Hi!
I got an entire week of vacation from school so it was hard to go back this week. Yesterday was the first day of spring however today was cloudy and cool. My day was relaxed and my Spanish teacher didn't show up the the third class so it was an extended vacation! I came home, ate lunch at took a nap. If your interested, lunch consisted of chicken, potatoes, and a yummy rice, red pepper, egg and chicken soup. It was a good soup for a cold day.
If you remember me talking about Sept. 18th being a festival day, Sept. 19th was too. The 19th celebrated the military. They had a very long parade in Santiago which I didn't go to, but I saw on TV. The days this weekend were beautiful and perfect for laying out on the beach. Which, the beaches are definitly filling up with people! Many families go out to the beach and jave a wonderful time. They enjoy being there together and everyone enjoys the simplist pleasures. The pacific ocean is always cold so only a few go into the water. However, I watched on group dig a giant hole and make a sand castle right on the water line. Other people were getting buried in the sand. Many people were sundbathing and taking naps. As I already told you, Chile is obeseseed with their children. I saw one dad drying off his 8 yr. old chubby son. It looked like he was wiping off his butt after changing his diaper, my friend and I laughed! I saw some younger girls playing in the water but walk by me in their wet little panties. Its very enjoyable, simple, relaxing and makes me laugh. Its lightening to see people enjoy the beach and the simplicity so much!
So this week was a lot of family, a lot of beach, a lot of eating, some walking and pure enjoying.
I miss you guys!
Un abrazo,
xoxo... Katie
Oh and PS. I hope Molly's nose is okay!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sept. 18th
Hi!
As I have been telling you, it is Chilean independence week. On Sept. 18th they celebrate their complete independence (as in keeping all revenue from minerals in Chile). So, I will write to you tonight as to not forget anything because I've had some great couple of days.
Beginning with yesterday when my friend Katelynn and Natael went for a walk. We saw this crazy stray dog try to catch a bird, and run into a square metal thing like a glass door. Sad, but true. When we went out at night, we went to a place called Playa Ancha, which was transformed into a "fonda". The fonda is a HUGE festival on dirt. There are so many places to eat empanadas, chorri pan, kabobs, drink chicha, and other chilean stuff that it was wild. Also, you pay to enter the dancing place, and there is a live band and everybody is dancing the cueca, or typical chilean dance. The cueca is a dance of the farm people where the guy pursues the girl the entire time, and gets her in the end, they spin handkerchiefs over their heads, and go around un circles. It is reflective of roosters. Anyways, people also dance the salsa and any type of the cueca (it is different for north and south). So, after we left this dancing part, there was another dance party outside where people were still dancing the cueca, yelling and having a great time. That was only the pre-fonda night.
So, today I woke up at 9ish and got ready to leave with my family. We drove for about an hour to a mountainous farm. Absolutely beautiful. Here, it was basically all family, about 19 of us, and we had a barbecue. Right upon getting there we drank wine with peach in it, and ate boiled eggs and bread. We then ate empanadas warmed on a fire. After this we played many many games. In the family, there were two babies, and one 7 year old little boy who would be called "the adored one". He played hte part very well. Everyone wanted him to win the games and was very excited over the prizes he won. So you ask me, what games did we play. Well, we started off with tug-of-war, boys against girls. That is pointless knowing the boys will always win. Well after that, we used the same rope to mark "100 meters" and did the dash. One for women the other for boys. After this, my father Ricardo got out eggs and said we would play a game to put the eggs on the ground, be blindfolded, and listen to others direct you as to not step on the eggs. Who went first? I did. They tied my scarf around my head and sent me off. Funny thing was, they picked up all the eggs, and played with me/laughed at me, the entire time. Funny. After getting through this, we did an egg toss. Then, we put eggs on spoons, spoons in our mouths, and raced to a certain point. The winner of all these games of course got the prize.
