fiestas patrias sept 17-19 (155 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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¡feliz dieciocho!

¡viva Chile!

en chile, celebran las fiestas patrias durante el 17, 18 y 19 de septiembre cada ano. estoy super feliz que estaba acá para este tiempo en chile porque toda de la ciudad cambia. mas gente, mas vendedores en las calles, banderas por todos lados, llena llena llena de gente. hay dos maneras principales para celebrar las fiestas patrias: con su familia o en las ramadas. entonces, yo hice los dos. la noche del 16 fui a una ramada en mi universidad y en una ramada siempre hay cosas puras chilenas: chicha (un trago de uvas como vino pero muy distinta. mas suave y mas dulce), vino navegado (vino caliente con claves de olor), empanadas de pino, anticuchos (shish-k-bobs de carne), choripanes (como hotdogs) y, sumamente, la cueca! la cueca es la danza nacional de chile y los hombres visten como huasos y las mujeres como huasas. abajo es un video que yo grabe en Rabuco de la cueca y ya he aprendido como bailarla en mi clase de danzas tradicionales.

in chile, they celebrate their "4th of July" holiday during the 17-19 of september. i am very glad that i was here for it because the whole dynamic of the city changes - more people, more vendors in the street, FLAGS everywhere. normally people celebrate in 2 ways, either with their families or in the ramadas. i did them both. the 16th is went to a ramada hosted by my university and the ramadas have everything chilean: chicha (a drink made from grapes like wine but much smoother), vino navegado (hot mulled wine), emapanadas de pino, anticuchos (shish-k-bobs), choripanes (hotdogs), and the cueca! the cueca is the national dance of chile and the men dress as typical cowboys and the women dress as cowgirls. below is a video that i took in Rabco and i have learned the dance in my class danzas tradicionales.

entonces, el próximo día, el 17 de septiembre fui con mi mama y papa y colleens al colegio de mis hermanos porque hay una obligación en cada colegio en chile para ensenar y presentar el baile nacional. el colegio presento la cueca de cada región de chile porque en cada región esta bailado un poco diferente. tambien presento bailes de paises vecinos.

then on the 17th i went to the highschool of my siblings with my parents and colleen because they had a celebration/presentation of all the dances. they presented the cueca as danced in each region of chile.

el dia 18 de septiembre fui a Santiago con mi familia a la casa de mi tia (hermana de mi papa), tio y 3 primos . yo comi empanadas que estaban hechas de mano de la Tita (la mama de mi tio) y estaban super ricossssssssss! abajo la tita esta en el centro y mi tia esta a la derecha.

the 18th i went to santiago with my family to the house of my aunt (the sister of my dad), uncle, and 3 cousins. i ate homemade empanadas, made by the mom of my uncle. they were to die for!!! she is is the middle in the picture and my aunt is on the right.

las empanadas....mas cercas!

estas empanadas estaban las mejores que habia probado.........y lleve 3 a la casa despues!! bah!

siguiente, alorzamos - lechuga, tomate, palta, choclo, un plato llena de carne y chuleta y prieta (no comi nada de eso...), papas en pelotas, verduras,......comí harto! siempre acá en chile. es un problema.

La mesa sin la carne:

un cuento: cuando me pasaron el plato de carne simplemente pase el plato a mi mama sin sacar nada. mi mama me miro y dijo "no quieres carne" y le dije "no, solamente quiero verduras después de mi empanada" y ella me dijo de nuevo "sacala." y le dijo de nuevo "no en serio no quiero carne." ahora toda la mesa estaba mirandonos. "sarah, es un asado. come carne." y finalmente le dije a mi mama "pasalo! no la quiero!" mi mama hizo un drama que no quise carne!!!! bah!!!!!! entonces me preguntaron "eres vegetariana??' oh dear.

el dia 19 celebramos con la familia de mi mama. fuimos a Olmue para un asado de nuevo como un 'picnic'. muy divertido y de nuevo comí mucha!! Y fui a un rodeo!!!

pic 1) nuestro asado!!!!!!!!!

pic 2) mi tia, Alejandra (hermana mayor de mi mama), y sus dos hijas la Cata (arriba es mayor,

19 anos) y la Paula abajo menor, 17 anos) iz a dr: mi tia, Paula, mi mama, Cata

pic 3) mi mama y yo en el rodeo

encontré con mi huasito perfecto :) !!!!!!!!

que lindo!!

i found my perfect cowboy!!! he was soo cute!

en fin, mi dieciocho fue épico y muy divertido!!!!!!!!!!

overall, my september 18th was epic and very fun!

