My Lastest Travels

This will be the longest post I have ever done since it is an accumulation of travels from three trips.  Sorry for the wait!

SANTIAGO, Chile

Sleeping on the bus.

A few weekends ago our entire crew headed off to the widely-talked about city that is either loved or hated by Chileans and contains 1/3 of the population of Chile.  Yes, we finally returned to capitol, Santiago, since the last time we were there, which was in the airport.  It really is only an hour and a half by bus from Viña, but is worlds different.  After a bus ride spent listening to music and sleeping, we took the subway (this would be were we would spend the majority of our time it turns out) to our hostel, Hostal Casa Kolping.  This was my first hostel experience, and I'd say it went swimmingly. I roomed with my two friends Caitlin and Maddy and we had a balcony!

Home Sweet Hostal.

Taking the subway.

Since we only had two days there, we had to get down to business stat.  After dropping off our things, we immediately headed back to the metro to go to the city center.  Once there, we toured the metropolitan cathedral of Santiago.  It was very beautiful and I enjoyed having a quiet moment to reflect and pray there.

Catedral Municipal

Our own celebrity.

After, we went to a history museum right across the road.  The moment we got there, we encountered a mob of Chilean schoolchildren yelling about the gringos and wanting to take pictures with us.  One member of our group in particular, Josh, called their attention because apparently they thought he looked like Chris Brown.  All of the girls starting a mob around him and it was utterly ridiculous and hilarious.

In front of La Moneda

At the museum, we saw old Chilean costumes, tools, paintings, Mapuche items, and the first flag of Chile.  Next we head to La Moneda, which is basically Chile's white house.  It was a little different though because we could get very close to it, which was cool.  We also had a break so we ate lunch and some of us visited the nearby Starbucks and walked around.  Yes, very American of us, but sometimes you just have to satisfy a craving.  After that, we went to the art museum below La Moneda, which was also cool, especially the interactive Mapuche dance game and the architecture, but at that point we were all very tired.  Still, we had a couple more stops before the day's end.  Next, we took the metro again, this time to Cerro San Cristobal.  We were going to ride a funicular to the top, but it was broken so we went to the zoo instead.  Apparently there is a great view and religious shrines at the top, but I am glad we went to the zoo.  In all honesty, I had been wishing for trip to the zoo for a while, and it was perfect to run around and act like kids!

Baby penguin, flamingos, and view at the zoo!

After we walked by another of Pablo Neruda's houses, but did not go in.  Then we went out to dinner and ate a feast!  We were all at one table, all 31 of us, which was ridiculous, but fun.  When we finally got back to the hostal, we were all tired, so we just hung out together.

Dancing and architecture at the museum.

Dinner time!

On our balcony.

The next day was jam-packed with tours once again.  Jorge, most of our group's art teacher, came all the way from Viña to show us around that day.  That morning we had breakfast of tea, bread, cheese, meat, and jam at the hostal, then headed once again to the metro.  

Los Dominicos from the outside

Los Dominicos from the inside

This time, we got of at Los Dominicos, a high end area of the city.  In this sector, we toured a cloister that once housed the early Catholic missionaries (the Dominicans, hence the name).  It was absolutely beautiful, especially the central garden with flowering trees and the mountains in the background.

Flowers from the central garden of the cloister.

Then we had time to shop around at the outdoor feria next door, which was fun and we got to see a selection of very Chilean goods.  Next, we went back into the city for a seafood lunch at el Mercado Central, a famous fish market in Santiago.  Lunch was good, but we spent a long time waiting for the bill, which eventually turned into nap time for many and Broadway sing-along for our table.  (By the way, a few people got sick later that week and we think it was from a specific seafood dish they all ate here.  However, usually this place has a good reputation, so don't let this hinder you from visiting if you are thinking about it!)

Inside the Mercado Central

After, we were all pretty much zombies, but we still couldn't miss the chance to go to El Museo de Bellas Artes (according to Marietta!).  I actually did end up enjoying it, and am glad we went, plus we got to walk through a beautiful park nearby.  Living in a city without much grass that is built upward has made me realize just how much I love open space, the outdoors, and nature in general.  More on that in my Mendoza section.  Finally, after a tiring day, we headed to the bus station (via the metro, of course!).

My favorite things from the trip were not the museums or the tours, but the moments when we could get away from the city and catch our breath, like walking around the feria at Los Dominicos and running around the zoo.  I hope to go back to Santiago for a weekend with a few friends or on my own to see more and visit a friend of a friend who is studying there.  I feel like two days simply wasn't enough to see all that Santiago has to offer!

Chilean Police Officer.

Kitty at Los Dominicos

Holding the flag of Chile in my hand.

MENDOZA, Argentina

Our group (minus Brian) in front of the city sign.

About to get on the bus!