I believe this was the end of the games for we were about to have lunch. The men through Chicken and stake on the fire pit grill. All the women had prepared salad, potatoes and rice so that we could eat it with the meat. Thing was, it was one family for themselves. In general, you ate what you brought. However, the food was tasty. Rosy made tomato and onion salad, bean salad and brought red meat for the grill. We shared a celery salad with one of the three families, but there was a runnin joke the entire time, trading food for food. haha. During this time, everyone continues to drink the peach wine, wine, beer and a chirmoya drink. WE made many salutes to Chile, to children, and to families during lunch. After lunch, I took a stroll with the younger kids, and it was beautiful! When we came back, they were playing soccer and jumping rope. Everyone joined in on the long rope jump and this too was a great time. After that, Rosy and Ricardo had been blowing up balloons. Everyone got a partner and we raced to see which partners could run to the car, grab a balloon and pop five the fastest. We also played musical chairs. Sadly, first round up, I battle out for a chair, "won" but the chair leg broke. It was plastic and it twisted up and snapped. haha. So, I called out for the rest of the chairs. Right before round two was played, one of the old men cut his finger pretty bad. So, we all relaxed and let that situation be figured out until we had tea time, or once. For once we had tea, soup, empanadas, boiled egg and smashed up boiled egg on bread. We sat around and talked until we started up a camp fire. We continued to sit around and talk until we left.
The scenery was beautiful, the food great, the people are fun, and when you see pics hopefully this will make better sense!
So with a quick update, I'm out.
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati
As I have been telling you, it is Chilean independence week. On Sept. 18th they celebrate their complete independence (as in keeping all revenue from minerals in Chile). So, I will write to you tonight as to not forget anything because I've had some great couple of days.
Beginning with yesterday when my friend Katelynn and Natael went for a walk. We saw this crazy stray dog try to catch a bird, and run into a square metal thing like a glass door. Sad, but true. When we went out at night, we went to a place called Playa Ancha, which was transformed into a "fonda". The fonda is a HUGE festival on dirt. There are so many places to eat empanadas, chorri pan, kabobs, drink chicha, and other chilean stuff that it was wild. Also, you pay to enter the dancing place, and there is a live band and everybody is dancing the cueca, or typical chilean dance. The cueca is a dance of the farm people where the guy pursues the girl the entire time, and gets her in the end, they spin handkerchiefs over their heads, and go around un circles. It is reflective of roosters. Anyways, people also dance the salsa and any type of the cueca (it is different for north and south). So, after we left this dancing part, there was another dance party outside where people were still dancing the cueca, yelling and having a great time. That was only the pre-fonda night.
So, today I woke up at 9ish and got ready to leave with my family. We drove for about an hour to a mountainous farm. Absolutely beautiful. Here, it was basically all family, about 19 of us, and we had a barbecue. Right upon getting there we drank wine with peach in it, and ate boiled eggs and bread. We then ate empanadas warmed on a fire. After this we played many many games. In the family, there were two babies, and one 7 year old little boy who would be called "the adored one". He played hte part very well. Everyone wanted him to win the games and was very excited over the prizes he won. So you ask me, what games did we play. Well, we started off with tug-of-war, boys against girls. That is pointless knowing the boys will always win. Well after that, we used the same rope to mark "100 meters" and did the dash. One for women the other for boys. After this, my father Ricardo got out eggs and said we would play a game to put the eggs on the ground, be blindfolded, and listen to others direct you as to not step on the eggs. Who went first? I did. They tied my scarf around my head and sent me off. Funny thing was, they picked up all the eggs, and played with me/laughed at me, the entire time. Funny. After getting through this, we did an egg toss. Then, we put eggs on spoons, spoons in our mouths, and raced to a certain point. The winner of all these games of course got the prize.
I believe this was the end of the games for we were about to have lunch. The men through Chicken and stake on the fire pit grill. All the women had prepared salad, potatoes and rice so that we could eat it with the meat. Thing was, it was one family for themselves. In general, you ate what you brought. However, the food was tasty. Rosy made tomato and onion salad, bean salad and brought red meat for the grill. We shared a celery salad with one of the three families, but there was a runnin joke the entire time, trading food for food. haha. During this time, everyone continues to drink the peach wine, wine, beer and a chirmoya drink. WE made many salutes to Chile, to children, and to families during lunch. After lunch, I took a stroll with the younger kids, and it was beautiful! When we came back, they were playing soccer and jumping rope. Everyone joined in on the long rope jump and this too was a great time. After that, Rosy and Ricardo had been blowing up balloons. Everyone got a partner and we raced to see which partners could run to the car, grab a balloon and pop five the fastest. We also played musical chairs. Sadly, first round up, I battle out for a chair, "won" but the chair leg broke. It was plastic and it twisted up and snapped. haha. So, I called out for the rest of the chairs. Right before round two was played, one of the old men cut his finger pretty bad. So, we all relaxed and let that situation be figured out until we had tea time, or once. For once we had tea, soup, empanadas, boiled egg and smashed up boiled egg on bread. We sat around and talked until we started up a camp fire. We continued to sit around and talk until we left.
