Dear Diary,

Wow it's been some time since I've written in you, in fact my last journal entry was during my Asia class last Tuesday! I have to warn you that I'm watching the mundial (World Cup) right now, so I'm not able to write as much as I'd like. Things with me have been going pretty well; classes are getting a little more intense with the ending of the semester so that has left me with papers and projects that I don't really want to do.

Last weekend on Sunday Laura and I went to Cajón del Maipo yet again. This time we braved the public transportation to get there and it proved to be successful! We just had to take Line 4 of the metro (which is by far the best) to its end and hop a bus down to San Jose de Maipo, which is a super cute town with not a whole lot going on. There is a plaza in the center that has a mini artisan fair on Saturdays and Sundays so we poked around there a bit and then decided we should decide what to do after each buying a cutesy pair of earrings for less than $1 each. Not bad. We wanted to do a little trekking (or hiking as some may call it) but we had no idea what to do. Luckily we found a tiny, one-desk tourist information spot that was OPEN and for a Sunday here that can be hard to come across! We told the guy that we wanted to do some trekking (for free) and he directed us to a little 17 km hike just down the road. At the end of the 17 km sits Las Lagunillas, which is a little area of ski resorts, an expensive hotel and a cute family-style restaurant with what may have been the world's greatest service.

The day was absolutely amazing and full of sunshine so we started the hike sometime around noon. I knew from the get-go that we wouldn't make the 17km in the time that we had allotted for the hike but I was determined to get to those darn Lagunillas anyway. So we hiked for about 7 km or so, wandering through the mountains and wondering all the while just how we got there. We were literally IN the mountains just walking along a road and enjoying God's creation. After we hit 14:00 hrs (2 pm) we decided we should get to the Lagunillas. Fortunately for us, cars had been passing all the while, braving the windy, rocky path up the mountains with their coolers of meat to have asados I'm sure. We threw out the thumbs and after about 5 cars passed we finally got accepted into the back of a nice family's pickup truck. They took us to the top, the children turning around all the while to see these strange gringas in their truck and when we arrived we really had no idea what to do. We ended up finding a cute restaurant and had some great cazuela which is like a Chilean chicken soup. It had zapallo (squash), a segment of corn on the cob, a little bit of rice, a chicken leg, a potato, and some other little veggies stuck in there. That came after some delicious pan amasado (homemade bread) and chilean salad (tomatoes and onions... mmmmm).
We got all that for about $10 each and left with full guatas and big smiles. We walked for a little bit, took some silly pictures (one of my newly-discovered favorite pastimes, seemingly) and then hitched a ride back down with another family. They took us all the way down and we hopped out right in front of the bus that we needed! You could say it all worked out pretty well! We got back home in great time and good spirits. It really was a great day!

I think the coolest thing about our mini trip was that the day before we were there, in the middle of the mountains, we were on the beaches of Viña del Mar! Laura, Ellie, myself and two of our Chilean friends (Pablo and Sebastian) went to Valpo for the night on Friday night to check out a semi-famous discotheque there. It's called El Huevo, the egg, and it is famous for having 4 different environments, or rather, there should be something for everyone. Well I didn't really care for it so much, (especially when I woke up the next morning and my eyes were literally on fire from all of the smoke!...) but it was fun to dance with Laura and practice our Salsa with Pablo. The best part was that Pablo has connections there for lodging so we stayed with his friend Aldo (or maybe it was Arlo? I don't remember) in his realllly nice apartment for the night. The next day the boys went and bought some mariscos at the fish market because Valparaiso is a port city, and prepared some delicious mariscos for us for lunch.
Laura, Ellie and I went to the beach while the boys were cooking and just talked about life; it was a really nice time and was a great way to take advantage (buzz word: aprovechar) of our little time left here. Before getting back on the bus Laura and I went and found some amazing alfajores (my new favorite cookie treat) that Laura had supposedly tried with her friend Amy. She said they were the world's greatest and yes, she was right. I was hoping it would last me longer but unfortunately I finished that baby off before I got home. Mmmmm manjar.. I will miss you.
We finished off our treats and I got home just in time for Mama to offer me more.. oh boy. Overall it was a super weekend and this week I was busy doing tedious things (e.g. studying), getting yellow fever shots and searching for the changing of the guards ceremony at La Moneda--I am determined to see it before I leave Chile!! Oh, and for the yellow fever shots it was quite the process! And let me tell you right now, it pays, LITERALLY, to know Chileans! I knew we had to get Yellow Fever shots before going to Bolivia (which is one of our destinations come July) so I asked Pablo, who has traveled quite a bit himself, if he knew where to get it/how to go about it. He gave me every last detail and helped me take care of all of it. First, to get the shot you need a prescription from a doctor with their special stamp. Of course I know zero Chilean doctors but luckily Pablo knows one! He took us to his office and this nice man had actually spent about 20 years in the U.S. so he was delighted to speak English with us. He happily wrote us the prescriptions for the vaccination for free (this was the equivalent of having an entire check up and physical, we just skipped that part) and the next day Pablo directed Laura and I to the Hospital Salvador which is over 200 years old! The vaccination clinic was extremely chiquitito (a.k.a. super small, as in one tiny hospital room) but the woman who gave us the shots was a sweetheart. It also may have been cheaper to do it here and so far so good! I got the poke yesterday and I'm feeling great today!...minus the fact that I can't feel my left arm. But that goes away, right?

