. we tried taking a bus but it brought us to a really out-of-the-way area so we took a cab again (2 cabs in one day!! i would NEVER think of doing that!). they, of course, loved Tiramisu, as i do. except it took us forever to get a table and we ended up waiting at the bar for like 15 to 20 minutes. otherwise it was great. once we were done with that meal, it was bed time for us all. not bad for only day 2 eh? :)

the next day was understandably more relaxed. my mom wanted to buy me new pants and shoes that day so we made that our goal for the morning. after realizing that Paris (Chile's version of Target) was closed, we went to Castano and had coffee to recharge batteries. they were shocked to learn that virtually all coffee in Chile is instant, even though on the menu it says "tradicional". once Paris opened, we were a little unsuccessful in finding shoes but we bought some pants. the pair of shoes we did find we weren't sure about, so we decided to look elsewhere. it was then that my dad's foot started hurting so we browsed through 5 or 6 pharmacies to find something that would help. after a lot of charades and probably horrible Spanish, my dad found a bandage to wrap around his foot. while he applied this bandage, my mom and i went back into Paris and simply purchased the shoes that we were going to buy earlier. they're not bad. they get the job done and they're good for hiking. after that, we hopped a bus to the grocery store to buy some food for me. while on the bus, a guy got on and played guitar while another one sang. i see this type of stuff every day but it was really awesome that my parents got to see it. in Lider, i bought WAY more food than i needed (including a shitload of chocolate). my dad took a picture of the supermarket and got yelled at by the security guard to put his camera away. he almost got it taken from him! so yeah. FYI: don't ever take photos in Lider.

once everything was all set, it was lunch time. so we decided to get some sushi :). we ended up going to a place called Too Much Japanese. I've been there before but i don't think i've written about it here. this place has gotten me converted. i now love sushi. i think it was the minute i had sushi with avocado and sushi with cream cheese that i was sold. i've been told that place is "nothing like sushi in the united states" so it figures. but still. at any rate, we got a delicious platter of about 20 rolls of sushi for us all to share. it was absolutely delicious.

our secondary goal for the day was to explore Santa Lucia. i knew this was an "all afternoon" adventure so we headed that way pronto. Santa Lucia was beautiful as always (another amazing weather day). we ventured allll the way to the top of Santa Lucia at the red castle where you get a nice panoramic view of the city. after the hike down we took a taxi (again) to get to Bellavista (again) to see Cerro San Cristobal (again). as we walked down Pio Nono, i showed them the various clubs in the area that i've been to including "Jammin" and "Amnesia". the latter of the two included a mandatory "i forget what happened at that club" joke. at the end of Pio Nono, the funicular took us to the to of Cerro San Cristobal (no way we were climbing that thing). we walked a lot of stairs and had a Mote de... something. i forget the name. it had like nuts and pears and iced tea in it. oh well. it was gross anyways. once we reached the top we got the trademark beautiful view of Santiago as the sun was setting. my parents took approximately 764756374522432932719327529756 pictures up here. once the sun had beautifully set, we reversed directions back to the bottom of the hill and took a cab (!) back to my departamento. it was rush hour so it took a bit longer than expected but we made it.

Alice met up with the three of us and my new room mate Erica joined us for a dinner that i cooked. while cooking, my mom hemmed my pants because apparently they don't make pants anywhere that have the correct length to match the width. we sat down to eat a colorful assortment of food for dinner that included ground beef, cheese, tortillas, red peppers, green peppers, carrots, sour cream, mediana salsa (which is a rarity in Lider grocery stores, by the way) and to end it all, a DELICIOUS ice cream cake that i bought from Lider to try for the first time ever as our dessert. so good. definitely buying it in the future. after that totally successful dinner, we went our separate ways and got some sleep to prepare for the arduous journey of day 4...

the next morning we got up super early to catch the metro to Estacion Central to catch the bus to Vina Del Mar. they got to experience the heart of rush hour in Santiago. we didn't even have room for the three of us to get on the first train so we waited for the second one and shoved our way in. we gasped for air as we pressed against the glass doors. i'm so glad my parents got to experience this as it is what i deal with every monday and wednesday morning. once at Estacion Central, we hopped on a bus and we were on our way to Vina Del Mar!.... until our bus broke down. Condor is usually a really great bus line but not today apparently. fortunately, another bus met up with us in about 15 minutes and we were on our way again. this time we actually made it to Vina Del Mar. we walked through the busy town and down the beach. we ended up seeing some sand sculptures of Homer Simpson and my mom found a rock for my aunt louie. we also got some awesome honey roasted nuts to munch on as we walked. once our hour-and-a-half walking tour of the city and coast of Vina Del mar was done, we hopped on a bus to get to Valparaiso. of course, the one time i use this bus, there is road work and it takes forever to get through. what is it with my luck with vehicles for this trip?

at any rate, we eventually made it to Valpo and walked through the town seeing many shops and markets until we found Jota Cruz, the birthplace of the now legendary Chilean food, the Chorrillana. this was where we ate lunch. we also ran into Alice's friend Marissa and her family while we were there so that was cool. after the filling, delicious greasefest that is the Chorrillana, we opted to walk off what we just ate. this involved taking ANOTHER funicular up to the top of the hill in Valparaiso. we saw a view of the coast, many colorful houses and artistic tile work that is typical of this city. they walked down the stairs and hidden passageways until we reached the bottom once again. exploring this area, we found a fun little park to sit in and observe many people out and about. the sun was beginning to set, so we took this as our cue to head back to Santiago.

after a short bus ride, we got off at Pajaritos (which is apparently NOT closed) and took the metro from there allllll the way down Linea 2 to get back to Manuel Montt for attempt #2 at getting to this Peruvian place. fortunately it WAS open! Alice met up with us there and we ate hearty and delicious food in preparation of my mom, my dad and my journey to Peru the next day. it was a delicious farewell dinner for Chile. after under 4 days, i felt completely satisfied with everything i had shown my family.