STARBUCKS!

SOOOOOO......starbucks finally made it to Vina!!!! we went our first full day back from San Pedro - el miercoles. it was so refreshing to step into a starbucks where i felt completely at home. everything was the same - the aroma, the decoraciones, la musica, todo. the pastries too! and they had more food that was definitely chilena like palta y ave sandwiches. this starbucks is the biggest one that i have ever ever seen. it was a 2 story house that was converted into a starbucks. huge! but also more expensive than starbucks in the US :( triste. my 'cafe del dia con el sabor de avellana sin azucar' (which ended up being an americano with sugar free hazelnut flavoring because they didn't have just brewed coffee) was $2.050 pesos which is like $3.80 USD. normally my coffee costs $2.35. boo! and i can't pay for this with my Vandy card. so double boo! but here is me (super) happy with my friends and coffee:

and after our lovely coffee date we walked to the movie theater and saw 'la cruda verdad' or the ugly truth. cute movie - gerard butler is the man. none of us were wanting to speak spanish because we spoke english the entire weekend in san pedro so we just continued with our gringa gatherings.....bad i know.

my theme song for SPdA

Lord of all creation
Of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on High

God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy

Lord of heaven and earth (2x)

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble through the darkness
I will call Your name by night

God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy

Lord of heaven and earth (2x)

Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth (3x)

God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord, reveal Your heart to me
Father holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy, holy, holy

Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth (6x)

Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble through the darkness
I will call your name by night

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, holy

Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth

Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord reveal your heart to me
Father holy, holy

The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, holy, holy, holy

Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth

San Pedro de Atacama day 4 (193 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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SPdA day 4

this day started SUPER early at 3:00am . . . yeah. i woke up with a headache. quizas una combinacion del sol y la altitud del dia antes??? we were packed up and ready to go at 4am, got on the van, and drove 2 hours to our destination: el Tatio y los geiseres. it was FREEZING!!!!!!!! like -12 degrees Celsius which is like 10 degrees Fahrenheit. that is cold. especially for a southerner. i was wearing shorts (to swim in the thermal later), windbreaker type pants, and my jeans on the bottom and, on the top, a cami, short sleeve and long sleeve shirt, a fleece, my northface, and my pink windbreaker jacket. i was also wearing gloves and thick socks and i was still freezing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there was a geyser there that had been made by a pipe eruption 3 days before. it is in some of my pictures and you can tell it is man made because it shoots up perfectly without stopping and it was very loud (but you cant tell that from the pic obviously, but it sounds like a train). they are trying to harness geothermal energy - which would be perfect if they could do it - but there is tension too that it might affect the pressure and naturaleza in the park where we were.

there were 2 natural geysers that we saw that follow a 12-16min pattern of erupting. but all on the groud were little pot holes with boiling water! it was soooo cool! you really had to watch where you were going because that water was hot! we had breakfast here too....same as the 2 days before. It is called El Tatio because there is an outline of a man lying down in the mountain - his face, stomach, and feet - and they say he is the grandfather of Christ and that the geysers and water are his tears. interesting.

we then went to bathe in a hot thermal! so fun. by this time the weather had warmed up a bit, which was good. we were able to get into the thermal without freezing to death! but getting out wasnt fun. the water was scalding hot in places and cold in others. it was amazing.

we then started on our way back to San Pedro. we paused to take pictures of the vicunas that were outside our van. vicunas are like a cross between a dear and a llama. they are illegal to hunt because they are an endangered specie and there fur is worth $800USD per kilo. wow! next we stopped at a lake to take pictures - there is a picture of one of the patos making a nest! still very cold - the wind will get you! then we stopped to see more LLAMAS!!!!!!!!! i was even closer this time and i am kicking myself now that i didn't try to pet one. one had earrings and bows in its hair! and there were standing in a little river thing that was half frozen. i love these pictures!

finalmente, we stopped at a cactus reserve. these cacti have to be where there is humidity because they only absorb water through their prickles and not their roots. these cacti only grow 1cm per year. so i took a pic with one that was over 7m tall, so it was over 700 years old! crazy. we were given free time to explore after we were walked down to a waterfall, so i kept climbing down and it was so fun! i kept going down until i made it to this amazing oasis thing and then had to quickly rush back to the van. doable high adventure. my cup of tea :) it is also wierd to think that this is in the desert. i dont really understand it. here is a map of region II in chile, which is the desert of Atacama. so, yes, all of the lagunas and salar y todo esta en el desierto. i circled the city of Calama where we flew into and also la ciudad de San Pedro de Atacama. i underlined the places on the map that we went, but there are more too that just aren't on the map.