Bus Buddies!

Snacks for the bus: chocolate, juice, fruit, bars,
sandwich, and more!

Beautiful mountain views while driving to Argentina.

At the border!

Friday morning we took a bus from Viña to Mendoza, which took about 8 hours, including the customs check at the border.  The ride went completely through the Andes range, which was beautiful! I had friends for chatting, so I was never bored and really enjoyed the ride.

Dinner the first night.

A toast with Argentinian wine!

Shots of the city.

When we arrived, we were pleased to discover that our hostel was right across the street from the bus terminal.  On our short walk there we received louder catcalls than ever in Viña, which worried us initially.  However, the rest of the weekend I received fairly few cat calls and felt that the staring was less intense than in Viña.  This could be because there seems to be a lot more diversity in Argentina.

Outside of our hostel.

Inside our hostel

McDonald's ice cream.

We stayed in Hostel Savigliano, which I found to be very nice.  All 12 of us crammed into one room and had to share one bathroom, but it wasn't too bad.  Plus it was just a 10 to 15 minute walk from the city center.  We spent our first night meandering through Mendoza and ate pizza and pasta at Café Atenas near a park with a big Ciudad de Mendoza sign that lights up at night.  We decided to have a chill night in the hostel, because the next day would be full of activity.

Bikes and Wines - the company
we rented our bikes through

BIKING

On Saturday we got up about 9 and talked to the front desk about a biking tour of wineries.  They hooked us up with transportation to Maipu, which was about a 30 minute drive, where we rented bikes and received a map from Bikes and Wines.  This day was one of my favorite days from study abroad yet!  It was beautiful to ride through the Argentinian countryside next to vineyards with mountains in the background.  I had really missed fresh air seeing as Viña is all city crammed together.  Our first stop was Bodega La Rural, a wine museum and vineyard.  Our tour was all in Spanish because we didn't call ahead, which was difficult due to the specific vocabulary of wineries, but I still learned a lot about the wine making process.  Then we got to do a wine tasting and buy wine.

Wine tasting

Barrels of wine

Buying our wine at La Rural

In front of the vineyard.

Another vineyard shot.

Next we wanted to go to an olive oil tasting at one of the places on the map called Olivicola Laur.  What we didn't realize was that the proportions of the map were all crammed together and that the distances were actually much farther than they looked.  We ended up riding at a steady pace for between 30 minutes and an hour.  Although it was more tiring than we expected, it was cool to go through the small town and out into the country, to pass the many vineyards and orchards, to have children yell "¿como te llamas?" at us, and to be escort by police vehicles.  It was really worth it (vale la pena!).  Mostly because our guide was hilarious and used expressions like hella cows (to say they are big... does not know the grammatically correct way to use hella, clearly) and tiny weenies (teeny weeny haha), but also because I learned a lot here too.  We got to try an olive straight off of the tree, which was surprisingly gross.

Continuous process

Olive oil & spreads tasting

Discontinuous process

I'm going to get a little detailed on the process of making olive oil so bear with me here.  Or just skip ahead.  There are two processes, discontinuous process (they don't use this anymore), and continuous process.  In the former, they take the olives and put them on this machine the has a lot of circular plates, which move together, squishing the olives and allowing the liquid part to drip down.  It then runs down a trough into square pools, to which water is added.  This separates the yucky stuff from the oil.  The oil is then put into another machine, which centrifuges all of the crap out.  The latter process is done by machines and I don't really remember many of the details.

Olivicola Laur

I digress, back to our tour.  The ride back was utterly disastrous.  First, we were chased by dogs, which got in fights with each other and nearly caused many a crash.  My friend Caitlin had a great quote: "I hit it; I touched it with my wheel.  And I'm pissed."  There were a lot of cars and people kept shouting, "coche!," which got really annoying.  Then another girl, Dannelle's, jeans got caught in her bike and we had to deal with that, then my friend Abby's bike had some gear issues, and finally, the last stop we wanted to go to (a chocolate place!) was full of our gringo friends so we didn't have time for a tasting.  No matter, it was still one of my favorite days of study abroad!

The GIANT buffet at the restaurant.

My favorite thing: banana and manjar
filled crepes with ice cream- YUM!

We didn't much except for the tastings because we were saving room for that night: a feast at Las Tenajas restaurant!  It is a buffet with mountains of food of all kinds.  You cannot even imagine!  Tons of meat, made-to-order pasta, fruit, empanadas, crepes, ice cream, cakes, salads, everything!  Pretty much everyone in our group had 6, yes SIX, plates of food (it was $20, don't judge, just getting our money's worth!).  I was literally in pain after.  Then we headed to the bar district, which I found to be swankier than Viña and the bars had less of a rowdy and friendly environment.  It was more classy, but less my style.  A few girls went to a discoteca, but the rest of us were tired.