the next morning i had arranged for a private car to bring us to the airport (vastly cheaper than a cab). we had to get up at 4am to catch a 7am flight to Lima, Peru. from Lima, we transferred to another flight that brought us to Cusco. we ended up actually arriving in Cusco in the afternoon. from this point on in the trip, Condor Travel basically severely held our hand transporting us from one place to another and telling us EXACTLY what we needed to and could do. because of the dramatic altitude change and the lack of sleep, we were all feeling a bit off so we made it a casual evening. we went out for dinner at this place right next to our hotel. they had pizza and i opted for that because the golden rule with my stomach is that if it's upset, it requires simple things. however, since we were in Peru, i decided to spice up my pizza a bit by putting Alpaca meat on it. i've had it before in San Pedro but it was absolutely delicious on pizza. after this we went to bed (at like 7pm) and i was OUT like a light. i didn't wake up until like 8am the next morning. my parents were not so lucky. they had trouble sleeping and it took them a while to get used to the insane altitude of the city.

the next day in Peru was spent doing some sightseeing in Cusco. in the morning we got driven to a llama farm and got to feed llama, alpaca and vicuna. the domestic animals in Peru are basically infinite. we saw so many llama, donkeys and cows. the farm was really fun but it was only stop one for the morning. we got driven to an Incan market about an hour from Cusco and i bought an incredibly fly jacket there. i also bought some necklaces for alice. my dad bought some instruments and my mom bought gifts for virtually everyone in the universe. it was fun there because i got to barter with the people selling things in Spanish. i spoke so much Spanish while my folks visited. it was awesome to impress them with my knowledge and fluency of the language. on our way to the market we stopped at a point that overlooked a small village near a river in the Sacred Valley. i think this is personally notable since the village itself resembles the village from Princess Mononoke that Ashitaka met the Japanese munk in. but at any rate, back to the trip.

a funny thing happened with our lunch. we had to catch a van that was leaving a little after 1pm. it was currently 12:15 so we thought we could "grab a quick lunch" somewhere and be on our way. we found a place, sat down and ordered food. we waited and waited until about 1pm and then just said "hey can we get this to go and get the check?". they gave me a look when i said this because it is hilariously uncommon in South America to a) order things "to go" and b) ask for the check very shortly after you receive your food, let alone before it even arrives. so we grabbed our to gos, paid for the food and headed back to the hotel lobby (our meeting point) only to realize that my parents forgot to set their watches back an hour and that it was actually noon. so we had a picnic in the hotel lobby with our food. the staff was actually really friendly and brought us utensils.

our bus arrived at 1:10pm and we began our afternoon tour of Cusco. this began with a short ride to THEIR plaza de armas (not as cool as Chile's. sorry) and the church there (which was actually pretty cool). the church had a FREAKING GIGANTIC decorated thing at the head of the hall. it was especially notable because it was decorated in gold. the sculpture itself had to be worth a small fortune. after the church, we went to (and i'm definitely spelling this wrong but the pronunciation is correct) "Sexywoman". this was a small area of ruins near Cusco that included a mumification chamber (totally sweet) as well as some amazing marvels in Incan architecture. very cool area.

that evening we ordered from the same restaurant as the night before and they offered to bring our food to the room when it was ready due to the proximity of this restaurant to our hotel (roughly 20 feet from the entrance). i watched a documentry on the making of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and had (legit) the same thing i ordered the night before: alpaca pizza (it's really good! i'm telling you!). we crashed shortly after that and woke up super early for the next leg of our journey which waaaaaaaaaaaaas...

MACHU PICCHU

we got up mega early (5:15) and a van drove us through this beautiful part of the sacred valley to a town called Ollyantambo. along the way we saw many small towns in Peru that included people getting ready to start the day and domesticated wildlife galore. a particularly notable thing i saw was a little girl standing outside brushing her teeth next to a pipe coming from the ground spewing out water. once we arrived to the train station it was only a short wait and then we got on what seemed like a millionaire's train. the insides all had individual seats that were awesomely comfortable chairs that could have belonged in any dining room of mr. burns's mansion. on the train we met a dutch couple on their honeymoon. they were planning on walking the Inca trail which is a 2-5 day hike through the Incan ruins and mountains of Peru leading to Machu Picchu. not for us! we'll take the train ALL THE WAY there, thanks. while on the train we also head pan flute music (present virtually everywhere in Peru) that covered modern rock songs (these covers are also present everywhere in Peru). it was a beautiful train ride that showed an awesome progression from desert plains near Cusco to heavily vegetated areas near Machu Picchu.

our train stopped in Aguas Callientes (yes. this town is legit called "hot water"). this is a HUGE tourist area as it is at the foot of the mountain that Machu Picchu is on. once there, we purchased ridiculous looking hats for protection from the sun. we also applied layers of sunscreen and Deet (bug protection). piece of advice if you ever go to Machu Picchu, these things are an ABSOLUTE MUST. i mean, we had a good amount of both on so we didn't get sunburned. but the bugs... oh god the bugs... i mean... it's technically the gateway to the amazon so... well.. just bring something to protect you from the bugs. you will be glad you did. we checked into our hotel and wasted no time, hopping on a bus that would take us to the top of the mountain to see the ruins (30 minute bus ride). after we met up with our tour guide, we headed into the park.

guys... Machu Picchu is, without a doubt, one of the COOLEST places i have ever been to. there are ruins that are a marvel of architecture placed at the top of a mountain. there is a lot of wildlife. there is a lot of vegetation. there are breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. and one of the coolest parts? everything in this village is a complete mystery and left to interpretation. despite this, our tour guide showed us around and offered the best "theories" for each of the sculptures and rooms in the areas. this was cool, but if you really know me, you will know that one of my passions is exploring new areas. and sitting there in that tour being carted around this beautiful place made me feel like Roscoe on a leash when he sees a dozen hamsters doing jumping jacks just out of his reach. i had to explore. unfortunately, we did not have time to do this on this day. that's not o say it wasn't a good day! i saw a lot of cool stuff! but i needed more. and i would soon get it. after our guided tour, we sat down to an amazingly plentiful and totally delicious buffet at the hotel next to the ruins. ot was here that i tried Inca Cola for the first time ever. it's a drink found everywhere in Peru and in some places in South America that tastes a lot like Cream Soda. it was my new addiction and i had it with almost every meal after that.