The scenery was beautiful, the food great, the people are fun, and when you see pics hopefully this will make better sense!
So with a quick update, I'm out.
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
San Pedro, the Atacam Desert
Hi!!
So, beginning on Thursday and returning on Tuesday, I traveled to the driest desert in the world. There are some parts of the desert that have never seen rain. Incredible. It was such a nice change to go to some really warm days where I could get a little tan, and warm my soul. The most economic way to travel in Chile is taking the bus, so three of my friends and I traveled 24 hours each way on a "half-bed" bus. This meant you could stretch your legs out really far, on a little platform and lean the back of your chair back so it was like laying down, half way. The bus ride was an adventure, very long, but worth it!!
In the desert, my friends and I took two tours. On was to the "Valley of the Moon", where we made many scenic stops on our way, and the other began at 4 in the morning, and was to the "Geysers of Tatio". Each tour was spectacular. At the Valley tour, we climbed up a big hill to watch the sunset. In the desert you can see the moon before the sun sets. However, we got to watch the sunset. The colors in the sky of the ocean sunset was actually reflected on the sand. The mountains were pink, the ground was orange and it was beautiful. It then turns to a white/purple sky, with black mountains and shining stars. The white purple and black was my favorite part of the sunset. Also on this tour, we got to see many volcanoes, however didn't hike up any.
At the Geyser tour, I learned how these Geysers function. There is magma underneath the earth as well as cold water. When the pressure is high, the pressure is highest when the days are coldest, the geysers go off. They spout boiling water and it looks like the entire ground is steaming. Really cool however, FREEZING! I promise you it was -10 degrees. After we got our fill of taking pictures in front of the smoke, the tour guide fed us breakfast, bread and cheese, coffee and tea, and cookies. He then took us to the natural warm swimming pool where my friends and I hopped in. The pool was pretty warm, and quite a few people were swimming. It was horrible getting out considering it was freezing. However, our guide did inform us we were the most beautiful girls swimming in the pool. Haha. We left the geyser park and on our way home saw, a decedent of the llama as well as green rabbits that blend in with their surrounding. We stopped at a little town, population 15, and ate llama, cheese empenadas and sopapilla. I'm not sure if it was the sauce, but, llama is tasty!! After our little stop, we continued our 2 hour drive home and saw flamingos, birds, cactus, volcano, and more desert scenery. We got back to the small desert town at 11, and were impressed with all we had done since the time we got up.
My friends and I rented a bike and rode around for 2 hours. This was also very very fun! We stumbled upon Incan ruins, but didn't want to pay to visit them so we observed from afar.
During my stay, we first stayed in a room, making 7 friends, in hostel Florida. The hostel was fairly dirty, had dusty floors and a dirty bathroom. But it was worth it for the adventure! Two girls split off to go to Machu Pichu, but my friends and I stayed in San Pedro.
Later, three girls from our program stayed in the same hostel. They went to visit a salt lake where you have no choice but to float. The lake is composed of 80% salt. They informed us, the top of the lake is freezing, but your feet are almost burning.
Okay, so we ate some good food (pizza, pasta, huge sandwiches, steak with eggs, 1/4 of a chicken with french fries, ice cream, fresh fruit juice) and met a crazy crazy guy named Claudio. He informed us Nocturnal dancing was illegal (dancing illegal?!) but also told us they Atacamans have secret parties where they can dance in peace. The Atacaman kids spread the word where the party will be held, and all show up at different times. We ventured to one of these parties the night before we left.
Before we knew it, we hopped on to the 24 hour bus ride, and all were extremely dirty when we got home. Don't worry, I worked on speaking Spanish, and watched four Spanish movies on the bus ride so i worked on listening too.
