Putre y Pancito

Long time, no write! Sorry!

In my prolonged absence from updating my blog a lot has happened, so my goal is to convey as much as possible without rambling- which obviously is a challenge for me!

Where did we leave off? Oh right- Dieciocho! (the 18th) Essentially, we ate, we drank, we danced! There was a ridiculous amount of meat consumed everywhere we went, most of it very good. I found out that my host dad, Claudio, is obsessed with dancing the cueca. And I even won a teddy bear at the Ramadas (carnival) downtown. It was a fun, but exhausting weekend.

With my host family at the Ramadas.

Immediately after all this excitement we packed up and headed for high ground: Putre! We went with the program to learn about traditional medicine from Aymara experts. I went to Putre previously, with my parents, and experienced the true joy that is altitude sickness. This time, however, I was in good health and it was amazing! Coca leaves are truly wonderful- you can make tea out of them or chew on them and they make you feel better instantly!

On the road to Putre through the great Atacama Desert!

Putre is a tiny town that has been around for centuries and is smack in the middle of Aymara territory, which is rather obvious from all of the ancient terraces in the enormous hillsides used for agriculture. Farming is still important, but now Putre, at about 11,500 feet, also serves as the stopping point on the tourist trips up to Lake Chungara. It's an unexpected and unfamiliar "resort town," but more of the hippie backpacker type of resort, as it can be impossible to procure a hot shower even in a hotel.

During our stay in Putre we had a class with a Yatire (Shaman) and an Usuri (sort of like a midwife). These were some of the most amazing experiences, ever. We learned about natural remedies that Aymara people use, how they do ceremonies to pray for good harvests or good health, and gained a better understanding of their cosmovision, in which everything is connected. I even got to serve as a fake pregnant woman for the Usuri to show us some of her natural techniques for turning babies around. Last fall I took a class on South American Indians and read and heard a lot about Aymara culture so it was one of the most incredible experiences to see it all up close, in real life. I even had my coca leaves read by the Yatire! This is not hoodoo-ey or witchcraft- like, at all, and was actually one of the coolest thing. My trip to Putre is something I'll remember for a very, very long time.

What better way is there to travel than by ancient tour bus on precariously narrow winding roads overlooking cliffs of doom and peril?

Aymara cook out

Well I'm not really sure, but that's how we got around Putre and Belen- an even smaller town that we visited which included driving our monstrous carriage over unpaved roads. In Belen we saw what truly rural is and were also treated to an amazing guatia. A guatia is essentially an Aymara barbecue. The food is cooked underground in a hole lined with hot rocks- sort of like a luau. It was amazing, as has been all of the plethora of food here thus far. Every meal at the hotel was great, but also enormous. A typical day of food:

Breakfast: pancito (delicious high calorie chilean bread), avocado, yogurt, fruit, cheese, deli ham, jam, coffee, juice.

Lunch: Soup or salad, main course, typically something heavy like pasta or rice, with of course more pancito on the side, and dessert which is usually something fruit related or ice cream.

Dinner: MORE pancito!, soup or salad, main course with both grains and protein, and more dessert, coffee.


Attack of the pancito!

On the last day when it came time to hit the hot springs I think all of the girls were suddenly grateful for the lack of males on our trip as we hit the pool with our newly aquired pancito figures! But hey, you only live once right?

Bring on the pancito!

Feliz Bicentenario!

I don't have any photos of the things I wrote about this time really, so instead I've just included a few at random. Rebecca, Jennifer, and Abi at Colon Market during Spanish class one day when we hunted down foreign fruits.

Hola mis queridos amigos,

I've officially survived a second week in Arica, although I'd venture to describe my stay as better than just survival. Even with our level of work being kicked up a notch, we've still been doing and seeing a million and a half new things. Wooden toys, traditional dances, and potluck Chilean cuisine have dominated our Spanish class this week. We learned to play with trompos and embuques, which were both deceptively difficult to master, we were taught a few traditional Chilean dances (why doesn't the US have a national dance other than the Cha Cha slide?), and we all tried our hand at making some Chilean food, which turned out better than expected with the help of our Chilean mamas.

