The weather has been funky. One day it started out grey and cloudy then turned in the late afternoon with some sun and clear skies, and that night it rained cats and dogs. Well, at least it keeps me on my toes! I’m always prepared with extra layers, but didn’t think so much about rain before I came here. Nonetheless, I’ve gotten my fill of puddle jumping and nights coming home sopping wet. This might be why I now have a stuffy nose…hm.

I’ve also been busy accustoming myself to my new home and family as well as working on midterm projects, rehabilitating my ankle and playing Capoeira.

Since I haven’t been able to play soccer, I’ve been trying to find alternatives to things that will restrengthen my ankle and body. I unwillingly turned to jogging; it doesn’t require much ankle flexibility but…I really just don’t enjoy it in the least. However, I needed to do something active or I would go crazy.

I don't mind jogging to this view.

So a little background, I have never ever ever liked running. I do it anyway, but with much moderation; never more than a mile and a half. Well, living in the new house is amazing, but it’s a lot farther from the beach. Olivia told me that she jogs on the main street, Alvarez, to the beach and it’s about 6 miles there and back. Immediately dismissed the idea of taking that path, and decided to take a different way along Uno Norte towards the beach by the Casino and San Martin; it seemed much shorter. Thus, I began to jog along and jammed out to some good tunes as I tried to remember exactly where I was. My thought process was something along the lines of this: “Ah, yes I recognize this place. It’s just around the corner…oh wait, I forgot about this plaza, now it’s just around the corner…shouldn’t it be on this block?…where am I?” and finally, I found the beach. I sat, relaxed for a few minutes, and then jogged back. Knowing that it was much farther than I had expected, I looked up on google maps how far it was. Turns out I ran about 5 miles round trip. I had impressed myself to say the least. I felt incredible, almost invincible, after. My plan is to do that at least 4 times a week; it’ll make up for all the bread and sweets I’ve been eating…no regrets; they’re delicious.

I also started Capoeira, which does require ankle strength but it helps work other muscles and flexibility as well, so it’s been more of a help than a hurt…and my ankle has actually been feeling better after all this activity.

Capoeira at Mil Tambores

For those of you who might not know, Capoeira is a beautiful Brazilian martial art that is a mix between self defense and dancing (not ballroom, more like break/street dancing). How it came to be was through the Brazilian slaves centuries ago who disguised the fighting style as a dance so the slave owners wouldn’t know; they also would practice in the Capoeira (short grass). For those of you who also might not know, I’m absolutely in love with Capoeira. The capoeiristas that I saw at Mil Tambores are the same capoeiristas that I’m taking classes from now. They’re really impressive and intimidating. We also play the traditional Brazilian instruments/sing the music of Capoeira. I’m slowly improving not only in Capoeira, but also in flexibility. I can touch my toes with no problem 🙂

I’ve also booked my big trips remaining this semester; Mendoza and Brazil. Having a tourist visa, I have to leave the country before 90 days. Luckily, Mendoza, Argentina is only 8 hours on a bus. Since everyone else already has plans for this long weekend, I’m taking this trip solo across the border to re-legalize myself. Should be a nice personal retreat. I also have my plane tickets to leave on the 20th of December for Rio de Janeiro to spend Christmas and the New Year with my dear Brazilian friends from VU. Absolutely can’t wait…well I can, I love my Chile, but I am rather excited!

Because I’ll be spending time in Brazil, I’ve also been picking up some Portuguese lessons from the family friend, Basilio. It’s very similar to Spanish in a lot of ways, but definitely not the same. I can speak in Spanish to my Brazilian friends and they’ll understand me. We even tried to have a conversation where I would speak in Spanish and he would respond in Portuguese, and it worked out that we could understand each other, which was so cool. I’m also studying up Michel Telo, known for his song “Nossa, nossa.” If nothing else, at least I can sing along to some of his songs.

Olivia and I have also discovered some sort of insect is biting us in the night…it’s either pulgas (fleas), zancudos (mosquitoes), or something called a manga…so we’ve bundled up in plenty of layers upon layers so they don’t bite us until we torch our sheets tomorrow. (Just kidding; we’ll just wash them thoroughly. Extreme thoroughness.

