Well I had a panic attack when I arrived. No joke. I am NOW in south america. I thought being in Puno was different because it was a poorer city, but no. We got into the terminal de buses and all i could see was a dirty city filled with poor people. And sidenote, I got to sit next to this really large smelly traditional peruvian woman the whole 8 hour bus ride. I miss Josi already:( She would sit next to me and I wouldnt notice that we happen to be the only tourists on the whole bus. But I definitely noticed when I was alone. Anyways, I began to calm down once I took a taxi to my house because the center of cusco is actually quite nice. Very rustic but in a nice way. I found my house all right and met my mother, Judy, and her 9 year old son, Renzo. Marisol, the director of the school, was also there. I met her first in Buenos Aires, then in Chile, and now she recently is the new director since Cusco school just opened. I have my own room and bathroom and all is great. There is also a spanish guy living in the house that is working here on a project for a few months. That night I went out dancing with Marisol to Mama Africa...all the clubs are filled with tourists. I bought I think 3 drinks for less than 7 dollars. So cheap I love it already! The next morning I got up and had breakfast with the family. Her sister came over and brought some food and then I find out that we are going later that day to eat Chicharron. I had no clue what it was when I was going but soon found out that it is just a big slab of fried pig with some fried potatoes and some cornish stuff. It was actually muy rico but I defintely gained five pounds in one sitting. Later that day we went to mi madres cousins house to have hot chocolate. Mmmm was it good. It was made with real coco and sugar and milk and some cinnamon. I had 2. ANd the cousin spent the whole time talking about this drink that he has called ayasuaca that the people of the jungle drink to talk to the gods...pretty much a justified hallucinogen. I was just sitting their nodding my head during the story but then he showed us a film from you tube that was in english, and thennnn the pieces were put together. Ther first time I got to speak english all day was when I called dad and gram that night. Wow this is going to be a learning filled week.
Monday was my first day of classes in Cusco. I am not only the only student in my class, I am the only student in the whole school since it is brand new! So, I have a private teacher and the activities director is my private tourguide. We had a welcome lunch like normal and went for a tour around the city. After that, I went home and had some dinner. Everything here is served with at least rice and usually potatoes as well. The next day I learned all about different refrains and frases in spanish. A lot of them are similar to the ones in english like ¨speak of the devil¨or ¨its on the tip of my tongue¨. After class I went to Qoricancha which is a church in Cusco. It was made by the Inkas but when the spanish came here, they took down most all of it, or covered it up. So now, half of it is Inka, half spanish. Later that night I told mi madre that I wanted to learn how to knit more detailed things so we bought me some baby alpaca which is so soft and sooo nice. We went to her uncles house to look at his artwork and we had some tea and cookies there. Then we went to this chicken place and we ate broasted chicken which is pretty much fried chicken and french fries and I think i could have died and gone to heaven. It was the best fried chicken I have ever had. After dinner, we went home to start my scarf but I was tired and it was really frustrating because she was trying to explain it to me in spanish and something i dont know how to do with workd that i dont know in spanish is not a good combination. Wednesday after class I did some errands with mi madre and then I booked my tour to Macchu Picchu. We had a late lunch which consisted of a mixture of frech fries, tuna, tomatos, and red peppers and rice. Interesting mixture that I dont think I would ever have thought of but it was still good. We went to the mega store to buy food for thanksgiving but couldnt find much. No turkey, squash instead of pumpkin, etc. That night I went out again with Marisol and some other kids that I met in Santiago that I happened to run into on the streets of Cusco. We had a fun night out...all free drinks because the promoters want you to go to their club and then they dont want you to leave so they give you more free drinks. Before I went out, I twisted my anke when I fell of some stairs and then danced on it all night and my foot was not happy the next morning.