we got back at 1:30. had lunch and went back to the hostal to finish packing up and the hostal man drove us to the bus stop at 4pm. i left my stuff with some girls and then headed into town to go to the museum and do some last minute shopping. bought a magnet for my family and some cool copper earrings. we then embarked on our long journey home...bus ride to Calama (crazy ride - i thought the bus was going to break down it was doing such funny things), taxi to airport, flight home, van ride from Santiago to the house!!! got home at 3:10am and my family is so sweet!!!! my mom had put a thermos of hot water and coffee in my room with a pancito de ave y palta. i love my family! mind you too that i had been up since 3am the day before!!!!

funny story: in Calama, before we took our taxis to the airport we went to a nearby grocery store to buy food for dinner. i bought some wheaty crackers and wanted some turkey to go with them...but chile does not sell prepackaged turkey, so i took a number and waited in line to order my pechuga de pavo. when i talked to the lady i said "cincuenta gramos de pechuga cocinada de pavo" and she looked at me like i was crazy.....she was like "cincuenta gramos de pavo"at least that is what i THOUGHT she was saying, but no. she scampered away and came back like 2 whole minutes later carrying 3 WHOLE turkey breasts in her arms!!!!!! i was like NO NO NO quiero un pocito! i have no i dea what she thought i said. she was like, i thought you said cinco lamos.....but i have no idea what she was actually saying. anyways, i ended up with a nice 6 slices of turkey approx. 100 grams. oh dear! and fortunately Colleens was there to watch all of this happen and laugh at me and never let me forget it. we then our food at the airport. the airport is so small - you have to walk out to the plane - that security only opens at certain times like 45 mins before the flight. so we sat outside of security and ate.

San Pedro de Atacama y el desierto de Atacama = a trip that everyone should take. it was amazing.

San Pedro de Atacama day 3 (102 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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SPdA day 3

good morning! up at 5:45am! surprisingly had lots of energia on this trip....

went on our Altiplano trek in the altiplano approaching argentina. we were 4,800 meters above sea level....which means it is really hard to breathe! haha. a little important since we were

trekking 8km. the trip is to walk really slow and chew coca leaves!!!!!!!!! no te preocupes.....the coca leaves only act as a stimulant like cafeina. and it actual helps the lightheaded feeling to go away.

we stopped at ways up the montana and had breakfast. this is where colleens and i took a pic with the ? sign. i have no idea what that sign meant! but it was funny. breakfast was the usual. same as yesterday. it was so windy and today there were no indoor bathrooms....solamente la naturaleza!!!! que divertido! entonces, fuimos un poco mas arriba y stopped at another mirador to see where we would be trekking! it was sooooo cold!!!!!!!!!!!!! we started by this big tall rock that i took lots of pics of and ended down by a laguna with llamas!!!!!!! my first contact with llamas in the wild!

i forgot to mention that the previous 2 days Oscar had given our tours in english (boo!) but today our guide was Ivan and he only spoke spanish! yay! so we ended up walking from about 9:30-2:30 and it was only 8ish km. Ivan guided the way but we had the liberty of exploring and climbing (so fun) whatever rocks our little hearts desired. climbing rocks is fun. also, the rocks on the ground are really cool too! i ended up bringing like a good 2-3lbs of rocks home.....? yeah.

the llamas were soooooo awesome! i got like within 30ft of a llama and now that i think about it i wish i had gone closer. we were the only humans up here. normal tours do not include the altiplano...so it was so sweet to be in God's creation that was really really untouched and uninhabited. today i sung my God is so Big so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God can not do! it was so wierd to see these random huge rocks protruding from the ground in the middle of the desert. i don't understand it.