Our attentions were focused on Chilean fun because tomorrow is September 18- Chile's Independence Day. This year is a big one, though, as 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence. For days now I have been trying to get an idea of what's going to happen during this celebration. So far my efforts have been while not fruitless.. well let's just say the fruits they've produced are lumpy and a little fuzzy. Things I've been told to expect:

• Eating- there will be food and lots of it, especially (?) grilled meat
  
• Drinking- after living in New Orleans I thought I'd seen what it meant to be the kind of people that like to have a good time, but hold onto your daquiris nola, I think Chile's about to give you a run for your money


• Merriment- I have been assured that although I don't really know when we are going where I will definitely enjoy myself

I do know that today I'm going to my "uncle's" house for an "asado" (barbecue) with Nancy's family. Luckily I think my Spanish is getting at least marginally better, but when groups of family or friends get together the speed of the Spanish tends to hit Nascar levels. Plus I've noticed that Chileans can literally talk at the same time and still understand everything that was said.. I do not possess this talent as of yet.

I've also been promised that I will get a chance to practice dancing the "cueca" today. The cueca is Chile's national dance- most people start learning it from about the time they can walk. Traditional country outfits are included, women where "chinas" which are very feminine floral dresses with big skirts while men where riding boots and spurs(which make pretty wind chimy noises as they dance) with a short coat, this nice poncho sort of thing and a hat. The entire dance is a flirtation between the pair. The man is pursuing the woman and has to try to show off his moves as he chases her. Meanwhile the woman gracefully evades his advances while teasing him a bit with moves of her own. The whole thing is very playful and fun.

People here in general love to dance, they don't get embarrassed like we do. In the short time I've been here I've tried a salsa class, learned the cueca and another traditional dance, been to 2 different dance clubs, and attended a Latin Dance workout class. I love it! And it isn't that all Latinos can dance wonderfully, its true that they're generally better at moving but I think its just because they're less inhibited and they all dance from the time they're little. The best part is that even all the guys here know how to dance! I anticipate seeing a lot of fancy footwork this weekend, and trying to keep up at least a little bit!

At Cafe del Mar, the unofficial favorite restaurant of everyone in the program, with Rebecca (there are 2) and Ian (there are all of 2 boys as well). The gorgeous view out the window of our program's office, which is actually an apartment: Casa SIT.

Mucho amor de Arica!

TERREMOTO!

On Thursday Arica had its first city-wide earthquake/tsunami evacuation simulation. In my non-expert opinion I think it went pretty well. A couple of military planes flew ridiculously low overhead to cause a bit of a ruckus. The aforementioned ruckus signaled the commencement of an earthquake to the people in the city. Anyone in the lower downtown area which would be most likely to flood in the event of a tsunami was supposed to evacuate to higher ground. The SIT students of course participated in this effort in public safety education, but we went above and beyond. While everyone else walked only as far as the "safe zone" we walked a full 20 minutes further, just to be really extra sure that we were both safe and completely exhausted.

In my first week here I've experienced a lot of new and entertaining things. Let's see what makes the highlight reel:

• More Mummies!On Thursday, before the pre-planned catastrophe, we went to a museum that was actually built over the site it displays. In the midst of beginning construction for a new hotel a few years ago a Chinchorro (indigenous group) cemetery was found. We previously saw Chinchorro mummies from an earlier period so it was really interesting to see how their practices changed over time. There are literally bodies, exactly the way they were buried, with ceremonial objects and articles of clothing, underneath a layer of protective glass. The anthropology nerd side of me really enjoyed this.

• Salsa Class! Last night a bunch of my friends and I went to a free salsa class at the university gym. It was really fun, but really hard-especially when you add in the fact that we couldn't understand what the teacher was saying. I actually picked up a little of it, though! My goal is to try as many new things as possible while I'm here- so cross one off the list!
  
• The food! I can't even begin to describe how much I love Chilean food. It is in part because they call me "flaca" (skinny) every day at lunch (the big meal of the day) as they begin to construct a mountain of delicious food on my plate. So far I've loved absolutely everything we've had. I've thus joined a local gym with some of my friends in an effort to return home flaca and not gorda. During the week our Peruvian housekeeper cooks most of the food and on weekends Claudio and Nancy take over the kitchen.



• The Markets! This morning I went to buy food with Claudio and Nancy at the enormous agro market. When you get inside for as far as the eye can see its nothing but cascades of vibrant, beautiful produce and a plethora of olives of every variety from the valleys near Arica and just across the border in Peru. We also went to the fish market, which I found both very interesting and somewhat unsettling. We bought fresh reineta, a delicious local fish, that the woman skillfully sliced into fillets as she chatted with my host parents about their "new daughter." I actually have never even liked fish before coming to Chile, but I almost had seconds at lunch because it was so amazing! Tomorrow is the Feria Dominical- the Sunday junk market! I'll keep you posted.