My Peruvian Thanksgiving: Yes, I had to wake up early, yes I had to go to school, and no I could not find the Thanksgiving parade on tv:( BUT I did cook all day. We had Thanksgiving at Marisol´s house and there were eight people. Mi madre, Judy, cooked the chicken (since there is no turkey here until christmas) and I did the rest with the help of Judy´s niece who happens to be in college for cooking! There are no cans of pumpkin here so I boiled the whatever type of squash that i found that was yellow enough, and started to make the filling. But when i finished the filling was so watery, we knew that it wasnt going to set, it would just be liquid. So thanks to Fiorella, she made a better pumpkin puree that looked more like what would come out of a can and then our filling was much better looking. I made mashed potatoes and they turned out really well but they were very gummy. The type of potatoes I bought was not the right one I dont think. They have so many choices in the grocery store that I just grabbed the most normal looking ones. Anyways, I made everyone around the table say what they were thankful for, in spanish or course, and we ate our delicious meal. Everyone even liked the pie! What a success, but I was tired after a long day of cooking. I went back to the house and called the family and it made me super home sick! But, I have to remember I have many normal thanksgivings ahead of me and this is one that I will never forget. Plus I got to share a tradition with people that had never experienced the holiday. Still, I am counting down the days until my family gets here!!
I had my test the next day, which I passed but I actually had a debate over grammer with the teacher because I thought I was right even though he marked it wrong. I still got a good grade but I still think that I am right! After class, I had an interview with a marketing company over skype for an internship in Buenos Aires. I have the internship if I want it, but I think that I am going to look around a little more when I get there just to make sure that this internship would be the best for me. After that, I went shopping! There is this one market that sells all pirated dvds and cds for less than $1 a piece which is less than it costs to rent a movie so I bought a lot. I can just leave them here and it is still worth it. I also got this cool sweathshirt that looks like PUMA but then says PERU with a llama. Its pretty funny. That night we went out for pizza and we tried pizza with alpaca. It was alright but not something that I need to eat again.
The next morning was the start of my trip to Machu Picchu! I got up and the company called to tell me that my student id was not working and they were on there way now and so Judy rushed me to get ready and then I sat and waited for 35 minutes after i literally ran around. I kind of feel like I have a mother who is making sure I get to everything ontime which is nice on occasions, but sometimes I want to remind her that I am 22 years old! But anyways, all worked out fine, got on the bus and went to Valle Sagrado. We visited a market in Pisaq, Pisaq ruins and Ollantitamba ruins. It was interesting kind of but I have not learned much about the Inka culture before and it is not as fun seeing something you know nothing about. After that, I had to catch the train to Aguas Calientes which is the place you stay overnight if you are going to Machu Picchu in the morning. I got to my hotel and of course I didn´t brnig my passport because it is safer at my house. But then, they told me you have to have your passport bla bla bla or you have to pay. So I had my first real fight in spanish. But I still had to pay. It was the agencies fault for not telling me and no matter how cheap the cost is, I am really sick and tired of being the tourist that gets ripped off! My room had nothing in it except a bed, so I just read and went to bed early. At ten someone knocked on my window and scared the hell out of me since i was already creeped out being alone in this weird room, but it was just the guy giving me my ticket for the next day. The tourguide told me he would pick me up at 7:30 to go to the bus station and then up the hill, but he never showed up. So I managed to find it by myself but was annoyed. I got there and decided to go with the english speaking half of the group but I chose wrong. I know for a fact I can speak better spanish than she could english! But it was a fine tour and after we had free time so i climbed this mountain called Wayna Picchu. I went with a guy I met in my group which made it more fun, but it was such a hard hike. Straight up hill with all these rocks for steps. The ascent was hard enough with the altitude and everything but i enjoyed going up a lot better than down. Once We got to the top, it wasnt better, it was worse. There were smaller stairs and no hand rails and wayyyy steeper. I was 50 times more scared at the top of this mountain than when i went paragliding. But luckily on the way down, the Argentine air force was going down at the same time and at one point one guy was holding my hand and the other guy was holding my backpack since I was so scared going down this one part. I went home on the train, talked with this american couple and on the train up there was food so I didnt eat thinking that i would get free food. But no so at one stop there was this lady that sells choclo y queso (corn and cheese) and i flagged her over to get some and then practically the whole train did the same thing after me. It was delicous. Overall I had a good weekend in Machu Pichu, it was quite an amazing site, but I really do like enjoying my travels with someone I know rather than going at it alone. Plus, I am getting pretty bored of tours at this point, so I am done for a while and just going to enjoy the rest of my time here without trying to see every touristy thing possible.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Backpacking!!
