Blogs from Coyhaique, Aisén, Chile, South America - page 2

Before hitting the road, I had worked 3 months at a hostel (www.patagonia-hostel.com). The reason being 1. so that I could improve my Spanish, and 2. so that I could become a little bit more assimilated before I set off to travel by myself. After several goodbyes and toasts, I was finally sitting on the plane to Santiago. There, I had an American from Flagstaff, AZ, next to me (check out his website at www.rioslibres.com). This was somewhat coincidental, because I had worked in Prescott, AZ, for a couple of summers. Furthermore, James Q, as this Arizonian is named, spent the previous day with a mutual friend of mine (this will become a theme, I am sure). We chatted the entire trip to Santiago exchanging stories. But despite the distraction of conversation, I felt that I ... read more

Hello dear readers, here I am again, struggling to learn how to use the spanish keyboard. Anyway, I made it safely to Coyhaique with about half of the group. We all met in Santiago, as three of them had missed their connections and one was supposed to be on my flight anway. Another joined us at the airport and (happy day) all my luggage came through. Others were not so lucky. Patagonia is breath taking. It is different and familiar and exciting, comforting, dramatic, domestic, and any number of other positive superlatives. I cannot fairly describe what the country side is like here. We drove from a flat plain up through ridges dotted with funny round evergreens that were bent by the wind (sound familiar?) into mountain passes that were stunning, granite walls rising straight up, ... read more

Last weekend in Patagonia I will never forget. Everyone wanted to spend time with us and say thanks for our time spent here. My school prepared a special "once" for me where we shared stories from the last couple of months. They gave me presents and thanked me for all the work I had dedicated to help their kids. The regional Ministry of Education put together a special presentation in English about our time there. And lastly, my host family had an asado with "cordero parado" which for those of you who don't know it, please Google it. It looks amazing and it tastes even better. We'll I guess this is it for Patagonia for now. But I ate some calafate which means that I'm definitely coming back!... read more

There are few beautiful Spring days in Patagonia where the sun shines with no clouds around and the temperature rises to a comfortable 15 degrees. We've had a full week of those. To celebrate, my host family decided to have a cookout and eat outside on the backyard. We ate sausages, hot dogs and pork while enjoying the nice but strong Patagonian sun. Note to self: wear sunblock otherwise you'll get burn after an hour outside. On Sunday my host dad had the wonderful idea of having a picnic outside by the river. The kids got so excited they put on their bathing suites and decided that they would go in the water. I, of course, followed and got in the second most freezing water I've ever bathed in my life (first was Vermont in late ... read more

Because of all the hard work teachers invest in students in Chile, Teacher's Day is nationally celebrated as a holiday. Students come to school for a half day filled with celebrations and food. I've never eaten so much junk food in Chile in one day! After the feast, the kids prepared some musical numbers for our enjoyment. For our afternoon off, the elementary school teachers and I had an "asado" at the Coyhaique Reserve. We ate even more food and shared stories about our kids. Teachers do really love their jobs. For dinner, the whole school got together to share a good meal and some dancing. ... read more