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November 10th 2008
Climbing to the top of a hill, we were all amazed by the green of the grass, the freshness in the air, and the view of the Andes cordillera in the distance. Half of us in the program (those that opted for a weekend trip planned for us to the countryside rather than the beach) spent that Halloween morning touring and exploring the sustainable organic farm we were to stay at. We yoked oxen, viewed the fields of fruits and veggies, made compost, watched the farm animals, and were all awed by the number of simple homemade contraptions that were there to help the process. I discovered later that there are only four workers on this farm, a seemingly small number for how large it is. I guess it is just so self-sustaining and so well-functioning ... read more
November 4th 2008
I needed a break from vacation weekends, so I decided to stay in Conce. I also thought I might appreciate the city more then, when I was free of the daily weekday routine. As Holly put it, we should pretend we’re only going to be here for three days and therefore do as much as we can. So first we decided to visit a thundering waterfall, only an hour outside of the city and a hidden jewel that I had not yet heard of. On the morning of Friday the 24th of October, four other girlfriends and I met at the supermarket to collect a picnic lunch, then headed off to the waterfall “Salto de Laja” for a mere two and a half dollars by bus. An hour or so later we found ourselves at a ... read more
October 31st 2008
This entry marks the dates of Wednesday, October 15, through Saturday, October 18 One day Mimi saw an advertisement for an amazing deal. It included a bus ride to Santiago, a ticket to the much anticipated Chile-Argentina game, and a bus back that night, to arrive in Conce early the next morning…. All for an unimaginable fifty dollars. So I obviously hopped on the bandwagon, buying tickets from a man who said he was the bus driver and that the tickets also included a free barbecue at his cousin’s house. A bit sketchy? Perhaps. But an international game? I’m pretty sure that erased all my doubts. So one early Wednesday morning, approximately ten of us from the program found ourselves on an everyday/tiny/uncomfortable bus headed for the capital city of Santiago, accompanied by five or six ... read more
October 22nd 2008
More fun stories! So EAP (the program I’m with) wants us to see poverty in Chile. We all therefore made a 3-hour bus ride South on the weekend of October 10, to the city (more like a town) of Lebu, situated between both coast and hills. By midday Friday we arrived at the shore, got off the bus and walked to the end of the dock and back, trying very hard along the way to not be blown off by the tremendously powerful wind. We then walked up green hills, one of them covered in tombstones, and almost got blown down again. We got back on the bus and drove to the high school, where our temporary homestay hermanos were anxiously waiting for us. All of these brothers and sisters are students in the school (the ... read more
October 15th 2008
So last weekend (Oct 3 - 5), while much of the rest of the program decided to go south toward the desolate beauty of this country (and also towards the cold), four friends and I opted for renting a car and discovering what’s a bit north of Concepción. So on Friday afternoon we set off from Conce, feeling happy to leave the already-gotten-used-to dullness of this city. Well, it’s not so much dull, it’s just that nothing really surprises me anymore (I guess that’s a sign that I really feel like I live here now). It was refreshing to see so much newness just on the car ride itself, in the form of endless lush green fields, small open farms, mountains in the distance, and plenty of animals. I finally was able to see just a ... read more
September 30th 2008
…As part of our classwork, all of us are required to get into small groups, interview different sorts of people and create a portfolio consisting of notes, pictures, a lexicon, etc. So yesterday (Saturday), I joined the rest of group 3 to go to Lota, a mining town about an hour’s bus ride away that hosts workers we’ll eventually be interviewing. The day was perfect, but in the morning we couldn’t enjoy it because we spent our time in the ground, beneath the ocean floor, in a mine. Dark, wet, and small, it held stories of back-breaking work, many deaths, and a political and economic history. This particular mine had been closed, but before when workers went to mine the coal, they’d work twelve hours a day, bent over in the dark. I think this means ... read more
September 30th 2008
My class schedule is as follows: Monday and Tuesday- 9-12 Wednesday and Thursday - 9-1:30 Friday - Nada A pretty sweet deal, although we are given more homework than I’d expected - already 50 pages to read in Spanish and a paper to write! But I’m sure it’ll help, so I shouldn’t complain. After school I’ve gotten into a cycle of coming home for lunch, doing a few things that need to be done, then going to hang out with friends. But here are brief descriptions of my classes: Pronunciation and Grammar - This class is actually with a woman from Mexico, who had us say ridiculous tongue-twisters in Spanish after classifying and dissecting every possible sound in the Spanish language (I don’t know when I’m ever going to need to know that the “z” sound ... read more
Climb some hills, be rewarded. with Chorillana.
Published: September 30th 2008South America » Chile » Biobío » ConcepciónSeptember 30th 2008
But the trip that we made was so worth it. That night (Thursday before last), a group of friends and I took a long overnight bus ride to the city of Valparaíso. We arrived at about 6:30 in the morning, groggily went to our hostel and dropped our bags, then gradually woke up by walking up a hill to a cute and wonderfull café. We spent much of the rest of the day trekking up even more hills, because that’s all the city is made of. All the houses are so full of bright color, there are murals on every other wall, and surprising nooks and alleyways are hidden around every other corner. And when you get closer to the top of a hill (because it’s impossible to actually get to the top), the view of ... read more
September 30th 2008
So the week before last was the holidays, which might explain why I didn’t write as much as I should have. I didn’t have classes, but there were orientation types of meetings and then a lot of hanging out and exploring the city and hills. The city is situated next to the coast, but I have yet to go to the beach. There is the Parque Ecuador to the south, which is proportionally the same as chile - very long and very thin. Behind the park there are green hills that seem to have been made for a nice quick - yet steep - hike. They remind me much of the hills and fire trails of Berkeley and are ripe with towering trees and faint hints of old and crumbling stone buildings. At the right time ... read more
September 24th 2008
Hello again friends and family! I hope you all are well, because I certainly am. Saturday marked my second week in this foreign country, but perhaps it is not so foreign anymore. For example, I have since learned, like a native Chilean, to hold onto my bag as tightly as possible, lest it get stolen like mine was a mere week and a half ago. It happened to be the first night when there were other fellow students present (Thursday before last), and I must have been so excited at dinner to be speaking English once again that I didn’t even notice someone slip into the restaurant and slip out again into the night. Yes, with my bag. But no worries, the only things in it that I actually cared about were as follows: 1. A ... read more
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