I went to Mendoza this past weekend and had a great time. I left Santiago around 22:00, the bus ride to the Argentine border was about 3 hours, a little more, but customs took 3 hours. I got into Mendoza at 7 in the morning, and of-course nothing was open. My friend Mandy came with me, so we decided to walk around the city a little and see what there was to do. We ended up finding a cafe and had some food to eat. After the food we went to our hostel, called Pirka, which was great, the people who [View Full Entry]

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So... I decided I should write about Santiago again. I'v lived here now for 4 months or so, and I'v been able to see a lot more of the city since my first entry about the city. Basically the city of Santiago is broken up into several different 'comunas' or districts similar to counties in the US. Each one of these comunas have distinct centers of activities, usually based around a plaza or a main road, In my comuna, called Ñuñoa, there's plaza Ñuñoa which is basically where many of the municipal buildings are. Each 'comuna' also is broken up into [View Full Entry]

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So, Its been 3 weeks, or so since I was in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, but I finally have time to write about it. Viña is nice and modern, with big buildings right on the coast. There's a Starbucks, one of the few outside Santiago, and the oldest casino in Chile. Viña is one of the biggest music scenes in Latin America, and most major performers in the spanish speaking world played there before hitting it big, because of this there are a lot of great concerts. I only ate lunch on the beach, before heading to Valparaíso, which is [View Full Entry]

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So, the weather is starting to get a lot better here, and because of that and "my" student metro card, I'v began to explore Santiago more. The other day Niki and I took line 5 to Plaza De Armas, and decided to walk to the La Moneda. On our way we discovered a pedestrian only road in the hard of the old city, we followed that for a while, got a little lost and found the Santiago stock exchange. We ended up finding La Moneda and started walking back to U. Chile for class. On the way we saw a really [View Full Entry]

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So, I'v been in Santiago now for a week since my trip to Buenos Aires and Montevideo and I'v decided on my classes. I have the option of taking classes at 3 universities and the SU center. Originally I was going to try to take all my courses at La Universidad de Chile, but now I'v decided on the La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile or PUC. PUC is considered the best University in the country and one of the best in Latin America. I will also be taking one class at the SU center because I need it to graduate. [View Full Entry]

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So I got back form a 10 day long trip to Argentina and Uruguay, In all didn't like Buenos Aires, it was big crowded and dirty with lots of crime. While I was there some girls from my group were jump by a man and women who where trying to rob them. Also the city was more expensive then I had used to in Ecuador and Chile, however the food was really good. I had a different kind of meet every night. I also bought some cuban cigars, still don't like them that much. Also as a comical side note, I [View Full Entry]

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Yeah, Santiago is great so far. I'v only been here for two days but I love the city, It's a lot like being back home, I don't stick like the only white person, and restaurant and stores have change when you buy things. The only problem though is the hole currency thing. One US dollar is about 550 Chilean Pesos, which is a little complicated to figure out. The subway is really cheep, 300 pesos, 470 during rush hour, but its clean, like really clean, so much better than NYC. Its also really crowded, though, all the time. The city reminds [View Full Entry]

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So, my last night in Cuenca was friday, and I'm already missing the city, and my host family. It's not the bars and discotecas that I'm going to miss, its the people. I only lived here for a month but it really did feel like home, and the people at CEDEI and my host family all felt like family. I'm going to miss my class and our trips to the museums and markets, discussions about andean culture. The other weekend I went to two cities south of Cuenca, Gualaceo and Chordeleg. Gualaceo had a great park that stretched both sides of [View Full Entry]

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So, I set this up a while ago but haven't written anything yet, either because a) I didn't have internet b) I didn't have a computer or c) I just didn't have time. But anyway here it goes... I landed in Quito late last thursday, I think, and basically went to a restaurant across the street from my hotel with the rest of our group. The next day we went on a tour of the city in the morning and then left for Otavalo in the afternoon. Otavalo is a small village north of Quito with a large market. The amount [View Full Entry]

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