that night, my mom and dad went to the touristy markets of Aguas Callientes and bought more gifts for virtually everyone in the known universe. after that, my dad and i decided to sample the hot springs in town. we figured it had to be cool since the town was called "Aguas Callientes". once we bought our tickets we walked for about 15 minutes until we got to a pool area that was tiled and separated from the actual river. the water was a little warm but not ridiculously hot or anything. while there, my dad and i met some other travelers there and we discussed the other parts of South America. overall, those hot springs were sub par. nowhere near as awesome as the ones in San Pedro. but still, it was a cool experience. after that we all went to a crazy restaurant and got insane amounts of food. my dad ordered Guinea Pig and we all sampled it. the thing looked hilarious. like Wile E. Coyote after being blown up by some failed attempt at catching the roadrunner with ACME dynamite. during that meal we also had Sopa De Palta and a stuffed Palta appetizer thing (might as well embrace it if you're in South America). i had an hamburguesa that had barely any meat on it and a lot of peppers. still good though. i forget what my mom had. the guinea pig overall was good, but nothing spectacular. the skin was the weirdest part. it tasted strange. oh well. now i can say i've had it. for dessert my dad and i had a Banana Split (it was a "Banana Spit" on the menu). at the end of this meal, my parents didn't have enough cash for the meal so they had to walk to an ATM that was like a quarter mile away and leave me at the restaurant as payment in case they didn't return.

the hotel we stayed at (and probably most of the hotels/hostels in the surrounding area) asked us to keep our windows closed at night so the bugs wouldn't get in. this would have been fine except it was ridiculously hot and there were no fans or air conditioners in our room. we had a rough night of sleeping but somehow made it through. woohoo!

the next morning we got up VERY early (4:30) to catch the bus to the top of Machu Picchu to watch the sun rise as we begin day 2 in this park. the line for the bus was very long and it was raining. when we finally made it to the top it was too cloudy to see the sun. but you know what? WHO CARES! WE WERE IN MACHU PICCHU! and also, the clouds gradually lifted as the day progressed so it was cool to see the mountains around the area being peeled of their cloudy prison. today was the day i had wanted. i explored explored explored explored explored those ruins. i found a LOT of cool stuff. every once in a while i would turn a corner and see a 3,000 foot drop. it was awesome. also while up in this park, i saw llamas, lizards, hummingbirds and chinchillas. all of them so cute. the llamas stayed in a green area to feed mostly but at one point they decided to take a walk. they went into the ruins and were walking among the many tourists there. i followed them for a while and recorded a movie. it was so great.

i met up with my folks at around 9:30 to regroup and see if we needed more time to explore. my answer was basically "um, absolutely". so we departed again and i explored solo once more. this time, however i was feeling a little braver than before and followed a trail that led off from the park to an Incan bridge. now, let me clarify something here. this trail was DANGEROUS AS HELL. it was on the side of a mountain. the trail was about as wide as my dining room table. one side was the wall of a mountain and the other? cliff. legit. i have insane pictures to prove i did it. at one point, the path was so narrow that there was a rope on the mountain wall to help you along so you could regain some balance and not fall off the cliff. this was terrifying but really satisfying. i truly conquered my fear of heights that day. once i arrived back at Machu Picchu, i was at the top of this hill that was their "observatory" and i could see it all. i felt this was a perfect finale to my stay here so i went to meet up with my parents.

we decided to have lunch at a restaurant near AC's Plaza De Armas (pretty cool but still not as cool as Chile's :). we got a pizza with garlic, black olives and i think choriso on it. the real awesome part about this meal though was our drinks. we got this juice that is very common in Peru called "Chicha Morada". if you ever go to Peru, this drink is an absolute must. it's a purple juice that looks like kool aid but is actually very good for your heart. it's made from purple corn and something else that i can't remember. and it's absolutely delicious. have it. seriously.

the train ride back was a lot different than the train ride there. first of all, our carriage looked a lot more like a train. leather seats connected to the floor. plastic walls. the coolest part of this train was that it was called the "Vista Dome". it sounded like we were about to throw down with Hulk Hogan. at any rate, we sat with this guy named Edgar with this tour group called Metropolitan Tours. all throughout the train ride we got a nice little tour of the things that we were passing on the way back to Cusco courtesy of this guy. he also told us a lot about his Ketch-wan heritage. he speaks Ketch-Wan, English and Spanish but if he ever meets anyone that's Spanish, he tells them that he only speaks Ketch-Wan and English in an effort to force them to speak Ketch-Wan and "bring back" his language. i think that's bad ass. also during this train ride, we got treated to a fashion show. this included one dude dressed in Incan clothing dancing madly and lots of people walking down the aisle dressed in various alpaca wool while techno blared in the speakers. this was kind of cool but didn't really feel authentic. more touristy. still ok though.

once we got back to Cusco we quickly learned that my dad had lost his phone (which was really nice like an iphone) on the train and my mom had almost lost her wallet. ah well. can't keep track of everything. there are worse things to lose. like people. we took the advice of one of our tour guides and went to a place in Cusco for dinner called "Chicha". while there we of course ordered Chicha Moradas. i of course ordered Inca Cola after that. for dinner that night i had something that i THINK is called "Ocopa". it's described as the "Queen of Peruvian Sauces". it was definitely unlike any sauce i've ever had before. kind of tasty but not really my thing.

