Don Marco en Chile

Back to Santiago, and "Chaocito" to Don Marco en Chile

2006-08-17T10:20:00.000-06:00

The last few days in Santiago were a great way to wrap things up. After traveling for a month in Perú and Bolivia, I had begun to feel like that was all I had done in South America, but returning to Chile reminded me just how much had happened in Chile and put the experiences back in perspective.
It also made for a good goodbye (or rather, see you later) to Gabriela and Luchito. I really became a part of the family-- there's no better way to describe my relationship with them than to say that they are family and I'm so fortunate to have been placed with them.
As I said goodbye to Chile, I glanced ahead to my return to the states. What will life be like back in the US? What now? Who is Don Marco when he's not en Chile? Culture shock has admittedly been difficult this time around-- mostly associated with hearing English all the time and being in a culture with a pretty different set of values and just a generally different way of going about life.
But more than culture shock, there's "me" shock-- the question of who am "I" at home? I changed so much in Chile, and yet I come home and feel like nothing's changed-- and because of that it's hard to remember and be the person I was in Chile. I'm confident that I'll figure it out-- if there's anything I learned from doing something like this, it's that who I am is not defined by where I am. Being in a new place with new people allows me to reinvent myself, but there's no reason why I can't transfer that back here and to Ann Arbor. It's just a little harder because people expect me to be the person I was before.
But I'll work it out, I mean seriously if I can build a life in Chile, I can make a few changes to my life in the US. Mainly, I'm determined to aprovechar more of home-- that's what Chile taught me-- to get outside, look around, travel, enjoy the nightlife, dance-- basically, enjoying the opportunities that life hands me. After all, I don't really know the US-- so perhaps treating it like foreign country will work out for me :) We'll see where it takes me, and if I'll see the US differently now that I'm back and ready to experience what's around me-- to aprovechar to the fullest meaning of the word.

So, with tears in my eyes but assured that I would be back to Chile within a few years and determined to aprovechar my time in the US, I bid "chaocito" to my home and life of the past 6 months, and sporting a cowboy hat and a jacket with llamas on it, I boarded the plane and headed back to the United States of America...

Well, Don Marco is not en Chile anymore, so this is sadly the last entry for this blog. I hope to start up a new one for this year (perhaps "marquito the michigander"? who knows). For those of you that read these entries, I hope you've enjoyed them half as much as I enjoyed writing them. Pues chiquillos, que te vaya la raja y media en la vida, y nos vemos por allá ;)
-Marquito, Don Marco, Fidel, Marquiño, Marco, Mark

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 8º Parte, Nasca, Ica, y Lima, Perú

2006-08-17T10:01:00.000-06:00

Nasca
We left Arequipa on our final overnight bus of the trip-- headed to Nasca to see the famous Nasca lines by airplane flying over the desert formations. The bus to get there, however, was probably the worst one I've ever been on due to the killer combination of horror movies pumping through the speakers and a little kid with a squeaky toy and a lot of energy.
Anyway, so we arrive exhausted in Nasca at 4:00am, arrange to do the flight over the lines that same morning, and off we were a few hours later, a few thousand feet up gazing down at massive geometric shapes and stylized figures of animals that stretch across kilometers of barren desert. Think crop circles but bigger, more stylized, and some as old as 600 B.C.
All in all though, it was far from my favorite thing that we did, and not really worth the $60 price tag (considering that NOTHING except for Machu Picchu costs that much money in Perú-- I could eat 3 meals/day for 20 days for the price of that flight...)

Ica/Huacachina and Sandboarding (booyah :)
That same day we headed to our last stop before Lima (and quite an awesome stop at that!)-- a desert oasis called Huacachina where we went on a crazy dune-buggy ride and went sandboarding (think snow boarding, but on massive sand dunes). It was a sweet way to begin the conclusion of the trip.

Lima
The trip came to an end in Lima-- and despite many a tourist warning me that LIma is a dump-- I really liked it there! I think this is mostly because it felt good to be in a city again, and to ditch the "tourist" thing and just try to live there for a few days. Whatever the case, I really enjoyed Lima, and I am confident I will be back there at some point in the not-so-distant future.

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 7º Parte, Arequipa and the Colca Canyon, Perú

2006-08-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

Arequipa (second time around)
In honor of the multiple Clint Eastwood films we saw on buses in South America, I will present Arequipa in three parts: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (note: the vast majority of our time in Arequipa falls under the Good category, but some parts were not so good and some definitely ugly)

The Good:
--Arequipa is a gorgeous city and a great place to hang out for a few days.
--We met up with Miley again (the waitress/tour guide that Sarah and I met our first night in Arequipa way back at the beginning of this trip), she gave us the city tour and added much more personal feel to Arequipa (since really, this time around, we were more like visiting friends than tourists)
--2 days in the Colca Canyon-- a breathtaking and massive canyon, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. There we saw dozens of condors fly overhead, met some friendly Peruvian university students, and reached our highest altitude of the trip: 4910 meters (16,109 feet).
--Meandering around the colorful Santa Catalina Monastery and thinking that the nuns actually had it pretty good, despite never being able to talk to another human being.
--Home Sweet Home Bed and Breakfast-- one of the best places we stayed, with a real family feel and a delicious included breakfast for $5 /night.

The Bad:
--After enterign Home Sweet Home and seeing the steamy bathroom (i.e. HOT SHOWERS!!!) and the cozy bedroom, Kati (owner's daughter) asked us if we would be willing to move to "the other house" for the night. Of course, enamored with the place, we said yes. Well, the "other" house was more like something you'd expect to see on "Cops" after they kick down a door to bust a crack dealer at his shady apartment in Baltimore. The place was filled with creepy-looking graffiti, random dirty clothing scattered in and around the closet, and the shower was icy. So yeah, we stuck it out for a night and then moved back into the real Home Sweet Home for the remainder of our time in Arequipa...

The Ugly:
--I spent 1 of our 3 days in Arequipa rather horribly ill-- traveling for a month seemed to be catching up with me...

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 6º Parte, La Paz y Sorata, Bolivia

2006-07-29T11:08:00.000-06:00

(27/7/06)
Sorata, te amo. I'm currently sitting on a sunny terrace overlooking a deep valley and snowy mountains at the Hotel Mirador in Sorata, Bolivia. SO happy, SO rico :) The wind is warm, the sun shining, and I freakin love mountains. I've een in Sorata for a few hours, and this is already one of my favorite places... ever. As I bask in my personal heaven that is right here, right now, I should catch up a bit on La Paz and the crazy bus ride to Sorata this morning.

La Paz
A friendly, safe, and all-around quirky city-- we had a great couple of days there. We, by the way, meant Laura, myself, and Jared (from U of M-- ran into him in Copacabana-- after meeting him in orientation 3 years ago, then again in Chile at la Católica, and now finally in Bolivia, I think this is a sign that we're supposed to be friends...). Anyway, the 3 of us had a great few days getting to know La Paz.
The city itself is one of the strangest, yet most comfortable I've been in in South America. First, the location is pretty amazing-- 3600 meters up-- it sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains with the triple summit of Illimani towering in the distance.
The next thing you notice is the people-- the vast majority of women are dressed in traditional garb-- bowler hats, long hair with black poms tied on the end, and the colorful cloths they use to hold everything from food to small children on their backs. These women are everywhere-- that's simply how most women dress-- which leads me to the coolest part about La Paz-- people are just living their lives. People wear the traditional dress, but not for the tourists-- they wear it because that's normal. And not just dress-- in La Paz, one quickly gets the feeling that this is a whole city of people just going about their lives. Ye, tourists are there, but the life a tourist sees is anything but staged. That's why I find it even harder to take pictures in La Paz-- everyone is just being normal, and I want to be normal with them.
Then there are the markets. The city swarms with street stalls selling everything from salteñas to hardware supplies to llama fetuses. Yep, I said llama fetuses-- the craziest market of all is the mercado de hechicería (witch's market), in which they sell potions for all sorts of remedies and things like llama fetuses (used by the poor for good luck when starting a new business). Again though, the Witch's Market isn't there for tourists-- people do actually go and buy the stuff-- and when we went to the massive black market, we were the only gringos in sight.
At night we went to a Peña after a delicious 5 dollar steak dinner :) Peña is the traditional show of Bolivian andean music (guitar, charango, quena, and other flutes) that normally is probably very cool-- somehow we picked the tackiest one possible. Suffice it to say that, despite the good music, I wasn't too into a freaky-looking clown running behind me and clapping my hands together as we watched dancers decked out in feathers and sequins dance awkwardly in front of a crowd of about 5 people.
So yeah, with the exception of the Peña, La Paz was real cool and I plan on going back for a long time at somepoint...

Bus to Sorata
hehe... well, as I sit in beautiful and muy tranquilo Sorata, I gotta think that the horrible bus ride to get here just makes being here that much sweeter.
We left our hostel early at 5:30am to taxi to the "cemetery district" of La Paz where we had heard we could catch the bus to SOrata. Good thing we left early-- now there's a road-block in La Paz due to protests...
Our bus turned out to be easily the most "local" of any long-distance bus I've been on-- here are the highlights:
-- ratty old bus with a capacity of about 30, easily packed 50 people in there and kept picking up more along the way (despite numerous "no hay campo!" protests from other passengers
-- bus driver asking all passengers to close the curtains and duck as we passed a police checkpoint.... apparently you're not supposed to have 50 people in 30 seats...
--Roberto, the slightly inebriated fellow standing (or stumbling) to my right, and his memorable habit of spittingo n the woman sitting in the aisle and elbowing me in the head as he dosed in and out of consciousness.
-- We went to Sorata instead of Coroico because the road to Coroico is officially "the world's most dangerous road"-- that may be true, but parts of the winding mountain pass to Sorata may come in a close second-- I guess it wasn't that bbad, we only counted one time when he wheels weren't all on the road.
But, we're here, and it's gorgeous, and totally worth every second of a very uncomfortable bus ride. Pues, time to sit back and enjoy the scenery :)

Sorata
Today was pretty sweet, and very tiring. Laura and I hired a real cool guide named Eusebio and headed out on a trek to Laguna Chinchalla. The long day trek was gorgeous-- with views of the Cordillera Real rising above the soft yellows and grays of the altiplano-- and difficult. We started at 3500 meters and hiked to a laguna just below the snow of Llama at 4200 meters-- officially the highest I have ever hiked (my last summit was 3500 meters-- this hike started there). Needless to say, breathing was pretty difficult at times-- at one point I noticed that I could see my heart beat through my shirt-- pretty intense-- but it was a greta hike and I had a great time talking with Eusebio-- he even taught me some words in Aymará.

Post-Sorata
Good idea: Grab a guide and hike up the slopes of Llampu near Sorata.
Bad idea: Drink 1 liter of coke and eat a whole medium hawaiian pizza the night after a long day hike up the slopes of Llampu near Sorata.
I spent my last day in Bolivia clutching my stomach as my body asked me repeatedly "What were you thinking?" and no matter how many times I apologized, I still felt like i had been run over by stampeding llamas at Machu Picchu. Basically, a nasty mix of coke, pizza, and over-exertion at high altitude put me totally out-of-comission for the day... Now I'm back in Perú on my way to Arequipa. Man, Bolivia (despite the sickness) was awesome, and I will be going back yet again :)

How the Bolivian Bus system works (or doesn't)
To get from La Paz to Arequipa, multiple travel agencies quoted us 2 options-- through Copacabana (cheap but 20 hours), or direct (more expensive but 14 hours). We decided it was worth the difference in price to go direct-- here's what actually happened....

-We arrive at the us station in La Paz the morning of our departure, and find that our travel agency booked 2 other people in our seats and the bus is full. Hmm. Afer a somewhat nerveracking half-hour, the problem is resolved at around 7:58 for our 8:00 bus and somehow we get on.

