Still on vacation! (for 3 more days)

Gavin and Ross got in to Buenos Aires on the 15th, and we spent 2 days in the city of 13m people. From there, we all went to Vin~a del mar (Chile) for 2 days before my parents got in to Santiago. While there, we stayed in a hostel for $10 a night, and used the facilities of the Sheraton Miramar ($150 a night). Pool, Sauna, Jacuzzi, Showers, Steam Room, etc. Since we have accents and look quite American, no one thought that we weren't staying there.

When the rest of the family got in, the 7 of us (plus Katie and Gavin) headed South after eating a large Churrasco (Beef sandwich with guacamole) and eventually got down to Pucon, in southern Chile. The first day in Pucon we did a jungle canopy tour, which was a large step for the Gringas (my mom and Katie) overcoming their fear of heights in the most daring display of trembling bravery ever witnessed by the eyes of man.

The next day we decided to get a bit of exercise, and so we climbed a volcano. It was with a guided tour, and a really calm walk up to the top, which was easily doable by anyone over the age of 4 who doesn't us a cane. Not really. At 9 AM, we started the death-march to the top of Volcan Villarica, which is an ascent of 1400m (43,000,000 feet) over a period of 5 hours. We stopped a total of three times, sat down 2 of them, and total non-walking time was less than 20 minutes. Dad fell a bit behind, and ended up climbing to the top in a group of French losers, unable to keep up with the breakneck pace of the Americans. They had informed us that the descent was easier, and was done sliding on a sheet of plastic. Now, this volcano is quite steep, and the "slide" down was quite a bit of walking through knee-deep snow. Although, I will say, the view from the summit was incredible, both into the opening and around, since we were the highest point visible.

We spent Christmas in Puerto Varas, and had a nice picnic in a national park on a lake. It was around 80 degrees out, and I definitely prefer the warm Christmas.

After driving back to Santiago, Katie and I flew to Lima. We got in around 10:30 this morning, having to wake up at 5 to catch the 8 AM flight. We decided to take a nap after eating lunch and getting settled in the hostel, which lasted about 6 hours. We woke up at 8 PM to go eat dinner, at a place that serves Andean (not Indian) food. We found the place, which was next to some odd construction that I figured must have been at least 100 years old. As we walked up to the door, we almost turned around to go somewhere else because it appeared to be an art exhibit and not a restaurant. We went in anyways, and apparently the restaurant is right next to an excavation site that was a pre-Incan religious center (400-700AD). We took the very informal tour of the site while listening to the music from the wedding party at the restaurant 5 feet from the edge of the site, which was separated by a rope (not even windows) from the sand and mud-brick structures. I don't think I'll ever forget hearing "pasame la botella" (Chilean dance song) and watching people with neon balloons dance around while walking through the human sacrifice section of the 1600 year-old remains of a Pre-Incan building. We later decided to skip that restaurant and eat somewhere else.

From Buenos Aires

Well I'll fill in the details later, since I'm pretty drained after a full day, but a quick update on the trip is that we did Cordoba, Argentina; Asuncion, Paraguay; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; Iguazu falls, Argentina; and Montevideo, Uruguay. Now we're in Buenos Aires and Ross and Gavin get in tomorrow.

Epic Journey #2, Going out with a bang

So I was planning on working my way through Argentina, slow and relaxed, and maybe spending some time on a beach in Uruguay in December, before my family gets in, but then Jean proposed we do a 4-capital sprint, from Santiago to Asunción (Paraguay) to Iguazu Falls (intersection of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay), to Punta del Este (beach in Uruguay), to Montevideo, to Buenos Aires. So, it took me about 2.5 seconds to take him up on that, and we got one of our other friends interested (Angel, from Malaga in southern Spain) and bought bus tickets today.

Two weeks left...