La Serena
We arrived in La Serena on Sunday morning at like 6 am. Our hostel didn´t even open until 7 so we had to hang out for a while until it opened. Then once we put our stuff down we walked around thinking maybe this would be our sunday that we actually go to church since we had both talked about it, but not a single church was open for mass. So we just had some breakfast and read the news paper. We met up with our dutch friends, Susan and Ellen and we went to Valle Elqui to take a tour of the Pisco vineyard. It was kind of like a winery but they make it a little bit different...I couldn´t really understand this spanish tour since the vocabulary was over my head. We went to Vicuña to have dinner and then went home. We wanted to take a tour of the penguins/ sea lions/ dolphins the next day but the weather was bad. That is the only real thing we wanted to do in La Serena so we waited another day to do it on Tuesday. On Monday we went out to lunch and to the beach and at night we went to the observatorium. You can see the stars so much better from here and we got to look at the craters on the moon and all the different astrology characters in the sky and venus and ya, it was pretty cool. But it went on for a while and i was about to fall asleep. I just slept the whole car ride home. Oh and the funniest part was that i ran into this guy Andrew who I met at Nicole, my sorority friends', despedida. This travelling world is just one small place, or as you would say in spanish, ¨el mundo es un pañuelo¨which literally translates to the world is a hankerchief, but still the same thing. Today they told us that the penguin tour was going to happen... 85% sure and no. It didnt. we got up at 7 and packed our whole hostel up showered, ate breakfast and was sitting ready and then the receptionist decided to tell us that it was cancelled for the weather again. So annnoying. So we are out of here as sooon as possible, La serena doesn´t want us to see their penguins. I found out later in the day that it was cancelled purely because the company that takes the boats out didn't feel like working, not even because of the weather! Very very chilean of them. We went on a bike ride along the beach instead and made it to our afternoon bus to San Pedro with 5 minutes to spare this time.
San Pedro de Atacama
We got off the 17 hour bus ride and didn't realize where we actually had arrived considering all we could see was a desert. We managed to find our hostel about 2 blocks away though, and I had a "i am in south america" moment yet again. Ellen and Susan were already there and had booked us a tour to go to this salt lagoon. We took a long bus ride there and swam in this salt lagoon that was so strange. There was so much salt that you just floated without doing anything. You try to swim breastroke but you couldnt keep your feet in the water, they would just pop up. I had a great time swimming in there, but left with a film of salt all over my body.
The next day, we decided to let ourselves sleep in. We went on a run since working out hasnt really been a priority but the elevation was so high that we ran for about 8 minutes and then we about died. We actually cooked ourselves eggs this morning since our restaurant eating was getting a little out of budget. Later that day we went on a tour called Valle de la Luna. First we went to death valley and we were hiking around and then we were at the top of this sand dune. Then our tour guide said, "ok do whatever you want." We were all really confused but then people just started running down this giant sand hill. It was so much fun, and a happy surprise to the tour. After, we went up some other hill to watch the sunset, and the full moon come out. We waited forever for the moon to come and I kept bugging the tour guide to know when it was coming since I was freezing with my shorts on. The day into night in the desert is a huge difference. Then the full moon came out and we had been joking about the romantic full moon and me and Josi obviously not coupled, so when it finally came out, the tour guide proposed to me. I kindly refused though. Later that night we met up with some people from the tour at a bar and hung out with the tour guides. We went back to their little house afterwards and the tour guide was showing us his dance moves that he told me he learned on the street. He was quite a character.
