Well, I find myself back in Santiago now, so I have a lot of catching up to do with blogs on our last week in Argentina. I thought it would be best to go in order, since our adventures last ended in Puerto Natales after an adventurous hike in Torres del Paine and some amazing penguin viewing. We arranged to do a tour with an operator out of Puerto Natales to the Glacier Perito Moreno in El Calafete and to have them drop us off in El Calafete on the way home since it was easier than taking the bus ourselves. So, we woke up early on our last day in the beautiful country of Chile, for a while at least, and scrambled to get on the transfer at 7:00 am in the morning. I am ... read more

So after settling on my medicine and such, we headed to the port in Puerto Montt to board the Navimag Ferry, our home for the next four days. We all met in a big area to get our rules and boarding process talk from the ship people. It was pretty straight forward and the couple hundred people sitting there then separated into our specific boarding groups and headed towards the ferry. The ship itself was half passenger cabins and half room for trucks, cars, and just about anything you can think of. I read somewhere that in the winter is a haven for cattle...glad its summer. We found our 4 person cabin, without a window, which was pretty cozy and all settled in to our lockers that were there for our bags which gave us a ... read more

We are officially on the road. After a ridiculous hectic day finishing up everything on Thursday in Santiago, we hopped on an overnight bus to Pucon to meet up with about 40 other Couchsurfers for a camping weekend outside of Pucon, the adventure capital of Chile! Rita and I decided to upgrade for the overnight bus and got Cama tickets (which means, bed). This was about as first class as I have ever seen a bus get, hope someday I can try the "premium" category. We got some sleep overnight in our luxurious bus seats and were a bit drowsy when we arrived in Pucon on Friday morning. We ran over to an internet cafe for a minute because when we arrived we realized that no one had written down the directions on how to get ... read more

After a weekend in Santiago and regaining a little bit of sleep, we decided it was time to head west to the popular destinations of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. Only a quick hour bus ride from Santiago (about $7 US) this was an easy overnight trip. Right next to each other on the coast, these two cities couldn't be any more different. Valparaiso is a harbor town, bustling with people, markets, and is also a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vina del Mar, the beach town next door takes a completely different pace to life. Its clean streets and beautiful hotels and casinos along the beach make it one of the favorite places for local Santiago residents to forget about everything during the weekend. We arrived on a slightly chilly day in Valparaiso, meaning I ... read more

So yet another week has flown by down here in Chile. I am still very much enjoying the weather, the sun always shines here. I have continued to make new friends and check out the city. With a four hour language class every morning and a 3 hour MBA class 3 evenings a week, I am very glad I chose to drop my other MBA class. This last week was pretty exhausting, but I really learned a lot! My Spanish is improving quickly, I am getting around just fine now with the language. I absolutely love my Negotiations class through the MBA program. My professor is from South Africa and seems very knowledgeable and is quite entertaining, making our 3 hour classes go by quickly. I also enjoy the fact that for the exchange students this ... read more