Feeling so funky, feeling so fresh, feeling so fly. Love my life in my Chile.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated, but things have been a bit topsy-turvy here so I’ll just highlight a few things.

Last Saturday our group went to Isla Negra which is not actually an island, but the name of one of the houses of Pablo Neruda. When we arrived, we had to wait for our tour at 3, so we got lunch and then went out to the ocean. The day was grey and cool, but that almost added to the feel; the ash grey sky with the steel blue ocean and the bright white foam of the waves that came rolling into the ominously black rocks that made up the shore.

When we walked over to the house/museum for our tour, we noticed a lot of what looked like governmental cars outside. It was the president of Ireland visiting the house of Pablo Neruda! Being a poet himself, he gave a speech as to how Pablo Neruda has influenced him and the world for the better. Though I didn’t get to meet the president himself, I talked to a few of his bodyguards. I love Irish accents.

Finally after the speech and interviews, we went on our tour. We weren’t allowed to take pictures indoors, but the house was meant to be as if you were living on a boat. The doorways were low, everything was made of wood, and the views from the bay windows were spectacular. Pablo had a lot of collections; unique shells, pipes, colorful glasses, miniature ships in bottles, and of course, figureheads (the carved statues of typically woman that go on the front of ships). The entire place was so beautiful and it was easily seen how someone could write poetry in a place like that.

Another big topic: my host family. I changed host families just yesterday. My old host family and I were never on the same schedule and it became difficult to live in a house that seemed always empty when I was there. I had been spending a lot of time, therefore, outside of the house enjoying time with friends and exploring Viña more, specifically spending more time with my friend Olivia and her host family. It was strange how naturally we all melded together, and I began to notice that I really loved spending time with them. Olivia told me that whenever I would leave, they would always ask her when I would be coming back; I felt a part of their lives already.

Then a few days ago, they asked me if I wanted to stay and live with them. Being that I wasn’t completely satisfied in my other host family, I was more than willing to make the change to a more active and comfortable place, but I felt bad and didn’t want to offend my original host family. They explained to me that these things happen and people switch around all the time; it’s normal. So after talking to my host family and the director, I moved my things yesterday into my new room with my new roommate, Olivia. What a difference it’s made already! I have Oscar and Christopher (my Chilean host brothers), Scott (gringo brother), and then of course Olivia (gringa sister) along with my new host parents (who I call Mamá and Papá instead of their first names) and Basilio (a very good family friend who’s secretly a superhero and can do basically anything and is teaching me Portuguese). I feel so appreciated here and there’s always someone to talk to; I think it’s safe to say I made the right decision.

After putting all of my things in my new room, we rushed out to enjoy the rest of the sunshine, Oscar, Olivia and I went to a festival called Mil Tambores. It’s basically a bunch of bands of drummers parading around the streets of Valparaíso. People painted their faces and bodies, dressed up in costume, and brought their own drums to join in on the celebration. They walked on stilts, performed tricks with fire, played Capoeira. There were plenty of beats, chants, singing, and of course, dancing. We danced with the brigades on the shoreline for miles through the sunset and into the night chanting along with the community that was there. It was absolutely incredible.

Now I’m sitting in my almost completed room (just missing a few pictures on the walls) in front of a window spilling sunshine and relaxing before I start my homework. Isn’t life just a peach?

La Campana is a National Park about an hour and a half away from Viña del mar. It has over 8,000 acres of beautiful landscape and even differing climates depending on where you go in the park, and the group of UVM international students was taken to Las Palmas.

It all started at 8am on Saturday morning. They seem to like doing events on Saturday mornings when everyone is still tired from Friday nights. I happened to be a victim of this sleepiness when I arrived to take the bus with the group on Saturday with the other students. Olivia and I didn’t get back to her house until 5am the night (morning?) before, because Chileans love to dance and I mean they absolutely love to; it’s very typical that they’ll dance all night until 5 or 6 in the morning. In fact, I left Ovo on Thursday night at 3:30am and people were shocked and kept asking me why I was leaving so early. Well anyway, so we get to Olivia’s house at 5am, I spent the night (which ended up being an hour and a half of sleep) and then we gathered our things to wait for the bus. Olivia and I had deceivingly high amounts of energy but still attempted to power nap our way through the bus ride there.