Our last day in San Pedro, we went on a full day tour. The highlights were seeing flamingos in the salt flats and some really pretty lagoons. The flamingos aren't the same hot pink that you would originally think of and I found out that they get their pink color from their food. But, with global warming, their food is dying off, thus they do not have enough food to keep them healthy, and pink! Good thing I saw them now because they might be gone before I know it! We had to take a bus to this town called Calama to take another bus in the morning. So we stayed at this absolutely horrible hostel. We got there and they told us it was more expensive than they had before. And there was no way I was going to spend as much at that hostel as I had at the normal hostels. So I was strong and did some good bargaining skills in spanish and he said he had to go talk to his boss. Then he came back and said ok. It was 11 at night, no one else was coming to stay so I am sure they wanted whoever they could get. I put my jacket on my pillow case since I wasnt really sure how clean it was. Thank god we got out of there at six am to take our next bus. But on the way to the bus station, our taxi cab driver pointed out a dead man in the middle of the street. Absolutely loved Calama.
Iquique
Driving into Iquique, I could tell we were going back into civilization. It is a beach town and really beautiful. Our hostel was a world of difference better than the last one...a big beach house less than a block away from the beach. The only problem is that the toilet is in the same stall as the shower. We went to the grocery store and wanted sandwiches so I tried to ask the lady at the deli if she made sandwiches or just sliced the meat. She told me she made sanwiches but no, in reality she just sliced the meat and cheese. So I had about 6 different bags of ingredients to make one sandwich. Then we went to two stores to get plastic spoons and knives which we had to pay for. Then, Josi and I layed out on the beach and had to pay to sit under one of the million umbrellas, it is amazing what they can get you to buy around here! That night we decided we were really going to go out since there were clubs and all, but we had some cocktails and at midnight were ready to go to bed. Travelling is taking a toll on my body!
Sunday morning we decided we were going to paraglide. The company picked us up at noon and we were on our way up the huge mountain! I was freaking out. They put a suit on us and strapped all these buckles on me while I was just focusing on breathing one breath at a time. Then all of a sudden he told me to run and I was pulled into the air before I knew it! Once I was in the air, I was completely comfortable and totally relaxed. We mainly stayed near the mountains, but went over the town and landed on the beach. While we were hovering over the ocean, he asked me if I wanted to do some tricks, and I kind of agreed. So he whipped me around from side to side and if I thought about it, I would have freaked out but I just let myself enjoy it and it was amazing. The landing was easy and it was definitely worth it. Vale la pena as they say en espanol. Oh! I have had two kinda dreams that parts were in spanish. That is supposed to be a good sign though in that you are starting to get fluent! I am happy about that. For dinner, we had chinese food which I was so happy about since I have not found a good chinese restaurant yet. We watched some tv at the hostel and prepared for our next longgg day of travelling to cross the border into Peru.
Well, we tried to cross the border the next day but there was a protest in Chile so we couldnt. We went back to our hostel and were able to stay in the exact same room that we had before. So instead of a travel day we had another relaxing beach day. At the night time, we decided to make some food with our new british friends so we made fajitas. And we bought a bunch of red wine and beer and decided that we were going to teach the boys how to play beer pong. So we did and they thought it was such a great game (which it obviously is!) The mixture of red wine and beer did not do well for Josi and me...we learned that the british can drink even more than americans!!