I don't have school Wed, Thur or Fri because it is the Fiestas Patrias, or the Chilean, fourth of July.
Un Abrazo
xoxo... Kati
So, beginning on Thursday and returning on Tuesday, I traveled to the driest desert in the world. There are some parts of the desert that have never seen rain. Incredible. It was such a nice change to go to some really warm days where I could get a little tan, and warm my soul. The most economic way to travel in Chile is taking the bus, so three of my friends and I traveled 24 hours each way on a "half-bed" bus. This meant you could stretch your legs out really far, on a little platform and lean the back of your chair back so it was like laying down, half way. The bus ride was an adventure, very long, but worth it!!
In the desert, my friends and I took two tours. On was to the "Valley of the Moon", where we made many scenic stops on our way, and the other began at 4 in the morning, and was to the "Geysers of Tatio". Each tour was spectacular. At the Valley tour, we climbed up a big hill to watch the sunset. In the desert you can see the moon before the sun sets. However, we got to watch the sunset. The colors in the sky of the ocean sunset was actually reflected on the sand. The mountains were pink, the ground was orange and it was beautiful. It then turns to a white/purple sky, with black mountains and shining stars. The white purple and black was my favorite part of the sunset. Also on this tour, we got to see many volcanoes, however didn't hike up any.
At the Geyser tour, I learned how these Geysers function. There is magma underneath the earth as well as cold water. When the pressure is high, the pressure is highest when the days are coldest, the geysers go off. They spout boiling water and it looks like the entire ground is steaming. Really cool however, FREEZING! I promise you it was -10 degrees. After we got our fill of taking pictures in front of the smoke, the tour guide fed us breakfast, bread and cheese, coffee and tea, and cookies. He then took us to the natural warm swimming pool where my friends and I hopped in. The pool was pretty warm, and quite a few people were swimming. It was horrible getting out considering it was freezing. However, our guide did inform us we were the most beautiful girls swimming in the pool. Haha. We left the geyser park and on our way home saw, a decedent of the llama as well as green rabbits that blend in with their surrounding. We stopped at a little town, population 15, and ate llama, cheese empenadas and sopapilla. I'm not sure if it was the sauce, but, llama is tasty!! After our little stop, we continued our 2 hour drive home and saw flamingos, birds, cactus, volcano, and more desert scenery. We got back to the small desert town at 11, and were impressed with all we had done since the time we got up.
My friends and I rented a bike and rode around for 2 hours. This was also very very fun! We stumbled upon Incan ruins, but didn't want to pay to visit them so we observed from afar.
During my stay, we first stayed in a room, making 7 friends, in hostel Florida. The hostel was fairly dirty, had dusty floors and a dirty bathroom. But it was worth it for the adventure! Two girls split off to go to Machu Pichu, but my friends and I stayed in San Pedro.
Later, three girls from our program stayed in the same hostel. They went to visit a salt lake where you have no choice but to float. The lake is composed of 80% salt. They informed us, the top of the lake is freezing, but your feet are almost burning.
Okay, so we ate some good food (pizza, pasta, huge sandwiches, steak with eggs, 1/4 of a chicken with french fries, ice cream, fresh fruit juice) and met a crazy crazy guy named Claudio. He informed us Nocturnal dancing was illegal (dancing illegal?!) but also told us they Atacamans have secret parties where they can dance in peace. The Atacaman kids spread the word where the party will be held, and all show up at different times. We ventured to one of these parties the night before we left.
Before we knew it, we hopped on to the 24 hour bus ride, and all were extremely dirty when we got home. Don't worry, I worked on speaking Spanish, and watched four Spanish movies on the bus ride so i worked on listening too.
I don't have school Wed, Thur or Fri because it is the Fiestas Patrias, or the Chilean, fourth of July.
Un Abrazo
xoxo... Kati
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Chile vs. Colombia
Soccer is the loved sport of Chile. With this said, I would like to advise you Chile lost on Saturday against Brasil however, yesterday, I was invited to a sports bar with some of my friends. I went there to watch the Chile vs. Colombia game. Before the game was on, there was play station 2 on the television, showing two people battling in soccer. When the game started, the bar was stuffed with people, all cheering for Chile. I learned the famous chant... Chi Chi Chi, le le le, viva chile! It was very fun to be there with so many chilean soccer enthusiasts.
