Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

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I found out yesterday where I'll be heading. I'm going to spend the next 8 months of my life in Caldera, Atacama, Chile. It's a small town of about 14,000 people right on the coast. The pictures look BEAUTIFUL! I will be teaching 5-8 grade English. This is exciting because it was pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. I don't know who my host family is or my address but the school I will be teaching at is called Colegio Parroquial Padre Negro. I leave by bus today at about midnight. It's approximately 14 hours north of Santiago so I have a bit of a ride ahead of me (the buses in Chile are amazing from what I hear and the Ministerio de Educacion has paid for a Cama Bus. Cama means bed in Spanish. The seats on a cama bus lay almost completely back. They also serve food and have movies/tv playing. Busing in Chile is much more common so its pretty comfortable. I'm actually busing first to Copiapó which is the capital of the Atacama Region. I might stay there a night or two (I won't know until I get there) and then bus the last hour to the coast. I won't actually know who my host family is until I arrive in Caldera.

Last night our program threw a party for us here at the hostel. It was great fun! We had and Asado, or barbecue, with choripán, which is sausage in a role--really delicious, steak, salad, an amazing DJ and pisco sours! So much fun!

The first group of volunteers left this morning for the airport. They are going to Patagonia and it easier to fly. It was sad to see them go but everyone is excited (and nervous) to be starting. I'm extremely excited and very nervous as well! But as we all keep telling each other, if we didn't care about what we were doing we wouldn't be nervous about it. So a little tightness of the stomach is a good sign!

I didn't get much sleep so now I'm gonna try to take a nap before I start my day. I'm headed to San Cristóbal which is a huge park on an even bigger hill than Cerro San Lucia.

Hope everyone is well!

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Comments

[Mom]

And so it begins . . .
You sound WAY too excited!! Your blog is great fun to read and the pictures are awesome. Because I'm your mom I have to say --be careful, but enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! Love you as always.

[Stacy Wegner]

Getting there is half the battle
Zach, I am so glad you set up this blog! I am so excited that you are having such a good time already. I hope you pick up from your students as much as you give to them. Travel safe and we can't wait to hear about your host family. Stacy sister in law

[Cyndi Stevens]

Behind but catching up...
I had trouble getting logged on (over and over and over) although, I kept getting(email) notices that you posted.... So, with patients and diligence- I finally made it.... better late then never... every-time I read, I'm jealous, and my Spanish skills total the sum of about two words.... Great times from Eugene