- Recall that the bus is "direct," and note the sign on the front of the bus that read "this bus is prohibited from picking up passengers outside of the terminals." Our direct bus made MANY stops, picking up so many people along the way that eventually there were people sleeping in the aisle and what appeared to be an entire family blocking the entrance to the bathroom. fThat's just the beginning-- our direct bus had us disembark and get onto another bus run by a different company for which we waited 2 hours to leave Puno. And all this while watching back-to-back Clint Eastwood spaggheti westerns dubbed in Spanish (one of which showed him abusing a native american-- an uncomfortable thing to watch, especially on a bus full of indigenous people), made for quite an unforgettable ride. Best part? We somehow arrived in Arequipa at 7:30pm (8:30 Bolivian time)-- only about 12 hours after we left La Paz, a full 2 hours less than the best estimate and that's including a million stops and a 2-hour layover! For the last time on this trip, this merits a massive "Oh Bolivia"....

On Toilet Seats
One thing I seriously miss: toilet seats. Not the seat cover-- those are nice but surely a luxury-- I mean the actual seat that we take for granted in our plushy, quotidian lives. Here's my question: how does one get a toilet without a toilet seat? Do you walk into the toilet store, point to a good one and say, "yeah, I'll take one of those.... but without the seat"? Does that happen? Perhaps it's beyond my reach of inter-cultural understanding. Or is there some crazy black market for hot toilet seats that I'm unaware of? It's just that whenever I see a new toilet here, and I gaze yearningly at those two holes where the toilet seat was clearly meant to be forever united with the toilet, I think, "what human being is capable of such cold cruelty?" Basically, I'll be glad to leave that one cultural gem behind when I return to the states and to the things I miss most: friends, family, pancakes, and toilet seats.

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 5º Parte, Lago Titicaca, Perú/Bolivia

2006-07-23T16:48:00.000-06:00

(18/7/06)
Just got back from drinking té piteado (pisco, té caliente, limón, y azúcar) with 2 norwegians, 2 spaniards, 2 peruvians, a german, a brit, and Laura in a bar in Puno, Perú after 2 days on islands in Lago Titicaca. It was an awesome experience (traveling around the islands-- not so much the té piteado), and here are some things to remember from it:

-- I love boat rides
-- the floating islands of Uros- man-made islands constructed from reeds and rebuilt every few years
-- issues with culture: is the "culture" we're seeing real? is it staged for us? does it matter? can I take a picture??? (my ongoing battle with myself on this trip has to do with photographing the people in Perú and Bolivia-- The people are much of what make these countries so special, and I feel like photos documenting my trip have to represent the people here-- but I have such a hard time getting myself to take pictures of people... it just feels wrong...)
-- boat breaks down first time--slight delay-- still love boat rides
--meet crazy norwegians, spaniards, german
-- island of Amantaní where Laura and I stayed overnight with a family. Notable moments from the homestay: family speaking quechua all the time to each other; delicious té de muña, picked right outside the house; traditional dance at night in which Laura and I were decked out in their traditional dress (gotta love dancing in a massive poncho and alpaca hat :); playing memory with Frany and Delia (the kids) by candelight; talking with our host-dad, Eugenio, about the island's shift away from traditional life and how tourism helps to preserve some of it.
--boat breaks down en route to Tequile-- this time more serious, our driver hops up on top of the boat and waves a Peruvian flag and a mirror as a distress signal to other boats ("oh Perú"... :)
--boat gets towed to Isla Tequile-- a very cool place where everyone-- man, woman and child-- still dresses traditionally every day of their life
--drinks with an international group of friends in Puno-- awesome :)

(19/7/06)
First, I LOVE Bolivia. Second, I need to write about two... special people we have met traveling.
First things first-- Bolivia rocks my world, and for many reasons. I just feel much more relaxed here-- like the people are being genuinely nice to me, not just nice because I have money (whereas in Perú, I often felt incredibly uncomfortable as a tourist).

Copacabana, for example, is an ultra-chill town alongside Lake Titicaca with great, really cheap food. The buying power, by the way, is definitely a highlight of Bolivia-- our awesome hostel cost us 20 bolivianos (about 2.50 US) and last night's fancy dinner ran me about 50 bolivianos (about 8.50 US). Normally, a multiple course meal costs about 7 bolivianos-- less than a dollar :)

Copacabana also happens to be BEAUTIFUL-- saw a great sunset last night from the top of a hill near the town.

Currently I'm in Isla del Sol which rocks my worlds even more. This island has a gorgeous mediterranean feel, but also snow-capped mountains towering in the distance. Today we went on a long hike towards the north side of the islands. When Laura and Edith (our Israeli friend) turned back , I decided to keep going a bit-- and that hour or so on my own in some of the most breathtaking landscapes I've seen (literally-- hiking at 4000 meters leaves you more than a bit winded) was one of those moments I hope I will always remember.

The other thing that¡s worth mentioning is that, as it turns out, a HUGE part of traveling has nothing to do with the places I go-- it's the people I meet that define the trip. I mean this in mostly good ways, although sometimes it's been a little awkward too... We met a german guy named Sebastian on Amantaní who wanted to go on the bus with us to Copacabana. When we arrived there, it became clear that he wanted to stay with us at the same hostel, in the same room, and essentially do everything with us. He ¡s actually a nice guy, but still, a little socially awkward and make for a strange few days.
So then we met Edith-- an Israeli woman who happened to be watching the sunset from the same hill as us in Copacabana. Also a very interesting person, but also quite adept at trying to make future plans with us to make sure that we see her... Anyway, as I said, they're both cool people, but made for a few special days.
Must say though, despite a few awkward moments, I LOVE Bolivia and I'm having a great time!

(21/7/06)
Today was our last day in Isla del Sol-- what a beautiful island! Laura and I decided to take a different route today, and wound up reading by the water for an hour or so-- super rico :) When we returned, we had lunch at Templo del Sol overlooking the lake from the high point on the island-- it was just us, great food (fresh trout), and the view-- precioso. Man I loved that island.
We returned, met up with a french guy from dinner last night, Edith (from Israel), and Jared (from my orientation group at Michigan who I just ran into in Copacabana today!). I also ran into 3 montañismo girls from la Católica while I was hiking on Isla del Sol--- a little crazy how many people I run into here!
Speaking of meeting people-- I had a VERY cool conversation with Alberto-- an Aymará man I met on the boat back from Isla del Sol to Copacabana. We discussed politics of both countries, languages, traveling, and the fact that we are "hermanos" despite our differences. I really loved that he kept calling me "hermano" (brother) and really meant it. Also inspiring to hear the way he lights up when he talks about Evo Morales-- he's really proud that Evo is his president. Alberto even taught me a few words in Aymará-- "hake" is man, "huma" is water. Meeting people like that is one of the best things that happens to me-- on this trip and anywhere in my life. So despite some of the people I've met being somewhat strange, I'm really enjoying meeting all these different people (all with the common interest of seeing the world)-- and to be honest, that's a part of traveling I didn't even foresee, but it's turned out to be one of the biggest parts of my trip! Así es la vida...
Pues, tomorrow off to La Paz! psyched for that :)

(22/7/06)
Oh Bolivia. Just got back on our bus to La Paz after getting out, putting our bus on a ferry and us on a different one (which we had to pay for), and ferrying us and our bus across the lake to what I believe is an island... did we know about any of this beforehand? nope... Oh Bolivia :)

--I'm currently in La Paz-- more on that another time-- but it's an awesome, quirky city that I really feel at-home in. Tomorrow we head to Sorata for a few relaxing days of hiking in the Andes to the northwest of La Paz... nos vemos por allá!

-Marquito

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 4º Parte, Cusco, Perú

2006-07-19T17:35:00.000-06:00

Although I'm currently enjoying 1 dollar 3-course meals in Copacabana, Bolivia, I'm not quite there yet in these entries-- so time to backtrack a bit to an amazing week in Cusco, Perú.....

First, I will say that Perú began racking up the "oh Perú" moments pretty quickly.
1) Our guide for the Sacred Valley-- always very specific about how much time we had in each place (2o minutes!!!), to the point that we literally had to run after our bus as it started to leave us behind in Pisaq ("los que se queden se queden...")
2) "Puro alpaca." Everything, and I mean everything is "puro alpaca." Expecting that's what tourists want to hear (with good reason), every artisan repeats those words over and over-- to the point at which Laura asked about some earrings and the man said they were puro alpaca...
3) Speaking of alpacas... llamas are craaaaaaaaazy. One almost knocked a tourist of the mountain at Machu Picchu. perhaps that's cause llamas aren't actual native to the area, they were brought there for tourism...)
4) Who knew you could only buy entrance tickets to Machu Picchu at Aguas Calientes? Good thing we saw that really small sign...... "Oh Perú"... :)

Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley are impossible for me to describe in words. Each possesses a certain ambience that needs to be experienced in order to fully comprehend it. To be honest, I'm pretty sure that I don't understand what I saw and felt at Machu Picchu, and I was there for quite a few hours. But whatever it is, that feeling-- spritiual and extraordinary-- resonates in the mountains surrounding Cusco.

Ok, time for Machu Picchu:
(14/7/06)
We woke up early (5am) at the Loki hostel to catch our 6:15 backpacker's train (although it was less a train and more a moving refrigerator--- the thing was FREEZING for the first hour) from Cusco to Aguas Calientes-- the base town before a half-hour bus ride up to Machu Picchu. The train ride (4.5 hours) consisted of about an hour of switchbacks to get out of the hills surrounding Cusco-- and as I said, that hour was impressively cold-- Sarah guessed that it was to jack up sales of maté de coca on the train-- probably right considering that we both bought some...

(note: as I write this, I am officially in the altiplano of Perú, and the highset I have been on this trip, possibly in my life-- 4335 meters above sea level-- and it's gorgeous)

The train ride itself was great-- as we wound through mountains, rivers, and valleys, descending from farm-rich Cusco into the jungle-- I got to have my last (of the trip) deep conversation with Sarah since she would be leaving the next day. I have to say, our conversations have really opened the way I think about what life should be like, and have resulted in the past few months being the most reflective and philosophical that I've had in years. The combination of traveling and digesting those travels in good conversations leads to the conclusion that there's no blueprint for life-- there's no way life has to or even should be. We're here for a certain amount of time-- why spend life only doing things you think you're supposed to do? Do things that make you happy-- life's healthier, better, richer that way. Live it up, make it happen, and carpe diem.

but I digress... Machu Picchu, right?
Aguas Calientes is an interesting place-- not nearly as much of a dump as people say it is, but it definitely has a strange feel to it. Actually, none of us were prepared for how jungle-like it was-- it felt like Jurassic Park (increasingly so as we approached Machu Picchu).
After winding up the side of the mountiain, finally we arrived at Machu Picchu, and it was spectacular. The ruins, nestled on a mountaintop bathed in mist and emerald jungle, are incredibly well-preserved, and being there is nothing less than a religious experience. I'm pretty positive that I can't accurately decribe Machu Picchu in words, nor pictures, but suffice it to say that, despite roughly 2,000 other tourists exploring the ruins at the same tmie, I was able to feel alone with my thoughts. Besides spending the time with my gals, my favorite thing was definitely right before we left-- We all sat on different rocks-- just perched ourselves up there, gazed out at the incomprehensable landscape before us, and took it in. Considering that's one of my favorite things to do anywhere, put me in a place as stunning as Machu Picchu and I'm pretty much in heaven.

ahh, pues, time to meet some traveling acquaintences for dinner in Copacabana-- I'll finish the Cusco part, then fill in the Peruvian portion of Lake Titicaca in a few days.... not gonna lie, it's good to be back in Bolivia :)

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 3º Parte, Arequipa, Perú

2006-07-15T18:40:00.000-06:00

12/7/06
Arequipa deserves its story told because it was quite a wonderful way to start this trip, and a continuation of the amazingf travel luck that Sarah and I seem to have.
We arrived in Arequipa two nights ago after an unquestionably dangerous bus ride through winding desert roadsd in the mountains. Arequipa, however, is far from desert-- it's gorgeous--
actually one of the nicest cities I've ever visited-- especially considering we knew nothing about it beforehand.

