The Days Are Just Packed

I return home in less than two weeks! These days have gone by way too fast, but they've been packed with many great experiences. Here are the ones I remember or that are interesting enough to write about.

A while back there was an trip to Pablo Neruda's third house, in Isla Negra. Don't let Google Translate fool you - it is not on an island and the land certainly isn't black. I was pretty excited since I already saw his other two houses (Valparaiso and Santiago) so I felt like a true Chilean. You aren't allowed to take photos inside the house, so to make my parents think that I actually followed the rules, I'm going to only post photos taken from outside the house. The house is right on the coast and a lot more private than the other two, so it was my favorite.

Um that's not his house.

This is also where Pablo and his wife were buried! Were buried...not are buried. If you are into conspiracy theories, you will love this. Neruda mysteriously died on September 23,1973 to what was publicized as prostate cancer. BUTT, many believe that he was actually poisoned by the regime of Pinochet! (If you don't know who that is, go look it up. It's kind of a long story. I linked his name to his Wikipedia page for you, since the one thing I learned in high school is as long as you don't list it as one, Wikipedia is the best source). Neruda died fewer than two weeks after the military coup that brought Pinochet to power (and since his death was so all of a sudden AND he was a supporter and friend of Salvador Allende (the previous president) people think there must be a relation). But the reason his remains aren't there anymore is because his body was exhumed to find out more details about his death, and if the rumors are true.

Here is a picture of his tombstone reflecting the garden and the ocean. I got inspiration from my dad, being the poet and tombstone artist that he is. He goes around and takes photos of poets' graves. Check it out. I mean, he digs dead poets - how could you not be interested?

The Grove City College program was going to take us to a national soccer game but the tickets were sold out too fast, so we had this extra money to spend. So we went to Santiago to enjoy the city, but mostly to go to Fantasilandia, Chile's largest amusement park. Plus we decided to go on a "Noche de Terror" since it was around Jalogüin.  Compared to the ones I've been to in the states, it wasn't too impressive, but it was still pretty cool. I went with a really great group of friends, so they helped make it fun. See for yourself:

The living dead that were walking and groaning throughout the theme park weren't the only frightful part of the night. I won't go into too much detail but there were definitely some scary strippers. One of them turned into a gorilla and terrorized us all. 

Also on the streets of Santiago we met a contestant from the game show "A Todo O Nada". It's like a mix of "Fear Factor" and "Minute to Win It" and "Million Dollar Money Drop"and  "Beat the Clock" and "Pyramid" and "Wipeout." So...everything you've ever wanted in a game show. My friend recognized him.

It was his pants, I'm guessing. 

As all of you know (since you have all been reading all my blogposts) I'm in a choir here at my school, and it's my favorite thing about the school. We had a joint concert with the choir from the Santiago campus, singing some songs by ourselves and other songs with them. Here is a video of just the 14 of us from the Viña campus choir. And, as you would probably guess, we sang the WHOLE 2-hour van ride back. Basically my life is Pitch Perfect...except without the flying Mexican food.

This! What is that called? 

I got to volunteer for this organization that paints houses in a poor area of Valparaiso. It was such a great day. I got to see some buildings go from shabby to pretty, I got paint all over myself, I met some really cool Chileans, I got free lunch, and I got to stand on the 4th level of one of those things that painters stand on to paint the facades of buildings. I don't know what it's called, I'll let the photos explain.

I only picked this photo because it makes my arm look big. No shame.  

It was 'nippy' if you catch my drift...

One more thing. I FINISHED CLASSES! Just like Ralph, I'm learneding!

Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Wage

I wish I had better excuses for why I haven't written in so long. I wish I could say I've been too "busy". I wish I could say my internet has been down. I wish I could say I have been eating too may completos, or I forgot English and had to relearn it, or maybe even that I still have jet lag. But if I said any of these, I would be lying. (Especially about the completos; you can never eat too many completos).
The truth is that I have been having too much fun. For real, I picked the right place to study abroad - it's been such an amazing experience! In 3.5 weeks I will be back in the states, which both excites me but at the same time makes me saddened. But let's not think about that for now. Let's think about...my trip to Peru!

Hmm where to begin........Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.