My friend Nicole and I hitting the town.

Haha a dog lounging on a couch at an outdoor bar.

Outside of the church.

Inside of the church.

Making submarinos!

Subway: slightly different ingredients but same fresh bread smell!

More chocolatey goodness!

On our last day, a few of us searched out a Catholic church, Catedral Loreto, even though we arrived 30 minutes late due to bad advice from our hostal.  I love having mass in Spanish, and it was really nice to have a quiet moment while traveling.  After that, everyone got ready, but it was grey and there were few things opened on a Sunday.  We settled on getting Subway (another american splurge) and chocolate at La Havanna Chocolatery.  There, we bought submarinos, a type of hot chocolate where they give you hot milk and a chocolate bar and you mix them.  It was delicious.  I also bought some alfajor (a cake encased by chocolate with manjar inside) and dulce de leche spread to bring home to the fam.  Lastly, we walked through the gorgeous and giant Parque General San Martín.  It was nice to find somewhere so green and full of trees after weeks in urban Viña with only the beach/ocean as our natural outlet.  

Entrance to the park.

Hanging out in the park.

Waiting at customs.

We all decided to cook dinner on our own at the hostal to save money.  My friend Maddy and I got some cheap bread at a bakery, cheese, tomatoes, and avocados and them all together.  The next day we had to get up early and go to the bus stop.  Customs was kind of a nightmare because we waited a long time, had to put our stuff on tables and have a dog jump up and sniff it for drugs, then they went through some people's (mine) bags individually.  We made it home and that's what counts!  Overall, Mendoza = success!

Add caption

All the types of currency in my wallet
and my Chilean ID.

PUCÓN, Chile

Ready to go!!

Over our week long break for Fiestas Patrias last week (blog post on that to come) we took the second half to travel south for some outdoorsy adventures!  We took an overnight bus on Wednesday,  September 19th, during which they decided to show two halves of movies, cutting them off exactly when it was getting interesting (don't ask me why).  Thursday morning we got in about 11 and found our hostal, Hostal Nativa.  It was not very hard to find since the town is very small and it is less than a 10 minute walk to anything.  The town reminds me of a Colorado mountain town with wood buildings and mountains and woods surrounding it; it is very outdoors-y.  

One of the streets in Pucón where we went shopping and got ice cream.

We were all pretty tired from a night of bus sleep (not very good if you have never tried it) so we booked an afternoon tour, bought groceries, went to a fería (a market with local crafts) and hung around the hostel with our friends Benny and Juan Pablo (AKA Bennie and Juan-y haha) until 4 pm. The hostal was nice and the guys were very friendly, but I would rate our Mendoza hostal higher as far as general cleanliness, not that it was dirty!  We especially loved the hostal's resident puppies: Che Copete and Chochinon!  We cooked most of our meals in the hostal, and our group was smart enough to think of the one thing that makes everything better: bacon!  However, the second day, I was cooking bacon for a long time, causing smoke to fill the hostal, and I had it all on a plate.  As I carried the plate, of course, I hit a fridge with and sent it flying everywhere to the tune of a few expletives.  No matter, we ate it anyway!

                           

The main and sleeping rooms of our hostal.

Cooking and cuddling with pups.

Our first tour was a Mapuche (indigenous people of Southern Chile) tour.  The bus drove us outside of town, not exactly to where a tribe of Mapuche lived, but to were a family with Mapuche roots lives and gives tours.  Although it felt a little inauthentic at times, it was super interesting.  We got to go inside of Mapuche house, which is a mix between a cabin and a tent, my friends Brian and Maddy tried on traditional Mapuche clothing, we ate Mapuche food, learned about their rituals, and played a Mapuche game called Palín (basically field hockey).  I had a lot of fun!

Outside of the Mapuche houses and my friend, Brian, posing with two adorable kids.

Weaving and explaining Mapuche traditions like how they have to collect the fruit, called piñon, from araucaria trees.

Mapuche flag and Brian wearing the traditional Mapuche dress.

Showing us their sacred tree and dancing around it.

Playing Palín.

Our Mapuche Meal

The next day was white water rafting!  It was gray and cold outside, but we were all pumped to go, especially since it was the first time for many people.  We had to get all decked out in wetsuits, which kept us warm, but they should have included gloves because my hands were freezing!  Nevertheless, I don't think the smile left my face the entire time we were on the river.  Our guide had us celebrate after every segment of white water by lifting our paddles in the air and shouting.  He also invited us to his "birthday" party that night, but none of us went.  It was so much fun and only about $20!  Then we decided to get our American fix and got burgers the size of our face!

After our chilly day, we decided to go to natural hot springs, called termas, that night.  It is really awesome, they pick you up about 8 and you stay there until midnight.  There were 6 pools, each varying in size and degree of heat.  Personally I liked the hotter ones better, but I tried out all of them.

