La GRIPE A!!

La gripe A, aka the swine flu, H1N1, whatever you want to call it - I'm just going to say I have something similar. Sick as a dog, not really that sick, but I do definitely have a mild flu (which is all the swine is/has been for most people). The world health scene got all worried about the 'epidemic' because it is more catching than your every day flu - but when I had it at Madison last year I was surprised by how mild it was. I am currently holed up with a very low fever (we're talking 99, 99.5), muscle aches, congestion, and coughing. My host mom, being the typical melodramatic Argentine woman has suggested every few hours that I go to the clinic, or the HOSPITAL. For a cold/mild flu. Hence the use of the word melodramatic.

Other than being cooped up in my bed watching and digging into my host moms stash of ripped off DVDs, I started my Portuguese class today! As you can all tell, I have been extremely bored all day so I am writing in my blog twice in two days, after not writing for a full month. The class was really fun, although it was 3 hours long and I started feeling pretty wretched by the end of it, regardless of how many mg of ibuprofen and throat lozenges I popped. It was fun, the professor spoke to us in mainly very clear, slow Portuguese, which was awesome, considering that I really understood some of it!!! It's also blowing my mind thinking of all of the material that we covered today. We started with the alphabet and the phonetics of the letters then moved onto pronunciation rules, basically the exact opposite of Spanish, where everything sounds as it looks (in Portuguese it seems to me that NOTHING sounds as it looks!). We continued on with pronouns, 3 basic irregular verbs in the present tense, as well as a smattering of vocabulary words that were throw into the mix. I would have to check my 6 pages of notes to be more precise about EVERYTHING we covered but he already had us doing a work sheet, a listening activity and learning the mandatory compound words! The professor is muy buena onda, or pretty legit in American, and I can't even imagine how much I will learn in just 16 weeks with him.



I threw in this picture just to give you an idea of where I would like to use my Portuguese in 2014, if anyone else would like to start taking classes now and be my travel companion. In the off change that I don't make it back to South American in 2014, I am going to do my best to make it to Brazil before I come back to the states - hopefully in time for Rothe Door County 2011.

Have a good night everyone - and AVOID THE SWINE FLU!

The last month (pathetic, I know)

Sorry sorry sorry - I just have not been able to motivate myself to write in my blog since getting back to Argentina. I have about 3 partially started blog posts that I never got around to finishing, so I'm throwing them all out and writing something a little more substantial and all encompassing.

I got back to Buenos Aires on March 5th, a Saturday and had a nice long 4 day weekend where everyone I knew was out of town (as the following Monday and Tuesday were both holiday days) so I basically did nothing. On Wednesday I went into my program office and registered for classes and then started class the following Monday. Its all panned out so that I have a "practice making radio" class that meets for 4 hours a week at the public university, La Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA); "political and social theory 1" class at la UBA that meets for 6 hours a week; "history of art and culture in america and argentina" at USAL where I studied last semester; "Portuguese 1" at UBA (its an optional class that I paid $100 to take).

The radio class has been a joke so far, since the major switched buildings and we don't actually have a studio to record in. So for the two hours per week when we are supposed to be recording, we just chat about whatever randomly pops into our professor's head. The other two hours per week we get lectured to in funny anecdote form by a different professor. The political and social theory class is interesting but quite intense, we meet Monday morning at 9am for FOUR hours to have what would be equivalent to "discussion" in the United States, but its really just students reading off their summaries of what happened in the book we happen to be reading at the moment. We just finished reading "The Republic" by Plato (500 pages of 2500 year old Greek political philosophy in Spanish, people) for class today and are reading 1/3 of Aristotle's "Politic" for next Monday. The 4 hours drag on and on when it is just students who are unsure of what they are saying droning on and on - and today was the first class that we actually did an interactive activity. We got a list of questions that resemble our midterm that concern Plato and his theories. The other two hours of that class are actual lecture, that has some correlation with the discussion material, but we will only be tested on the discussion material so its really hard to make myself go Tuesday mornings as well at 9am. The Art History class is still up in the air because there are currently 12 or so Americans going to the class and only 5 foreigners are allowed to take each class at USAL to keep it fair for the students paying tuition and actually studying the subject, aka the Argentines. There is a lottery this week to find out if I am still in the class with the Precolombian art and the awesome laid back professor or if I'm in the Colombian art class with the hard ass professor. On the other hand, I am really excited for my Portuguese class because it starts tomorrow night!!!!!!