the next morning we got up early again to catch our bus/flight back to Lima. we arrived in Lima at around lunch time. we checked into my parents' hotel and then went and got some seafood that Edgar recommended we try in Lima. now, i'm not a huge fan of seafood but i heard that they had chicken there so we went any ways. once we arrived the first thing the waitress said to us was "no chicken and no fries today". despite this, i wanted to tough it out for my folks that wanted to try the seafood here. i ended up getting fried shrimp and fried potatoes (they don't have fries but they have fried potatoes?) that came complete with a seashell full of mayonnaise. it was DELICIOUS. my parents got something called serv iche which is raw fish soaked in lime juice. definitely not for me but they seemed to enjoy it.

after lunch we decided to explore Lima and found a very cool area near the beach that was like an outdoor shopping area. Lima is a lot like if Santiago and Vina Del Mar had a baby that spoke Spanish in a way that was actually intelligible. We saw a lot of people paragliding by the beach and it reminded me of my trip to Mendoza. we even saw one guy paragliding with a giant cow statue in his harness the silhouette of this against the sun is hilarious because it looks like a cow is paragliding. we had some postres at a restaurant next to the ocean. my dad and i had tres leches cake. my mom had a gigantic thing that i think was literally translated as "crazy chocolate". it's a beautiful place that overlooked the beach. after a small detour back to the hotel to regroup and relax, we were off again to that same area to have dinner at the same place we had eaten dessert (reverse reverse). i had a club sandwich, my mom had prawn and my dad had... i forget. i of course enjoyed some Inca Cola. possibly the last i would have on this trip.

that night at 8pm we had to meet at the hotel because a cab was picking me up to go back to the airport and catch a flight from Lima to Buenos Aires to Santiago. i said my goodbyes to my parents and i was off. i have so much fun with them and can't wait to see them again in 3 months. it was also cool for them to not only see a piece of my life in Chile but to share that unforgettable experience in Machu Picchu. They are great.

my journey back to Santiago was eventful enough to write about here. the cab ride was a 45 minute conversation entirely in Spanish with my cab driver. he told me he drives a cab at night but works a number crunching job in an office all day. he has no desire to go to the United States but would love to visit Jamaica. it was really nice to have a conversation in Spanish with someone that didn't talk like the micro machines man on cocaine. upon my arrival to the airport, i went straight to the counter to check the one bag i had. now... let me explain something. my flight on my ticket that i printed out said "11:30pm". when i got to the airport it was like 9:00 so i figure "sweet. i have plenty of time". i get my ticket and it says my flight is at 9:30. CRAP! i magically got through customs and security by 9:20 and sprinted to my gate on the other side of the airport only to realize that a different plane was there. i checked the TV screens and it said MY flight was arriving at a gate on the OTHER side of the airport at 9:30. awesome. i then sprinted to this gate only to realize that it was behind these locked and alarmed glass doors. WTF??? i was like "there's no way i'm getting on this flight". so i explained my situation to a security guard there and he was like "oh yeah. that must have been a mistake. your flight is arriving at 11:30". really? whatever. i ended up running into a woman from Switzerland and Austrailian teacher that had just done the Inca trail so we swapped stories and that was fun. my plane finally arrived and i flew to Buenos Aires. you know, for a country where the dollar is supposed to convert really well, shit is expensive in their airport. even with USD currency. oh well. caught my second flight and then arrived back in Santiago.

when i got back to my departamento, i realized that this trip to Peru and time with my family reminded me that Santiago really is my home. even though it's only for 3 more months, i'm looking forward to the remainging time i have here seeing the south of Chile, seeing Prodigy live in 2 weeks, and potentially revisiting Vina, Valpo and Mendoza. plus everything in between. i had fun and it was a ncie vacation but i'm ready for whatever's ahead in this home stretch. vamos vamos vamos.

and until next time, readers... chau :)

I saw a dead mouse

This past week has been really cool so i figured i'd update and write about it.

last thursday i went to see a DJ. Alice's friend Julia recommended him. I had never heard of him but apparently he's from canada. his name is Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse") and he wears this giant mouse mask when he plays. that was enough of a selling point for me so i said i'd go. we ended up taking the metro to the last stop and form there taking a bus to this really desolate area outside of Santiago. out there in the desolation was a giant club sort of thing. the whole venue was underground so it was kind of like being in a... well club i guess. there were 2 other DJs that went on before Deadmau5 (no idea who they were). the first one went on at 10:00pm, the next at 12:00am and the last one at 2:00am. Now, by this point everyone (myself included) was pretty exhausted. we had just sat through roughly 4 hours of house music. super repetitive and not exciting or anything. so i didn't have a lot of energy. but as soon as Deadmau5 came on, i was all about it. he opened with a techno remix of the Legend of Zelda, Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" and Fatboy Slim's "Star 69". Not only that, he played "Ghosts 'n Stuff" which is the one song i wanted to hear that night that i have recently become familiar with (hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ArUgxtlJs). everyone was exhausted so we didn't stay for long (about a half hour or 45 minutes of Deadmau5's set) but it was worth it. we got a cab back to Santiago and crashed around 3:30am. it was a good night.

last friday was the dieciocho, which is like the Chilean 4th of July. Much like the 4th of July, there are lots of Asados (Barbeques) all over the city and almost everyone is sporting a flag. Alice and I chose to explore 2 parks that day that were having festivals in celebration. The first park we went to was Ines Suarez. it was in Providencia and quite large. i'm actually surprised we haven't been there yet. there was all kinds of crazy crap there. lost of crafts were being sold. there was an area that had farm animals like horses, pigs, sheep and cows. also, there was a stage in the middle of the park where various people would perform circuslike activities such as juggling while balancing on something and stuff. there were even some clowns there. i even saw a giant caged ball where some motorcycles were parked inside. my guess is that people would ride around it later in the day but we only stayed there for an hour or two so i cannot confirm this. it was a cool spot and we are definitely going back there when it's just a park.