So we arrive around sunset in a cab (one of millions in this city) to our hostel on the city center. One amazing thing is that we could already tell the difference in the way the Peruvians drive from Chileans-- crazy. Actually one thing that was pretty cool about yesterday was seeing how easily we A) understood Peruvian spanish and B) could recognize the difference in dialects.
Ok ok, storytime: So Sarah and I decide to head out to our first Peruvian meal-- taking a recommendation from Sarah M.'s guidebook-- Are Quepay-- which I highly recommend. For out first taste of Perú, we decided to go all out-- we tried both Alpaca meat and Cuy (fried guinea pig)-- both incredibly rico and we immediately noted that, no matter how you look at it, Peruvian food is quite simply more delicious than Chilean food (and waaaaaay cheaper).
So yeah, that delightful meal was accompanied by a great group playing live traditional Andean music-- and most importantly our waitress was Mile-- a 24 year-old part-time waitress studying to be a tour guide. After talking a bit, Mile asked us if she could give us a free tour of Arequipa to practice for her future profession! Um, obvio po. So we took her up on it, and agreed to meet at our hostel at 10 am....

(11/7/06)
10 am rolls around, then 10:30, then 10:45-- Sarah and I are quite confused-- Mile didn't seem like the type to stand us up... So we assumed she had some problem at work and decided to take ourselves on our own tour-- wandering into whichever building seemed interesting.

Thus we ended up at the Convent of San Francisco-- and a private tour of that gorgeous building. After that we continued meandering around the old streets of the center-- pretty much constantly amazed by the beauty of this city I had no idea existed a few weeks ago.

Our travel luck had already given us a great morning (including breakfast overlooking the plaza de armas), despite the lack of a free tour, but our luck wasn't done yet. Sarah wanted to head down a particularly cute street, so off we went-- and who did we find at a café? why none other than Mile! Mile then explains that she waited for us for a long time-- we said we did the same-- figured maybe she went to the wrong hostel? Nope-- she produced the hostel's brochure. Anyway, although we were all confused, she still wanted to give the tour and we still wanted to receive it, so off we went on an awesome tour of churches, the cathedral, and a walk around neighborhoods we definitely wouldn't have seen without her.

At the cathedral, we also figured out what the problem had been in the morning-- Perú is an hour behind Chile and we never changed our watches! Oh man-- good thing we found out then and not when we were to go to catch our bus to Cusco that night!...

So yeah, we finished the tour by taking Mile to lunch at one of the many restaurants in the "portales" that surround the plaza de armas. It was great talking to her-- cool to get our first real insight into Perú from someone our age, and also cool because at the end of the day, she was really a friend. Actually, she wants to take Laura and me on a 3 day (still free) tour of Colca canyon when we return to Arequipa in a few weeks. booyah.

I have to say, one of the best parts of the past few days was spending them with Sarah-- I'm pretty positive that all that good stuff that happened to us and all the people we met and the all-around amazing time we had was due to more than just travel luck. Yes, we rock as a travel team, but more than that, it was great to spend some quality time with her before we go to our separate Big Ten rivals ;) She knows me so well-- perhaps better than anyone at this moment, and that's a great feeling to spend time with someone who knows me, who I really am-- the me I want to be.

Pues, that just about concludes my early morning-altitude-induced-insomnia-driven journaling spree-- as I listen to the chorus of heavy breathing and snoring in our 10 person dorm room in a hostel in Cusco, I think: I have no idea what the next few weeks will bring (I still haven't even seen what Cusco looks like outside of these walls since we arrived at 5:30am...), but I'm freakin excited to see where this thing takes me.
-- Marquito

Las Aventuras de Marquito: 2º Parte, Bienvenido a Perú

2006-07-15T18:12:00.000-06:00

10/7/06
Well, we´re in Perú! Last night's ride to Arica was largely uneventful-- with notable exceptions of drunk guys snoring behind us, Buffy the Vampire Slayer fighting hyena-possed teenagers dubbed in Spanish, hour-long stops in the middle of the desert, and a cheesy elevator-music "good morning" mix to wake us up. If it's possible, Arica is more of a desert than San Pedro-- there is nothing here-- literally sand as far as the eye can see...
Crossing into Perú was an experience in itself. First, a few differences between Chile and Perú were immediately noticeable, even while we were still on the Chile side! The level of disorganized craziness that resulted in hundreds of endearing "oh chile"s over the last 5 months suddenly reached a new high as we approached Perú. Sarita and I found ourselves shuffled from booth to booth, filling out a form here and stamping another there-- and literally running in between (but for no reason-- we also had many moments sitting in our "taxi" in which the spedometer always read "0" and the stick shift was a large part of my seat). Don't get me wrong, the whole thing was kind of fun-- but definitely an immediately observable break from the semi-organized chaos that is Chile.
Also-- props to Sarah M. for handing me 3 soles before I left-- as we were about to get on the bus we had to pay 2 soles-- but I hadn't gotten any money yet, so I busted out my 3 soles and here we are! It felt like something out of a movie--- i.e. "although you may not realize it now, you're going to need this someday-- take these 3 soles and go, my child." Anyway, we are now officially traveling in the middle of the desert in Perú with 1 sol (about 30 cents) :)......

(later on the bus ride)
Ok, one more thing-- so this janky old bus is, for lack of a better way to say it, hauling ass across the desert. Another car just passed us in the other direction-- it sounded like a bullet. Signs whiz past us that read "curvas peligrosas" and "maneje a la defensiva"... Sarah and I agree-- probably one of the most blatantly unsafe things we've ever done. I think next time we'll pay for the bus a step above "económico"...

(still later on the bus)
2 thoughts:
1) The landscape could be the desolate setting of a Beckett play (Godot? Happy days?)
2) They just turned the music on, and although this bus is still super dangerous, I'm beginning to feel comfortable in Perú....

Last entry of Don Marco en Chile / First entry of Las Aventuras de Marquito: 1º Parte, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

2006-07-09T10:41:00.000-06:00

4/7/06 (from the plane)
As we approach Calama, Chile while the sun sets over rolling sand dunes and surreal volcanoes, one thought enters my mind: where are we? This desert is more than the middle of nowhere-- it is nowhere-- it's unreal-- like nothing I've ever seen....

6/7/06
Yesterday was our first day in San Pedro de Atacama, a touristy but full-of-character town set against the backdrop of an almost lunar landscape in the driest desert on earth, and capped by the bluest sky you can possibly imagine. Sarita, Katita, Lauren (Lorenita), and I spent the morning wandering around the town and then headed down a road to see the ruins of an Atacamenian fort. My first ruins of many for the trip-- they were pretty cool, but in an especially cool setting-- with a sweeping view of the volcano-studded desert that, even after a full day in it, seems totally surreal.After exploring a random cave, we went back into town to get ready for the day's tour: sunset at el valle de la luna. A few things worth noting aboutthe tour:

1) the guide: Tom, a canadian fluent in english, spanish, and german (and spoke many other languages), was awesome. The man has been traveling since 1986-- yep, 1986-- he's been all over the world, living in places for months at a time, learning the language and customs of the people there. His non-traditional lifestyle is pretty amazing-- kind of blew all of us away--who would have thought it possible to travel for 20 years straight? Anyway, he was cool, and showed us the cheap Bolivian restaurants in San Pedro, which made him cooler.

2) the sunset: El valle de la luna honestly does look like a lunar landscape, and behind it the Andes are a different kind of Andes from what we have in Santiago-- here, they're mostly volcanoes and they participate in the lunar feel of the area with their soft, sandy surfaces. Oh, and the white that looks like snow up top isn't snow-- it's ash-- these are *active* volcanoes (last one blew 2 months ago). The valle was beautiful, especially staring at the dots (people) walking along the dune that divides the valle. It was like Lawrence of Arabia, but filmed on Mars or the moon-- whatever it was, it felt amazing. As I said to Sarah, motioning towards the Andes in the distance, "that seems like a painting, and this (motioning to the valle), I don't know what the hell this is, butit's cool."

7/7/06
Today was the best day yet in San Pedro, and includes one of my favorite moments in Chile. This afternoon (after saying goodbye to Katita :( , we headed out on ourmountain bikes (rented for the day) on a ride towards Tulor and ayllus (Quechua villages). After a short, rocky exit from San Pedro, we eased onto the smooth, peaceful, and largely empty main road. Those few miles, in which we were often the only 3 people in sight along a loooong highway with the volcanic Andes and a daytime moon on one side, and expansive dunes and el valle de la muerte on the other, made for one of the most relaxing, tranquilo, reflective, blissful, and altogether unique moments I have had in Chile. Basically, it pretty much rocked my socks off. Conclusion: Mountain bikes are the way to appreciate San Pedro and thesurrounding areas (as many Chileans had told me before I left...)

8/7/06
Correction: Mountain bikes or horseback riding is the way to appreciate San Pedro. Today, Lorenita, Sarita, and I went on a 4 hour horseback ride to el valle de catarpe-- and it was pretty much awesome. It was intense--- Juan, our guide and definitely a verdadero huaso, was great--and taught me how to gallop. The ride itself took us through expanses of desert (where again, we were the only moving things in sight), a beautiful valley, a river, and about a half hour of really tight spaces in narrow canyon (we had to duck multiple times to avoid hitting our heads on the rock). Also definitely worth noting that Juan had this dog that rode up on the back of his horse-- apparently, when the dog was younger, he used to carry the dog in his saddlebag-- a genuine perro huaso.
Basically, yesterday and today rocked, and I've decided that San Pedro definitely needs to be experienced via mountainbike or horse-- preferably both. Pues, tomorrow my sis heads home :(, and I begin my trek up to Perú with Sarita, where we'll meet Laura in a hostel on the morning of the 12th in Cusco. As such, this is probably my last entry from Chile... I don't want to think about leaving this country, but the next few weeks are going to be amazing-- especially because I have absolutely no plan after July 14th. Just for the record, this is what I know:

July 12th-- meet Laura in a hostel in Cusco
July 14th-- train to Machu Picchu
August 5th- Flight from Lima to Santiago

Yep, that's it-- so from July 14th to August 5th, all I know is that I will start in Cusco, and 3 weeks later I need to end up in Lima. Lake Titicaca? Obvio po. Potosí, Bolivia? Sure, why not? Arequipa, Perú? quizás? Basically, these next few weeks are looking to be la raja y media :)
Pues, nos vemos en Cusco...
-Marquito

On top of the world (part tres-- Cajón del Maipo y Cerro Chacaya)

2006-06-18T20:39:00.000-06:00

Cerro Chacaya

This morning, I woke up at 5:00am and climbed a mountain. But let's not get ahead of ourselves-- this weekend deserves its story told start to finish, so here it goes...

On Friday night, myself and about 60 montañistas headed out for our 4th and final montañismo trip-- Cajón del Maipo-- our salida al nieve, the trip in which we would learn how to hike, fall and slide in snow, culminating with an early morning climb to the summit of Cerro Chacaya (3400 meters). We certainly learned all of the above, and had a ton of fun doing it-- and while it wasn't as physically strenuous as the hike up Volcán Villarrica (except for the last 200 meters or so of Chacaya), it was one of the most mentally challenging things I have ever done. I don't lie when I say that I had moments when I feared for my life, or that I actually prayed for safe passage back down the mountain. But because it was so challenging, and because it made me consider the things that are important to me in my life, and that I am nowhere near ready to fall off that mountain, this was a great experience to wrap things up in Chile-- where I have essentially learned how to live.