Promoting AIESEC and the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE)

Other than school I have been really involved in AIESEC since getting back from summer vacation. I joined the organizing committee for the weekend-long conference for the new members that are going to enter now that our recruitment period is ending. Also, I have been doing quite a bit to help out with the recruitment: going to universities to promote AIESEC, monitoring group interviews, performing individual interviews, etc. Also, the Argentine, Catalina that I was managing last semester got an internship in Budapest, Hungary with Nokia - so she is in the final stages of preparing to start working there May1st-ish. It's fun because I've got to design a lot of flyers for our conference and the toga party that we are going to throw there, so its work but its fun. Plus I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of the AIESEC people from Buenos Aires.


Hanging out with the OGX (Outgoing Exchange) team of AIESEC Buenos Aires


In La Plata with Matt at my friend from Oktoberfest's house.

I have been hanging out a lot with my Argentine friends that I made last semester when I was camping at Oktoberfest, from class, and just from around town. This semester I also decided that I was going to go on more dates with more people - and I've so far been on dates with 3 guys more my age than anyone else I'd met here last semester. They are 21, 21 and 22. I TURN 21 IN 30 DAYS!!!! START THE COUNT-DOWN, not that it really matters since I have been legally drinking for the past 11 months but anyway. I've been waiting for this morning for 20 years and 11 months and it's finally coming and I am happy to say I have Sean O'Connor and Matt Roelse, two good friends from Madison currently in Buenos Aires to celebrate with.



Matt and Sean have introduced me to some of their friends from their program (they are here with the Wisconsin Business School, not with IFSA-Butler). As you can see from the above photo, I took a sassy stance on making more American friends, especially the ones who do not or will not speak Spanish instead of English. Not to say I don't speak english with Matt and Sean, but that's different.

Host family wise the Blaksley/Echegaray clan are now officially like family. We quibble and joke and tell secrets. My host mom, Sara and I have had some really great times together, some of them involving her 14 year old grandson Salvador, as you will see...... We played for about a half of an hour with the hair from my hairbrush......





Anywhoo, I will try to keep you more updated in the near future.

Pictures from Chile

Fish market in Santiago.


A picture of the Villarrica volcano from the beach in Pucón, the day before I climbed up it.


At the top of the volcano.


Coming down the volcano on small plastic sleds.


Subsistence blackberry picking. The cabins I stayed at were in the middle of nowhere and I got bedbugs there. Gross.


The lake at the base of my 8 hour hike where I soaked my feet after getting done.


A beautiful flower in Puerto Varas, the rose capitol of Chile.


Los saltos of the Petrohue river, some rapids and small waterfalls.


Penguins at Isla Magdalena, an excursion from Punta Arenas.


Hanging out in Isla Magdalena.


Seaside basketball courts in Punta Arenas.


Sheep blocking the road on the drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales.


Clouded out sun on day 1 in Torres del Paine.


A valley view on day 3 of the hike in Torres del Paine.


More day 3 of Torres del Paine.


The "Torres del Paine" that the park is named after at sunrise.


A view of the sun coming up the same morning that we hiked to the Torres.

Monika, I hope you can finally see some more of my pictures this way!