the second park we visited was Parque O'Higgins. this park is probably the most massive in all of Santiago. we are talking like Central Park in NYC size. it's kind of amazing that Alice and I haven't been there yet. at any rate, the mass of this park meant a more massive crazy festival. instead of being a big wide open space like Ines Suarez, this park was mapped out as several paths that were 100% completely lined with shops, games to play and oh yeah... FOOD. i forgot to mention that i think one of the traditions of the dieciocho has to be eating corpulent amounts of food. that night i had an empanada, a sopaipilla (which is like a flat pumpkin bread snack thing), some meat on a stick and a churro filled with Manjar. needless to say, i was pretty much done with food after that. the games they had were really crazy. one of them was a ring toss but instead of having the ring fall on a pole, they were falling on bottles of wine. if you succeeded in doing so, you won some wine! it's amazing that people in Chile just give away alcohol like it's no big deal and yet in the U.S.A. if you had a game like that going on you would probably get arrested very quickly. there were also 2 or 3 areas in O'Higgins that had a giant cafeteria with a dance floor. these areas were used for a typical type of dancing in Chile known as "Cueca" (i think that's how it's spelt). so the band plays typical Chilean music and the people danced in this style. this dance also involves dressing in traditionally styled clothing from Chile. this cultural phenomenon been popping up more and more in my day-to-day interactions lately. as far as why, i'm not really sure. at any rate, we got home at a reasonable hour and konked out for the second night in a row.

the next day there was this marching of the soldiers thing going on but alice and i were too tired to even attempt this between the concert and the 10 or 11 miles we walked in those parks. so we just chilled for a good portion of the rest of the weekend.

some other stuff that's been going on lately? i'm currently doing 4 classes with Polyglot during the day and 3 classes privately at night. it's pretty sweet. it's FINALLY getting warmer here. winter felt like a dark period of boring nothingness but it's finally gone and i am happy to send it packing on its way. now i can wear warm clothes and eat food that's in season like avocado, strawberries and stuff. i tried eating a papaya a few weeks ago with mixed results. those things are hard to finagle. maybe they just aren't in season or something but they're really tough.

i'm getting incredibly vamped up for my mom and dad to come here a week from tomorrow (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). all i can say is that they better be ready because i have a lot of stuff planned for their stay which is of course pending on weather and our energy level. if we survive all of the stuff i have planned we then travel to Peru to see MachuPichu which i am VERRRY excited for. and after that? i see Prodigy on October 27th :). needless to say, October is an exciting month for me. so yeah. not much left to do but get through this last week of September and then the fun begins! i am sooooooo ready.

until next time, que te vaya bien!

longest hiatus ever

SORRY!

i haven't even been that busy so i have no excuse this time. i am sorry. i will tell you what's been going on though.

i had planned on going to Mendoza to renew my tourist visa in Chile. unfortunately when i got to the airport, they told me that i couldn't leave the country. my visa had expired on august 3rd and it was august 12th. sonofabitch. i couldn't change or cancel my flight so i lost the $76 i spent on that. so i didn't end up going to Mendoza that weekend. instead i had a fun filled exciting weekend at the immigration office in downtown Santiago. this consisted of getting up at the crack of dawn and waiting outside said office in the cold. upon entering the office i took a number and waited for an hour only to have them tell me i needed to go to the bank and fill out another form before i went to immigration. HOW LOVELY. luckily after my little song and dance at the bank, i didn't have to wait in line again at immigration. they just let me through and gave me my paperwork and now i'm all set until like, the end of October. since i'm going to Peru in October with my family, i can come back, get stamped again and never have to worry about this stupid crap ever again. huzzah!

speaking of families, alice's parents and sister were here for a week. they got to do touristy things like Santa Lucia, Cerro San Cristobal and i even joined them for walks to Bellas Artes, The Zoo and the awesome Peruvian restaurant on Manuel Montt. we also ate at a new restaurant in downtown Santiago called Confeteria Torres. it was super fancy and had Chilean cuisine. good atmosphere. i really liked that place. so yeah, it was nice having people i sort of knew (and in Rachel's case, knew) stop by and say hello. but it only got me really REALLY excited to see my parents in October. since they shortened their stay, we now have no choice but to cram a ton of awesome things into 4 days (as opposed to stretching out those awesome things to a week). it will be exhausting but oh so worth it. i can't wait til they get here. they are going to have a blast.

what else? teaching English ROCKS now. i am teaching 3 classes with Polyglot-Mitford and privately tutoring 2 classes on my own. when i privately tutor, i make double to triple what i make with Polyglot. so i'm actually working less hours and getting paid more. it's kind of ridiculously sweet. also, some of my private students feed me when i come over to teach them! it's a good deal all around. i wish ALL my classes were private tutoring. now that'd be amazing.

one of my favorite bands (The Prodigy) is coming to Chile. they are a band that i have been into since around 1997 and i have never seen them live in over 10 years. every time they come around i miss my chance. earlier this year they came to Boston while i was in Chile and i secretly died a little inside. i was like "UGHHH THAT WAS MY CHANCE!". after about a month of griping i was like "it's cool it's cool. it's just not meant to be." even though i was continuing to die inside. however, about 3 weeks ago i checked the prodigy website just for funsies and lo and behold, they are playing at the Movistar arena in Santiago, Chile in late October!! of course the next chance i had, i rushed to the ticketmaster outlet in Providencia and purchased my ticket. finally, after over a decade of waiting and enjoying their music, i get to see them live. AND IN ANOTHER COUNTRY. and also... I HAVE GENERAL ADMISSION SEATS! translation: i will be as close to the stage as i can get and i will be flipping out 900% of the time. so excited.

this past weekend i went to an area of Santiago i have never been before with Alice called La Florida. we went to the Museo de Interactivo in Mirador (or MIM as they call it). it's basically the children's museum but it doesn't smell like diapers. we had fun. it was a good way to kill an afternoon. not to mention there was a kind of cool aquarium next to it. we saw it all and then had lunch in the giant mall nearby. it still amazes me that mcdonalds in south america is actually the best tasting fast food chain.