Attempting to take pictures in the termas, but they mostly just turned out foggy.

The next day we had planned to climb the ominous volcano, Villarrica, and be victoriously awesome, but several guides warned us that we may not even reach halfway due to weather or something.  So we decided to save volcano climbing for Patagonia and took a micro to Huerquehue National Park for some all day, muddy hiking.  We were there for six hours, hiking uphill basically the whole time, and it was super muddy.  So naturally it was excellent.  And we saw two waterfalls and views of the volcano.  It was gorgeous!

Welcome to Huerquehue National Park.

The whole hiking gang!

Waterfall shots.

MUD.  And my hiking buddies: Nicole, Maddy, and Caitlin.

It was GORGEOUS.

Very Twilight-esque.

<3

We stumbled upon some piggies and cows.

When we got back to the hostel, we were a little surprised to receive a phone call from our friends saying that not only did they reach the top of the volcano, but it was so hot they had rolled up their sleeves.  Not really sure why the guides were so adamant that we not go.  In any case, I was extremely jealous and more determined than ever to reach the top.  I began to ask everyone if they were still interested in going the next day, even though we had to catch our bus at 7:50 that night.  I pressured a lot of people who had been interested before, and ultimately ended up with two partners in crime.  Since it was getting kind of late, it was a lately chaotic getting this group together and then running over to the same company that our friends had used, making it just before they closed at 8.

We were literally the last ones in the store and watched them close it down.  The company was called Aguaventura.  It was kind of intense from the start because they have a long list of things you need to have for the next day like a lunch, sunglasses, sunscreen, etc.  We got fitted for our boots and snowsuits that night and scrambled to gather all of the things we needed and get in bed early since we had to get up at 6:45 the next morning.

Gonna climb it.

Above the cloud level.

Villarrica volcano.

Hiking the volcano: one of the most intese events of my life.  First I had to go back to the hostal at 6:45 and wake up a friend so I could get a better coat because apparently mine wasn't good enough.  The weather conditions on Villarrica are apparently very subject to change.  We experienced that later in the day.  Then we took a shuttle up to the base, which is also a ski area.  It was very expensive, but we payed for the lift to take us up part of the way (totally worth it).  Then we got our gear together and started hiking.  We didn't start out wearing our snow pants or the crampons because it wasn't necessary.  It was a sunny day, but there was also a bit of wind.

Getting briefed as we prepare to go.

My hiking buddies, Maddy and Danelle!

#YOLO

The way hiking works is you have 5-45 minute sections and a 15 minute break between each.  You traverse up the mountain in a single file line and literally step in the footprints of the person in front of you.  This is because it is either very icy and you want the traction, or the snow is fluffy and thick and your feet will go through on every step.  We had to keep our ice ax in the hand closest to the mountain to push into the snow in case we slipped.  It became our best friend because we also used it to lean on.  I, fortunately, did not have to use the ice pick to stop myself until the downhill, but I was terrified of falling the entire time.  It started out scorching hot and we stripped off all of our layers except the t-shirt.  However, after the third section, we came up over a ridge and encountered howling winds.  When we stopped I put all of my jackets back on.  Though I would never quit, in the second to last section, I could see how someone would because my legs were screaming at me.  After that section, we had to gear up and the guides helped us with our crampons because it was icier above.  After much strenuous walking and sweating while simultaneously freezing from the wind, we finally made it to the top.  And it was... AMAZING!

At the top!

The crater.  We couldn't see the lava due to all the smoke.  The last eruption was in the 80s and there was one in the 60s and 70s, as well, so it seems like they're overdue for another...

Epic.

Aside from seeing the beautiful views of the lakes, mountains, and more volcanoes in the distance, the best part of the experience was going downhill... we got to SLED down!  We put on our snow pants and attached the orange, plastic sled to ourselves and literally just sledded down the side of the mountain.  I didn't really grasp how to break at first, so I was a little out of control and had to dig the pointy end of the ice pick into the ground to stop.  That got the guides laughing a lot.  Also, on the last segment, I managed to drop my ice pick as I was sliding down, which is actually really dangerous for the person after you.  But the guide got it.  Awesome, that's not embarrassing or anything.  It was so fun!  But sometimes snow would build up between your legs and make it hard to go fast.  Also, I had really bad bruises on my legs from where the straps dug in.

The ice pick and the sled.

When we finally got back, after 6 hours of hiking and sledding, we were exhausted, wet, and smelly. However, we could only get our stuff and change at the hostal.  Then we had just enough time to get dinner, run into some other exchange students from our university, and get snacks at the grocery store before we had to catch our bus.  Also, I lost my cell phone.  Successful weekend overall.