The first album of photos on Facebook is at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079631&id=1280460131

The second album of photos on Facebook is at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079648&id=1280460131

The end of an affair

So its my last night in Chile. Like I had mentioned in my last post, after I wrote I was headed to make plans for my next few days and to explore the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, close to Puerto Natales. Its the most popular park in Chile and considered by many to be the best park in South America. Hence the strong desire to check it out. I ended up talking to the owner of my hostel, a crazy guy named Alejandro and the Swede, Leon, staying in my same dormitory room at the hostel came along to get some more info on the park, although he had already chatted with Alejandro. Long story short Alejandro convinced the two of us to rent a two man tent and hike the 4 day, 3 night circuit together. It was beautiful, the park literally has a little bit of everything.

The first day of our park adventure we got up at 6:45AM to eat breakfast before the bus to the park left at 8AM. We rode in the bus with rain outside for 2 hours before we switched over to a catamaran to take us to the far side of the lake, and finally got into the park area where we would be hiking around 1PM. We quickly set up our tent in the rain (it weighed less than 2 kilos and had only 1 pole, making it quick to set up and small). Immediately we set out on the 4 hour each way hike to the Glacier Gray lookout area. It was beautiful, you really get close up to the glacier, closer than we did in El Chalten but not closer than when we were hiking on the glacier in El Calafate. It was nice because we warmed up to the full days of hiking without our heavy packs, just with my little backpack as a day pack with food for lunch and water. On the way there we had a small river crossing that got my shoes wet for the first of many times. Unfortunately I still had my blisters from my previous hike close to Puerto Varas and quickly got new ones from just wearing my Nikes, instead of buying or renting hiking boots like I really should have. The walk was amazing, alongside gem colored lakes, crossing glacial meltwater streams and with awesome wind swept trees on all sides. The park is famous for its winds and we did get to experience them the third and fourth day we were there.

Around 9PM we got back into camp and cooked out first camp dinner and then snuggled up in our tent, getting pretty soaked during the night. At least Leon did, my sleeping bag stayed mostly dry. The second day we packed up early and headed out to Campamento Italiano, a 2.5hr hike away with the packs. We then set up our tent again and headed up the French Valley sans packs, just with the day pack again, and literally were walking up towards a HUGE mountain glacier and the thundering river that runs along it. The whole time, that is, until we got past that park and went through a beautiful forest and up to a lookout rock showing the whole surrounding valley. Pretty awesome, so lets add in another 5 hour hike for getting there and back.

The third morning, a little more dry after the second night but pretty much chilled to the bone, we set off for our longest day with the packs. We hiked 7 hours from Campamento Italiano to El Chileno through the section of the park where the winds are fiercest and a camper many years ago burnt down a large portion of the park. He was camping in a non approved campsite and his camp stove tipped over, with the famous winds accelerating the blaze and making it a huge pain in the ass to put out. The final two hours of the hike were mostly uphill and brought us to a huge river and pretty high up on the mountain side for sections. I will put up pictures in Argentina because there was too much along the way to explain in words. We slept quite well and hung out all afternoon and evening in the shelter, where they had free hot water for tea and to get your cooking done faster (otherwise you start with water from the tap that is closer to freezing than boiling) on your little camp stove. My blisters were pretty intense by this point, and although my knees had acted up on a few occasions I had really had no unbearable problems with them.

Regardless, in the morning at 4:40AM we got up and met up with a Scottish man, his Czech girlfriend, and a random German traveling the circuit with us and hiked to Las Torres, that the park is named after and are three spires of rock that are unique in a worldwide sense. Luckily for us, we got there before sunrise and it was a clear morning. However, there were some snafoos along the way. When you get to the final section of the trail to get to the lookout, after about 30 minutes of intense uphill hiking, you are led around teh base of the pile of boulder like rubble. However, if it is still dark out and the trail is as poorly marked as it was, you could for some reason think that a lookout would tend to be located at the HIGHEST ACCESIBLE POINT. And you would therefore climb UP that huge 150/200m pile of rubble. The winds were gusting at least 40kph MINUMUM and the rocks were falling out under out feet. About 2 third of the way up I was quoted saying "There is NO FUCKING WAY they send HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of TOURISTS up this way EVERY YEAR!!!!!" but we did make it all the way to the top and I don´t think it was as dangerous as it felt. Plus, I kept waiting for the panic to set in and it never did, which was a great thing. We got a spectacular view and from the top with the snot pouring from my nose we were able to see the actual lookout spot over 100m below and we climbed down the front face of the rubble pile to join them. We then headed the 2 hr hike back to camp and packed up, where the rain cover of our tent had been blown 3/4 off. Thank goodness it hadnt happened the night before, because the winds really were gusting all night long. But also thank goodness we didnt lose it, as it was a rental tent, haha.