Well, I've got 2 weeks left until I finish classes, another week until I'm done with exams, and on the first of January I'm on my way home. The day after I start my internship at Deloitte, and I'm sure the change from 8 AM 1/1 (Finishing the most incredible semester of my life) to 8 AM 1/2 (starting training at Deloitte) will be a decent bit of a shock. So, I'm starting to brace myself for the reverse culture-shock. I think my classes are going to end decently well, with passing grades, at least.

I think I've gotten accustomed to the point to where if I found out that there were some reason prohibiting me from ever going back to the US, that I had to finish my studies and start working in Chile, that I'd be pretty comfortable doing it. Given, I'm not planning on it , but without so much waiting for me in the US, I would've canceled my flight a month or two ago.

Anyways, it's been great, to everyone in highschool or college that reads this- study abroad. I think it's been the best (or one of, without a doubt) decision I've made in my lifetime.

Halloween, Buenos Aires, Surfing

So it's Halloween in Chile, as well, and it's not as big here, but warrants its own section of candy in the supermarket. I don't think there's any trick-or-treating, but there are quite a few parties. We're having a party in our building for one of my roommate's birthdays tonight.

We went surfing last weekend (a group of 27 of us... in a house for 16) at a beach a bit south of Santiago. The water was absolutely frigid... but with a wetsuit it wasn't bad until you fall, when all the water manages to work its way inside. (For all those worried, there were no sharks or sharp rocks or anything like that.) All in all, quite a nice weekend.

I'm going to Buenos Aires tomorrow at 10 AM to visit friends studying there (That I've been saying I'd get around to for the last 3 months...). It's a 24-hour busride, but after the Bolivia-Peru adventure (a total of 137 hours on bus in 2 weeks) I'm a professional, and 24 hours doesn't seem too bad. I'll be back on Monday!

Trip to Mendoza, Argentina/ Pase escolar

So last weekend we (a group of 8) decided to cross the Andes and spend the weekend in Mendoza, Argentina. It's a great city, very relaxed with a lot of parks. The best thing, without a doubt, is the "tenedor libre" (free fork) concept, which is basically a steak buffet. Except when I think "Steak Buffet," I usually think of a pretty seedy place with C quality meat. This is good Argentine steak, and a lot of it, for $5. God bless Argentina.

Also, I managed to get a student pass for the metro, which will allow me to legally use the student tickets that I've been using the whole semester. I was informed in the international students' office and multiple times in the metro that exchange students weren't allowed to get the student pass. I feel sorry for the gringos that are paying 3x the student price because they didn't bother to ask around for the student pass, and believed the people in the metro office when they said that you can't buy student tickets without a certain student pass. What I heard when they said that was "I'm not going to sell you student tickets without that pass." I managed to find 2 friends that worked in the metro next to campus who were sympathizers in my struggle, and for about a month had an underground network of student tickets. About 3 weeks ago, they tightened up all the regulations, and it was virtually impossible to get on the metro with a student ticket without the pass. I felt like Che Guevara, except without killing people. So, today, I finally managed to get the pass, and was smiling the whole ride back to my apartment.

So a few interesting stories-

The metro in Santiago is almost always clean, fast, reliable, etc.; without any drunks or crazy people...

But, one time last week I got on the metro and was standing next to an old Chilean man, and he starts saying "Texano, Texano!" Now, I'm not wearing my Texas sweatshirt or anything, and actually I had on a sweatshirt I bought in Bolivia. So, the way this guy is talking, I figure he's staggering drunk and probably crazy to boot. I kinda move away, and he starts saying completely nonsensical jibberish (at least I couldn't understand any of it). The guy next to me gets out and says "Careful, he'll punch you in the face." So I decide that's more then enough reason to exit and change cars at the next station, which I do, only to be followed by this man. So, I pick up the pace considerably, so does he, and I wait until I hear the bell sound for the door closing, and jump through at the last second. He tries to follow, but the door shuts in his face. If I'd had my whip, I would've felt more like Indiana Jones, but I guess that was enough adventure for the time being.