Puno
We arrived in La Serena on Sunday morning at like 6 am. Our hostel didn´t even open until 7 so we had to hang out for a while until it opened. Then once we put our stuff down we walked around thinking maybe this would be our sunday that we actually go to church since we had both talked about it, but not a single church was open for mass. So we just had some breakfast and read the news paper. We met up with our dutch friends, Susan and Ellen and we went to Valle Elqui to take a tour of the Pisco vineyard. It was kind of like a winery but they make it a little bit different...I couldn´t really understand this spanish tour since the vocabulary was over my head. We went to Vicuña to have dinner and then went home. We wanted to take a tour of the penguins/ sea lions/ dolphins the next day but the weather was bad. That is the only real thing we wanted to do in La Serena so we waited another day to do it on Tuesday. On Monday we went out to lunch and to the beach and at night we went to the observatorium. You can see the stars so much better from here and we got to look at the craters on the moon and all the different astrology characters in the sky and venus and ya, it was pretty cool. But it went on for a while and i was about to fall asleep. I just slept the whole car ride home. Oh and the funniest part was that i ran into this guy Andrew who I met at Nicole, my sorority friends', despedida. This travelling world is just one small place, or as you would say in spanish, ¨el mundo es un pañuelo¨which literally translates to the world is a hankerchief, but still the same thing. Today they told us that the penguin tour was going to happen... 85% sure and no. It didnt. we got up at 7 and packed our whole hostel up showered, ate breakfast and was sitting ready and then the receptionist decided to tell us that it was cancelled for the weather again. So annnoying. So we are out of here as sooon as possible, La serena doesn´t want us to see their penguins. I found out later in the day that it was cancelled purely because the company that takes the boats out didn't feel like working, not even because of the weather! Very very chilean of them. We went on a bike ride along the beach instead and made it to our afternoon bus to San Pedro with 5 minutes to spare this time.
San Pedro de Atacama
We got off the 17 hour bus ride and didn't realize where we actually had arrived considering all we could see was a desert. We managed to find our hostel about 2 blocks away though, and I had a "i am in south america" moment yet again. Ellen and Susan were already there and had booked us a tour to go to this salt lagoon. We took a long bus ride there and swam in this salt lagoon that was so strange. There was so much salt that you just floated without doing anything. You try to swim breastroke but you couldnt keep your feet in the water, they would just pop up. I had a great time swimming in there, but left with a film of salt all over my body.
The next day, we decided to let ourselves sleep in. We went on a run since working out hasnt really been a priority but the elevation was so high that we ran for about 8 minutes and then we about died. We actually cooked ourselves eggs this morning since our restaurant eating was getting a little out of budget. Later that day we went on a tour called Valle de la Luna. First we went to death valley and we were hiking around and then we were at the top of this sand dune. Then our tour guide said, "ok do whatever you want." We were all really confused but then people just started running down this giant sand hill. It was so much fun, and a happy surprise to the tour. After, we went up some other hill to watch the sunset, and the full moon come out. We waited forever for the moon to come and I kept bugging the tour guide to know when it was coming since I was freezing with my shorts on. The day into night in the desert is a huge difference. Then the full moon came out and we had been joking about the romantic full moon and me and Josi obviously not coupled, so when it finally came out, the tour guide proposed to me. I kindly refused though. Later that night we met up with some people from the tour at a bar and hung out with the tour guides. We went back to their little house afterwards and the tour guide was showing us his dance moves that he told me he learned on the street. He was quite a character.
Our last day in San Pedro, we went on a full day tour. The highlights were seeing flamingos in the salt flats and some really pretty lagoons. The flamingos aren't the same hot pink that you would originally think of and I found out that they get their pink color from their food. But, with global warming, their food is dying off, thus they do not have enough food to keep them healthy, and pink! Good thing I saw them now because they might be gone before I know it! We had to take a bus to this town called Calama to take another bus in the morning. So we stayed at this absolutely horrible hostel. We got there and they told us it was more expensive than they had before. And there was no way I was going to spend as much at that hostel as I had at the normal hostels. So I was strong and did some good bargaining skills in spanish and he said he had to go talk to his boss. Then he came back and said ok. It was 11 at night, no one else was coming to stay so I am sure they wanted whoever they could get. I put my jacket on my pillow case since I wasnt really sure how clean it was. Thank god we got out of there at six am to take our next bus. But on the way to the bus station, our taxi cab driver pointed out a dead man in the middle of the street. Absolutely loved Calama.
