So much has been going on in the past two weeks, it's hard to pick just one thing to write about. Classes have started and I'm still trying to figure out my schedule, with two universities, each with multiple campuses, and sub-par organizational systems it's been insane trying to find class rooms and figuring out a schedule within the two week add-drop period. Right now, I'm taking a class called arte, cultura, estetica Mapuche which is basically a art history class focusing on Chile's indigenous people the Mapuche, then there's advanced Spanish grammar, Sociologia de la Cultura which I really like, and then a to be determined art/cinema class.
But among the craziness of academics this week there has been plenty of recreation as well. Going to a discoteca with some friends where we danced the night away to regeton and backstreet boys, going shopping in el centro, bowling with my host brother, and going out to dinner with my family where I ate some of the most delicious pizza of my life (very different from what we think pizza is but so good). But the best activity of my week was the Colo-Colo futbol game.
Futbol/soccer is huge here, and I mean HUGE. There are a few teams in Santiago and there are distinct and strong lines of loyalty to the teams. They're what you would call fanatics. So of course this was one cultural event I could not pass up. Myself and a few friends went with our friend Rachel and her host brother to a Colo-Colo game last night and it was an event. Everyone had a colo-colo shirt on, there were banners and flags all black and white. There were also songs and chats that we attempted to pick up as the game went on. The best of these was one which involves everyone in the stadium doing this unbelievable loud and shrill whistle in time with a drum beat. Where is the drum? La Garra Blanca, the most fanatical of the fanatics (about 1/3 of the fans which sat in a special section), they cheered, sang, or jumped the entire game. There were trumpets, huge base drums, streamers, roadside flares, and fireworks. It was tons of fun, plus we won, 3-0 against a team from Ecuador. Youhave not experienced excitement until you've seen Colo-Colo score a gol.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Chiloé
Within the program there was a little gap between when our orientation ended and when classes at the universities began, so a few of us decided to go on a trip. The few eventually grew to 10, but that was fine, the more the merrier albeit slightly more stressful. We left for Chiloé, an island off the southern coast of Chile Tuesday night and arrived Wednesday, after a twelve/thirteen hour bus, then a ferry, then another 4 hour bus. But it was definitely worth it.
Chiloé is really unique in that it is somewhat isolated from Chile and has its own unique culture which includes a lot of interesting folklore about brujas, gost ships, and el traunco (a forest gnome known for seducing young virgins giving then impure dreams and sometimes magically impregnating them). We stayed in Castro, one of the larger towms on the island (which is really more of an archipeligo/chain of islands). We went to mass (it was ash wednesday), an artisan fair, and dinner in Castro the first day.
The second day, we more or less split into two groups, which ended up being a really good thing seeing as coordinating 4 or 6 people is significantly easier than a group of 10. Myself and 3 others, Marissa, Annie, and Arjun, went to the Parque National de Chiloe on the opposite side of the main island. On the way there we stopped at two small towns mostly to look at the famous wooden churches there, they were beautiful churches with everything wood, pillars, arched ceilings, and all. We were with a tour group that stopped for lunch at a tiny rural place near the park. After eating an locos (abalone) stew and some sort of fish we went exploring outside. Arjun and I climbed over a fence into a grazing area with animals (not my idea, but Arjun called me a wimp so I quickly followed suite) we pet some horses, chased some vulcher, and tried to pet a sheep but they would have none of our nonsense. We left here for the Park where we walked through he forest with our guide telling us about the trees, the culture of the island, and folklore. We ended at the beach on the western side of the island which was breath taking. The sand stretched on and on in every direction it was more like a desert than a beach. But this was contrasted with a huge lake and rolling green hills near by. We stuck our feet in the water and found some cows eating seaweed, ate some empanadas at a tiny stand in the middle of nowhere and went back to Castro.