Six of my gringo friends and I left for Peru on November 5. Our plan was to go as cheap as possible, so this meant a lot more work on our part. We planned our own travels, we booked our own hostels, we bought our own tickets, we hiked when it meant money was being saved, and we took no tours (other than one that our hostel provided, but it was only 5 soles and they gave us free shot coupons so...). The amount of transportation we took, though, is ridiculous.

First we took a bus from Viña to Santiago airport (2 hours; Total: 2) And from there a plane from Santiago to Arica (2.5; 4.5). We got yummy cheese sticks, manjar cake,  fruit, or trail mix to choose from, so that was a plus. Also there was a baby being passed around by the family next to me so that was exciting to watch. Then we took a taxi from Arica to Tacna, Peru (2; 6.5). Two of us forgot a very important piece of paper that said we had applied for our student visas, so we were a little worried when we went up to the desk. We decided if we don't even mention that we don't have it, they wouldn't notice. Thankfully it worked.

Maybe it's because we're white. 

We got to Tacna and were immediately accosted by every bus agency salesperson. Luckily our taxi driver told us which bus was the best so after many attempts to shake them off our shoulders, we finally got rid of them and got on our bus from Tacna to Arequipa (7; 13.5). The guy next to me tried sleeping on my shoulder and snoring. When he finally shifted his weight around, I made sure to snap a photo with him.

It was a joy to ride next to you,sir. 

This ride consisted of trash in the air vents, random drug checks, and non-stop vendors of "CHICHARRON CHICHARRON DELICIOSA DELICIOSA CHICHARRON DELICIOSAAAA". Man, that got annoying quick. Also they showed Scarface dubbed in Spanish and the only part we wanted to watch was the "Say hello to my little friend" scene. Our trip just happened to end directly before that scene. It's OK though, since there was 3 rolls of bread for 1 sole ($1 = 2.7 soles) where we got off. But then we boarded the overnight Cruz Del Sur bus from Arequipa to Cuzco (10; 23.5). We bought VIP tickets, which meant bigger and better seats, plus dinner and our own TV screens. We were living the life. Except I was still too tall to be comfortable...When we arrived we took a taxi from Cuzco bus terminal to hostel (15 mins, 23.75).
Our hostel was pretty legit. It turned out to be a hipster place for English-speakers and drug-users. Like I said, pretty legit.
We spent the rest of that day in Cuzco, taking a tour, buying cheap crap, and of course taking photos of everything. The 7 of us were in a room for 8, so we had one roommate. She really liked to talk, so we learned a lot about farming, recycling, tours, religion, marriage, and South America in just the few minutes we had with her. It was kind of a funny conversation, especially when she mentioned she likes to save money and not waste money on services like "that Cruz Del Sur $H!+"...
The next morning we hopped on a squishy 15-seater van from Cuzco to a little pueblo called Hidroeléctrica (8; 31.75). Yes, it was 8 hours but this was honestly one of the best parts of the Peru trip. We drove through the Andes mountains, from the foothills up to the peaks, always on the edge of a cliff. Quite possibly the closest I have ever been to death. With one small slip of the wheel, we would have all been dead. No doubt in my mind. We were all in awe of just how beautiful everything was. Literally thousands of photos between the 7 of us.

The hills were alive with the sound of Peruvian music. Or maybe that was just our pumping radio. This ride was a high point in this semester, in more ways that one....actually, in more ways than two...(coughcoughCocaCandycoughcough). Colin kept reminding us that if we did happen to all drive off the cliff and die, it wouldn't be such a bad story!
We arrived at this remote little village that was made up of pipe lines and dump trucks called Hidroeléctrica, and then we hiked to Aguas Calientes (2.5 hours; 34.25) which is now actually called Machu Picchu Village. This hike saved us a bunch of money and it was cool to be able to enjoy the beautiful nature even more.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes by sundown, so it was a really cool to be in total darkness and then see the facades of mountains being lit up ahead by the artificial light of the little pueblo. I would show you a photo but it was crappy. On this hike we also got to witness the moon rising over the peaks of the Andes mountains with the lights of the stars popping through the darkness. I would show you a photo of that too, but it was crappy. Bought Machu Picchu tix, transportation tix, and found a super tramp. I mean, we found Super Tramp, our hostel. Took showers and went immediately to bed because of our early morning.