From camp it was 1.5 hours down to the hotel and trailhead where the bus comes to pick you up around 2PM. So we were down there by 12:30, and we hung out in the rain and wind until 2 when the bus came and were back in Puerto Natales by 4:30PM. Right away I had to drop off my rental gear, pay for it (unfortunately) and then repack my stuff that I had left at the hostel and shower. Pretty necessary after 4 full days of hiking and wearing the same clothes every day. The last night I even slept in my hiking clothes to make it easier with the 4:40AM wake up. After getting business taken care of Leon and I went out for a beer and I had some chicken wings. Before I could leave the hostel Alejandro asked me for a favor, and wanted to make sure I wouldnt get mad, and then asked me to take a few photos with him because I am so beautiful. Haha it was great, pretty funny actually as he was a really sweet guy who ran the hostel with his wife and after that I hopped right on a bus back to Punta Arenas, which got in around 10:30PM. Then I headed to a hostel for a few hours of sleep before I got picked up at 6AM to go to the airport in Punta Arenas and take my awesome flight that had 2 stops on the way back to Santiago. So I got here around 1:30PM although I left Punta Arenas at 8AM. AWESOME, not. And now I can´t walk comfortably and I am exhausted, and I have to get picked up at 7:05AM tomorrow to head back to the airport and fly back to Buenos Aires, home sweet home.

After 3 full weeks in Chile I am ready to head home and get back to school. I have to enroll in classes on Wednesday so that should be exciting. Thats all for now folks.

Pretty Far South

Puerto Varas turned out to be a great city, small, more like a large town, and quite enjoyable all in all. I spent my first day there just wandering around the picturesque streets filled with German influenced arquitecture. I stopped in at one museum, which the artist himself had founded and was crammed full of his drawings of the buildings of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt (another town about 20km south of Puerto Varas, on a bay of the Pacific Ocean). The second day I spent in P. Varas I woke up nice and earl (think 6AM) and took a bus that was supposedly coming at 7AM and every 45 minutes after that and rode about 1.5 hours out to the Vincente Perez Rosales National Park. I went into the park office in an attempt to obtain a map of the trails and the park ranger was intially helpful but then insulting when he blatantly insinuate that I did NOT want to do the longest trail in the park that was readil accesible. An 8 hour hike (4 hours in, 4 hours out) called ´desolacion´ which translates to ´desolation´. Little did he know I actually DID want to do that hike, and so did it, thinking I´ll show him when I get back in less than 8 hours! The hike ended up taking me 4 hours to get to the end, which I was under the impression that ended at a river, but it just ended at a little picnic area where you can drive up, how disappointing for the end of a 4 hour hike. Upon arrival I made myself two little pita bread sandwiches with TURKEY that I found at the grocery store (NOT HAM) as well as tomatoe slices and some mild cheese. Delicious after all that hiking. I literally did not see 1 other soul the whole way out and for over 2 hours of the way back, which was a little scary but also quite nice.

