San Pedro de Atacama

Last Thursday after an 11-hour bus ride, a few of the girls and I arrived in the town of San Pedro de Atacama. The trip was fraught with peril- stolen purses, insufficient identification, and French men, but we all survived and had an awesome time!

We stayed at a hostel right in the center of town, and feasted on avocado sandwiches, cheese empanadas, ice cream, and fresh squeezed fruit juice. We got lucky and found an awesome guide (Chino) that took us to some salt lakes, an awesome dessert complete with salt mines, and some geysers. Then we took the Sunday red-eye bus home and arrived back in Arica 2 hours before class started on Monday :) Again, pictures explain better than words so not many thoughts for this one.

Las Lagonas Cejas: Salt lakes. Before this trip, I didn't buy into the idea that one would be able to float better in saltier water. It actually does make a huge difference! Don't get the water in your eyes though, it's much worse than the ocean.

So if you're friends with Karman and don't know the Llama story stop reading now and call her to find out about it.......If you don't know Karman, she is my very athletic, fast, varsity soccer player friend. Our tour stopped in a little town and we all got off the bus to take a look around. One of the villagers carried out a 4 day old baby llama to show us, and of course it wiggled free from someone on the tour. The group spent about an hour trying to herd this llama to somewhere where we could trap it, but no success. (Oh yeah, and we couldn't leave without it because the bus driver had bought it.) Suddenly, Karman comes out of no where and chases this llama for about 50 yards and wrestles it to the ground. We decided that catching the baby llama and letting the tour continue was her tip for the day. Baby Llama drove back with us to San Pedro and all lived happily ever after.

We took a rigorous hike up to some Incan ruins that overlooked the Valley of the Dead. The views were spectacular! At one point we decided to take a "short cut" off the path, and I thought we were going to slide right down into the ravine. I'm pretty sure we were all in violation of our "no extreme sports" student health insurance clause.

The day after we arrived we woke up at 3:30am in order to go see the sunrise over the geysers and hot thermal baths. While the geysers were really really cool, it was very very cold. They were definetly worth a visit...I'm not sure about 4am in the morning though. Check out my facebook for a video of one of them going off.

On our last night in San Pedro, we drove out to the valley of the dead one night to eat dinner, watch the sunset and drink strawberry wine. A great way to cap off the trip!

Some Real News: The Situation

So as most of you know, Chile was rocked by an earthquake a while back and while Arica itself was not too affected, there was a lot of chaos and fear in the southern half of the nation. There are still huge numbers of displaced, missing, and injured persons, and as late as yesterday many cities in the south haven’t had access to running water or electricity. I was actually in Santiago and some of the Southern cities a week before the quake. When the news shows photos of the airport terminal I flew into and some of the towns I visited destroyed, it feels like a guided tour of a nightmare that's unfortunately come true. I really can't imagine how hard it is for people like my house mother here who have family in these cities (luckily her family was alright considering the circumstances), and especially for the people who have been directly harmed by the quake.

(Even though Arica is several hundred miles away from the epicenter, the people here are so involved with the aid efforts. You cannot walk down the street without seeing “Chile Ayuda a Chile” (Chile help Chile) and “Fuerza Chile” (Strength Chile) written on a car or poster.A telethon thrown by top Chilean celebrities the weekend after the quake raised 3X its goal within a 48 hour period.)

All that being said, Chile is doing an amazing job fixing the damage and supporting the people affected not only by the initial quake, but also a series of serious after shock (ranging from 7.2-6.6). If you feel in the mood for giving, a local charity that I would reccomend before the American Red Cross is Hogar de Cristo. (http://www.hogardecristo.cl/index.php/colabora-con-nosotros/aid-to-earthquake-victims/) It's a Jesuit charity that does just about everything (education, housing, food, health care etc.) for Chile’s poor and will be here long after the Red Cross workers have left to help with the next disaster. I agree 100% with the words of a woman I met shortly after the first quake in the Sunday street market. “If this had happened in nearly any other country in Latin America it would have been another Haiti. But Chileans are strong and we are organized. We love each other and our country. We will conquer this.”

A local craft market whose vendors have promised a portion of their sales to the victims of the earthquake. (This is truly a sacrifice on their part because the profit they make from what they sell is already so small, and most of them as it is are already struggling to make ends meet.)

A few of my friends and I volunteering at Hogar de Cristo (House of Christ). The tarps behind us are old company advertisements that were picked up from local businesses. We’re unloading them so that they can be sent to Southern Chile to be used as tents by the people whose homes have been destroyed.

Empieza SIT: ARICA, CHILE

Okay, I apologize. I have been here almost a month and have only posted one blog update (mostly pictures and very few thoughts), so here we go.

So, I luckily found a family that is just as goofy as mine is (what a relief!) and they don't think I'm crazy here, yet. This is my little sister, Daniela, who is both an excellent teacher and a constant source of entertainment. We do her kindergarten homework together, which is actually a huge help for my language skills. The first phrase she taught me was, "¿Juguemos?" which means Are we going to play? I hear this phrase whenever I walk in the house, and it will be impossible to forget.

So, while trying to do something sweet for both of our familias, Karman came up with the idea of making spiced cereal balls (and new all-time favorite of mine) and chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t see it through to the end of the chocolate chip cookies (which apparently turned out great), however, our spiced cereal balls were terrible! I believe Karman put it best when she said, “Play-Dough”. Between not having cups/tablespoons, changes in ingredients butter between countries, and no marked degrees on the oven, the normally crispy and delicious cookies came out like ugly little mud balls. (Or maybe it was just the fact that I was there…) Anyway, my new challenge is to make a recipe for the family that does not include baking…I’m thinking French toast.

So the girls on the trip are all great. Everyone gets along and in general we all walk around in one mass mob, though are starting to branch off a little for convenience sake (not many restaurants/cafes here are ready to serve 15 ppl at a time).

Meet some of the girls on the trip, starting from the left. Sara: Really cute skirts and tank tops always. Katie: Can dance like no other I have ever met. Claire: She’s from Holland and is saving us from being “the ugly American Group” Karman: My goof-tastic friend of 3 years, whom most of you already know. Laura: Luckiest girl on this trip has an entire floor to herself! Shira: Always cheerful and up for doing something. Mei-Lani: Lived in Alaska and is my running buddy! Emma: Has lived all over the US (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Kentucky) and has the most interesting Accent I have ever heard. We also surf together.

Goldie, the family Golden retriever, and I are really great Pals because she’s the only one who speaks less Spanish than I do. She’s also the best ice-breaker ever. Whenever things get too quiet, just say how cute Goldie looks.

The party scene in Chile is crazy. People don’t leave their houses until 12 and getting back at 4am is considered leaving the party early. This particular fiesta was held for the Chile Ayuda a Chile (Chile Helps Chile) campaign the weekend after the big Earthquake in Santiago. All the proceeds and canned food donations (which got you partial off your ticket if you were a guy) went to help out people who lost their homes and families down South. I must say, I am way more impressed with Chile’s response to this earthquake than I am with the response Americans made to Katrina. Chile Ayuda a Chile is written on cars, shop windows, in the sand- everywhere. On my way to school I pass two donation drop off sites which are still loading crates of food and other supplies, and the Telethon Chile’s top artists put together exceeded its goal by double in less than 24 hours (half the time they had planned on doing it for).