Blogs from Horcon, Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America

As I write this I am sad to say that Chile and the USA are out of the running for the World Cup. It was fun while it lasted and we basically had an unofficial holiday each day Chile had a game. Each class brought in a TV for the room and watched the game. I watched with my 4 HC group. Grade levels go from 1-8 Basico and then 1-4 Medio. We have three "magnet programs" at our school- Electricity/Electronics, Buisness Administration, and Humanities, which is just like regular high school. I am including pictures of the last game we watched at school and how we celebrated Chile's win. Viva Chile!... read more

Chile recently celebrated it's victory in the War of the Pacific where they basically took land from Boliva and Peru, causing Bolivia to be the land locked country it is today. Boliva is still protesting to get this land back. There were marches all over the country and that included my school. For 5 days leading up to the parade the students practiced marching around the courtyard. This all took place during school hours disrupting all classes, but that is another blog entry. School all over the Puchuncavi community (our "county") came to participate in the march down the main road in Ventanas and the WHOLE town was there to watch it. It was a BIG deal. :) After marching with my students down the street I was greeted with hugs and congratulations for my first ... read more

It is easy to show all things bright and beautiful here in Chile. I am fortunate to travel every weekend almost and see all the awesome sights. But things are not all easy here. Things are not all beautiful either. I work in a very good public school, C.E.S.A., and work with some awesome people but the school system here is in need of serious change. I will start posting my regular days so that you can all see what I do. I walk to school every morning at 7:45. I would like to arrive earlier at school to prepare for my 8 am class but there is no one at school to unlock the classrooms before 7:55 so I arrive with everyone else. I pass pretty much the same dogs everyday. Some days more, some ... read more

Just some pictures of the walk Jeremy and I took the other day by the rock formation that gives our town its name. Ventanas is interesting right now. Many places are only open Jan and Feb for the summer crowds. It is nice for the owners but for people who live here year round, it leaves little for entertainment. Many walks to the rocks are in store. . . :)... read more

I had an open week between two of my finals so rather than taking the free time to study, my friend and I decided to beach it. I met her at her house with a backpack filled with a bathing suit, book and flipflops. We went to the bus station said, "ok, so where is somewhere cheap, close and on the beach??". We ended up taking buses from one little beach town to the next, most of which werent too exciting to be completely honest. We ended up staying in Concón and Horcon, since there really wasn't anything around there we went to our regular stomping ground- Viña del Mar y Valparaiso. There are pictures in here from that little get away along with some other random pictures from my time here.... read more