Friday night, after busing about 3 hours south of Santiago to Baños Morales in Cajón del Maipo, we gathered our backpacks and headlamps and headed off in a nighttime hike towards the first campsite. This time, my cordata (a small team of people) consisted of Tim and 2 Chileans-- Pancho and Gonzalo-- really cool guys who let us share their massive tent (probably for about 8 American-sized people or 15 Chileans, but there were 4 of us... so yeah, pretty sweet). It was bacán to be in a cordata with Chileans-- and the four of us definitely bonded in our circo timoteo. Pues, we set up our spacious tent and rested up-- but a long day lay ahead of us...

Saturday morning we got to sleep in a bit-- 7:00am wake up call-- then packed up the tents again to hike for about 2 hours to the base camp where we would stay for the remaining two days. Along the way I touched snow for the second time in Chile (the first being at Conguillio on my very first trip in Chile back in March)-- it would certainly not be the last time in this trip. Once we reached the base camp, everything-- and I mean everything, would be in snow from here on out. So we pitched the tents on snowy ground, placed plastic inside (not underneath) of the tent (otherwise you end up soaked in the morning), strapped on gaiters if we had them (like shin guards but to block snow from entering the boots) or plastic bags and duct tape if we didn't (although I think montañistas have now discovered the one thing duct tape won't solve-- and that's keeping snow out of boots). So anyway, we geared up and headed off towards the main activity of the day: 5 hours of practice falling down the mountain...

This part was absolutely awesome. Basically, since we had never been hiking in snow before, we had to learn how to fall in the somewhat to very likely event of slipping. So, with piolets (ice-pick) in hand, we hiked up a pretty steep slope and received our lesson in falling down a mountain. First, we learned how to stop ourselves if we slid down on our butt-- pretty straightforward. Then Ernesto (the professor) had us lie down on our backs and go down the mountain head-first-- this was more complicated-- and waaaaay more fun. Basically, he'd hold us by our feet as we lay down, and then push us down the mountain and we had to plant the piolet and flip ourselves around to a stopping position. Finally, we did head-first and face-down. All in all, a pretty sweet way to spend the afternoon, and a great introduction to what lay ahead of us for Sunday....

But before I get to Cerro Chacaya, I should first briefly mention Saturday night and a series of recommendations that I give to anyone planning on a similar experience. First, I should say that it was freeeeeeeezing-- I recommend that you bring something to put between your sleeping back and the plastic, because, as you might have foreseen and I did not, snow is cold. On that same line of thought, almost everyone woke up Sunday morning without feeling their toes-- so I wouldn't worry about that sensation (or lack thereof)-- it seems to be pretty normal so don't rush to conclusions about amputations and whisky-soaked rags. Second, I do not recommend under any circumstances that you go off on a hike alone to a fast-flowing river in pitch-black night to refill water bottles-- no matter how thirsty you are. That was one of my least bright moments in 21 years, and the first moment on the trip in which I thought I might not make it back in one piece. So yeah, moving onto the big day...

First, a brief interlude about Cájon del Maipo-- it's basically a large canyon ("cajón") split by a river, in which the mountains are all sorts of different colors, leading up to the centerpiece of the canyon: the threatening facade of Cerro El Morado (5,060 meters). Actually, I think the best word to describe the sharp peak of Morado was Tim's: menacing. Seriously, it's one evil-looking mountain. Since it's already late autumn / early winter, most of the mountains were at least snow capped, and Cerro Chacaya (our goal) and the surrounding mountains were completely covered.

Sunday morning (this morning), bright and early--- or rather, scratch the "bright" since it was about 2.5 hours before sunrise, but keep the early--- 5:00am-- we geared up, flicked on the headlamps and headed off towards Cerro Chacaya. Tim and I were fortunate to be the first in line behind Ernesto, so we benefited from fresh snow with massive footprints-- but even with that there were certain issues:

1) Stepping into fresh, powdery, snow means that every step runs the risk of landing your entire leg (instead of just the foot) in the snow. This isn't dangerous by any means, but it is more than a little frustrating, and for those without gaiters it also meant quickly inundating the inside of the boots with snow and water.

2) My one personal tragedy of the trip: the mountain stole my camera. Roughly half-way up the mountain, I noticed something dark moved as a took a step-- and when it was too late I saw I my camera bag careening down the mountainside, eventually hopping off a cliff and out of sight. Considering it was still dark, we still had a ways to go to the summit, I had about 55 people behind me, and that even if I could locate the camera getting to it would be an adventure in itself, I decided to speak my frustration to a few people but move on. Anyway, to be honest, it was probably destined to happen. After all, that morning I had said to my cordata: "vamos a sacar la mierda de esta montaña" (basically, "lets kick the shit out of this mountain"). Although I was joking, and I did have way more respect for the mountain than that quote lets on, something tells me that the mountain wasn't too happy that I said that--- and thankfully, it only took the camera from me in response.

Moving on, we continued up a relatively steep hike towards the summit. Along the way, the steps became icier and the snow harder (and thus more slippery) as more people stepped in the same footprints. As such, the climb became increasingly more difficult-- and whereas the first half of the ascent was actually not bad at all, the second half was both physically and mentally challenging-- considering the thought of "holy crap I could so easily slip right now" frequently crossed my mind. Luckily, we had all of Saturday's practice under our belts in the event of such a fall-- however, sometimes practice doesn't quite cut it, and luck is all you have to save you.

For example, one guy slipped in a particularly tricky section and began to fall. Instead of a piolet, he had bastones (like ski poles)-- which are fantastic for walking and hiking, but horrible for breaking a fall. Within a split second he was sliding quickly and out of control-- he attempted to stop with the bastones and the snow ripped them out of his hands as he continued to slide. He reached back for his piolet-- kept between his backpack and his back-- pulled it out and shoved it into the snow, but it too flew out of his hands and he continued to pick up speed. Piolet gone, bastones gone-- luck was all that was left-- and just before a drop-off, he hit upon a higher and firmer bank of snow, dug his feet in and hands above him (as we were taught on Saturday), and the momentary scare was over. The whole thing couldn't have lasted more than 4 seconds, but it was definitely a long 4 seconds for us-- and for him it probably felt like an eternity. He's fine, by the way-- he actually hopped up smiling afterwards-- and luckily that was the only such fall out of everyone on the trip.

At around 9:30 am, we all reached la cumbre (the summit). For me, the final section leading to la cumbre was the hardest part. We had very little left to climb-- instead it was walking along a narrow ridge between two slopes of the mountain, as it slowly rose to the highest point. The problem was that, in addition to being narrow, the firmly packed snow made the ridge slippery. In fact, at times, I don't exaggerate by saying that a single misplaced step could have resulted in an unintentional and rapid descent down one of two sides of the mountain-- one with mostly snow (in which I know how to stop my self--- theoretically), and one with an intimidating mix of snow and rocks.

Either way, those few minutes of carefully plotting each step were admittedly some of the scariest I can remember, and I won't lie-- it did cross my mind quite a few times that if I mess up I could end up seriously injured or worse as that "holy crap I could so easily slip right now" thought surfaced every few seconds. I'm not sure that I can officially call it a near-death experience-- although each time I slipped a bit up there I definitely felt like it-- but I think it had a similar effect on me. Coming down from the summit, not only did I have more respect for the mountain, and more confidence in myself, but it also made me reevaluate what's important to me in my life. I have said before that standing up there and looking out over the cordillera resets me-- but this was a complete resetting-- I didn't come down with my usual "life is no longer blown out of proportion, it's in perspective now" feeling-- I came down with that and something more. As I wrote earlier, I am not ready to fall off that mountain-- I mean, I knew that beforehand-- but up there I really thought, "there are so many people that I care about, and there are so many things I want to do with my life that I quite simply can't fall off this mountain." Cerro Chacaya fully reset me and fully put my life in perspective, and that is something that I definitely needed considering that, before this trip, I was freaking out about only having 2 weeks left in Chile.

To expound my revelation near the summit, here's something I thought about up there...

Back in high school, a teacher close to me once said a rather morbid but illuminating piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since: we should live our lives as if we are about to get hit by a bus. This doesn't mean to be neurotic nor does it have anything to do with looking both ways when you cross the street. Let me explain-- if you were to cross the street tomorrow, and a bus were to come out of nowhere, in that split second before it strikes you, would you be ready to go? Or in a more positive light: live your life so richly, be the person you want to be, tell the people you love that you love them-- so that if that bus were to come, you would be content with who you are, you would have no regrets. The point is not that you are ok with dying, and it is certainly not that you want to die, but it's that you are content with yourself-- with who you are and with the life you live.

I thought about that bus as I stared down the mountainside today--that mountain was my bus-- and to be completely honest, I realized that I wouldn't be ready to go. Not just for the things I want to do in my life, but for the person I was in that moment as I stared down the mountainside. In the week before this trip, I was completely stressed out, tense, easily irritated, and generally not the person I want to be-- and certainly not the mark (nor the Mark) I would like to leave on this world. That is, to say the least, an important realization to have, and I am incredibly fortunate to have had it.

Pues, to conclude the story...The descent was not nearly as dangerous-- actually it was incredibly fun-- as we slid on our butts down most of the mountain (on purpose), and after taking down the campsite we headed back to a town in Cajón del Maipo for some empanadas and final socializing as the trip came to an end. As has happened with every montañismo trip, getting close to the people I was with was one of the best parts-- and it was definitely sad to say goodbye at the end knowing that it was the end of our final montañismo trip.

All in all, this trip was amazing, and that class is easily one of the best things I have done in Chile. And I have to say, while this was our last montañismo trip, this is surely not my last mountain. For the landscapes I gazed upon, for the friendships I made, for the challenges I faced, and for the personal thoughts and revelations that I experienced, I am nothing short of grateful. A la cumbre,

-Marco

"Levántate y mira la montaña"-- Victor Jara

On top of the world (part deux-- Cerro Provincia)

2006-06-11T18:59:00.000-06:00

Cerro Provincia

This one requires more of a story. Where did I leave off? Oh yes...So this trip was just me, my thoughts, the montaña, and 119 other people. While that sounds a bit ridiculous, and at times it was kind of crazy to have that many people galavanting around the cordillera, amazingly I really did get a lot of thinking done up there. There's something about being up in the mountains that automatically links you up with yourself, resets you I guess-- and it was cool to have that along with a ton of friends from montañismo. So basically, the best way to sum up the experience would be how I started this: It was me, my thoughts, the montaña, and 119 other people...

On Friday night, Montañismo 1 met up at la Católica at 7:00 to head off on our first real trip to Cerro Provincia, just east of las Condes. Cerro Provincia, while not exactly a beast of a mountain at 2751 meters, was an amazing thing to trek because it's right next to Santiago. So this is a part of the cordillera that we've been salivating over every tuesday and thursday night for the entire semester, and moreover, reaching the cumbre (summit) allowed us to see the cordillera and Santiago from a spectacular viewpoint.

We arrived by bus at the foot of the mountain around 9:30pm on Friday night-- it was already pitch black-- but we still had about 2 hours of hiking to the campsite ahead of us. So we donned our headlamps, armed ourselves with piolets, strapped on our backpacks and set off.

The night hike was great-- even with so many people, the tranquility of the mountain at night is extraordinary, and Sarah, Tim and I decided that we have to go back and do something like that again at somepoint with fewer people. Also, the view of Santiago at night was something new to us, given that we're usually too in it to notice what it is. cachai?

Pues, we arrived at the campsite at 11:30pm, and Ernesto advised us to set up our tents, make dinner (fideos-- obvio po), and get to sleep because we were going to wake up at 4:00am (!) to start our hike to the summit at 5:00am (!). To borrow Sarah's phrase, fire up campers.