San Pedro de Atacama day 2 (111 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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SPdA day 2

DIA DOS!!!!!!!!!!

up at 6am and off to la reserva nacional de los flamencos at 7am! the very first thing that i wrote in my journal about this day was "today i know that God created the earth." I felt as if I was standing in a painting; it was nuts. the colors were so intense along with the variation.

we first went to a 'salar' or a salt plane. it was super neato because the salt comes up from the ground. there is natural water that flows under the earth from the andes and the water evaporates in the heat and fors salt structures (you can see pictures of me licking the salt in the photo album!!). It was really wierd to think that in the driest desert in the world there are flamencos standing in lagunas surrounded by a salt flat....what!! it only rains 60-70mm each year in the Atacama Desert....all of the lagunas are formed from underground resources. There were 2 types of flamencos: chileno, all pink, y andino, black on the wings. we also saw in a fish tank the teeny tiny brine shrimp that they eat that turns them pink. They make funny noises too not like a bird. we were also served breakfast there - a nice spread of pan, marmalada, jamon, galletas, cafe y te, pound cake y queso.

we then went to a little village called Socaire where we went to a little church and took pictures. after all of us girls had climbed up the bell tower to take our picture the tour guide, Oscar, told us that the legend is if you climb up the bell tower you will get pregnant. bahah! the indigenas believed that everything in nature had a balance - sun and moon, man and woman, day and night, etc - and this is the reason why the bell tower(man) and the church(woman) are built separately.

next, we traveled to the lagunas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is where my picture at the top is taken. it was breathe taking. hymns just kept playing over and over in my head. God of wonders beyond all majesty, you are holy. i will never be able to sing praises to God again without envisioning this place. volcanos, montanas y crystal blue lagunas all in the same place. just look at the pictures. we had lunch here too, and there is a pic of our lunch spread - tuna, avocado, tomato, pan, queso, jamon, hard boiled eggs, soup, pretzels, bananas, peanuts, raisins, crackers....it was great.

finally we went to the Valle de Jere in Toconao. the valley has one little stream running through it but they have harnessed it so that is waters every part of the valley. pretty neato. again, wierd for the desert. In the city of Toconao i took pics of their church and the 2 llamas roaming around the street. yes that is right, llamas wandering around.

had dinner once we made it into town at a little hole in the wall place. i got Charquican - a dish of the Mapuche (indigenas de chile) - which is like veggies and meat all mixed together served with rice and a huevo. me encanta! i also bought a hat this day while i was in town with a llama on it!!! i will be sporting it in post all of my pics from now on. it was perfect because we had a trek the next day where we were outside for like 7 hours straight in the sun.

took my first shower this night too! hostal showers..... ew but my room and bed were fine. my water was freezing at first but then at the end it was scalding hot - bueno!!!! we also had a fire and hung out and talked for a bit! manana: 6:30am.

my new pic

doesn't it look like i am sitting in a postcard?

San Pedro de Atacama day 1 (90 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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San Pedro de Atacama, Day 1

finally finished packing on thursday sept 10 at 11pm and my dad drove me to Colleen's house, where our van to santiago was picking us up. we baked brownies, of course, and waited til the bus picked us up at 2am. we were in the airport by 4am and our flight was at 5:45am. lovely right??

we arrived in Calama at 7:50ish and took a cab to the bus station where we had tickets for a 10:15 departure to San Pedro de Atacama (SPdA). there were 12 of us in our group, so we took 3 cabs, but only one cab (mine) went to the correct bus station...fortunately the same bus stopped at the other bus station where the other 8 people were right after we left our bus station. we arrived in SPdA at 12ish and the owner of the hostal picked us up. i didn't really know what to expect, but there is a lot of dust in the desert which kinda caught me off guard lol. we got settled and then headed into town for lunch and our first tour at 2:30pm to Death Valley and Valle de la Luna.

Our first stop and first feel for the desert was at a 'mirador' or look out point where we could see down into a valley and see a volcano and take pictures. IMPRESIONANTE! then to death valley where there was a face of a monkey in the side of the cliff (see pics). we then descended a HUGE sand dune with no shoes...so fun!!! i would describe the sand as dry brown sugar. it acted like water when you moved it the granuals were so fine.

then to valle de la luna where we walked around and then climbed up a huge hill to see the sunset. so beautiful. by this point we were so exhausted that we could hardly make it up the hill because we had to trek up the sand....it is very hard to walk uphill in sand. we then returned, had dinner, bought water (we couldn't drink tap water because they have had problems with arsenic in the water...) and walked back to the hostal (about 15mins from downtown). in bed by 10:30 because our next tour was at 7am!

one more before my trip tonight!

okay!!!!!!! so i leave tonight at 2:30am for Santiago, and then we leave Santiago at 5:45am to fly to Calama. we get to Calama at 8:30 and then take a bus to San Pedro de Atacama where we will be staying 4 days, 3 nights. we have 4 tours planned and for those who can read spanish, here they are

1 - Valle de la Luna, salida a las 2:30pm. En gran parte, suaves caminatas guiadas por la colorida geología de la Cordillera de la Sal - sus cañones y dunas; atardecer sobre el cráter central del Valle de la Luna. Regreso San Pedro aprox 7:00pm.

