Valleys, Geysers, Bike Rides and Cemeteries

That is a quick summary of what Laura and I have been up to in San Pedro de Atacama for the past two days! Yesterday we went to Valle de la Luna, Valle de la Muerte, and watched the sun set over the desert cordillera - it was breathtaking. We got back last night and met up with Steph and David who also decided to come here and we all went out to dinner together at a cute little fogón, or rather, restaurant with bonfire right in the middle. Don't worry, it was not an indoor restaurant and I must say this is a bit strange to me, seeing as the nights are bitter cold here in San Pedro. But everybody just bundles up and enjoys the quaint little touristy part of town.

We hit the hay early last night so we could get up this morning at a wopping 3:30 to meet our 4 am shuttle for the Geysers del Tatio! They are pretty outstanding and we got there just before sunrise so we could see how they are when the temperature is still below freezing (when we got there it was -13ºC!). There are three types of geysers there: steam, water and mud. The fumaroles (hole in or near a volcano from which vapor rises, thank you dictionary.com) were shooting up all over the place and the geysers of water were warm enough to put in our breakfast (eggs and milk) and after about a 10 minute wait we had hard-boiled eggs and warm chocolate milk! I never imagined warm chocolate milk could be so good, but it hit the spot! ...And after being up for 4 hours aready we were gettin' pretty hungry. It was (almost) like winter in Wisconsin so Laura and I passed on the opportunity to get down to our skivvies and take a dip in the thermal baths but there were some hardcore French and German comrades who decided to brave the cold. We walked around, checked out some more geysers, and then headed back to our van to try to stay warm.

Before coming back to San Pedro this tour always stops in a chiquitito little pueblo
called Machuca (population 15). The people are known for domesticating llamas and when we got there we were able to actually try llama meat! Although I must say the thought of eating a llama makes me pretty sad it actually was pretty delicious. It was interesting to see how the three
natives that I encountered were much more shy than any other Chilean I have ever met. I have a feeling this stems from the fact that some of the only outside interactions they have are with hungry tourists who stop by to eat their meat and buy their overpriced empanadas and bottled water.

We then headed back into San Pedro, had a great lunch of pastel de choclo (and salad, and mote con huesillos) all for under $8! It was pleasing both to our stomachs and wallets...now that's what I'm talking about. With full bellies and big smiles we walked down the street where we had earlier seen a sign for "Bicycles and Internet". Umm, yes please? Laura bargained the guy down to $4 for 3 hours of biking and we hit
the open road... the very open road. The sunshine made for an absolute perfect day to ride bikes and we ended up making a big loop and coming in the backside of San Pedro. Just like Santiago, as well as many other big cities worldwide, the desigualdad, inequality, is even present in this small, less than 2000 people village. The people, houses, streets and little shops were all just a little different with less tourism infusion. I have never seen anything quite like this but am interested to see what's in store in Bolivia!

At the end of our self-guided bike tour we went to the cemetery and just sort of wowed ourselves seeing such a small dot on the map with such an important place dedicated to those that have already passed. It was quite the change from the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires which is known for all of the famous corpses that lie there. It consisted of simple, wooden crosses adorned with paper flowers (because it rains one day a year here) and plastic water bottles as vases.

Tomorrow morning we head to Bolivia and continue our travels from there! San Pedro, it's been fun!

Is it possible to sleep for 24 hours straight?

Answer: Quite possibly. In the last day and a half I have never slept more in my life. It might be due to the fact that I have slept very little lately preparing for my "rigorous" exams and packing. Luckily that 24 hour bus was almost entirely slept through.

