Page 6 of yaima Travel Blog Posts


South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique July 14th 2010

Today I met my host family. They live on the mountains in the outskirts of Coihayque. Let me just say, I already love them. Like I mentioned before my host dad, Claudio, is a member of the Chilean army. He's really nice and heart warming. My host mom is Jessica. She's always looking out for me, feeding me every second and treating me as one of her kids. I also have two host brothers, Joaquin (Joaco) y Felipe (Pipe). Joaco is eleven, full with questions and jokes. Pipe is nine and very shy. I'll eventually get him to be comfortable around me. They have pets too! A dog called Pelusa and a cat named Micho. At first, meeting them was very overwhelming. But as time went by, I began to feel as one of them. I ... read more
View from Living room

South America » Chile » Aisén » Coyhaique July 12th 2010

More than 24 hours later we finally made it to Coihayque, Chile. There are a couple of feet of snow on the ground which has paralyzed almost the entire city. Our host familes aren´t able to get us for now so we´re at a hostel with a lovely Chilean family. It´s true what people say. Patagonia has its own magic. At night, you can probably see a million starts. During the day, the mountains just take your breath away. The town looks like one of those you see in a snowglobe. The people are friendly and the food´s amazing. For all of you who know my relationship with food I want to say that I´ve already drunk tons of orange juice, eaten carrots and enjoyed more than two cups of tea. By the time I get ... read more
Runway covered in snow

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt July 11th 2010

Santiago's day starts at 8am when the sun rises over the Andes Mountains. So when we got up to go to the airport at 7am the city was still sleeping. After checking in with the airline and avoiding paying hundreds of dollars of overweight fees we were ready to start our journey south. Our flight bound to Balmaceda had three scheduled stops before reaching our final destination. The view from the plane was amazing; the Andes, the Pacific, volcanoes and clouds. Before reaching the next to last stop, the pilot informed us that Aysen was covered in snow and that the airport was closed. Great! At least airlines down here are good and they have placed us in a four star hotel. Score! For now, we're enjoying Puerto Montt and waiting for our last leg of ... read more
Andes Mts
View from plane
Volcanoes

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago July 8th 2010

So finally got an email today about who my host family is. The mom's name is Jessica Sanhueza and she's a teacher at the school where I'll be working. She has two kids. Her husband is in the military. It's interesting how things develop in life. I know I'll learn a lot from Jessica. ... read more

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago July 8th 2010

Day four of orientation and we still don't know much. Orientation has been just general information which mostly goes over our heads. At least we do know when we're going to our region. Ari, Dana, Brad, Jaymie, Jillian and I are flying to Aysen on Saturday at 11am. A new piece of information that we did get today was that we are working at a winter camp for a week, from July 19-24. There we get high school students who really want to learn English. We've heard that it's one of the best experiences from this program. Can't wait to finally get to Patagonia and start teaching. ... read more

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago July 6th 2010

I am a volunteer working with the Ministry of Education and The UN Development Programme. I will be working in the Aysen Region (Patagonia) for 5 months. Unfortunately I dont know exactly where I'm going but I'll let you know as soon as I know. This first week we've been having a set of training courses to make us better English teachers. My thing is that I'm already certified so it's a lot of the same. Besides that nothing much is been happening the last couple of days. Just hanging out at the hostel and meeting people from all over the world. ... read more

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago July 4th 2010

Today was a walking day. Big groups at the hostel where too overwhelming so Dana and I decided to wonder around our hostel. Good wondering skills took us to the Plaza de Armas and the Mercado Central. Unfortunately, it is South American Sunday so the streets are dead. The Mercado Central however was packed with people. There are tons of seafood and fruits and vegetables everywhere. Chileans can be very overwhelming at times. Will take a while to get used to this. ... read more

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago July 3rd 2010

Yesterday, when I woke up I saw the sunrise over the Andes Mountains. That was went it hit me. I'm going to be living in a foreign country all by myself. Yikes! Oh well, there's nothing I can do now. Yesterday we had a pre orientation from our host agency about living and teaching in Patagonia. It sounds amazing and I can't wait to finally get there next week. Orientation starts on Monday. Every minute more people come to the hostel who are part of the program. I never thought the program would be this big. I met two people who are sponsored by the same agency as I am. They're great and tons of fun. Today we went to a hill where you can see all of Santiago. I never knew the city was so ... read more
Ari, Dana and me
Andes!

North America » United States » Florida » Miami July 1st 2010

Welcome family and friends, As promised to some of you, I have started my travel blog. Here, you will be able to read all about my adventures exploring Chile and teaching bright young minds. I intend on writing as much as possible but please forgive me if I take long adding entries. I will have no internet access from the computer after I leave the States and will depend on Internet Cafes. I will miss all of you and I hope that you enjoy as much as I will all the adventures that lie ahead of me. Thanks for everything! Yaima ... read more




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