This doesn't even begin to express how gargantuan this market is.

Everything is so fresh! The market happens every day but Saturday is the biggest and most grand of market days.

Paloma with an incredibly huge lemon. We eat lemons like nobody's business.

We're actually "caseros" (regular clients) of the lady at the table next to this man, but her table was covered in fish heads which didn't make for a very attractive shot.

I'm having an absolutely lovely time and trying to work hard on my Spanish. I hope all is going well for everyone at home, too!

Besos y Abrazos~ Carolina

¿Dice que?

The first day of school is always so interesting. Who's in your class? What's your teacher like? Can you understand what she says? This morning was our first intensive Spanish class and intense it was! We have class for 3 hours a day, Monday through Thursday, with outings to practice our Spanish on Friday. I was placed in the higher level Spanish class, which is both very exciting and incredibly intimidating. This was the level I was hoping to be in because I want to work really hard to try to become fluent in Spanish, but it also entails a lot of work. Our professor is rather difficult to understand (for me at least), because she speaks very, very fast and although she tells us to ask questions to clarify if we're confused her answers are often not very illuminating.

Communication in general is a somewhat difficult topic. Chilean Spanish involves a lot of shortening of words and everyone speaks super rapid! Plus there are lots of "Chilenismos" (Chilean-isms) to learn. My host family is really good about explaining things and trying to speak slowly for me, but when I have to ask them to repeat things more than once I feel like I'm being a nuisance. It can be really frustrating because I have intelligent things that I want to say, it's just that in Spanish I have the vocabulary of probably a middle schooler instead of a college student. I'm confident that in a week or two it will be easier to comprehend what people are saying just because we'll be more used to listening to Spanish, but for now my most commonly used word by a lot is... "Que?"

¡Bienvenidos a Chile!

Hola de Arica!

I've officially started my study abroad program in Arica, Chile now. I actually got to Chile 15 days ago, though. Mom and Dad came with me to do some adventuring before my program began. And adventure we did! It was incredibly fun, but a bit stressful at times as we began to learn to that:

1. Chileans are very nice, so nice in fact that they will give you directions even if they do not actually know how to get where you are going. This is done with the best of intentions but can still lead you astray.


2. Road signs are for silly people. It is expected that you will just know what highway you're on, where it leads, and that sometimes in order to stay on said highway you have to actually turn off of the road that you are driving on, even though this is not indicated with a sign.


3. Callie does not understand 100% of what strangers tell her when they give directions. This can at times be problematic.


4. Yes, toll operators will accept non-Chilean currency. Yes, they will charge you 3 times as much if you pay in American dollars.

So driving in Chile was definitely an interesting experience- our own version of The Amazing Race as Dad said. Everyplace we went was really interesting and uniquely beautiful. We saw mountains, vineyards, desert, volcanoes, metropolises, mummies.. everything!

Chile is the sort of country that most Americans might not think to visit, but is insanely full of culture and amazingly fun things to do. Not to mention the absolutely insane geographic diversity within this single country!

If I were to write about everything we did during our trip this would be a novel, so I'll leave it to you to ask me if you're interested in hearing about anywhere in particular. We visited the Colchagua Valley (wine country), Valparaiso, Putre and Chungara Lake, and Arica (where I'm living).

Today is my first full day with my host family here in Arica. I met my "hermanos" (siblings) two nights ago when the program took us all out for ice cream and pizza. I have a little brother who is 16 and a sister who is my age which is really nice because she's kind of showing me around and her friends are my age. Yesterday we went to a baby shower for her friend's older sister. It was unlike any baby shower I've ever been to in the states! There was an MC with a microphone and a bar! It was really fun, and there were still baby shower games and presents, but there were also men there (though the father wasn't allowed). I don't think it was a traditional Chilean baby shower, though. It was also kind of funny because they call it a "baby shower"- they say it in English.

Today my host Dad, Claudio, made an amazing lunch of every kind of seafood that I'd never had! He made ceviche, octopus, oysters, something called locos, and there was something that I think they were saying is the inside of a sea urchin or something. It was all so good! The food here is wonderful! And they buy enormous things of Diet Coke (Coca-Cola Light) all the time, so I think I'm going to fit in very well with this family.

Later my host sis is teaching me to make chocolates!

Ciao mis amores~ Carolina