Ugh I'm just now getting to Machu Picchu. This blogpost is getting long. Must....finish.....

We woke up at 4 AM, ate some breakfast, threw our bags in the storage closet, and headed out to get to the bus by 5. It was really neat because it had just finished raining by 5 AM so there was this ethereal mist that was dancing between the massive walls of earth we scaled.

I knew it was going to be a great day. We hiked around the ruins for an hour and then climbed the mountain (not Huyana Picchu) to get a view from above. This was a lot harder than we had realized. It was 1.5-2 hours of steep stairs. Plus, it was very disheartening because there was never any view as we climbed the mountain - it was just a wall of white. We took many breaks which gave us an excuse to take cool photos of the nature around us with our macro lenses on our cameras.

Smack Dat? No, Mac Dat. 

But we finally made it to the top and it was beautiful. The clouds were still hiding part of the ruins but it made it really interesting. And by the time we headed down, the clouds were gone and we got to see the "Classic view" (like anyone even knows what that is) plenty of times.

So freaking accurate

We spent the rest of the time checking out the ruins and taking more llama selfies. We left at noon and I was very glad to leave. Only because the amount of people there was gross. It was all old people with large sun-blocking umbrellas who would stop in the middle of the walkway to take a photo. If anyone has walked with me in a city, they know how much I HATE walking behind slow people.
We met this guy who didn't speak Spanish or English, which we thought was cool. Good thing "photo" is pretty much the same in lots of languages.

We were in a rush so we took the train from Aguas Calientes to Hidroelectrica (1; 35.25) to catch our van back to Cuzco (8; 43.25). This ride wasn't as great as it was the first time, since it was later at night so there was less of a view, and the other travelers in our van were jerks. They farted a lot and yelled at the driver and complained about literally everything. I mean, our driver did do things like play chicken with other cars around sharp curves on the edge of a very high cliff (yes, we all almost died many times), but they just made it worse. Then we found out we had been driving on a flat tire for a while, so we stopped in a little town called Ollantaytambo to fix it. It took a while to fix it and it was a very ghetto fix, but while I was waiting, I made friends with this boy named Abelar who said he's lived there his whole life and was very proud of two things; his two friends and his bike. He did tricks for me and we horsed around. It was honestly my favorite part of the whole trip. He was so precious.

Also there was a beautiful sunset. So even though many people in the car thought it was the worst ride of their lives, I thought it wasn't too bad. Some people focus on the fact that they could have died countless times. I tend to focus on the fact that I met this sweet boy and saw the sun hide itself behind the rolling hills.

We slept in our hostel that night and the next day had a while to spend in Cuzco. Colin, Alaina, and I decided to go see some ruins and Cristo Blanco, the statue of Jesus looking over the whole city. We took a van there - an even smaller and squishier van than the one to Hidroeléctrica. Alaina is 5'1" and she was near to the roof. This is not a joke. 

I repeat: This is NOT a joke. 

We arrived at the top of the hill after a 30-minute ride, stretched our necks, and illegally walked through some ruins.

OK maybe I should explain. We didn't realize we had to pay for these ones, so we just started walking through the park until some guy came up to us and said, "Where are your tickets?" to which we replied, "What tickets?" He said they were 70 soles each, and we were like NO. Then he offered them for 30 soles each, and we were still like NO. He ended up asking "Then how much do you want to pay for them?" which I thought was funny. We didn't really want to pay, so he had us leave, but sent us in a direction we hadn't been to yet, so we ended up seeing half of the ruins free of charge!

So then we met up with two others, and while they four went on a horse-back riding trip (I talked the price down, but was so poor that I didn't join them), I went to take photos at Cristo Blanco, or as we liked to say, "White Jesus", since we all know Jesus was white, right? 

I offered to take a photo of some girls who then asked me to take a photo of the whole group they were a part of. And then they asked me to join them in the photo! I was like, umm are you kidding? 

They weren't. 

Then all the girls wanted individual photos with me. I guess Jesus wasn't white enough for them...

I laughed a lot. But I guess that's not unusual. 

Then the trip home happened. Long story short: 

Taxi to bus terminal (15 mins; 43.5), overnight bus to Arequipa (10, 53.5), bus to Tacna (7; 60.5), Taxi to Arica (2; 62.5), flight to Santiago (2.5; 65), bus to Viña (2; 67). So yes, including all the waiting around in airports and bus stations we did, we traveled for more than 3 days, and the trip was only 6 days. PHEW! 