Currently it is 10 am here in San Pedro de Atacama and Laura and I made it without a hitch! I am sitting in a tiny internet cafe finishing up my last exam, listening to Def Leppard's famous hit, "Love Bites", the sound of bicycles go by on the dirt road outside and enjoying the wofting (ever-present) smell of cigarette smoke. Oh how I will miss Chile. We boarded the Tur Bus at 9:35 pm on Tuesday night and arrived here exactly 24 hours later, to an extremely pitched black city. The bus ride went smoothly and we showed up at our hostal to a nice surprise: it's no ordinary hostal. It was included in our tour but is actually really nice ($70/night). We slept like queens and were able to relax, it was really nice.Although I am excited to travel I must say (one more time) that saying goodbye to Mama, Ellie, and my room were a little hard. I am going back on the 19th for a couple of hours but there will already be a new mina living there and Mama Maria won't just be my Chilean mama anymore. But, así es la vida. As much as I would like to I can't stay there forever.

Laura and I woke up to an already prepared breakfast at our hostal and did a little walking around this quaint little town. It is amazing to see such a cute little indigenous city that is based entirely off of tourists. I did have the opportunity to upload some pictures so here is where we will be sleeping for the next 2 nights as well as a cute little atacameño town, San Pedro. Not only is it chiquitito, but so is everything (buildings for example) in it.
We both can't believe everything that is in store for us in the next couple of weeks! Today we will be going to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) and spending the beautiful sunny day in San Pedro! I sure could get used to this!

More to come,
Besitos!
Kelsey Marie

Get me (anywhere but) outta here

It's here. My last night in Santiago. Yesterday and today have been great and filled with family time. In Chile there is a national holiday for the Feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul which is tomorrow and because this year it falls on a Tuesday they celebrate the no work part on Monday so as to not cut the week in a weird place. Ergo, more time with Mamita and Carlitos.

Although I've got quite a bit of studying and exam writing to do before tomorrow, I felt the need to write to all of you first, expressing my feelings, emotions, and blah blah.

Yesterday my extended family came over for lunch and it was by far the best yet. Not only in terms of food but in regards to the company. There weren't very many of us but it made me happy to eat our pulpo or rather, octopus, in a nice, tranquil environment. After all three courses (soup, salad, dessert) it was my turn to take the stage. At family dinners they usually ask me a couple of questions in the beginning and then just continue to talk amongst themselves as I listen on. Well I had just so happened to prepare a little poem for my family, namely Mamá, and when I found a break in the conversation I grabbed the opportunity. I pulled out my sheet and read it for her as she looked at me through teary eyes with love that a mother truly has for a daughter (believe me, I know that look!). I wanted to get her something before I left and I knew that buying her something would not do justice to "pay her back" for all she has done for me these past five months, so I decided to be creative. After I read it for her in front of the family I got a compliment from Alicia! She has a hard time hearing in general, but on more than a few occasions as I have been talking to her she has made it known to me that I am not a native speaker. So to receive a compliment from her made me extra happy. I would write the poem for all of you to read but 1) it's ultra-cheesy and 2) it's full of inside jokes that you just wouldn't understand. Oh, and did I mention it's in Spanish? That could create some problems. I sat at the table with them all day until it came time for once around 7 pm. The only time I got up from the table was to get a jacket and then I came back to continue conversing with Alicia and Enrique. I had planned ahead and knew I was going to be reading at mass that night so I also practiced my reading for them to save myself a little bit of embarrassment (and sweat!) in front of everyone in church. And for those interested the reading went really well! Much better than the first time and I never imagined myself reading in Spanish in front of a large group of people! Who knew?It was a really great day and it made me love each and every one of them even more. Today Carlos was at home due to the holiday so the four of us (Mamá, Carlitos, Alicia y Kelsey) all ate lunch together for the absolute last time (I don't like the sound of that). Mama bought Tomás Moro empanadas especially for me and I truly enjoyed my last lunch with her. I then had to pack my suitcase and take it to Casa Suecia where my friend Andrea is generously guarding it while I travel. What an angel. It was wierd saying goodbye to people! In fact, I don't like it very much. But as they say here, así es la vida.In exactly 24 hours I will be boarding a bus and (hopefully) leaving all of my schoolwork behind! I can't believe the travel plans I have coming up, God has been so good to me!