4:00am on saturday--rise and shine montañistas, rise and shine. As expected, got up at 4, headed out at 5, and began our day trek up to the cumbre. In case you were wondering, that means we started about 2 hours before the sunrise-- which meant A) that it was cold as all get out at the start, and B) that we got to see the sunrise over the cordillera at our first rest stop....

Pretty sweet, but we were just getting started. So after a half hour rest stop at Alto del Naranjo to watch the sunrise, we headed back out towards the cumbre. The rest of the way up was more or less straightforward, with one short rocky section for which we stored our piolets on our backs (which, in case you were wondering, looks and feels pretty badass) to get a better grip on the rocks. The ascent was actually far less challenging than the volcano-- partially because there was no snow this time around (and way less wind), and I think partially because we had done the volcano two weeks earlier. Whether it was the training or practice at the volcano, I was tired but not nearly exhausted when we made it to the top, and I'm pretty happy about that.

The cumbre was spectacular. Every day I can see a few mountains of the Andes from my house in Santiago, but for the first time, I saw the cordillera in its full snow-capped glory stretching along the eastern skyline. It didn't matter that there were over 100 people at the summit with me, the grandeur of the scenery made me feel as if I were alone with the cordillera. And as if the view weren't enough, 2 Adean Condors gave us a fly-by as we lunched at the summit. All in all, the time we spent up there left me with that pure "life is good" feeling that we spend our lives searching for-- the feeling that sends a shiver and a smile at the same time-- I could've stayed there forever.

We arrived back down at the campsite around 5:30pm, after a long day of hiking and telling riddles to pass the time (I ended up translating one of my riddles into spanish and had chileans and gringos alike working on it as we descended-- if you're ever bored, ask me about princes or dwarves...). That night we had a massive "campfire" (in quotes because there was no actual fire, but we all sat in a circle and sang songs for three hours with an awesome guitarist who hiked up to be with us with his guitar just because he wanted to), and then crashed hardcore until 7:00am when we hiked back to the road to head home.

The trip was a resounding success, so much so that I think I simply can't miss the next one this weekend (despite having a precious few weekends left in Santiago....). The people in montañismo are so awesome, the views we reach are so majestic, and the experience of hiking in the cordillera is so exhilirating, that one last time, the best way to sum up this trip was how I began: It was me, my thoughts, the montaña, and 119 other people...

-Marco
(If you want to see more pics of Cerro Provincia, click here)

On top of the world (part 1- Volcán Villarrica)

2006-06-07T10:00:00.000-06:00

Volcán Villarrica- Pucón, Chile

A few weeks ago, I went back down south to the 10th region for the 3rd time and final time this trip ("this trip" is key-- I am definitely coming back to the south of Chile... at the very least, Chiloé and a certain national park are calling my name...). This time I went to Pucón with my study abroad program (CIEE) and we had quite an unbelievable experience, considering that we summitted a snow-covered volcano.

The start of the trip was actually quite hectic, and I want to briefly mention it because I would never have gotten to climb the volcano if it weren't for my awesome friends. Basically, because of Proyecto Propio (my volunteer project), I had to go to Pucón a day late, which meant I would be arriving by bus on the very morning that the group would head out to the Volcán at 7:30am. Problem: my bus was supposed to arrive at 8:00 AM, and bigger problem: my bus didn't arrive until 8:30am. So, while I'm freaking out on the bus but telling Tim to go ahead and leave without me, Tim refused to do such a thing and said that all the other CIEE students were stalling for me too. Finally, an hour late and a 120km/hour taxi ride later, I hopped in the van with my friends and some pretty disgruntled tour guides (due to the hour of stalling), and we started out towards the day's adventure.

At the base they armed us with a brief lesson about using piolets (ice-picks) and crampons, and around 9:30am, we began the ascent...

Volcán Villarrica (9340 ft / 2847 m), an active volcano in the lakes district, is stunning in a few ways. First, it's absolutely beautiful, that goes without saying, and neither my pictures nor my words will do it justice. Since we went late in the season, the entire ascent was snow-covered-- which made it gorgeous, but also very very physically demanding-- thus, it was also physically stunning-- after a day of hiking up and down the freezing, wind-swept, volcano, every single one of us was completely drained.

So, although it was the most physically demanding experience of my life, and although I thought about turning back quite a few times, we made it to the summit and I am so glad we did. One thing that was amazing to see was Parque Nacional Conguillio from the volcano-- that was the first trip I took in Chile back in March, and I remember vividly staring at Volcán Villarrica far off in the distance on my birthday, thinking about what it would be like to be there near the end of my time in Chile a few months away. If you want to see pictures of Pucón and the trek up the volcano, click here.

But when I say I'm glad I made it to the summit, it's not only for the view, not only to see lava splashing up inside of the mouth of the volcano, not only to say to myself that I made it to the summit, not only to say to other people that I made it to the summit, and not only in a mission of personal vendetta against the volcano that seemed to be attacking every muscle in my body. Really, it's overcoming the challenge and overcoming my thoughts that I couldn't make it, that it was too windy or too cold. I honestly had some moments where, if someone else had decided to turn back, I would've gone with them. But I didn't, and most of us made it to the summit-- even though some came down throwing up, or with despite twisted ankles and bleeding legs-- all worn more like battle scars than injuries.

But the other main reason why I'm glad we did this, and why I love montañismo, is something that our montañismo professor, Ernesto Olivares, has been saying all along: the people. The mountain is an excuse for getting to know people, and when you're doing something as demanding as trekking up a volcano, a bond automatically forms between all the people that do it. And honestly, the best part of all of the trips I've been on is that I've shared them with great people. Which leads me to my montañismo trip to Cerro Provincia, which I shared with 119 people.....

What's with all the protests?

2006-06-05T20:49:00.000-06:00

So this past week has been a little on the crazy side, at times bordering on surreal, but in general a very exciting time to be in Chile. I don't know how much has made it to international news, but after weeks of newspapers printing articles like "The Crisis of Chile's Educational System," on last tuesday 700,000 high school students (heretofore referred to as "secundarios") in 11 of 13 regions of Chile took to the streets calling for educational reforms. Student protests are not a rare occurrence in Chile, but this is the biggest in decades (so big that la Católica-- my conservative university-- went on strike for the first time in over 30 years). Here's what they're demanding from the ministry of education:

Principal Short-Term Goals:

Make the PSU free for all students-- the PSU is a test that every student has to pass who wants to go to university-- There is then an additional test called the Simce (like the SAT) for actually getting into college. Since the PSU is obligatory and costs money, it's an automatic blow to poor students (who often don't have the education to pass the test anyway).
Make the Pase Escolar and colectivo transportation free and functional year-round-- This is in regards to transportation to/from school-- the Pase Escolar allows students to use public transportation for a sizeable discount-- without it many students can't afford the costs of commuting to school. Currently, students have to pay for the Pase Escolar-- and it takes at least 5 months to receive it.

Principal Long-Term Goals:

Re-examine and possibly abolish the Loce (Ley Orgánica Constitucional de la Educación)-- This is the most interesting and debated topic of the discussions between students and government officials. The Loce is the last law that Pinochet made-- I believe he did it on his last day in office in 1990--- essentially it is the "municipalization" of education. Under Pinochet's neoliberalist government, the goal was to decentralize and privatize most sectors of the government, and education was the last to leave state control. Currently, each municipality is in control of its public education-- problematic given the huge inequalities between municipalities (and in the rich areas, most people go to private school anyway). Basically, the students are calling for the government to retake the responsibility for public education. I'm still not sure whether that is the correct answer to their problems, and I'm going to write a research paper about this in a few weeks-- but the issue of the Loce will almost certainly not be resolved anytime soon, although it's great that there's dialogue about it now.
Expand the curriculum and amend the JEC-- Another law called the JEC (Jornada Escolar Completa) locks the students into incredibly long school days-- so long that the teachers lack material to fill the day, so they end up repeating material or simply wasting time. The students are now calling for expanded curriculum or classes like music and art in order to make better use of their long school day.

There's a lot more to the protests and the issue of educational reform than I just wrote, but hopefully that will provide a little background to what's going on. Besides marching in the streets, many students have taken their high school "en toma" (literally they took over the high school) and others are "en paro" ("stopped"-- like my universities). The rock-throwing and water cannons and such are more or less isolated incidents in what has been an otherwise eloquent and intelligent protest on behalf of the secundarios. Also, much of the violence is led by "encapuchados"-- a group of youth anarchists who start violence at pretty much any time of excitement in Santiago, so it's good to keep that in mind if you see pictures of guys with scarves around their head throwing molotov cocktails at carabineros-- chances are those are anarchists totally unrelated to the student movement.

Pues, hope that helps a bit... In all seriousness, this has been an incredible experience--I almost cried a few days ago when I read an editorial by a wealthy high school girl explaining why she is willing to stand up for this despite the security of her own educational future. While one could criticize the students for being idealist, they are making the country talk about reforming an educational system that needs to be reformed, and honestly, their conviction is inspiring.
-Marco

(The pic of a colegio "en toma" is taken from this site on flickr)

"What do you like about Chile?"

2006-05-15T21:03:00.000-06:00

I’m not going to lie. I love Chile. And I think that’s probably obvious to anyone who has talked to me about my experience here. But when someone asks why I love Chile, I have a hard time pinning down my reasons—but that’s because they’re all pretty specific—such as seeing Chileans mouth all the words to early 90’s American soft rock songs re-done in Spanish while sitting on a micro. But here is a recent anecdote that may help to explain why I love Chile….

El Perrito del Café del Mar
(The dog of Café del Mar)

Last Wednesday my friend Natalia introduced me to what is now my favorite café in Santiago. Café del Mar—located near the metro U. Católica stop in the centro—is amazing. Why? First of all, because it’s the only place in Chile that seems to know that a good cappuccino has to have cinnamon. That’s key. But definitely not the only reason why it rocks my world—the ambience is perfect—there are indoor and partially outdoor sections, and once you’re inside you feel like you’re in a woodsy house someplace in the Mediterranean. Specifically, you feel like you’re in Italy, because the owner (Rodrigo) lived in Milan for 26 years and spends most of his time speaking with customers in Italian. Rodrigo (and all the people that work there), is also a major reason why this café is amazing. Where else have I found a Chilean that has seen the Blues Brothers 26 times? As soon as I told Rodrigo that I was from Chicago, he busted out the Blues Brothers soundtrack and we rocked out to Sweet Home Chicago… good times. Perhaps a little weird that he’s seen it 26 times, but it’s a good movie, right?

So anyway, time to get to the dog. Santiago (and all of Chile) is as much a city of dogs as it is humans. There are stray dogs everywhere, but they’re generally friendly, and they seem to pick certain people to be their owners (or at least to walk around with them for a long time).

Well, a big, black, really friendly dog picked Rodrigo. But Rodrigo doesn’t really want a dog, and especially not a dog that waltzes into his café whenever it pleases—could be bad for business. The dog however, is not too concerned with business and is utterly determined to make Rodrigo his best friend. So about once every five or ten minutes the following sequence occurs:

1) The dog calmly walks into the café and lies down.

2) Rodrigo notices and curses in Italian.

3) Rodrigo approaches the dog, stands over it with a “what am I going to do with you?” look.

4) Rodrigo picks the big dog up, the dog licks Rodrigo’s face, and Rodrigo drops the dog outside.

5) Five minutes later the dog tip-toes back in and lies down... repeat steps 1-4.
Natalia and I are both pretty sure that Rodrigo and the dog are going to be best friends within a week.

