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

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

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

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.