Iquique
Driving into Iquique, I could tell we were going back into civilization. It is a beach town and really beautiful. Our hostel was a world of difference better than the last one...a big beach house less than a block away from the beach. The only problem is that the toilet is in the same stall as the shower. We went to the grocery store and wanted sandwiches so I tried to ask the lady at the deli if she made sandwiches or just sliced the meat. She told me she made sanwiches but no, in reality she just sliced the meat and cheese. So I had about 6 different bags of ingredients to make one sandwich. Then we went to two stores to get plastic spoons and knives which we had to pay for. Then, Josi and I layed out on the beach and had to pay to sit under one of the million umbrellas, it is amazing what they can get you to buy around here! That night we decided we were really going to go out since there were clubs and all, but we had some cocktails and at midnight were ready to go to bed. Travelling is taking a toll on my body!
Sunday morning we decided we were going to paraglide. The company picked us up at noon and we were on our way up the huge mountain! I was freaking out. They put a suit on us and strapped all these buckles on me while I was just focusing on breathing one breath at a time. Then all of a sudden he told me to run and I was pulled into the air before I knew it! Once I was in the air, I was completely comfortable and totally relaxed. We mainly stayed near the mountains, but went over the town and landed on the beach. While we were hovering over the ocean, he asked me if I wanted to do some tricks, and I kind of agreed. So he whipped me around from side to side and if I thought about it, I would have freaked out but I just let myself enjoy it and it was amazing. The landing was easy and it was definitely worth it. Vale la pena as they say en espanol. Oh! I have had two kinda dreams that parts were in spanish. That is supposed to be a good sign though in that you are starting to get fluent! I am happy about that. For dinner, we had chinese food which I was so happy about since I have not found a good chinese restaurant yet. We watched some tv at the hostel and prepared for our next longgg day of travelling to cross the border into Peru.
Well, we tried to cross the border the next day but there was a protest in Chile so we couldnt. We went back to our hostel and were able to stay in the exact same room that we had before. So instead of a travel day we had another relaxing beach day. At the night time, we decided to make some food with our new british friends so we made fajitas. And we bought a bunch of red wine and beer and decided that we were going to teach the boys how to play beer pong. So we did and they thought it was such a great game (which it obviously is!) The mixture of red wine and beer did not do well for Josi and me...we learned that the british can drink even more than americans!!
Puno
We actually got to leave this day and it was a longgg freaking day. We got a bus to Arica, then ahd to take a taxi to the border, then another taxi from the border to Tacna and then from Tacna overnight to Peru. And Tacna is where all of the protests have been so we didnt want to leave the bus station so we sat inside for about 4 hours. Then we took a scary longg ride to Puno, Peru. We arrived in the morning and took naps in our hostel. The elevation is really high there so we took a day of rest, just shopped and ate and watched a movie. The next day was quite an Adventure!
We decided to spend a night on an island with this tour group because I guess that is the thing to do on Lago Titicaca. We went by boat to one island that is floating that all the houses are made out of reed. There are all these traditional peruvian women that wear these huge skirts and this little hat on their head and they are pretty large. They told us to get in this boat to cross the island which was made out of all reed and then once we were in it, they told us that it cost 10 soles each person which is not that much but it was just the principal that we had no choic because we were in the middle of the lake at that point! These south americans all want to take advantage of us since we are rich in their eyes. Then we took a really long boat ride to the next island-Amantani- and I definitely was not feeling so hot after that boat ride. So we got out and were assigned to a family for the night. I guess the ladies stand at the port everyday and wait to see if they can get any tourists to stay with them, because that is their only form of income. We went with a women named Violeta to her humble abode and waited for here to make us lunch. The oven looked like it should have been in a museum. The ¨stovetop¨was made of stone and a fire underneath. She kept the fire going with tree branches. She made us soup with potatoes and some fried cheese and some more potatoes and rice. And then for dinner we had the same thing. In between we walked up this hill and we were all dying since the altitude is way higher than anything I am used to. We got to this temple and had to walk around three times to recieve positive energy. After dinner, the mom and her 6 year old daughter dressed us up in their traditional outfits and we went to a dance with all the tourists and the moms. We danced the night away (til 9:30) to some peruvian music and then we were pooped. I had an interesting night sleep. Oh and they had no electricity or running water or toilet paper or a seat on the toilet. But the mom happened to have a cell phone. And the family told me about 3 times that she was a single mom and the father went off with another woman. They just want you to feel bad and give them more money, its so weird but makes sense since, again, we are rich in their eyes.