The hike started out rather flat trekking through volcanic sands and over dry river beds and then through lava tunnels. Pretty cool. After an hour there was a section of volcanic sand dunes that were surprisingly steep and challenging to climb up that lasted for about an hour, and then another hour of relatively flat and sandy terrain. The view was gorgeous the whole time, as I was hiking alongside a snow capped volcano. The last hour, however, of the way there was stupid. There is no other way to say it. You walk downhill for 1 hour (horrible for your joints) and the views available are minimal because you are walking down a small road and there are trees on both sides and as soon as you make it to the bottom, there is nothing cool. Just a picnic table and a parking lot. What a waste of the hour climbing back UP. I really enjoyed the hike but my feet were full of HUGE blisters by the time I got back to the starting point due to all of the small grains of volcanic sand that had weasled their ways into my socks. Still blistery but just ignoring it.

After the hike I thought I wouldn´t be in much shape to hike a lot the next day, blisters and all, so I went back to the park (not quite so early, I slept in until 8AM) and went to the waterfalls/rapids that the park is famous for. The water flow wasnt very high so they werent spectacular but rapids and waterfalls can never really be boring. And my last day in Puerto Varas I headed to Frutillar, another beautiful little German town along the same lake where I went to an awesome museum that is a recreation of the home, barn, water mill, and second home of some original German settlers. Then it was time for the beach and swimming in crystal clear water that wasnt as frigid as expected (you could see the same snow capped volcano that I hiked around out over the water). And that night it was time to head to the airport by taking a public bus to Puerto Montt and then a private bus transfer from the bus station to the airport. Randomly I was sitting next to the two Americans that I had met at the hot springs in Pucon over a week before and I hung out with them during the over hour long delay in the airport, and we split a taxi from the airport to our respective hostels. Quite a nice coincidence. I will be seeing them again when they come through Buenos Aires for 3 or 4 days in mid March.

Yesterday I spent in Punta Arenas (Sandy Point), the southernmost town of the continental Americas. I know Ive said that about ten times, but its just fun to claim. The sky looks different, the clouds are different, its hard to explain, but you know you are far south. I walked around town all morning and in the afternoon took a two hour boat ride to Isla Magdalena where there were 120,000 penguins on a tiny little island, and I have some AWESOME pictures. I met some nice Americans doing a study abroad in Santiago, who also happened to be staying in my hostel, while riding the boat there and back. As well as some nice ladies from Israel and some Irish guys who were pretty cool. This morning I got up bright and early again (Ive been getting 6 or 7 hours of sleep per night) and took a bus north from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, the jumping off zone for the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, famous for its 4 and 7 day hiking circuits. This afternoon I will talk to the owner of my hostel about getting set up to either rent a tent and sleeping bag and do two nights in the park or make reservations for the little cabins that they have at every campsite (which ends up not being more expensive than renting a tent). I am super excited and have been having an amazing trip. Really looking forward to making it to the park in the morning (Ive already bought chocolate, fruit, bread, peanut butter and cream cheese to feed myself). The pictures are sure to turn you all sour with jealously, although its being a bit rainy, cloudly and drizzly in the area at the moment.

Until I get back to Buenos Aires on Saturady!

More from Chile

So Wednesday night saw me happy yet exhausted and I met up with the Israeli guy, the one who had just parasited onto my tour group climbing the volcano, and we got a local beer at a bar inbetween our two hostels. Turns out the guy should be in a looney bin as he kept trying to ask me what I was afraid of and convince me that I should make sure that I face my fears and dont act in a way that I will regret 5 or 10 or 15 years down the line. All in all I think he was just upset that I didnt want to kiss him and that I left him there when I went home rather early. Thursday was my last full day in Pucon and I went to the beach all morning and then went to lunch at the same cafe where I had met the son of the UN diplomats who was attempting to rebel against his parents, etc, etc and got HARASSED by a Chilean man who claimed it was his 45th birthday and wanted me to go to his birthday dinner in the neighboring town on Villarrica, AS IF. I had to endure him annoying me (he was nice at first, but then he got SUPER AGGRAVATING) and I just wanted to flick him off and slap him in the face or something. The people who worked at the restaurant allowed him to bother me while I was trying to eat and read a book which I did not fully understand, but hey, I finally finished eating and got out of there. He seemed quite upset that I am so beautiful and that I wasnt dying to go to his intimate birthday dinner IN ANOTHER TOWN. What a bad idea, why would I ever agree to that, why would ANYONE ever agree to that? Anyway, done venting. That evening I went to the hot springs Loz Pozones for a few hours and met some pretty cool Americans and English people, erasing the annoying old man from my mind.