i think i've got cooking fries down. since i can't use our oven because the door doesn't close all the way and our temperature knob doesn't display degrees, i put the cold fries in a very small bowl on the stove. then i fill the bowl a quarter of the way with olive oil and let that boil for a while. it's costly but it gets the job done quickly and they taste absolutely delicious. i know it's fries and it's simple but it's always been a mystery to me. i also made my first successful quesadilla burger. that was really damn delicious. i think when my rents get here i'm going to make them burritos one night. ideally i'd like to go to la vega that day with them and buy the veggies there so they can get the full experience of what it's like to cook food here but we'll see.

alice and i have been watching a lot of downloaded tv. i'm showing her Lost and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. she's showing me Scrubs and the British version of The Office. we're also watching Dexter together (phenomenal show).

i really miss my friends and my Nintendo Wii. i think when i come home in january i'm going to require playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl with like 4 or 5 other people for hours and hours. same goes for Mario Party and Wario Ware and stuff. also, i can't wait to get back into Wii Fit. i've been getting into a lot of new music down here. not like, Chilean music or anything but new music in general. and usually i have a bunch of people to play it for and be like "THIS IS AMAZING! LISTEN TO IT!" which is good because i can share the joy. but since no one is here it's tough to do that. i'm going crazy finding a bunch of new stuff and not being able to share said joy. ah well. i'll just explode when i see people in january. also when i get back, i definitely want to take a trip to Western Mass. I've also thought about maybe doing a tour DJing at various places in New England, maybe even down to Philadelphia and in NYC. we'll see how it goes. it'd be cool to be "on tour".

I'm saving up some serious money for December trying to go to the South of Chile before i head out of this country. ideally, i'd like to go to Pucon, Valdivia, Puerto Varas, Chiloe and parts of Patagonia. whether or not all of those places will happen is still a mystery. but dammit, i'm gonna try. of course this means i have to sacrifice weekend trips to certain places (was going to go to Cajon De Maipo for a weekend in September but decided it's too costly), but it'll be worth it when i take a giant voyage in a few months. oh well. at least i have New Year's Eve to actually look forward to. i'm spending it in Valparaiso where there are supposed to be fireworks and parties galore. it will be one of the last things i do in this country and i think that's pretty damn fitting.

and that's all i got for now. not much has been happening but those are the notables. i'll see you next time. again, sorry about the hiatus. i feel like a broken record saying that but i'll try to update more often. CCFN. chau chau for now.

"Welcome... to the desert." - Morpheus

Well i finally have something worthwhile to write about. i apologize for the frequent hiatuses but it's because one needs to save money in order to do exciting things. this past week i took a vacation to Northern Chile to San Pedro in the Atacama desert. even though it's a desert, it still has equally insane climates all over the place much like the rest of Chile.

but before i went there, i had a week with Alice where we celebrated our one year anniversary. it gets pretty cold in the winter in Santiago so we haven't been doing as much walking around or exploring lately. but that week we realized that we really missed doing that. so we bundled up and explored like crazy. on the tuesday of that week, we walked all around Las Condes which is a suburban (and pretty Americanized) part of Santiago that's close to Providencia. We got pretty lost doing that but we found a cool park that we want to explore during the daylight. later that week we got some really warm weather and decided to explore downtown Santiago a bit more. We saw this awesome building called the Palacio Cousino. it has crazy hours on the weekend (closing at 1:30pm? wtf?) but it's awesome. it's basically like walking into Mr. Burns's mansion and seeing different furniture and architecture from all around the world. apparently the family that lived there were gazillionaires. after that, we went back to La Moneda (which is a building in Santiago where the president of Chile lives) and explored the surrounding area. We saw a giant church that's only open for one hour per day. i want to go to there. Santiago is a really beautiful city in certain areas. you just have to give it a chance and be willing to walk around. all in all, it was a really nice way to say farewell before our trip.

we hired a van to pick us up and bring us to the airport. our plane landed in Calama which is a town that is a little over an hour from San Pedro. from there, we called a shuttle to drive us to San Pedro. we were given this advice as an alternative to taking a cab into Calama and buying a bus ticket to San Pedro. our shuttle was about $18 per person versus about $50 per person total for the cab and bus ride. totally saved some money as a result of taking Alessandro's advice. once we arrived in San Pedro it was well into the night. you couldn't see a thing outside the van besides what was lit by the street lights. we checked into our hostel and there was a slight problem. we had booked a private room but the people staying in the private room before us had an emergency and had to stay an extra night. as a result, we ended up staying in a 6 bedroom mixed dorm together for one evening. it wasn't that bad though and again, we ended up saving money at the end of the trip. the next morning we were eager to get up and check out the area surrounding our hostel. the sky was crystal clear and beautifully outlined the surrounding mountains and volcanoes.

the first full day we were in San Pedro we decided to relax and see the town. San Pedro is incredibly small and in the middle of nowhere. it's maybe about 7 or 8 blocks total. they have a "common" much like Burlington but it's about 1/30th the size of the Burlington common. There's also a church and some shops. it's verrrry touristic. while we were there i heard French, English, Spanish (duh), German, and more. the grocery stores sell food at incredibly high prices as a result of this. i think while i was in San Pedro, the money i spent on food was about equal to the amount of money i spent on excursions. oh and i also bought some totally sweet llama wool glittens and a llama wool hat for about $10 total.

oh the excursions. we chose our first relaxed day to check out the many many excursions on "the strip" of the town. we went to a lot of different companies but in the end, Atacama Connection gave us the best deal. We were going to be in San Pedro for 8 days and once we told them that they offered us a package of 4 tours for about $140 including entrance fees. this is a HUGE deal compared to buying them individually anywhere else as it would equal about $200. we took the deal and planned the rest of our vacation that day. we felt pretty damn good after that.