The next day we set out for Achao a smaller island to the east. there was another beach, not quite so beautiful, but the view of the other even smaller islands off the shore was nothing to scoff at. We had a picnic on the huge concrete steps leading to the beach, and walked around a little, when a man in a red and white checkered shirt approached Annie and asked if she wanted to go on a boat ride, at first we were just polite asking when, to where, how much, but the second he left I was so so excited because I love boats that I was like "we have to go on this boat ride". We convinced Arjun and Marissa and off we went on this little rinkidink boat to what we understood, was a big rock followed by a little island. Little did we know that there were about 20 lobos marinos (sea lions) on that big rock. That was really neat to see then in the wild. The little island that followed Isla Llingua, was just a little rural village on an island, but we hiked up a big hill and found a bunch of wild black berries that we feasted on after convincing everyone that we weren't going to die if we ate then.
The final day I went on a juorney to find penguins, which required the three of us going to get up early to get on a bus to the northern part of the island, where we were to meet the friend of the woman who ran our hostel in Castro, who proceeded to call her friend, who came in a van to pick us up and drive us down a little dirt road obstructed by cows and horses and carts at times then straight onto the beach. From here we were outfitted with lifevests and ponchos, placed in a little boat and set out to a cluster of tiny island inhabited by penguin colonies. It was raining and misty out, but this only added to the effect. We did this all with perfect timing to catch our bus to Puerto Montt on the main land where we met up with the rest of the group to take the 13 hour bus ride back to Santiago. Overall, a fantastic trip.
Chiloé is really unique in that it is somewhat isolated from Chile and has its own unique culture which includes a lot of interesting folklore about brujas, gost ships, and el traunco (a forest gnome known for seducing young virgins giving then impure dreams and sometimes magically impregnating them). We stayed in Castro, one of the larger towms on the island (which is really more of an archipeligo/chain of islands). We went to mass (it was ash wednesday), an artisan fair, and dinner in Castro the first day.
The second day, we more or less split into two groups, which ended up being a really good thing seeing as coordinating 4 or 6 people is significantly easier than a group of 10. Myself and 3 others, Marissa, Annie, and Arjun, went to the Parque National de Chiloe on the opposite side of the main island. On the way there we stopped at two small towns mostly to look at the famous wooden churches there, they were beautiful churches with everything wood, pillars, arched ceilings, and all. We were with a tour group that stopped for lunch at a tiny rural place near the park. After eating an locos (abalone) stew and some sort of fish we went exploring outside. Arjun and I climbed over a fence into a grazing area with animals (not my idea, but Arjun called me a wimp so I quickly followed suite) we pet some horses, chased some vulcher, and tried to pet a sheep but they would have none of our nonsense. We left here for the Park where we walked through he forest with our guide telling us about the trees, the culture of the island, and folklore. We ended at the beach on the western side of the island which was breath taking. The sand stretched on and on in every direction it was more like a desert than a beach. But this was contrasted with a huge lake and rolling green hills near by. We stuck our feet in the water and found some cows eating seaweed, ate some empanadas at a tiny stand in the middle of nowhere and went back to Castro.
The next day we set out for Achao a smaller island to the east. there was another beach, not quite so beautiful, but the view of the other even smaller islands off the shore was nothing to scoff at. We had a picnic on the huge concrete steps leading to the beach, and walked around a little, when a man in a red and white checkered shirt approached Annie and asked if she wanted to go on a boat ride, at first we were just polite asking when, to where, how much, but the second he left I was so so excited because I love boats that I was like "we have to go on this boat ride". We convinced Arjun and Marissa and off we went on this little rinkidink boat to what we understood, was a big rock followed by a little island. Little did we know that there were about 20 lobos marinos (sea lions) on that big rock. That was really neat to see then in the wild. The little island that followed Isla Llingua, was just a little rural village on an island, but we hiked up a big hill and found a bunch of wild black berries that we feasted on after convincing everyone that we weren't going to die if we ate then.
The final day I went on a juorney to find penguins, which required the three of us going to get up early to get on a bus to the northern part of the island, where we were to meet the friend of the woman who ran our hostel in Castro, who proceeded to call her friend, who came in a van to pick us up and drive us down a little dirt road obstructed by cows and horses and carts at times then straight onto the beach. From here we were outfitted with lifevests and ponchos, placed in a little boat and set out to a cluster of tiny island inhabited by penguin colonies. It was raining and misty out, but this only added to the effect. We did this all with perfect timing to catch our bus to Puerto Montt on the main land where we met up with the rest of the group to take the 13 hour bus ride back to Santiago. Overall, a fantastic trip.
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