Last weekend was Eric and my 4 year anniversary and we decided to spend it camping a couple hours north of Viña del Mar. We left early on Saturday morning not quite sure of how to get to the camping spot. Turns out it was not very difficult and we only had to walk a short distance from where we were the bus dropped us off at. We were very pleased with our camp site, it was out in the woods and very peaceful, except of coarse there was a father son outing going on at the same time as well. They didn´t bother us to much though and ended up giving us a lot of entertainment in the end. After we set up camp we took a walk along the beach of La Laguna and ... 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

Reñaca is the town to the north of Valparaiso about 5 miles. There are sand dunes that rise over a thousand feet out of the sea. As we can see them in the distance from our apartment window, we decided it was time to check them out. So we took a short bus ride up the coast and set out onto the sand. It was so windy that the sand was flying everywhere. This made it hard to see the amazing view of the ocean from atop the massive dune. This weekend there was also an international sailing Regatta of old fashioned galleons passing through town. The ships were from all over the world and hung massive flags trailing in the wind behind them. The coastline was absolutely packed with spectators. When the Chilean ship passed ... read more

We arrive in Santiago early morning and learn that the other teachers in our program are also arriving today. We spend the first day meeting everyone and taking a little walk though the city. Santiago is a very nice city, far better then what we have heard in the past. The smog here is really bad but is only noticeable if you look far in the distance. This is the first night for many so everyone is ready to party and mingle. Our hostel had a BBQ then we ended going out to the bars. The bars in Chile are really expensive so we didn’t end up drinking too much at the bars but had a great time meeting everyone in our group. The second night was the night of the big earthquake. Eric and I ... read more

The passage into Chile was easy with no complications. Our first stop was San Pedro de Atacama. We learned very quickly that Chile is expensive. It was a little bit of a culture shock for us because we were use to everything being very very cheap in Bolivia. The hostels were more then twice as much as well as the food. We knew that we were not going to be eating in quite as many restaurants now. San Pedro is a nice little oasis. We only stayed here for a day and a half then heading down to La Serena the next night.... read more