http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Molly-Elizabeth/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Molly Elizabeth en-us Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:48:07 +0000 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:48:07 +0000 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-343441.html 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 wersquore 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 tha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-341398.html This entry marks the dates of Wednesday October 15 through Saturday October 18One day Mimi saw an advertisement for an amazing deal. It included a bus ride to Santiago a ticket to the much anticipated ChileArgentina game and a bus back that night to arrive in Conce early the next morninghellip. All for an unimaginable fifty dollars. So I obviously hopped on the bandwagon buying tickets http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-340220.html More fun storiesSo EAP the program Irsquom with wants us to see poverty in Chile. We all therefore made a 3hour 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 th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-337134.html 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 whatrsquos a bit north of Concepcin. So on Friday afternoon we set off from Conce feeling happy to leave the alreadygottenusedto dullness of this city. Well itrsquos not s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-334374.html hellipAs 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 hourrsquos bus ride away that hosts workers wersquoll eventually be interviewing. The day was perfect but in the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-329232.html My class schedule is as followsMonday and Tuesday 912Wednesday and Thursday 9130Friday NadaA pretty sweet deal although we are given more homework than Irsquod expected already 50 pages to read in Spanish and a paper to write But Irsquom sure itrsquoll help so I shouldnrsquot complain. After school Irsquove gotten into a cycle of coming home for lunch doing a few things th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-329226.html 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 Valparaso. We arrived at about 630 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 caf. We spent much of the rest of the day trekking up even more hills because http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-329225.html So the week before last was the holidays which might explain why I didnrsquot write as much as I should have. I didnrsquot 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 sam http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-329193.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-326930.html WARNING THIS IS LONG. READ AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE.Pues estoy en Chile ldquoConcerdquo to be exact and here is my tale this far After the completion of my travels beginning on Friday I had gotten about one hour of sleep in thirtysix hours and had eaten a mere four protein bars in fortyeight. You might ask why the lack of sleep and food Well for the latter all I can say is airplane f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Biobio/Concepcion/blog-321659.html