You stay classy, Santiago.

Love,
Kelsey Marie

Chile vencido

As many of you may already know Chile played España yesterday and lost. That did not change the mood too much around here, although I have a feeling that had they won, the festivities would've been a little more celebratory with good reason rather than just becoming inebriated for the sake of it. Here's a brief record of my descriptions yesterday:

SANTIAGO, CHILE "Being the responsible student she is, Kelsey Kaufman, a third-year international studies major at UW-Madison, was taking a test for her class, Asia, una Megarregión Emergente in the San Joaquin campus of la Universidad Católica de Chile at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 25th. She was excited yet nervous because she had heard rumors that people literally go crazy when Chile plays in the world cup, even more so when they play big-name teams such as Spain. That just so happened to be the case this very day.

She finished up her test and noticed the different vibe that was present on campus. Everybody was a little more relaxed, albeit during a period of exams and stress for many students. She was the last to finish her exam and as she exited the classroom she was greeted by a group of young gentlemen kicking a soccer ball back and forth and people running around with chelas, face paint and just buen ánimo, as they say in Chile.

As she made her way to the subway, cars were flying by on Avenida Vicuña McKenna honking their horns, waving Chilean flags out the windows and stirring up general pandemonium among fellow fans. The vendors that normally station themselves outside the metro station at San Joaquin were all packing up shop early, getting ready to go watch the game. She passed by groups of students helping one another add more paint to their faces, practice using their vuvuzelas and starting some of Chile's national songs and cheers. Not only that, but she also took note of all of the pengüinos, which are the uniformed school children, who had all gotten the rest of the day off.

"I was shocked!" Kaufman commented. "I have never seen a country react this way for a sporting event. It was like a national holiday seeing all the schools getting let out and everyone getting off work early. We don't even do that for the Super Bowl!"

She approached the metro, not knowing what volume of people to expect on the coming train. Being 1:30 on a Friday afternoon, the metro is usually pretty empty but she had a feeling that today would be a different story. She was right. The train came, the doors opened and there was hardly any room at all. She managed to squeeze on between some excited fans and decided to keep a low profile being the stereotypical gringa that she is. With each station, more people continued boarding the train, even though space was tight. Within only a few minutes she began to hear the popular cheer, "C-H-I, CHI, L-E , LE, CHI, CHI, CHI, LE, LE, LE, VIVA CHILE!" taking place on the car directly behind hers, as well as at every station as more fans began to recognize one another.

She somehow made it to metro stop Baquedano to switch to the red line and witnessed even more commotion. The level of excitement was high and she was starting to get excited for the quickly approaching kick-off. She eventually made it to Mosai Cafe and met her friend Ellie Thomas, a third-year sociology major at UW-Madison, and the two had to get creative to find some seats. Luckily a nice couple offered to move so they could sit together, so the two girls took advantage of being there with such an atmosphere and ordered a couple of Stella Artois' to go along with the game. The "cafe" was more of a bar and the waiters were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The middle- to upper-class crowd that was present was ordering food, beer, drinks, coffee and making those waiters earn their 10% tip.

The game started off and people hadn't had very much to drink yet, so there was still a pretty good air in the atmosphere, minus the heavy cloud of cigarette smoke. After Spain scored the first goal that many would consider a big mistake, the table of middle-aged muchachos in front of the two girls ordered another round of piscolas, with a much higher quantity of pisco than cola. They finished those off in no time and ordered another and then another, until Kelsey realized that she should re-focus on the game.

The game eventually ended and rather than finding a bunch of very upset Chileans, the crowd still cheered because the result of the Honduras game allowed for Chile to qualify to the next round. The two girls were confused yet surprised to hear people cheering, "Honduras, Honduras!" instead of "Chile, Chile!" They left the bar and walked home and after splitting ways Kelsey continued hearing the cheers and general chaos in her neighborhood all day long and even well into the evening hours. When she left the house at close to midnight to meet another friend she saw many people still celebrating, walking along with champagne and beer bottles, and trying to stumble their way onto buses without success.