Yesterday was the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and being as that is the Patron of the University Católica classes were suspended, yet again (not that I have classes on Friday, but I wasn't able to teach either which means Kelsey = sad). There was a special mass at Casa Central (the University's main campus) at 9:30 am so I decided to go to kick off my Friday the right way. I showed up dressed as per normal (jeans and tennis shoes), backpack and all that I'd need to spend the rest of the day studying. I arrived at the mass after combing through all of Casa Central trying to find it and when I found it I instantly started to sweat; it was one of my worst nightmares--I was BY FAR the most underdressed person there, as if being a gringa doesn't stick out enough already. There was a Latin choir and orchestra, a lot of professors dressed to the nines and me. I was mortified to be so underdressed and had I noticed before I got to my seat I wouldn't have paraded down the center aisle and sat one row behind the reserved section right in front. It doesn't matter because the mass was beautiful and it was another great experience at La Católica. Oh, and right after I left I saw my phone and Pablo had sent me a message in Spanish saying, "Kelseyta, don't be scared if you see a lot of people dressed really formally, the students are always invited and never come!" ...would've been nice to know before sweating through a week's worth of antiperspirant.

So I am growing to love Mama more and more every day. I am so lucky to live where I do and would be so content staying here with her, eating lunch together, every day until I leave. I love her and Carlos and the way they tease me all the time. I also love breaking all of their preconceived notions about the young people of the US; I am simply happy. I also had so much fun last night! I went to Jess and Alyssa's for the "cena de inles" so we could have an english dinner with gringa food and our native language.

When I got there I was pleasantly surprised to see more Chileans than gringos so I scoped out the ones that wouldn't insist on speaking english. Found a couple of 'em and "shot the shit" (excuse my language) with them all night, talking everything from tennis to what their dads do to U.S. politics (a favorite of topics down here) to famous celebrities. When they found out I was a Republican and even better yet Catholic their reaction was hilarious. One of them literally could not believe it seeing as most of the gringos that come here are liberal Democrats (not that there is ANY problem with that!). His reaction was priceless, "Ella es como nosotros, weón!" (She's just like us dude!!), as he slaps his friend on the back. But the way in which he said it was by far the best. He was so surprised, it was hilarious. I also threw in a couple "cachai?'s" to win some brownie points after taking up their offer for a piscola (pisco + coke) ;-).

Oh man I should get to my work. I ended up staying in today so I could do exactly that and after discussing Latin and South American geography with Carlos and mama as I ate meat that was practically still bleeding and watching the U.S. tie with England, it's time to hit the books! I'll write again soon seeing as I still have half of you left to fill before I leave Chile!

Love always,
Kelsey Marie

p.s. In case this ever finds its way to my blog I decided to throw in a link to a few vids I just uploaded to YouTube. One is just a little bit of the La Piojera atmosphere and the other is a mini documentary from my day in Cajón with Laura.
Click me! to see La Piojera and Click me! to see my mini documentary (Warning: May be a little shaky!)