2 - Salar/Lagunas, salida 7am, día completo en la Reserva Nacional Los Flamencos. Visitamos la Laguna Chaxa en el Salar de Atacama (habitat de aves endémicos y migratorios, entre ellos los flamencos rosados), lagunas altiplánicas Miscanti y Miñiques y el pueblo de Toconao con su oasis Quebrada de Jere. llegada aprox. 18:00hrs
Amplio tiempo en cada uno de estos lugares para realizar caminatas, fotografías, en fín: par disfrutar de tres contrastes maravillosos.

3 - Tatio, los geysers, salida 4am. A partir del amanecer, unas tres horas en Tatio para explorar a pie, observando la actividad geotérmica, y para darse un rico baño termal; incluye desayuno también. Camino de regreso, tiempo para disfrutar de los paisajes y variada flora/fauna andina; llegada San Pedro aprox 1pm.

4-Altiplano Trek: Salida 6.30 am, Dia de caminata en la cordillera de los andes, diferentes formas y colores, montañas, como estar en otro planeta. incluye desayuno, almuerzo y racion de marcha; regreso a san pedro aprox. 6.00pm.

we then fly home on monday night at 10:30 and get in to Santiago a las 12:50. so i probably wont be home til 4am. haha! my mom keeps telling me "Sarah, necesita aprovechar!!" which means take advantage of every minute! travel! conocer todo la ciudad! dont sleep! carretear! haha yes she means all of this by say aprovecharse. i love spanish.

also, i started teaching an english class at a local colegio on mondays and i will tell you more about it and my trip once i get back!

peace out.

Rabuco! (114 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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9/4 class trip to Rabuco!

i am sorry i have been such a slacker lately and not blogged in 2.5 weeks! i have just gotten into a groove of everyday life here, so nothing really feels too exciting/worth blogging about. but lots has happened since my last post.

1) i came down with a cold on aug 27 or in spanish "resfriado" and i am just now (sept 10) getting better. so that was annoying, but thankfully i had a round of antibiotics with me so that i didn't have to see a doctor for a sinus infection!

2) my program had a class trip to Rabuco, a teeny tiny town an hour and half outside of Vina. it was very fun! we left at 10am on friday sept 4 and when we arrived we went to a vineyard that grows grapes for both wine and grapes, in spanish "uvas de vino o uvas de la mesa". so don't be surprised if i call them table grapes when i get back! haha. i took lots of pictures and i will post the link next!

there was a moo cow there too! and we also got a tour of the packing plant (reminded me of Lanes Packing) but it is not the "estacion de las uvas" right now, so no packing was going on.

if you look at the pictures, you will see that all of the branches of the grape trees are tied to wires above. this is super importante because the grapes have to be perfect (ie not fall to the ground or be bruised by touching other grape bunches) in order to be shipped to . . . drum roll.... the US of A! the chileans complain that we always get the best of chile's produce! the sell the 2nd rate grapes to the townspeople. :( so maybe it is true. there were women out there tying each branch up to these wires...and they get paid so many pesos per branch they tie.

we then went in at lunch in an outdoor/covered building place...there is a picture of it (a long table in a big room haha) and we had, take a guess, EMPANADAS! all of the gringos adore empanadas and these empanadas were SUPER RICO because there were made from scratch by the lady serving us in an adobe oven. (i took a pic of me standing be the oven!) um yes and i ate 3 empanadas de pino. (meat, onion, hardboiled egg, olive inside yummy bread and then cooked in the oven).

we then watched a couple dance the cueca which is the nation dance of chile. and then they taught us...but i already knew it because it is the main dance we are learning in my clase de danzas tradicionales! pretty sweet. then we toured the area behind where our little picnic was. and this place is where the grow flowers! so all the flower pictures are from little business in the middle of nowhere Rabuco! the ladies were carefully putting one teeny tiny seed in each little inch by inch square of dirt...what a tedious job! but the flowers were really pretty :)

then we played games/relay races. sack race, 3 legged race, tug of war, and hold an egg on a spoon in your mouth race....but my team won the egg race! good story: my friend colleen from vandy and i have this amazingly sarcastic/sisterly love hate relationship and we were on different teams....but we happened to sack race at the same time. she looked over at me while we were going to see if she were beating me and as she did so she tripped and fell on the ground! oh colleens! we then beat her team at the egg race but she beat mine in tug of war. good times.

overall, my rabuco experience = A+!