¡Un beso para todos!

Hey everyone!!

it has almost been two weeks since I arrived in this beautiful country and I can't tell you how wonderful and relaxing it has been....but I'll try :)

My familia chilena is great and I feel like it's home, which I guess happens when you live somewhere for a while. My madre is Sonia and her job is hosting students like me. Her sons, Tito (22 year old medical student) and Rodrigo (19 year old Kinesiology student) are both enjoying their summer break from classes, but spend a good chunck of their days working. We live in a cozy apartment in downtown Viña del Mar, a tourist city that has successfully maintained its small town charm...the huge casino down the street doesn't detract from the plaza and little shops near my house.

The first weekend we were here we took a trip to the south...Penguins, Alpacas and Pumas, oh my. The penguins come up from Antarctica to chill on the rocky coast. amazing. And I think Alpacas (relative of the camel) might be my new favorite animal. We had an American guide who has lived and raised her family in Chile for 28 years..she owns some hotels and beautiful villas on the beach. We spent 5 days at her various hotels around the south hiking, hot tubbing, eating the best seafood ever, sweating in a sauna, meditating, running naked through waterfalls...you know how it goes. :) Sadly, my camera was battery-less the whole trip, so I'll have to get some pics from somebody else.

Classes are going well...looks like since I know Spanish pretty well, I am excused from the grammar class, but will have to do an independent study probably on Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet who, as it turns out, has some pretty eccentric collections. We visited his house and not only did he collect bow figures from old ships, he also collected piano-leg supports and his prize possession was a meter-long, ivory norwall horn. Crazy. So that project will be fun to do. In the HES part of the class, we've learned about the economy and health system here is Chile...Along with economic advancement comes the development of American problems like obesity (although they haven't caught up with us in that regard, yet)

Yesterday the presidential election took place and Chile now has the first female president of Latin America. Great! I actually went with my madre to the polls to see how voting goes here, and it's a little different. The polling places are separated male/female and the votes are counted right there as they are turned in. Michelle Bachelet was announced as the new Presidenta Chilena by 8:00 last night....and since my whole family voted for her, we went to the big celebration with music and flags and tons of people right outside of my apartment in the plaza. I feel like I was witness to a great day in history.

We've gone out the past few weekends to the hot spots for the university kids around here. Dancing the night away at El Huevo (The Egg) will never get old. I have not experienced dining out here, but I am not missing out on anything food-wise. Sonia is a great cook and on Saturday I ate the most delicious food ever...Pastel de Choclo. John McDaniel warned me that is was good, but I didn't have any idea how good...it's like a corn casserole with a little bit of everything else in it too (chicken, raisins, olives, onions). Mmmm, delicious. Lots of fruit and avocados here, too. As I brought home tortilla-making skills from Spain, hopefully I'll bring home some Pastel de Choclo skills in March.

Ok, so I hope you made it this far down the page...sorry I rambled. I miss all of you, and I'll write soon!

Ciaocito,
Morgan
I'll add pictures later today

my address here:

Sonia Gonzalez
Morgan Jones
Arlegui 645, dpt 30
Viña del Mar
CHILE

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