All in all it was a great experience for Kelsey to be in Santiago when Chile played Honduras, Switzerland and now Spain, and she hopes that they can pull out a win in the next round!

I'm just gonna take the dog for a.... drive?

Let me relate three funny things that happened to me tonight within the span of about two hours.

First, I cracked a joke at once tonight with Mama. I would relate the whole dialogue here, but if you aren't from Santiago it wouldn't be nearly as funny. Let's just say it has to do with a certain slogan of a certain grocery store. If you'd like to know just ask me about it, even if you don't laugh I will!

Second, when I was leaving for the gym a HUGE husky dog ran by right after I opened my gate. I almost fell over from a heart attack. And then after him comes barrelling another one, even bigger yet! Luckily they kept trotting down the street crossing over from side to side, showing off to all of the dogs stuck inside their fences that they were as free as.. well, stray dogs. The next thing I know I see a car driving super slow down the street and it appeared to be following them. Yep, it was the owner. It had rained today but at the time of this incident it was clear, yet "said" owner still decided it would be just much more productive to drive behind their huge wolf-like pets, scaring the bejeebies out of young girls, than putting those bad boys on leashes.

The third funny thing that happened to me was at the gym. Tonight was my last opportunity to go to Spinning with Pablo (he teaches class at 9:10 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and out of the three teachers is by far my fave), so of course I showed up. For the past couple of weeks he has always been offering me his towel as I wipe my pitchers of sweat (yes, I sweat like a pig at these classes, and it's not pretty) from my face, out of my eyes onto my already drenched t-shirt sleeve. Tonight he offered a couple more times and for his (and his towel's!) sake I said no yet again, and then just as class was finishing up a piece of paper hanging on one of the beams in the room caught my eye:

"El uso de toalla es obligatorio"
The use of a towel is obligatory

Let's just say I felt pretty silly and turned even more red than I already was from the workout. I mentioned something to Pablo and he just laughed. Oh man I miss him already!

That's all for now! Off to listen to the sound of rain on the tin roof outside my room. Can't wait for tomorrow's view of the cordillera!

Con cariño,
Kelsey Marie

The best things in life are... $20?

I know, I know, that is supposed to end with the word "free" but I decided that yesterday was definitely one of the best times I have had in my life and I paid $20 to do it. So sue me.

I'll get back to that later, but the past week and a half have been kind of a blur, similar to the past 4 1/2 months I suppose. To do a little summary, I've been trying to stay on top of schoolwork, however I'm not doing the best job. I will send out a disclaimer to any future study abroader: If you want to have a successful semester I suggest you start working hard from the beginning, and prevent any natural disasters (i.e. earthquakes) which could lead to cancelled classes and confusion. Keeping these things in mind you should have a successful semester. Also, I advise you to keep a blog, but perhaps don't become too attached to it. Don't worry, you will be the only one updating it, therefore if you check it more often than you write in it you may be in trouble.

Alright, back to my life, which I am sure you're all dying to know about...This week it actually rained a pretty substantial amount, which means two things: 1) you'll need an umbrella and 2) the next day there will be an absolutely breath-taking view of the Andes. I don't honestly know the last time I have gotten excited for rain, but let's just say that the views of the cordillera were pretty stellar. I took a few photos near my house but the best ones were at campus and on the metro ride on the way home. The first is the church at San Joaquin accompanied by an Andean backdrop. It's hard to imagine not being able to see these bad boys, seeing as they are ENORMOUS and look so close, but on any other day the smog is covering them and all you can see is, well, air pollution.

