Viña del Mar y Valparaiso

So, first update: My purse got stolen at the beach in Viña so I am temporarily without a camera. Luckily, nothing else of value was in my purse- all my debit cards and large bills and, most importantly, my PASSPORT, are safe and sound in my possession. As I'm sure y'all can imagine, I am pretty heartbroken about parting ways with my camera. I got it right before I went off to college so it has been with me for so many adventures and photo opportunities. And it is just awful to be in a new country with no way to take pictures of it.

So, being robbed was a big bummer, but it definitely did not ruin my vacation. For one thing, I was traveling with some amazing friends and I felt/feel overwhelmingly grateful for them. After the robbery, Kristin spent 3 hours with me at the police station while we experienced firsthand the Chilean bureaucracy. AKA, we waited in the lobby for a LONG time and then I filled out a bunch of paperwork. When Kristin and I returned to our apartment, the rest of my group had made a delicious dinner of mashed potatoes, chicken, and zucchini, and we watched the end of the sunset over our apartment.

Oh, and speaking of OUR APARTMENT, it was amazing. (Since I was travelling with so many other people with cameras, I have a lot of pictures of the week.)

We were on the 19th story of an apartment basically in the middle of the city of Viña, and from our balcony we could see everything.
Here's a view of some of the city and some of the mountains in the distance.

And here's a picture of the sunset. CHECK THAT OUT.

Probably the coolest part of my vacation was going to Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso, La Sebastiana. It was the freakin' coolest house I have ever been in- there were 5 stories, and each room was colorful and filled with really interesting odds and ends and things that Pablo Neruda actually TOUCHED. And there was a French map in the study (top floor) from 1698 (I think) that showed the "Island of California" and had Valdivia labeled as "Baldivia." Oh, and for whatever reason, we got to enter the museum for FREE, and we made friends with a Chilean student named Esteban who wanted to practice his English with us. The whole experience was incredible.

La Sebastiana!!! I wish I could live in this house.

Afterward, we found a park that had statues of some Chilean poets. I got to shake hands with Neruda himself!!


Valparaiso is one of the coolest cities I've ever seen. There is street art EVERYWHERE and all the buildings and houses are colorful and the whole city is made of hills so there is never a bad view of the city. Here's a couple more pictures of me (and my friends Jac and Jahni, in the picture below) and the streets of Valpo.



We also went to the sand dunes, the Chilean naval museum, the mall (dude, the mall in Viña is no joke, it's huge!), a five-story discoteca called Juevo, and La Campana, the area where Charles Darwin himself hiked around when he was in Chile a few centuries ago. I have more of my friend's pictures that I want to post, but for now, I need to sleep so I can wake up early and go to the civil registrar's office and get my Chilean ID replaced! Chao y besitos!

feliz bicentenario!

Happy 200th birthday to Chile! It's pretty awesome that I get to be in the country for one of their most important historical celebrations. Yesterday on TV I watched them raise the giant Chilean flag in Santiago. It was made in the year 1817 and it's 27 x 18 m. For those of you unfamiliar with the metric system, just know that it is HUGE. The president, Sebastian Piñera, gave a speech, of course, and Michelle Bachelet was there, and Isabel Allende! And other important Chileans that I don't remember. I rang in the day at midnight at a kareoke bar with tons of my amigos. I think today after a traditionally giant lunch-- I think some sort of meat skewer is on the menu for today-- I'm going to head over to Parque Saval, where there is some sort of fair happening with even more delicious Chilean food. I love this country.

Here's me with a Chilean flag donut. Viva Chile!

Because Independence Day is so big around here, I now have a whole WEEK off of school and I leave for Viña del Mar and Valparaiso TOMORROW! Just imagine me spending all week on some Chilean beaches. Jealous yet?

la conquista is being reinacted in my house

So in my History class, we just finished learning about la conquista, when the Spaniards came to Chile and colonized it. It is basically the same as every other European conquest, so of course we talked a little about how the Europeans brought over diseases that the indigenous Chileans weren't immune to. (Fun fact: The Europeans brought gonorrhea to America, but Americans gave syphilis to Europe!) In Chile, and many other places, disease killed more indigenous people than war or slavery.