When we arrived, our guides introduced themselves and we started our adventures. Guillermo, the main guide, explained a few of the aspects of the park as we went along. A majority of the trek consisted of sweat, dirt, hills, and photo opps; it was awesome.

Olivia and I; the world is our toaster.

We saw wild horses which was something unexpected but so incredible. They were purely free and galloped around the park. Even saw a momma and its baby. I made friends with a small colorful caterpillar who we named Jorge.

La Campana

Most of the time, people would be chatting among themselves, but a lot of the time I couldn’t even bear to talk; the scenery around me was breath-taking that at times I would be so captured I couldn’t speak at all. This seems to happen a lot here in general. Chile is simply indescribable.

coco!

When we stopped for lunch in the midst of the dense part of the palm trees, I felt like I was in Jurassic Park. We sat in the fresh green spring grass, ate our home-packed lunches, and relaxed. Olivia and I, still having energy, decided to find cocos which are basically miniature coconuts that you crack open and eat. They’re delicious and thus, a little hard to find sometimes. Little animals like to eat them, so you have to search underneath fallen palm branches and such to find some. Olivia and I ended up finding a ton (her more than me; she’s a pro) and shared them with the other students caught by the lazy fever.

We then played a big group version of rock-paper-scissors which was oso-hombre-arma (bear, human, gun). It was the Americans versus everyone else from all other parts of the world. I don’t remember if we won, lost, or tied…but it was fun nonetheless. Then we attempted to make a pyramid which ended up being huge! I love this group of international students. It’s so cool being able to bond with so many different kinds of people from everywhere.

Then Guillermo lead us a little further and then back to the home base where we had started. On the way back, I was talking with one of the other guides, Italo, who said he could teach me how to surf. Sweet!

In all, it took 5 hours, but it was all so incredible! Then the bus ride back, everyone fell asleep, completely dead to the world. Great reward after a great success of a day. I’d say this was a win.

The next day, I went to a soccer game between la Universidad Católica and Colo Colo (professional soccer teams here; not university teams despite the name). I was with my “brother” from La Calera, Oscar, and his friends who are all also fans. They had rented out a micro (bus) specifically take us to the game in Santiago and back. We also took random stops along the way to throw out garbage from the food and drinks we had on the micro (because we couldn’t take anything into the stadium). I learned a lot of chants for the Cruzados on the way, and proceeded to belt them out during the game.

Before we were even allowed to enter, however, our things were checked out by the police. They have a lot of strict rules for soccer here, one of them included the size of flag you’re allowed to have in the stadium; my Valpo flag was too big. So after putting that back on the bus, I was greeted at the entrance by people passing out little pamphlet reminders of the violence laws in Chile.

Then started the game. I had never been to a professional soccer game before, much less one in South America, so it was quite the experience. There was constant yelling, singing, and swearing all around me. The energy was unlike anything; especially with the game being as horrible as it was, when the fans were mad, they were mad. It ended up that the Cató made a ton of shots and played much better, but simply didn’t make any goals whereas Colo only had a few opportunities but made their goals within them. It was painful to watch, but nonetheless I loved being there.

We got back on the micro, and at first everyone was talking poorly about the referees and how horrible the game was but then they continued with the chants. I asked one of them why, especially since our team lost. They told me that they have passion for the team, the game, the sport. Some even had tattoos for the Universidad Católica; all I knew was that they really got into it which was really cool to see. We sang for almost the entire 2 hour ride and celebrated life as it was.

Monday, I found out I had 3 soccer games this week. Also on Monday, I injured my ankle. Funny how life works sometimes.

Tuesday, today, I had to face the bet I had made on Sunday’s game. One of my classmates, a colocolino (Colo Colo fan) brought his jersey for me to wear for the day. He said he was going to take a picture to remember this moment in history, but luckily he forgot 🙂 a win inside a lose! Nice…but I still have to wear it…

But now, I’m off to my game to support my team on the sidelines and wait until Thursday hopefully to get my chance to prove myself on the field.

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now!)