Oh by the way, I didn't think of the title of this blog, even though I wish I had. It was on a painting at Pariwana Hostel in Cuzco. It became our motto for the whole week. For real, we quoted it every time we did something cheap or free (For example, walking through ruins free or eating dinner for one dollar, OR LESS!

or more.

It was an amazing trip. I thank my friends for coming with me and making it a great experience, I thank God for keeping us safe and making our plans go smoothly, and I thank you, dear reader, I thank you and congratulate you for making it through this blogpost. 

Loca

I'm going to take a leap here and say that Chile's national anthem is not the song they play when Chile wins an Olympic gold medal; it's this song by Chico Trujillo:

The title of the song is a good description of what Chile is like. If you haven't noticed already by reading my blog, Chile is kind of loca.
Honestly though, everyone knows all the lyrics and Chico Trujillo is considered a god. When I asked my host brother to give me the names of some good Chilean musicians to listen to, he wrote this guy's name first with three check marks next to it. I looked up some of his music and actually bought some on iTunes, much to my host sister's disbelief. When I told her I bought music on iTunes, she was seriously dumbfounded. I guess no one actually buys music (or movies, for that matter) here in Chile; it's all pirated. You should've seen her face. Loca.

If you didn't hear the vuvuzelas and car horns yourself, then you may not know: CHILE CLASSIFIED FOR THE WORLD CUP! Last week Chile's national soccer team played Ecuador and won 2-1, meaning they have officially qualified to play in the World Cup tournament! Immediately after the game, the streets became mobbed because everyone left their respective houses and favorite local bars to celebrate. Everyone was drunk and reckless, so things got crazy pretty quick. This is pretty much what it consisted of: chants, flags, vuvuzelas and other noisemakers, beer, costumes, drums, dancing, and yelling. In one word: Loca. It looked like a huge riot was happening (which wouldn't be uncommon for Chile, but I'll save that for another time) so I'm just glad I wasn't there to witness what it would've looked like if Chile had lost! I recorded this video below to give you a taste of what it was like. (I realize that you may have Chico Trujillo's song still playing. You're just going to have to figure out how to manage having two videos to watch. I believe in you.)

There was a Circus in town! But it cost too much for Colin and I, plus the long line of people at the entrance consisted of either children under ten or their parents. We tried to go in with our friend Areyonna and pretend like we didn't understand that it cost money, but I kind of messed up the plan by actually speaking Spanish. Whatever, it was cool to look at from the outside. 

5000 pesos = 10 bucks. Like anyone could even afford that. 

 On Saturday I went to the Santiago with Colin and an amigo santiaguiño, Ricardo. First we went to the largest mall in Latin America which is connected to the tallest building in Latin America, or at least that's what they say. 

Oh, you fancy, huh? 

And as we were walking in the city, looking for book stores and places to eat completos, we came across a Zombie Walk. It's kind of a creepy march across the city where people dress up as the living dead. It originally started by fans of "The Walking Dead" TV show but now it's just something fun people do to express their love of zombies. I was actually very  impressed with some of the makeup some of these people had. I saw extended jaws, missing eyes, gashes across the face, nasty protuberances, and plenty of blood spilling all over the place. Loca.

What's next, Meth Head Walks for "Breaking Bad" fans? 

And this is the part of my blog where I try to be serious. Let's see how that works out. 

We went to the zoo! I loved it a lot. But while trying to capture photos of all the animals, my camera kept focusing on the cage instead of the animal behind it. But this made me realize something profound. These animals are being taken out of their natural habitat and placed in a confined space behind a cage without enough room to live properly. And the only reason they are put there is so people like me can go and take a hundred photos to upload to Facebook and their blog. Here are some of the pictures I thought were rather saddening, whether it was a monkey trying to climb towards the freedom that wasn't there or a Nile Crocodile that should've been renamed Puddle Crocodile.

                    


 Now, I'm not going to join PETA or anything because of this, but it's definitely something to think about. Also, something else to think about is the fact that while squinting into my camera, it was trying to open my eyes to the truth. Loca.