Friday morning saw a hasty departure from Pucon (after a decent sleep in) and an arrival in Valdivia, a costal town further South in Chile. In Valdivia I spent 2 days, the first just getting to know the local fish market and botanical gardens and the second taking an adventure that resulted in 3 boat rides and 4 bus rides to get to and from an ecological reserve that houses a beautiful beach nestled in between some sand dunes. It was quite relaxing and fun but a little disappointing, as I tried to hike in the ecological reserve and literally could NOT understand the Chilean working at the desk. He was not very helpful to say the least. It was odd, as he also didnt seem capable of understanding me. What a dilemma. So I just ended up on the beach all day. The water was prettttty chilly considering hwo far south I am at the moment, but everyone was swimming.

After Valdivia I headed to Osorno, and just passed right on through without even stopping and took a small bus out towards the Puyehue National Park and asked to get dropped of in Nilque, what I thought was a small town. Turns out its 1 restaurant that is over priced and a group of cabins for rent that are run by the same women who run the adjoined gas station. It was a bit of a start to be dropped off there and just decide I kind of HAD to stay there, but it turned out all right. The cabins werent horribly expensive (about $26 per night) and I had my own TV with directTV and a small kitchen and bathroom as well. The first day I walked down by the restaurant (about 2km away) and went swimming in the crystal clear lake before walking back in the evening and picking 1L of blackberries that were growing along the road. Turns out I had cookies bought from the meager choices available at the gas station and the full L of blackberries for dinner. With water. Very delicious, actually. The second day I made my way relatively early to the Park (about 17km down the road, further out of town) and found out that they wanted to charge me $20 EACH WAY to go to the trailhead for hiking to the awesome waterfalls that my guide book talked about, and instigated my stop in the area. I was not willing to pay $40 for less than 40km of transit, so I settled for the two shroter trails close to the hot springs and then a 2.5 hour soak in the hot spring (all of which ended up costing me about $10, including the buses). So not a loss by any means. Today is Tuesday, meaning this morning I woke up at 8AM and waited by the side of the road for one of the buses taht have NO AVAIALBLE SCHEDULE to pass in order to get back into town (Osorno), from where I immediately bought a bus ticket to Puerto Varas, even further south. Which is where I am now, in Puerto Varas in a little hostel that has only 2 other people staying in it and 2 lap tops available for guest use. Also some really great guide books. So I am making lists of things I want to do once I get further south (aka the southernmost city of the continental Americas) and on my return trip(s) to Chile.

Hope you all enjoyed this. And know that when I get back to Argentina I will upload probably 1,000 photos, so dont despair over their lack in these posts.

Chile - the beginning of a great relation

For those of you who don´t keep up to date with my day to day schedule, I am currently in Chile. On Sunday, January 13th I had an evening flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile and proceeded to spend that evening and the whole day of the 14th in the capital. My hostel was in an old building on the 6th floor over looking the main plaza of Santiago, La Plaza de Armas. It was quite nice, I must admit, and did make me think about what things would have been like if I had gotten to know the city eariler on in my time in South America, if I would have tried to do 1 semester in Buenos Aires and 1 semester in Santiago, but who knows. The subway system, called the metro here, is much cleaner, faster, more reliable, roomy and expensive than it is in B.A. so there would be pros and cons. On the 14th I walked around the main square, got some ice cream, ate a salad, and really found myself at a loss for what to do, so I went back to the hostel trying to recover from the over 90 heat of the day and get my day in line. I decided to walk to the zoo, about a 1/2 hour relaxed walk, and when I finally got there, I realized how stupid, zoos are closed on Monday´s (just like all of the museums, which thoroughly exhausted my list of activities). The mountain that houses the zoo is also home to the statue of the Virgin Mother Mary, which is the equivalent of the statue in Rio, but Chilean style. I bought a round trip ticket for the tram that takes you up the mountain to the peak, which made me think of going down to the St. Croix with Patty and riding in the tram when we were little. Anyway, the ride up was only about 10 minutes long and then I hung out up at the statue, met two cool guys that are also just traveling around solo, and decided to walk the 6km down, rather than taking the tram. The real bummer is that they wouldn´t reimburse my 800 pesos (aobut $2) that I had paid for the ride down, although I still had the ticket and they could have used it for another passenger. Oh well, shit happens. Then I walked lazily back to my hostel through the beautiful Bella Vista (beautiful view) neighborhood and eventually just made myself a quick spaghetti and pre-made sauce dinner before hopping over to the bus station and taking an overnight bus to Pucon.

