Blogs from Viña del Mar, Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 20

Luis Kong Rocks! That was the theme of our spanish class in Santiago. During training the first 3 weeks here we had spanish class. There were 4 other volunteers in my basic spanish class. We had such a blast: we debated and argued, laughed, made fun of each other ALOT, an overall great time. Our teacher was Luis Kong(picture on the left with Nate). We never said Luis, it was always first and last name...I don't know why. It just sounded weird without them both together. Anyways, on our last day of class Luis Kong took us to one of his favorite restaurant/bars in downtown Santiago. We all piled into his small Toyota (picture on R: Courtney, me, Preston, and Kelly) and cruised the main strip in Santiago. He put in one of his favorite ... read more

COLD WATER II Part of the problem was Valparaiso. It’s such a beautiful city - parts of it designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I like the castellano name more, though: Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad. Humanity … The problem with it is that it’s right next to Viña del Mar. When I come to Valparaiso I feel the same vibe, the undercurrent of vitality, that I felt since coming to Lima. The visceral, beautiful and terrible emotions and realities of South America are tangible, in the streets and the buildings and looks and roar of a lunch-time market-place in La Paz, and the tilt of a condor’s wings in the Andes, and the two miles of Amazon that disappear each day, in the soccer games on dirt pitches with Chinese balls and the stray bitch ... read more

The title is a movie quote (combo of 2, actually. See if you can figure it out, bubbies.) K- here´s a short entry. Still no photos to add, no cable that I can get to work. Soon though. We took the plane from Anto at 10:50 this morning. First stopped at La Portada, hiked down the beach, cool pics (huge rock with hole in it, in the ocean) - fun times. Took a transport to Vina, about 1.5 hours away. Barely kept awake, since going on 4-6 hours sleep each night. But this is our break-time, I don´t know anyone here, never been here before. We´ll spend tonight and tomorrow chilling on the beach, seeing some sites. Vina del Mar is a tourist town, nice boardwalks along the ocean, beaches, casinos, horse-drawn carriages, the works. Had ... read more

Mendoza, Argentina (the west coast) and Chile (Santiago and Vina Del Mar) March 6-13 Mendoza, the developing younger cousin of Bordeaux and Napa, has led Argentina in the charge to become one of the world´s largest exporters of wine. Early on Monday the 6th a few of us headed west to Mendoza to test the Argentinian methods for making wine. Mendoza is a surprisingly large (1+ million people) city with a thriving university that keeps it bustling. And with a pronounced urban plan to include lots of parks, wide tree-lined streets, green space dropped back against mountains, I found Mendoza a truly beautiful city through which to wander aimlessly. The first afternoon a few of us went to La Rural, one of the larger vineyards in the neighboring city of Maipu, for an organized tour of ... read more

I am in Chile as a part of WorldTeach, a volunteer program. Check it out http://worldteach.org/ It is a great organization. I will be working for them through Dec. 06 here is what their website says about the organization, WorldTeach is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides opportunities for individuals to make a meaningful contribution to international education by living and working as volunteer teachers in developing countries. WorldTeach was founded by a group of Harvard students in 1986, in response to the need for educational assistance in developing countries. It also addressed a growing interest among people in the U.S. and elsewhere to serve, teach and learn as volunteers overseas. Since its inception, WorldTeach has placed thousands of volunteer educators in communities throughout Asia, Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Pacific. B... read more