Well, remember how I had a cold last week? It lasted all of 3 days (although my sore throat was prolonged due to my love of kareoke and loud parties) and now I am totally recovered and feeling healthy as a horse. HOWEVER, my host sister has been sick since Friday with a cold that also gave her a fever, and now my host mom has a sore throat... I feel like a conquistador. But on the plus side, I'm pretty sure my family is going to recover de pronto, and also, the whole city of Valdivia is resfriado right now.

Speaking of Chilean history, Independence Day is only 4 days away!!!! Bicentenario! And afterward, we have a week off of school ("Spring Break") and I am officially going to Valparaiso/Viña del Mar with some of my friends for the week! In Valpo and Viña there are beaches and sun and tons of fun places, I am told. Plus, my amiga Kristin has been studying abroad there for the past 6 months so I'll get to reunite with her! Stoked!

días lindos

Today in Valdivia it's hella rainy, but the last few days have been really nice out. And I have pictures!

Thursday:

Some graffiti near my campus: "How ugly it is, what the youth write with their inexpert hand."

There is tons of street art in Valdivia. some of it is political and almost all of it is really cool and beautiful. I'll post more pictures of it while I'm here.

My friends Jeff & Anna, eating ice cream in the plaza. Jeff had chocolate & rum ice cream, Anna had lúcuma with nuts. I also had lúcuma with nuts.

Friday:

Me! Yesterday Anna & I went to a park near her house, Parque Saval, which has a gorgeous lake filled with lily pads and frogs, and also has a little forest to hike around.

This is the view of the lake from higher up.

I don't have pictures of this, but I also went to a kareoke bar on Thursday night with my friends and I sang an ABBA song. It was a dream come true. I think kareoke bars are the best thing about being legal. Of course, after a night of kareoke, my throat was worse off than before, so I've been taking it easy trying to recover my voice. I actually did most of my homework today (on a SATURDAY. Good grief), and my host mom bought us lúcuma and chocolate ice cream, so it's been a good rainy day in.

resfriado

After years and years of being TOTALLY AWESOME, my immune system is failing me in Chile. (To be fair, it probably has something to do with the fact that I stayed out dancing until 4:30 AM on Friday night. Lo siento cuerpo!) All I have is a cold, but it is super boring because I've basically just been in my bed for three days in a row. Luckily, I don't have classes on Tuesdays, so I have the whole day to recover. I've been eating soup and drinking hot water like nobody's business, and soon my host mom is going to the pharmacy to get me some cold medicine. So hopefully I will recover pronto!

Oh, and if anyone wants to send me get-well cards/postcards/chocolate, here's my address in Chile:
Marie Schow
C/O Profesora Raquel Epullanca Oyarzo
Casilla 567 Centro de Idiomas
Oficina de Estudiantes Extranjeros
Universidad Austral de Chile
Valdivia, Chile

(I heard it takes 15 days to get mail to/from the US, so any get-well cards might be outdated... but still, chocolate!)

Curiñanco

Two weeks in Chile already! This past week, the weather has been totally gorgeous and sunny (although still really cold, since it's winter and all) and on Friday we had an excursion to the OCEAN! We went to a place called Curiñanco, where there was a gorgeous coast and a tiny rainforest that we ambled around in for a few hours. It was really, really beautiful.

After our hike through the forest, we ate lunch and our Chilean student mentors showed us how to dance the Cueca, the national dance of Chile. Chilean's independence day is on September 18th, and it is a HUGE deal, especially because this year is the bicentennial! So anyway, every year on the 18th people celebrate all day by dancing the Cueca. Like most dances, it's the story of a courtship between a persistent man and a coy woman, and they circle around until they end up together in the end. The steps are slightly modeled after a rooster and a hen. It's pretty fun to watch, and I'm sure that I'll end up doing some sort of clumsy Cueca imitation once Independence Day rolls around.

After the dancing, some of us ran around on the beach for awhile.Of course I had to take some jumping pictures.

Even as the fog rolled in, no rain! Que suerte!

Aside from having adventures on the coast, Chilean life has been really good. My Spanish is slowly improving, the flowers are blooming, etc. The only bummer is that now that school is in session I have homework. Hmph.