The next day we got up early and went to Isla Taquile. Just another island on Lago Titicaca that we walked around. Then they told us we were going to lunch and we had already paid for the whole package, so we figured it was included and then they tell us we all need to pay 15 soles for this lunch. Then we went back 4 hours on boat but this time this lady gave me a pill for motion sickness and i felt muchhh better. I had my final dinner with Josi that night at this italian place and we made a list of al our fun memories of our trip. We really had a great time together and I am so happy I found her as a travelling partner because we always seemed to be on the same page about everything from what we wanted to eat, to how much we wanted to spend on things, and places we wanted to see. She was off to travel the south of chile and me up to Cusco so she laft on a bus that night. I stayed in the hostel one more night and was going to leave in the morning. At the hostal that night, I watched sex and the city the movie and all of a sudden when it was over i had this weird feeling like, whoa, I am in Peru watching this movie about big exciting cities and girlfriends and shopping..it made me miss home:(
BTW the school address in Cusco where I will happen to be on December 6...hint hint... is:
ECELA
San Juan de Dios 250
Centro Historico
Cusco, Peru
Santiago: Semana 4
Time really does fly by...i feel like I just got here and it is already the last week! On tuesday of this week, I went to the Pablo Neruda house in Santiago. He has three houses and they are all somehow shaped like a boat. I knew I had heard of Pablo before but it wasn´t until we tok the tour that I actually remembered learning all about him in my spanish classes. So, it turned out to be more interesting than I thought. On Wednesday, I went out to lunch after class and we were on our way to this other museum since we didn´t have anything to do and I got all the way there and realized I had told some other girls that I would go to yoga with them, so i had to turn all the way around and not go. And then they didn´t even show up! It was a miscommunication but it was silly since I should have just gone to the museum since I wanted to. Oh well. That night I went out in Bella Vista with friends from school for some drinks. Nothing too exciting but one of the guys there was a brazillian model...I think i need to go visit brazil soon! Thursday night was a good night with a bad ending. I went to Carlos´ going away party...another one I know but this one was just his friends and it was outside of school. But I am luckily friends with his love interest at the moment so we got invited. Carlos used to have a mustache so the theme was mustaches and everyone put them on and was taking silly pictures. At first, no one was really talking to us since they were just all talking spanish to each other, but then once they had a few drinks we were the center of attention. They were all trying to practice their english, but I did end up speaking alot of spanish too since some of them really couldn´t speak english. It was supposed to be a bbq but we got there and there was no food, and then they went to the store to buy some chorizo and drinks, and then we had choripan which is there name for sausage in a hot dog bun. There was no chips, no side dishes...I definitely missed my traditional american bbq. nd there wasn´t even a cake for Carlos´going away! I would have baked one if i had the means to do so. I left my camera on the table since everyone was taking pictures and I figured if people wanted to take more pics with my camera, fine with me. There was only like 10 people there, 15 at most and I looked for my camera later in the night and it was gone! Someone stole it! I have no clue who would do that since everyone there was friends with Carlos, but its gone. I had it for a whole two months:( They must have figured they could steal it from the gringa since they would never see me again. So it was a fun night with a sad ending. Friday I had my last day of school...thank god since I am in a desperate need of a break from school. I want to be enjoying it so hopefully after two weeks of traveling I will be ready to finish up. Also, my teacher had this weird tick that made him swallow really loudly like 57 times during class and I couldn´t really handle it anymore. I said my discurso at school and did some errands and then went home to have my last dinner with my chilean mother. I bought her some absolut pear vodka for a goodbye present since she drinks like $3 handles of vodka now. So we had a cocktail, then I packed for the trip. I had to let go of some unnecessary things but I think i will manage without them.