Pucon has been GREAT. With a capital G for those of you who are jaded by my and others overuse of caps lock. Although I was cramped into the window seat next to an obese man than as far as I could tell was from California, the bus ride was uneventful and I fell asleep listening to a book on tape on my ipod. I arrived around 9:30 AM, dropped my stuff off at my hostel, and wandered around the small touristy town that is mostly tour companies that want to take you up the volcano, white water rafting, horseback riding, etc. The first day I just walked around and then went out to brunch, where I got picked up to hang out by the biggest character ever. He is a Chilean (half Spaniard) who is rebelling against his UN diplomat parents. He is a pop singer (really, I heard some of his songs and saw his videos on YouTube) and he also is into the management, production, business side of the business (which he has been focusing on for the past 6 years in NYC and LA). I just hung out with him because I was bored, didn´t know the area, am by myself, and though why not, most tours leave early in the day so I just have a day around town anyway. He was originally dining with his parents (who he told me later at 65 and 75) but they left and he then invited me over to his table. I accepted seeing as I was done eating and needless to say, he was interesting. He had to cut our hang out session short and go to the airport because he was flying to Vina del Mar, another city in costal northern Chile in order to sing in a huge music festival that they have there. Its his comeback after 6 years of not singing. But he told me not to worry, because he is going to lip-sync, so there is no need for him to have spent the past few hours practicing. SO I went back to my hostel, he flew off to Vina, and I changed into beach gear and spent the afternoon tanning and swimming in the icy lake.

This morning I got up at 6AM and packed all of the warm clothes I have with me for an excursion climbing up an active volcano, Volcan Villarrica.

It was a questionable day, wind and weather wise after I got into the office but they brought us all to the base of the hike, a 45 minute drive out of town. Our bus went loaded with 12 passengers and only 4 of us actually ended up doing the hike. They still charge you $5000 (Chilean pesos, about 480 to $1USD) if you take the transfer and decide to wait for another day and better weather (being $5000 of the total $40000 price for the excursion). Also, the first 10 minutes of the hike are actually a ride for an aditional $5000Chilean up a chair life, cutting a little over an hour off of your hike. I, not being wealthy, decided to risk it with the 3 Frenchies on my tour and had a great 4 hour hike (with about 3 breaks of 5 minutes each) up a snowy slope through gale force winds just to reach the active crater.

I stole this picture from the internet, because when we got up there we only spent about 2 minutes as the noxious, poisinous fumes were blowing up our noses, down our throats, and into our eyes. Causing extreme discomfort, as you can imagine. On a nice day you can stay up there for up to an hour, enjoying the view but it was all clouded over and the gases made it less than ideal. On the way down, things got really exciting. We put snowpant type deals snapped around our butts and legs, harness style, and descended in luge like ruts down the snowy part of the mountain. AMAZING, the most fun thing I have done in ages, maybe EVER. If you are ever in the region I would highly recommend it. Anyway, I need to go now as I´ve wasted nearly an hour on a communal computer writing in my blog.

Hope you enjoy the update! (be jealous)