Blogs from Biobío, Chile, South America - page 2

It's been a month since I've updated this. Wow. It doesn't seem like a lot of time, but I've been busy. I hope I can remember it all. To beging, Yesterday I went to Cobquecura. It's a little ocean town about 2 hours away from here. It's really beautiful and you can still see the destruction from the earthquake from 2 years ago. For lunch I had REinton or some odd fish like that, and it was really delicious. My sister joked that it was taking so long because they had to fish it up. After lunch some of us went and walked around the town and the others stayed for desert. I walked around the town, and followed the tsunami evactuation route to the highest point in the town, along which told some bible stories, ... read more

In Chillán I was quite lucky to get a room as some were even reduced to living on the porches over doorways (see first picture). I tried to speak to these less fortunate tourists but they seemed strangely taciturn. However, they seemed to be making the best of their lot by growing some flowers to cheer themselves up. The housing situation was not just confined to my species and even the dogs were reduced to sleeping in the streets (see second picture). Chillán is well known as: the site of a devestating earthquake in 1939; the birthplace of Bernard O'Higgings (1778-1842), the founder of the republic of Chile; and the birthplace of the world-famous pianist Claudio Arrau Leon (1903‑1991). Whilst being shown round the Claudio Arrau Leon museum my telling the guide that I had once ... read more

So I've been here for 2 months now more or less, when i first arrived i spoke next to no spanish..hola and por favor perhaps and now 2 months on...still only limited spanish perhaps stretched to cuanto vale and flaite - which is the chilean for chav! As i said in my profile i dont really know what possessed me to start this today, I've been meaning to for ages but today as i was trying my 3rd attempt at a lemon drizzle cake as a present for my boss at work (brown noser?), i was trying to switch oven shelves and the whole tin fell off and all the contens onto the floor - brilliant, i'm so pissed off i have refused to clean it up yet, with my housemate expected back imminently i should ... read more

The second half of our winter break we decided to visit the Biobio region. This included Concepcion, Chillan, and termas de chillan. Our first stop was Concepcion. When we arrived it was late and raining., which the rain is very common. It was difficult for us to find a hostel because all of the hostels are expensive. We ended up settling for a much to expensive hostel but had no other choice. We slept and woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We walked around the city and explored the park. The park felt like Oregon because it was wet, green, and beautiful. It was just like home. In the park there were some good view points where we could really see the destruction of the earthquake. After we spend a couple hours wondering in the ... read more

Winter camp finally started! As soon as the kids saw us the ambiance changed. They love having us around! We started the day with icebreakers and went on to practicing English. The first task was to make signs of different places throught the school. They loved it! They put a really big effort into it. After that, we kept going with the camp project which has to do with a stray dog in Chile who travels around and finds out he loves Chile. The kids have to right a chapter of the dog's adventures in Concepcion. After lunch the kids performed some skits created by the Ministry of Education. What a laugh! We ended the day singing the Hokey Pokey and giving homework assignments. Chilean kids are full of energy which is promotes a good learning ... read more