Anyways, I am traveling to San Pedro in the Atacama dessert in 20 minutes, and on the 18th and 19, it it the indepdence celebration of Chile. I'll take lots of pictures and tell you how it goes.
Un Abrazo,
xoxo Kati
PS, happy birthday to Grandma Hone!
Anyways, I am traveling to San Pedro in the Atacama dessert in 20 minutes, and on the 18th and 19, it it the indepdence celebration of Chile. I'll take lots of pictures and tell you how it goes.
Un Abrazo,
xoxo Kati
PS, happy birthday to Grandma Hone!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
The Chocolate Factory and Isla Negra
Hi!
Today was a wonderful day. I went on a tour with my program COPA. Despite it being a lot of driving around in Chile, all destinations were wonderful. In the morning, we left around 9:45 and drove to a natural chocolate factory. The factory doesn't use any sugar or preservatives in their chocolate. This means it expires within a month of purchase. The factory has 106 different flavors. We got to try celery, oregano, mole, lemon, raspberry, raisin and cheese flavored chocolate. It was extremely unique and very delicious, I definitely bought some chocolate. After this, we got back on the bus and drove to a town specializing in artisan work and 1 kg. empanadas. We got to go shopping for 2 hours. In this town I saw a lot of pottery bowls and pots, chairs, earrings, headbands, scarves, purses. The only thing I bought was empanadas and natural juice. Extremely tasty. So, we get back on the bus again, and drive to the Isla Negra. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an actual island, however it is the house of Pablo Neruda and it was beautiful! Pablo surrounded his life in the ocean, writing, women, friends, alcohol, art, ships, collections and love. It was quite the life he lived! The view from his House to the ocean was also breathtaking. His bedroom faces this BEAUTIFUL scenery. So, after a day of traveling and sightseeing we returned to our wonderful Vina del Mar.
A couple nights ago, I experienced something that would upset Ray Krock. I went to McDonalds and wanted a fresh hamburger with no onions. The employees declined my request saying the kitchen was turned off, and gave me a five minute old hamburger.
A different night I left the club to find the Micro's bumping Regatone music. It's like the after club!
Annnd, when I was on the Micro to the club, all the young Chileans were singing songs. It was extremely entertaining.
Anyways, school is going well. I wrote a five page paper in Spanish, talked about Bioethics and made my first piece of recycled paper.
Hope the weather is nice!
Un abrazo
xoxo, Kati
Today was a wonderful day. I went on a tour with my program COPA. Despite it being a lot of driving around in Chile, all destinations were wonderful. In the morning, we left around 9:45 and drove to a natural chocolate factory. The factory doesn't use any sugar or preservatives in their chocolate. This means it expires within a month of purchase. The factory has 106 different flavors. We got to try celery, oregano, mole, lemon, raspberry, raisin and cheese flavored chocolate. It was extremely unique and very delicious, I definitely bought some chocolate. After this, we got back on the bus and drove to a town specializing in artisan work and 1 kg. empanadas. We got to go shopping for 2 hours. In this town I saw a lot of pottery bowls and pots, chairs, earrings, headbands, scarves, purses. The only thing I bought was empanadas and natural juice. Extremely tasty. So, we get back on the bus again, and drive to the Isla Negra. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an actual island, however it is the house of Pablo Neruda and it was beautiful! Pablo surrounded his life in the ocean, writing, women, friends, alcohol, art, ships, collections and love. It was quite the life he lived! The view from his House to the ocean was also breathtaking. His bedroom faces this BEAUTIFUL scenery. So, after a day of traveling and sightseeing we returned to our wonderful Vina del Mar.
A couple nights ago, I experienced something that would upset Ray Krock. I went to McDonalds and wanted a fresh hamburger with no onions. The employees declined my request saying the kitchen was turned off, and gave me a five minute old hamburger.
A different night I left the club to find the Micro's bumping Regatone music. It's like the after club!
Annnd, when I was on the Micro to the club, all the young Chileans were singing songs. It was extremely entertaining.
Anyways, school is going well. I wrote a five page paper in Spanish, talked about Bioethics and made my first piece of recycled paper.
Hope the weather is nice!
Un abrazo
xoxo, Kati
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