even though we bought food we decided to eat at this place that was kind of like a restaurant attached to a bike rental office. in this town, most every shop has something about an excursion attached to it. i'm telling you. even though it's small, there's PLENTY to do. at any rate the place had really good food. i had a steak sandwich with palta. we liked it so much that the next morning we went back there for breakfast. Alice had pancakes with manjar in them. have i talked about manjar here yet? let me explain.

manjar is kind of like if caramel and nutella had a baby. it's this awesome flavor added to most sweet things in Chile. i will miss it greatly when i leave. it's one of the most delicious things ever.

after we went to this restaurant, we headed back to our hostel. Iquisa Hostel is not that bad a place. the woman who runs it is there all the time. there are about 5 or 6 cats roaming around and they're pretty adorable. the ground is rustic and covered in rocks. the kitchen is small but efficient. our private room was incredibly warm during the cold nights in San Pedro. if you stay here, you definitely do not need to worry about freezing your butt off at night when you're trying to sleep COUGHCOUGHSANTIAGOCOUGHCOUGH.

the next day we went on our first excursion to several valleys. our guide (who looked a lot like Asa Clemenzi) first took us to the Valle de la Luna. this was an amazing first thing to see in San Pedro. the rock formations are like straight out of the grand canyon. we got to go to the edge of the cliffs and see down into the valley. we got some cool shots. the next valley we saw was the Valle de la Muerte. the rock formations looked a lot like teeth. the different layers of erosion in them made it look a little bit like cake as well. we saw people sandboarding there. it was incredibly windy. next stop was to the valley of the three sisters. it is so named because there is a specific rock formation there that looks like three points sticking up. this was our first glimpse at the salt in these valleys. it was pretty white. lastly, we went to this valle where we saw a rock structure called the "Ampitheatre" which looked a lot like a giant bowl. we hiked up to the top of a dune to watch the sun set. unfortunately it was a significantly cloudy day and we didn't really see much. but the experience was awesome. it was a great tour for our first day there.

that night we were preparing ourselves to go to bed early because we had to get up early (6am) to go to the Lagunas Altiplanicas the next day. however, we got a phone call saying that it had snowed a lot (yup. it snows in this desert) up in the mountains and that the roads were closed. so we had our tour switched.

the next morning we saw the Lagunas Cejas in the desert. of all of our trips, this one had the bumpiest ride through the desert. the buses they take you in for these tours must be like ATVs or something because it was bumpy as hell and we never tipped over or anything. people who have motions sickness should be cautious of this tour. at any rate, we went to three lakes in the middle of the desert. the first one looked a lot like a beach. people were allowed to swim in it if they wanted but the weather was freezing so not many did. the ones that did swim though, you are seriously adventurous. not for me though. next we saw two lakes that were about 7 or 8 feet underground. translation: you can't really swim in these. they looked like giant footprints in the desert. lastly, we went to see this laguna that was cool because it was surrounded by insane looking rocks that were incredibly hard to balance on. we got our complimentary food and snacks before we left. i can't believe they offer people pisco sour before the ride back on the bus. it's like "sure. let's get slightly tipsy before the bumpiest ride in a car ever. sounds like a great idea." and this isn't the only place i've seen this happen either! they also offered pisco sour before the van ride back from the observatory in la Serena and we all remember how horrendous that was for me (if you don't, read the La Serena blog entry). the ride home was in the dark. not only was it bumpy but it was windy. and when it's windy in the desert, sand tends to blow in your face a lot. this was happening like crazy outside. there were times when so much sand would blow our way that you just couldn't see anything in any direction from inside the bus. but we made it home. huzzah.

so that night we prepared (again) to get up at 6am for the Lagunas Altiplanicas (again). but sure enough, the tour company called us again and said that the roads were still closed. so our tour got switched again. only this time the next day we were seeing the Geysers. this meant that instead of getting up at 6am the next day, we were going to be getting up at 3am. we got this phone call in the middle of making dinner at 9pm. so we basically inhaled our food and fell asleep as quickly as possible.

let me pause for a moment to acknowledge something here. so... it snowed in the mountains for about 3 or 4 days while we were in San Pedro, right? well, our original plan was to not do any tours in San Pedro and just do a 4 day excursion where alice, me a tour guide and a chef would take a 4 by 4 into the mountains to see several sights while crossing over into Bolivia to see the salt flats that are supposedly even more blindingly beautiful than in Chile. this involves driving through the mountains for 2 days to get to Bolivia, staying there for a night and driving back for 2 days. so... if it snowed for 3 or 4 days while we were in San Pedro, if we had gone on this massive trip to Bolivia, we would have:

a) been stuck in the freezing cold in a van in the mountains.
b) been stuck in some town in the freezing cold in the middle of nowhere Bolivia

or

c) both

i was a little sad that i didn't get to go to Bolivia during this trip but after i heard about the snow i felt a lot better that i didn't do it. it would have been a lot of money, uncomfortable and probably the worst experience of my life. i think staying in town and seeing the sights of San Pedro was a significantly better choice. at any rate, back to my trip.

The geysers. holy crap. we got up at 3am. got picked up at around 4:45am. we were supposed to get picked up at 4am but they ended up being late. it was like 12 degrees celsius below zero at the Geysers themselves. we were exhausted and freezing.

but you know what? this was the best excursion i went on.