So why is that one of the reasons why I love Chile? There’s something about the image of Rodrigo picking up the dog to drop him outside as it licks his face, knowing that the dog will be back in a few minutes, that just makes me smile. I’m not sure exactly why I like it so much, but that’s just kind of how I feel about Chile. I think the kids from Apple Jacks commercials said it best:

Mom: “Why do you like Apple Jacks if they don’t taste like apple?”

Kids: “…. Dunno…We just do!”

-Marco

El Pajaro Verde, segunda parte

2006-04-27T12:46:00.000-06:00

Let’s see, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, so this trip was awesome. When we reached the other side of the river Hermán showed us the campsite at Hospedaje Küschel—basically it was the front yard of a house (with a gorgeous view), shared between our tents, roosters, chickens, cows, pigs, cow excrement, pig excrement, miscellaneous excrement, and so on. Don’t get me wrong—excrement and all, I loved that place—but the excrement (heretofore known as “mierda”) is definitely an integral part of describing the campsite.

So anyway, mierda aside, let’s get to the important part, listos chiquillos? Ja, pues—so after exploring for an afternoon, we return to the campsite all ready to cook up some hotdogs on our wonderful gas stoves. The stoves made it so that eating was never a problem; unfortunately they did nothing to warm us during the freezing nighttime temperatures. The dueño of the house had told us earlier that firewood existed someplace on a path up a mountain in the forest, so Tim and I headed off with two flashlights up the path in search of firewood. Well, unless the dueño meant “mierda” instead of firewood (Tim was especially adept at finding the mierda, unfortunately always just a second too late), there was no firewood to be found. Or let me rephrase that, when the dueño said we could find firewood up a path in the forest, he meant the forest is the firewood. So yeah, it was raining and that wasn’t going to work.

When we returned to the campsite, a bonfire beckoned nearby in a covered area next to our tents. Tim went over and asked if we could join them, they said yes as long as we bring some wine from the house, and thus began our friendship with Chilean fishermen.

The fishermen (mostly all from the Küschel family who owned the hostel) poured the wine over a cooking plate on the bonfire, and then proceeded to cook the fresh trout that they had caught that day. And oh did it smell ever so delicious… Glances between members of our group showed that we all wanted some of that trout, but we figured it was their dinner so we definitely didn’t want to ask, especially since they were letting us share their fire. When the trout was finished cooking, Gerald Küschel (our main man) put it all on a plate, and told us that it was all for us. What? Yeah that’s right—we crashed some guys’ bonfire, and they cooked us their freshly caught trout. And it was the best fish I’ve ever had. So we spent the night conversing with these awesome guys, passing around a dish with fresh trout, sharing navega’o (hot wine with oranges) and jote (wine mixed with coke—yeah, I know it’s kind of sacrilegious, but it’s actually really good…). And you know what? They cooked us trout, had the bonfire, navega’o, jote, played music, and shared jokes every night we were there :)

The rest of the trip included hiking up Paso Desolación towards the volcano, watching the fishermen and their amazing salmon fishing skills, a private Gerald Küschel-led boat ride followed by hiking through rapids to get to waterfalls, and a final dinner in Puerto Montt with Gerald, his wife, and Walter Küschel. So really, the combination of all these things, but with heavy emphasis on the great friends I went with and the people we met there (now friends), made this trip absolutely, 100%, bacán.

Las Aventuras del Pájaro Verde: a la cumbre y más allá!

2006-04-20T05:36:00.000-06:00

Ya chiquillos, I believe it's time to tell the story of last weekend. So gather around a fugata, heat up some navega'o, and let's get started.

To celebrate Semana Santa (or more accurately, to aprovechar the fact that we had a day off of class (even though most of us don't normally have class on fridays anyway...)), I headed down south to a town called Petrohué in Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales-- roughly 15 hours south of Santiago in an overnight bus-- near the end of the lakes district in the 10th region of Chile. It was another one of those trips in which some combination of great travel partners, outgoing Chilean strangers (now friends), breathtaking scenery, and incredible travel luck merged to create yet another "best trip ever."

The gang: Timoteo, Sarita, Katita, Mana, and Carolina. The first three are CIEE peeps; Mana is short for la Alemana which is short for "stephanie" because that's the real name of the awesome and more than slightly quirky german girl that came along; and Carolina, Tim's chilean tango partner--- all of them are great great people and we had a freakin ridiculous good time.

The supplies: Fideo fideo fideo! Yep, that's right, we made a mountain of spaghetti pretty much every night. Luckily we also brought cooking tools this time, making food not even close to an issue, that said we still didn't have a fire to keep warm... at least, not at the beginning....

The beginning: Stepping off of the bus in Puerto Varas, the first thing you notice is that you're really really happy. The second thing you notice is why: there's a massive, snow-capped volcano towering over a deep blue lake, all surrounding a cozy, woodsy town, dotted with b & b's, cafés and small restaurants overlooking the lake. It's kind of like the best parts of New England, merged with the best parts of the pacific northwest, but with a freakin volcano. Yeah, it's that cool.

From Puerto Varas we hopped on a smaller bus to take us to Petrohué, our destination inside of Chile's first national park-- Vicente Perez Rosales. Now, you've gotta assume that there's a reason why Chile chose to make that area a national park before anything else in a pretty much uniformly gorgeous country. Arriving in Petrohué, it's pretty obvious why.

Petrohué sits on Lago Todos los Santos, a lake often called the "emerald lake," a nickname that amazingly only captures part of the feel of the lake's everchanging, everclear colors. Yes, it's definitely emerald at certain times of the day, but it changes colors (all vivid) as it reflects different things at different parts of the day. So yeah, todos los santos contribute to the beauty of that lake. Oh and did I mention that Volcán Osorno (the aforementioned "freakin volcano") is permanently nestled in the clouds next to the lake. Ok, enough of the scenery-- it's impossible to explain it in words-- just go there. No seriously, start packing.

The Küschels: So the most important part of this story is what happened on the first day. As soon as we stepped off the bus in Petrohué, a man named Hermán approached us and asked if we needed a place to camp. Now, in most countries you are a little suspicious of people that approach you fresh off of a bus, but in Chile, if you go with that person chances are great that you're going to have a way better time than you even imagined. So after a brief discussion of our options which basically consisted of 1) going with Hermán or 2) going with Hermán, so we busted out our "sí, po" and off we went with Hermán on a ferry across the river to go camp with the cows.... Pues, time to get dressed, I'll post more soon.....

Pics of Petrohué

2006-04-18T13:58:00.000-06:00

I cannot possibly explain how cool this past weekend was, especially because I should be reading Don Quijote right now. So, I'm going to put up a few photos and promise that I'll tell the full story soon enough.....

Oh abuelita, you're so crazy....

2006-04-02T20:34:00.000-06:00

First, let me quickly sum up my sweet weekend: Montañismo outing bright and early saturday morning--- definitely the best saturday class you could ever imagine--- we hiked up a small mountian, learned how to use a piolet (ice pick) which is pretty much the most useful tool since the spork, and then more or less "surfed" down the mountain on our heels. Yeah, it was pretty much la raja. Then I headed out with Tim to see the symphony for the second week in a row-- again, pretty sweet. Then off to a party thrown by some law students at la Chile-- basically dancing salsa, reggaeton, and merengue until the wee hours of the morning with some really cool people. Then 3 hours of sleep after a 23 hour day.... and off to Rancagua for the Campeonato Nacional de Rodeo-- that's right, the national rodeo championship! Again, la raja-- I'll write more about it when I can put my pictures up, but it was basically us (Tim, Sarah, Jess, and me) and a few thousand huasos (Chilean cowboys)-- incredibly cool.
More to come about my weekend when my pics are up....

But now I'd like to recount the hilarity of my dinner conversation with my family, and also the fact that I just learned my grandmother's name for the first time...
So I've been calling the 93 year-old woman in our house "abuelita" (an endearing term for grandmother) since the first day-- and I actually never learned her name. That didn't generally matter much, since we all call her abuelita and since she often can't hear us anyway. But today I picked up the phone with abuelita standing next to me, and the woman asked for "Orfelia." Of course, I thought she had the wrong number, and I was about to hang up when I looked at abuelita and I realized that she may have not been born with the name "grandma," and so I just looked at her and said "orfelia????" and she of course said "soy yo!" and thus I learned my grandmother's name.

The next grandma story came at dinner. So abuelita, or shall we say "orfelia," is somewhat hard of hearing. Abuelita also happens to be a very jovial woman, and thus, if she doesn't hear you she will assume you said something positive, respond to virtually everything with "qué bueno!!!" and a huge smile, a chuckle, and occasionally a pat on the shoulder. Now, usually that's a pretty great response, but one time an older woman was talking to abuelita as Gabriela listened to their conversation, and it went something like this:

woman: hola orfelia
abuelita: hola!!! ¿qué tal?
woman: de verdad, muy mal-- mi marido se murió la semana pasada y yo no estaba allí con él.
abuelita: ....... qué bueno!!!!

And yeah, the woman didn't know that abuelita has hearing problems and was apparently more than a little miffed until Gabriela explained the situation to her....

Dinner was actually way funnier than that, because in case you didn't know, Chilean humor is mainly based in sexual double entendres, and my host family loves to joke around, especially at dinner. So yeah, not sure if I should put it all up here, but at some point ask me about the conversation-- perhaps to refresh my memory mention a traditional Chilean restaurant that serves tongue and the word pajear (and its derivations: pajero, paja, etc.) and I'll tell you all about it. That's all I'll say for now-- estoy cansaaa'o, cachai? sí po, time for bed. Chao!

-Marco

More pics...

2006-03-30T14:51:00.000-06:00

Pics from el Cerro Santa Lucia near the center of Santiago.....

Here or some pics of my backyard that I took a long time ago and never put up....

Lacrimógeno

2006-03-22T22:06:00.000-06:00

"What does the title mean?," you may ask. Well before I tell you, let me first say that today was overall a pretty crazy but cool day and that I am in tip-top shape. Then let me also say that there is a first time for everything. Today just happened to be the first time I have ever been teargassed. Yep, teargassed-- so today I also learned the Spanish word for teargas: "lacrimógeno."

So back-tracking a bit.... It's actually not that strange for this to happen to students at la Universidad de Chile. I have been told by multiple people that teargas is quite common when the students are protesting, and that student protests are also quite common, so by transitivity... teargas is quite common. That said, I still didn't see it coming as I waited for a micro on an empty street. Basically, I was leaving class in the morning with some friends, and we walked across the street to the micro stop to wait for the next bus. Somehow we didn't notice that the street was blocked off and that no micros, nor any cars for that matter were coming down the street as Carabineros (a form of police in Chile) were parked at both ends. Then again, we didn't see any protests-- in fact, the only people in that block were the other people (other unsuspecting Chileans) waiting for the bus with us. Yet all of a sudden, I see people holding their shirts up to their faces, yelling and running away. At first I thought a man had been sick to his stomach (hence the fleeing), but then it hit me-- a sudden burning in my eyes and throat, and as I started to tear my face began to burn as the water dripped down my skin. A tutor had warned us during orientation that we shouldn't put water on our faces when we've been teargassed, now I definitely understand why. We quickly started running away-- although we didn't hear the teargas hit, nor did we see it, strangely we knew which direction to run to and were out of the gas in less than 30 seconds. The stinging lasted a few more minutes-- all in all, it actually wasn't that bad-- but a few things stand out about it:

1) We didn't see any protests, nor really anyone in the street except those waiting for a micro that was obviously never going to come
2) The crowd affected by the gas included students (university age and younger) and a pregnant woman named Carla

Now, I can understand using teargas when a protest gets violent, but as far as I could tell nothing was going on, and that a pregnant woman was in the middle of that (although she wasn't noticeably pregnant) I find reckless on the part of Carabineros. Chileans (including Carla) are incredibly accustomed to teargas, especially in areas near la Universidad de Chile-- it's almost expected at certain times of the year. I personally think there is something seriously wrong with a socialist democracy that teargasses their students (and other civilian bystanders) on a regular basis during peaceful (or non-existent) demonstrations.