I had Josi sleep over on Friday night since my house mom always said ¨oh if any of your friends need to stay over they are more than welcome¨and then she asked where she was when it was time for dinner, even though I figured she wouldn´t feed her since I am the only one paying for food. But then the next morning she made Josi breakfast. Then we went off to Valpairaso for the day...we ended up running into a friend of Josi´s that she had met in BA and so we hung out with him most of the day. We went up an elevator to one of the hills and we found a place to eat chorillana. We went to all these nice looking restaurants but the only thing we wanted to eat was chorillana and this guy told us the best place to eat it and it was this dump of a restaurant with flies and stuff but we still sat down and ate it. It was delicious. It consists of a heap of french fries, grilled onions, egg, meat and cheese. I think the guy we were with was dissapointed in not going to one of his recommended nice restaurants but we didn´t really care. They were well worth it. We then went to Pablo´s other house that had an amazing view of all of Valpairaso which is right on the water. After that we walked along the beach to Viña del mar and took the bus home. When we got home that night we were in a rush to catch our midnight bus but we hadn´t eaten since lunch so I was still going to have some dinner that the mom had already made. She asked if Josi wanted some too so I said only if she had any extra. Then my chilean mother went off in about why was josi staying there, why didn´t she have a place to go, why was she eating her food, she was only trying to be a good host but she cant just give anyone food and a shower, I m supposed to be her only responsibility bla bla. It was so weird considering she was like forcing the food upon her and telling her that she should definitely stay the night. I think she must have expected us to pay her up front and then when we didnt, she was mad. I went from feeling like another part of her family to a person that she makes a lot of money off of. She made Josi pay her 10 mil which is like $15 for the night. It was such a bad note to leave the house on, but oh well at least I am out of there and don´t have to go back! We managed to make our midnight bus with 2 minutes to spare...josi was freaking out but I knew we were going to make it.
I had Josi sleep over on Friday night since my house mom always said ¨oh if any of your friends need to stay over they are more than welcome¨and then she asked where she was when it was time for dinner, even though I figured she wouldn´t feed her since I am the only one paying for food. But then the next morning she made Josi breakfast. Then we went off to Valpairaso for the day...we ended up running into a friend of Josi´s that she had met in BA and so we hung out with him most of the day. We went up an elevator to one of the hills and we found a place to eat chorillana. We went to all these nice looking restaurants but the only thing we wanted to eat was chorillana and this guy told us the best place to eat it and it was this dump of a restaurant with flies and stuff but we still sat down and ate it. It was delicious. It consists of a heap of french fries, grilled onions, egg, meat and cheese. I think the guy we were with was dissapointed in not going to one of his recommended nice restaurants but we didn´t really care. They were well worth it. We then went to Pablo´s other house that had an amazing view of all of Valpairaso which is right on the water. After that we walked along the beach to Viña del mar and took the bus home. When we got home that night we were in a rush to catch our midnight bus but we hadn´t eaten since lunch so I was still going to have some dinner that the mom had already made. She asked if Josi wanted some too so I said only if she had any extra. Then my chilean mother went off in about why was josi staying there, why didn´t she have a place to go, why was she eating her food, she was only trying to be a good host but she cant just give anyone food and a shower, I m supposed to be her only responsibility bla bla. It was so weird considering she was like forcing the food upon her and telling her that she should definitely stay the night. I think she must have expected us to pay her up front and then when we didnt, she was mad. I went from feeling like another part of her family to a person that she makes a lot of money off of. She made Josi pay her 10 mil which is like $15 for the night. It was such a bad note to leave the house on, but oh well at least I am out of there and don´t have to go back! We managed to make our midnight bus with 2 minutes to spare...josi was freaking out but I knew we were going to make it.
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