When we got there, it looked (as aunt louie accurately described) like something out of the x-files. there was a huge field of areas that had smoke coming up from the ground. the first geyser we saw actually ended up erupting while we were there. i got a video of it for my camera. when it was finished erupting the guide asked us all to quickly huddle over the hole in the ground. the steam rising from the ground was incredibly warm. it smelled like sulfur. i'm not really sure how geysers work. i think it has something to do with lava being underground deep beneath us mixed with the extreme cold of the early morning and the result is an eruption. there were some hot springs there. some really insane people decided to swim in them. you have to be out of your mind to do this. once again, i give these people props.

the second portion of this tour involved seeing a lot of wildlife on the bus ride back. i have no idea why these animals choose early morning as the best time to go hang out but we ended up seeing llamas, vicunas, quails and even a wombat. i also figured out the main difference between llamas and vicunas. llamas are fatter. that's basically it. but yeah it was awesome. vicunas were like 7 feet from the bus just hanging out and feeding. we were sitting right next to the door of the bus so whenever the bus driver opened the door for pictures i got amazing shots. after this wildlife we saw a very small village nestled in the mountains of Chile. it wasn't that exciting there but there WAS some incredibly tasty food there. empanads, sopapillas... but best of all, there were llama kabobs. and i had one! llama meat is damn tasty. after the village, we saw soem cacti (not that exciting. cacti are everywhere) and got home around noon. crazy hours but definitely my favorite thing i did in San Pedro.

after that tour we understandably chose to sleep and relax not only that afternoon but for the next day as well. we were exhausted. we got a lot of Lost in though. Alice and I ended up finishing the first season while we were there. also, Alice's friend Kate arrived at the hostel we were staying at to begin their stay in San Pedro so that was cool. Kate's friend Elizabeth was also there. we took them to Atacama Connection and they signed up to do the Lagunas Altiplanicas with us the next day so that would be something the four of us would do together.

we also checked out a museo in town that had interesting cultural stuff from northern chile tribes of indians and the like. also, there was a really spooky gigantic graveyard near out hostel so we chose sunset as a time to check it out. the graves there were kind of above ground. there was still sand there covering the coffins but it's like they were hills instead of in the ground. it was cool but as it turned to dusk we quickly got out of there because we were pretty creeped out. we headed back to the hostel to get some rest so we could get up early and finally see the tour that had been canceled all week due to snow: the Lagunas Altiplanicas.

it was an all day event beginning at 7am with a trip to an oasis in the middle of the desert. on our way there we saw rock climbers practicing... well rock climbing i guess in the canyons we passed by. the Chilean army also comes to this area in order to train at times. at any rate, the oasis was a lot like the oases you see in cartoons. green trees. a flowing river. there were fig trees too. although, the thing that makes this oasis unique was that ancient indian tribes used to live in these areas in small caves that we actually ended up checking out. also, there was a pile of bones near the caves. apparently excavators come to this area every now and then to dig up stuff and whenever they find bones, they put it in this pile. a little strange but kind of cool.

the next stop was the famous Laguna Chaxas. this was simultaneously a wildlife reserve for about 7 different species of Flamingos as well as being a totally sweet lake that reflects the sky in an insanely awesome way. we saw black flamingos, pink ones, white ones... and when you looked out over this lake... i can't even do it justice with a description. it really just feels like the edge of the universe. it was really awesome.

after that we went to another laguna deep within the snowy mountains of northern chile. this was the portion of the tour that kept getting canceled due to snow being on the roads and i could see why. snow on a dirt road is incredibly difficult to drive through. and as amazing as those potentially ATV buses were in that weather, it just couldn't make it. but it wasn't too bad. we just ended up walking the last 3 or 4 miles of the road to get to the laguna. although, i would not recommend walking uphill in this weather at this altitude if you have just arrived in San Pedro. the altitude sickness is in full effect. it was hard to breathe walking up that hill. be careful if you have to do this. at any rate, the laguna itself was pretty cool. whereas we've only seen ones that are in a sandy environment, it was cool to see one with snow. the snow itself was also really pure. i ate some of it and it wasn't dirty or anything.

after that we went to a small village and ate what was probably the best included lunch on any of the tours we went on. it started with a salad. oh and by the way, a chilean version of a salad isn't like leaves and vegetables. a salad is basically a small mixture of 3 or 4 different kinds of food. it can really be ANY food. ours was potatoes, couscous and beans. then we got to eat this awesome soup that had beef, carrots and other goodies. it has a specific name and it's a traditional chilean dish. and for desert? jell-o! easily the best meal on our tours. our last stop on the tour was another small village where Alice caved in and finally bought chilean popcorn which is like the popcorn in the U.S.A. except it's way bigger and much sweeter.

the sunset was beautiful that night. i had a craving for pizza so we headed downtown and found this pizza place. we met up with more people from Alice's program and i had an absolutely positively delicious 4 cheese individual pizza. i'm sorry i'm wasting time with this but you gotta understand: i wanted pizza. and not just any pizza. i wanted a specific flavor, consistency and cheese. i knew there was no way i could get all of those things and was prepared to face that. but this pizza was perfect. satisfied my craving in every way possible. absolutely delicious.

the next day we got up for our last excursion that we chose to do at the last minute. we took a van to another oasis and bathed in some hot springs in Puritamas. the van ride itself was a little scary because at one point we were driving on a cliff on some rocky roads and i really feared the thing was going to tip over. thankfully, it didn't. once we got there we quickly hopped in the water as the weather was as cold as it had been lately. it was like being in a jacuzzi with no bubbles. there was basically a small river that opened up into 6 or 7 different springs that people could swim in. there were even these cool waterfalls that you could stick your head under and it would feel totally amazing. the trip was a little pricy but definitely worth it.

the last day of our trip was another relaxing one. we hopped the insanely cheap van from San Pedro to Calama and then took our flight back to Santiago. i've been back at work this week and really missing the warmer weather in San Pedro (especially since our portable space heater ran out of gas). i really don't know how Chileans live in these conditions. makes me glad i'm only spending one winter here. but overall, i'm really glad i went to San Pedro and I'm already planning my journey to the beautifully forested south of Chile in December. but i won't be going anywhere for a while. San Pedro, while being really cool, was a pretty big dent on my wallet. but i don't regret any of the things i did for a second.

and that's it! check back in... well probably a long time for another entry. ttfn. ta ta for now.