Anyway, enough of my rant about teargas-- to be honest, I'm kind of glad it happened. Both because the experience itself wasn't too horrible and because I honestly think it's an important thing to experience in Chile-- given that it's something people are so accustomed to here. And also because my friends and I continued talking to Carla for about 45 minutes afterwards in a conversation well worth noting....

Carla is 24, pregnant with her second child and lives in a very poor neighborhood of Santiago called Pudahuel. After talking for only a few minutes, Carla proceeded to talk about the problems in Pudahuel-- a community that has apparently been overlooked by many volunteer organizations and receives very little to no help from state funded development programs. Given that 2 out of 3 of us are in a class on Poverty and Development in Chile and Latin America, we were more than a little interested in what Carla had to say. By the end of the conversation, we had definitely bonded with Carla, and she ended up inviting us to come to Pudahuel for a day, lunch at her house and then get to know the community and its problems so we could tell others about it, and hopefully set up a project to improve their situation. While we obviously couldn't promise a full community development project, we did say that we would love to see the community and relate what we saw back to our friends and our program, so that maybe a future volunteer program might spring out of this.

So all in all, a pretty crazy afternoon. Again, no worries-- I'm totally fine and glad I had the experience in a relatively peaceful setting. And if we hadn't been teargassed, we wouldn't have met Carla, so there ya go ;) Pues, I should go to bed.... hope you're all well! Que les vayan bien!
Chao!

-Marco

¡Viva Chile!

2006-03-21T12:20:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics of the inauguration-- the first few are of Bachelet's speech from la Moneda, the last is of the 5 hour concert the next day.....

Looking at the statue of Salvador Allende during Bachelet's inauguration sent chills down my spine-- "why?" you ask? Well, that's a pretty long answer, but to give you the short version: Allende's statue is watching the inauguration of a socialist president as people chant "El pueblo unido jamas será vencido!" and confetti flies everywhere amidst socialist and communist flags after years of military dictatorship and only feet from where Allende died in the palace. There is much much more to it than that, and I could go for a while about this, but just trust me, it was amazing.

The crowd gathers in the Plaza de la Constitución in front of la Moneda, awaiting Bachelet's arrival......

Bachelet appears at the balcony......

Mis amigos after getting interviewed by PBS-- from left to right: Tim, Sarah, Celeste, Katita, Sarah

The awesome concert the next day....

My favorite picture from the inauguration...

El pueblo unido!

2006-03-12T09:02:00.000-06:00

Hola hola--
This week was my first week of classes at the universities. In general, everything worked out well after I switched around a few classes. There are two experiences though that stick out--- In my class on Don Quijote, a class everyone was afraid of before it began, the professor walks in (a very old man with a very soft voice) and begins the lecture.... "Esta clase se trata del Quijote, la obra maestra de...." and then the jackhammer started and basically didn't stop for the next 3 hours. No joke-- we were in the classroom closest to construction outside, and as a result, anyone beyond the second row of this classroom had 3 hours to ponder that first fragment because there is no way they heard anything else. That said, I was in the second row, and the class was great.

The other class story worth noting is my History of Chilean Theater that I'm taking at the School of Drama at la Universidad de Chile. Going to that campus for the first time was crazy because, the fact of the matter is, Chilean or otherwise, all the students there are theater kids, and theater kids are always a different kind of crowd. Different in a few important ways:

1) I was just about the only person in the classroom not wearing black
2) Before class, everyone was singing and hugging each other (more than the traditional Chilean hug and kiss), and collecting money for a party

All this made for a few awkward minutes at the beginning of class, but by the end of class, their openness and kindness eventually reached me and the other two foreign students in the class. The students are incredibly willing to help us out-- 3 guys after class helped us get photocopies from this artisan fair that we never would have found, yesterday on the street I saw two girls from the class who I hadn't met, but when they recognized me they lit up as if we had been best friends for years. Just to put this in perspective, in most of my other classes, the Chilean students are nice once you make the first effort to talk to them, but what happened in the theater class would be very strange in all my other classes.

And one more thing about classes-- Montañismo (mountaineering) = Montañawesome. Yep, I did just say that, and I'll say it again because that class is awesome. Montañawesome.

Ok, enough with classes, it's time for the important part of this update... yesterday's inauguration of Michelle Bachelet--- first female president of Chile, first democratically elected female president in Latin America-- it's a momentous occassion, and Chileans are all about celebrating it. Also, it should be noted that Ricardo Lagos, the outgoing president, is leaving with somewhere around a 75% approval rating--- the people LOVE him-- it's really amazing-- I was discussing with my friends that you would never see such nearly unanimous love for an outgoing president in the US. Actually, there was a lot yesterday that you would never see in the US. For example, we went to the rally at the presidential palace, la Moneda, and saw Bachelet give her first speech as president from a balcony of the palace! It was an incredibly moving event--- flags waving everywhere (with subjects ranging from a Chilean flag to a communist flag to "cyclists for Bachelet" flags), I felt shivers multiple times as cheers, songs and seemingly unlimited amounts of confetti filled the air. Hopefully I'll be able to put pics up soon, but just trust me-- it was awesome.
As for the parts of it that wouldn't happen in the US:

1) Bachelet gave a good speech (she was honest about the social problems in Chile and vowed upon her palabra de mujer (woman's word) that she would work to fix them)
2) The crowd, including my friends and me, stood really close without getting checked or anything. It's kind of sad that we all noticed that, and that we assume politicians are always in danger. But it definitely was vastly different from a similar event in the US.

All in all, the event was unbelievable-- and afterwards we were interviewed by PBS for a documentary on human rights... Not sure if we gave them the answers they were looking for, but still it was pretty cool. This afternoon I'm going back to la Moneda for a music festival / rally to continue the inauguration-weekend fiesta-- should be pretty freakin sweet :) ! Hope you're al doing well, and I'll try to put more pics up soon!
Chao!

-Marco

PS- montañawesome

A few pictures...

2006-03-07T10:26:00.000-05:00

I can't put a lot on here yet, but here's a small taste of what I saw this weekend....

--The view of Volcán Llaima from Melipeuco

--Ben and Sarah leading the way to snow on the top of the ridge....

--Snow!

--A view from the top (Dr. Seuss trees?)

--Ben, Sarah and Marco on the way back down

Wish I could put more pics up, but I have to go to class and this takes forever on this computer... hope you're all well! Chao!

-Marco

Parque Nacional Conguillio: Set rations to meager; pace to grueling

2006-03-06T19:52:00.000-05:00

I wish I could show you pictures of this past weekend. Hopefully I'll have those up soon, but until then, my words will have to suffice. All in all, this weekend was absolutely incredible, and made for the best birthday, and one of the best trips I can remember.

I should begin by saying that one of the coolest parts of this trip was just how spontaneous and unplanned everything was. We planned on leaving Friday morning, instead we rushed to get stuff done and left on Thursday night with only a few hours to prepare. The group was made up of 7 CIEE students including myself-- no adults, no guides, no one who actually knew what they were doing or where they were going-- just 7 college students with multiple copies of the same Lonely Planet guidebook and vague ideas of heading to southern Chile for the weekend. To give you an idea of just how little we knew-- as we sat in a bus station in Temuco (about a 10 hour bus ride south of Santiago), we decided completely arbitrarily between buses to two different towns on opposite sides of a large national park-- literally, we asked a guy in our group, "hey Wade, north or south?" "South." And off we went to the town of Melipeuco on the southern side of Parque Conguillio.

The bus to Temuco had been relatively uneventful-- we took it overnight and arrived around 6 AM in Temuco. The bus to Melipeuco was far more of an experience. While Santiago has largely supressed the Mapuche (indigenous) roots of Chile, southern Chile still retains large populations of Mapuche, and this was really our first encounter with such a community. I sat next to a Rosabel, an older woman who I believe is Mapuche, and who had never been to Santiago in her life. In fact, she had never left the municipality of Melipeuco-- a charming but small town that may be best described as the Chilean "Mayberry." Rosabel was not the only person on her way to work--- in fact, the 7 of us were the only people on the bus who were obviously not heading to work. While that felt a little awkward, it was interesting that long-distance buses take the form of Micros out in the countryside-- and that some people have to travel 2 or 3 hours every day just to work a job that barely pays for food.

The sky was overcast for most of the way to Melipeuco, but as we began to get closer, the fog lifted and revealed lush green landscape of mountains and the towering snow-capped Volcán Llaima (it happens to be the 3rd most active volcano in South America). Thus we had reached a beautiful setting, but still not the national park, and as we sat in the plaza in Melipeuco, we again had no idea what we were going to do next. After asking multiple people where the tourist center was, and generally getting responses that it didn't exist, we briefly considered hitching a ride-- but to where? We didn't even know what our destination was. Sounds like its about time for that good ole streak of luck to kick in again... this time in the form of a man named Pascual. As we sat in the park a red van slowed down around the corner and we decided to go talk to the man in it. He turned out to be Pascual-- a driver for the national park service, whose job is to take visitors in and out of the park on an hour and a half truck ride through miles dried lava. um, booyah. So Pascual drove us on a rocky but breathtaking road to our campsite in Parque Nacional Conguillio...

Again, without pictures, it's going to be hard to express how cool this place is. Without leaving our campsite we could see snow-capped mountains and a clearer more colorful lake than any I've ever seen. Honestly, I feel like usually you go on hikes to get to places that look like where we started out. So that afternoon we basically spent hanging out by the beach on the lake a few steps from our tents (with at most 4 other people on the entire lake).

Now I should take a minute to explain the title of this blog--- "Set rations to meager; pace to grueling"-- this trip was often characterized by a lack of actual resources and a lack of time. For instance, we neglected to purchase.... food. Yep, food. So for the first night we scrambled up a few potatoes that we had bought in Melipeuco and 6 sausages that we found in the store at the campsite. It was rough not eating enough, but it was also cool that we managed to share everything so well and get through it together (and then sleeping 7 people in a 2 person tent and a 3 person tent).

Finally, we've arrived at my birthday-- best one ever. I woke up on Saturday to steam rising off of the lake and away from the mountains as the sun rose. Pretty good way to start a birthday-- I would've been happy just to chill there for the whole day. But my birthday was going to get way better than that. So we headed out early for a daylong hike along the Sierra Nevada trail-- apparently a reasonably famous trail, and for good reason. After spending roughly 2 hours trying to find the entrance to the trail (a hike in itself), we finally found it and started our way up the mountain. The trail was beautiful-- lined with Araucaria trees (known as monkey puzzle trees in english)-- in fact it was an entire forest of those ancient trees that, as Ben put it, look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. There were 2 vistas along the ascent-- at the second we spotted 2 Andean condors as they flew past us and up towards the summit. At this point some of our group decided to head back, and Ben, Sarah and myself decided we wanted to see what lay higher in the trail. This is the point where even pictures wouldn't be able to describe what it was like up there. The 3 of us ended up hiking to the end of the trail-- walking along the upper ridge, above the treeline, all the way to snow! We held snow in our hands even though it had to be at least 75 degrees up there. We were probably only about an hour's climb from the summit, incredibly close, and we had an absolutely amazing view of the entire area--- mountain ranges, two volcanoes, forests of Araucaria and lago Conguillio. We were staring eye-to-eye with the top of Volcán Llaima, which had seemed so distant and out of reach a few hours earlier. And we did it all alone-- just the 3 of us-- no guide, and we passed no more than 5 people on our way up. It was the 3 of us and the mountain, that's it. Honestly, I have never felt anything like I felt up there-- I still can't believe I made it all the way up there-- but I am so glad that I did. Standing up at the top of the ridge and looking out over the park, I could only think that this was the best possible way to celebrate my 21st birthday.