More currently and as some may already know, Chile won their first game in the 2010 World Cup, beating Honduras 1-0! For those of you who haven't been following or perhaps aren't soccer fans, the world cup is a once every four years occurrence where 32 qualifying teams compete for the gold. According to Wikipedia, the world's most reliable source, it is "the most widely viewed sporting event in the world", (yes, more viewers than our beloved Super Bowl or NBA championships) therefore I'm sure you are all staying home from work and school to watch the games, especially those of you in Wisconsin.

I got up early and watched the game but unfortunately don't have much to tell. It was funny to see everything just stop for a few hours on a Wednesday morning and then see the passengers (and drivers) sticking their heads out their car windows and honking their horns going slightly over the speed limit after the win. The vuvuzelas are also pretty popular not only in South Africa but also in Santiago and after the game they were making their presence known.

In other news, last week I read at mass here at Nuestra Señora de Las Nieves! The week prior Josefina (a young woman who kindly befriended me when she saw me coming to mass alone) had asked me if I would be interested in reading for the evening mass and after trying to convince her why I shouldn't she convinced me why I should. It was a good experience and it might happen again for my last mass here next weekend (I can't believe I'm saying that!).

As in things of note Laura and I have been trying to take advantage of every and I mean EVERY little Santiago thing/treat/experience. There is still a lot left to experience but I am happy knowing that we are having a good time! One of these includes eating empanadas simply because they are amazing and probably the food I will miss the most.

And as for my yesterday, which was spectacular, we went canopying (a.k.a. ziplining)! It was a lot of fun and so worthwhile. A group of us had actually gone in hopes of doing parapente, hang-gliding, but due to the lack of wind we would have only been able to be in the air for about 3-4 minutes, when it normally lasts about 10-15 (and it's expensive either way, so might as well get every peso's worth!). We went to a place called Geoaventura which is a company that specializes in all sorts of outdoors activities including hang-gliding, ziplining, bungee-jumping, ropes courses, etc. After being disappointed by not being able to do parapente we decided to see what else there was and found canopying! It was so much fun, and although I had done it once in Ecuador 2 years ago, this was way cooler! We had come in a group of 7 (2 men, 5 women) and while the men waited all five of us women headed for the hills in a rickety old pick-up truck! We got our gear on and after being told I looked hands-down the most foolish (unfortunately you can't erase the "gomer" gene from your DNA) I got even more excited. The ride up was.. interesting to say the least. It was extremely steep on a dirt path. We all almost fell out the back numerous times but surely it would have been worth it. We got to the top and made it down all five of the cables, stopping at a platform between each one. The whole adventure occupied the majority of the afternoon and the day was absolutely perfect. Sunshine, snow-capped mountains in clear sight and bellies full on empanadas that we dined on before going to Geoaventura. The company was also spectacular and we had a lot of good laughs and made some great memories. The best part was that I was once again able to go back to Cajón del Maipo and see a different part! The region is so big I could go every weekend and see something new!Last night was Alyssa Offutt's 21st birthday so her friend threw a little party for her at his apartment and a lot of people from our program came. It may have been one of the last times we're all together so it was nice to just enjoy the company and head home rather "early" (2:30 am).

Today Loreto and Enrique (Mama's sister and brother-in-law) came over for lunch and I had a nice time conversing with the family and listening to Carlitos crack jokes. Each time I eat a meal with Mama and Carlos I am reminded that they were the absolute perfect fit for a host family for me, it's almost ridiculous. We have such similar senses of humor and thank goodness for that! Trying to convince Carlos why Wisconsin in the winter is so great was hard, but let's just say he got a kick out of hunting and ice-fishing.

Well that's all I have for now, back to the paper writing!

CHI CHI CHI, LE LE LE, VIVA CHILE!

Love,
Kelsey Marie

Señor lector:

I have officially begun to put most of my pictures in albums on Picasa, so if you have read my adventures and would like to see some more of my pictures, here is a link to my albums.

Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kelsey.kaufman2