Of course, we were exhausted that night, and luckily we had bought some more food (40 hotdogs, anyone?). So we wrapped up my birthday with an equally perfect night of campfire and stargazing (complete with a moon that looked it came straight out of a children's book). The 7 of us bonded so much in those 3 days, it really is amazing.

The last morning (which I guess was yesterday... crazy), Ben and I decided to get up early and go kayaking on the lake before we said our goodbyes to the campsite. Up until yesterday, the lake had been extremely calm and welcoming, so we figured we were headed for a relaxing morning on the lake. Not so much... First of all, my kayak was horrible-- it had pontoons on either side that were supposed to stabilize it, but they kept flipping over at the slightest wave and acted as rudders, steering me in directions far from where I wanted to go. Initially it was annoying but not really a problem, but then the wind picked up-- it was so windy that we wouldn't have wanted to go kayaking even with good kayaks, but in my kayak, it became almost impossible to even get back to shore, let alone to the beach where we had rented them. Thus Ben and I embarked on our final adventure of the trip--- finding a way to get ourselves (and hopefully the kayaks), back ashore in one piece. We realized it would be impossible for me to take my kayak all the way back over water, so we crash-landed at the nearest spot and attempted to tie the kayaks together and tow mine into the beach. That worked for a few minutes, but it quickly became at least as difficult as kayaking separately. So then we decided to put both on land and carry them as far as we could, but we were too far to make it back on foot. So finally, an hour and a half after we initially set out to come back in, we pushed off for one final gruelling stretch in the water-- Ben's made it all the way, mine we still had to carry for a few hundred feet to get it back. But oh man--- not gonna lie, for minute there I had no idea how we were going to get those back in-- or even if I could get to shore walking distance from the campsite. But as with most crazy experiences, it was pretty tough during it but I'm glad we did it-- besides the amazing workout it gave us, we were also just happy to have made it through it. And to do that the day after hiking nearly to the top of a mountain was pretty sweet to say the least.

So this morning, as we got back into Santiago, leaving the group was pretty tough. We had grown close over the past few days, and now we had to go back to the city and get ready for classes. But it was a great feeling-- we had been through and seen a lot in a short amount of time-- and this trip provided a new perspective on our lives in Santiago. Because although 33% of Chile lives in Santiago, and although most of the recent history happened here, Santiago is just one part of Chile. There is so much to see and so many people to meet-- and I look forward to doing as much of both as possible. Espero que todos esten bien,
Chao!
-Marco

CHI-CHI-CHI LE-LE-LE UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE!

2006-03-01T20:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been way too long since my last entry-- and a LOT has happened. For the past week and a half my days have been devoted to our Chilean Culture class--- basically an in-depth orientation to Santiago and contemporary Chilean life. The class was great-- it consisted of a combination of field trips and lectures that let us get to know the layout of the city while learning about recent history. I should take a moment to note that Chilean contemporary history is incredibly interesting, and there are certain things you have to know about if you are going to spend any time here. One of which is that Santiago de Chile has approximately 6 million people, while the country as a whole has roughly 16 million-- so when we talk about recent Chilean history, the vast majority of it happened in or around the city. So for the most part, anything that comes up in class can be seen in person within an hour of micro/metro combinations-- making for some very very interesting classes. In fact, I like learning about the history so much that I decided to take a history class from the university starting next week-- Historia Social de Chile del siglo XIX (Social History of 19th century Chile) -- taught by a famous historian who was detained during the dictatorship. In addition to that class I am going to be taking....

Literatura Chilena Contemporanea (Chilean contemporary literature)
Don Quijote
Pobreza y Desarrollo en Chile y América Latina: teoría y práctica (Poverty and Development in Chile and Latin America: theory and practice--- in addition to lecture, this class has an awesome requirement of 9 hours/week of volunteer work in a poor area in or around Santiago)
Montañismo (yep, you see the word "mountain" in there? you bet you do. This is mountaineering, mountain climbing, ascending rocks, extreme vertical walking-- whatever you want to call it, it's going to be awesome.)

So yeah, those are my classes that will start up next week--- I'm really excited for all of them! My other class is a somewhat informal one, taught by my host dad, Lucho. Pretty much every day when I come home from class, I sit with Lucho for between 45 min- 2 hours and he tells me about Chilean history and culture. It's been really amazing to walk around Santiago and see statues commemorating battles he told me about, or murals depicting racial divides that we discussed the day before. Which brings me back to the home front-- life is wonderful in La Reina-- and I love my family bigtime. Gabriela and Lucho are the best family I could've asked for-- and oh, by the way, the grandma that I thought was pretty quiet is actually hilarious-- the other day I was drinking water from my nalgene, and she pointed to it and asked "es pisco o agua?" (pisco being Chilean brandy). That's just one of many "abuelitaisms" that she's cranked out in the past few days. So yeah, I love my family-- they rock hardcore.

Speaking of how cool my family is, last weekend they took me to two different houses of relatives and threw more barbeques to welcome me-- and my host brother-in-law is really into Chilean theater and jazz, and wants to take me to as many events of both of those as possible! booyah.

As far as other things going on around town... FÚTBOL!!! Oh man-- last friday, we went to a fútbol game between la Universidad de Chile (heretofore known as "La Chile" or "La U") and some other insignificant team, and it was AWESOME. First of all, to my fellow wolverines, I must note a few things:

La Chile's color is blue, and one of the cheers is "vamos azul." That's right, "let's go blue."
Michigan fans can learn a few things from fans of la Chile-- there's an entire section of fans that didn't stop singing songs, chants, cheers, stomping or generally making lots and lots of noise for the ENTIRE GAME.
Some fans who must've taken my montañismo course climbed up the top of a 50 foot fence and sat there for the whole game, waving a shirt and yelling for la Chile.
The cheers are awesome--- personal favorite is the title of this entry-- "CHI LE CHI LE CHI-CHI-CHI LE-LE-LE UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE."

I'm definitely going to a lot more games... After fútbol, we went with our profesora who took us to this awesome club called Subterraneo and we all danced the night away. And for those of you who don't know or for those that refuse to believe it, I love dancing-- and I'm all about the dancing in Santiago.

So yeah, I should wrap this up soon, but basically, between getting to know the city (I'm starting to really know my way around the whole thing), chilling with friends, dancing, fútbol games, learning about Chilean history and interacting with the people here, I am having an absolutely awesome time. And oh yeah, this weekend I'm heading with some friends down south-- I think we're gonna hop on a bus on friday and head down for 10 hours or so and go camping in the Lake region. Should be pretty bacán. Pues, I hope you're all doing great-- and hopefully I won't wait so long for the next update. Buenas noches!

Chao!

-Marco

Santi-freakin-ago!

2006-02-18T15:27:00.000-05:00

Hola hola! I'm writing this from the computer in my beautiful, completamente tranquilo home in the neighborhood of La Reina in Santiago de Chile. A lot has happened in the past few days, so I'll try and give the highlights to take you up to speed on what has already been a great introduction to Chile.

The plane ride was uneventful, although I started off by meeting 3 or 4 people from CIEE (my program) in the Dallas airport, so it was cool not to be traveling alone anymore. The hotel for orientation (with the somewhat shady name of "Hotel Rent A Home") turned out to be a pleasant place to get things started in the neighborhood of Providencia. We had a balcony that overlooked the façade of, you guessed it, a second Hotel Rent a Home, as well as the Andes mountains, which you can pretty much see from anywhere in Santiago (although they are often only a silhouette due to the smog, or if you prefer to live in denial like our Chilean director at CIEE, the "haze").

Pues, so after we met everyone in orientation, we headed out on a short but sweet tour of the city. The definite highlight being when we went to the top of the Cerro San Cristobal-- one of the mountains at the North of the city, crowned by a park (including a zoo) and a large white statue of the Virgen Mary at the top-- and from there you get a great view of the entire city. It really was a cool place-- I'll definitely head back with my camera sometime soon and once I figure out how to hook my camera up to this computer, perhaps there will be pictures!

So that night we went to Bellavista for an awesome welcome dinner, complete with my first pisco sour (pisco is Chilean brandy, and a pisco sour is pisco with egg whites and some other stuff-- I know that doesn´t sound that good, but believe me, it is SO GOOD-- especially when you're drinking it in Chile :) ¿did I mention I'm in Chile?) and of course, Chilean wine. We topped off the night with a guitarrist playing some traditional Chilean songs, and with a girl's purse getting stolen from her chair-- both of which seem to be good introductions to Santiago (i.e., enjoy the culture, but never forget you're in a big city). Anyway, so that was a great first day, and the people on my trip are really cool and mostly similarly minded (including one roommate who is actually a comparative literature major! crazy...). It'll be tough to break away from everyone in a week or so when our CIEE class ends and university classes begin, but I'm going to have to do it if I want to meet Chileans.

Anyway, so after that orientation was mostly getting stuff done and engraining safety issues (possibly to the level of neurotiscism) into our minds. All in all though, it was a great time. Oh! one more thing that I definitely can't leave out-- we went Salsa dancing two nights ago in Providencia (in a small, strange section called el barrio Suecia-- pretty much a ton of bars and dance clubs packed along one brick street (with people walking up to gringos wearing shirts that say "100% Salsa!" and yelling "sex, drugs and rock and roll!") hmmm--- so anyway, the salsa club was a ton of fun-- I gotta work on my moves a bit, but that's why I'm here, right?

Ok, so now for the best part.... my host family. Yesterday afternoon, I finally met and moved in with my host family in La Reina-- a relatively upscale suburban-type neighborhood about a 45 minute commute from the main part of the city. The family consists of Gabriela and Lucho (affectionately "Luchito," but for now I'll only use that when he calls me "marquito"), Abuela (93 years old-- apparently she was married for 70 years until her husband died 3 years ago--usually she seems lost in thought and doesn´t talk much, but she has a wonderfully warm smile) and Monito (the dog, who must have known I was about to write his name because he just made his appearance and jumped onto my lap...). Gabriela and Lucho are two of the nicest, most intellectual and down-to-earth people I have ever met. Seriously, not only did they completely welcome me into their incredible home (in which I have my own room, full bathroom, and a computer with highspeed internet), but yesterday afternoon and evening was full of conversation, ranging from how the house looks to history, politics, and this morning, philosophy. I have a lot to learn from both of them. Gabriela is perhaps the only person in the world who teaches English to kids on some days of the week, and works as a podiatrist on the other days. Lucho is a mechanic (or as they like to say, she's a doctor del pie (foot doctor) and he's a doctor del coche (car doctor). They are an especially cute couple because Gabriela used to be married and apparently incredibly wealthy, but she wasn't happy-- now she has a small, quiet house, and Lucho-- and she's wonderfully happy.

Ok, one last thing-- last night, around midnight, they took me on a drive up the nearest cerro (in-between a hill and a mountain) for a spectacular nighttime view of the city, and Lucho pointed out where each section of Santiago was. On the way back, Lucho pointed out a military facility where they used to hold detainees and torture them under Pinochet-- they want to take me there sometime to shed light on a dark part of Chile's history. Both Lucho and Gabriela are very comfortable talking about the dictatorship-- and both interested in making sure that part of Chile's history is never swept under the rug and forgotten. All in all, it was really a great night-- followed by conversation with Lucho until the wee hours of the morning while eating half-melons with a spoon. Seriously good stuff.

Pues, in a minute I have to go-- Gabriela and Lucho have invited people over for a welcome asado (BBQ)! Not sure when I'll update this next, but I'll try and be consistent. But for now, I'll leave you with something I liked that Gabriela said to me this morning: La vida es sencilla, el resto es un regalo (life is simple, the rest is a gift).
Chao!

-Marco