Home!

So really I've been home for two weeks, but I've been really busy. I thought (well, Roger thought) that it would be a good idea to write about being home.
Honestly, there's not a lot to write about. It's the strangest feeling because not a lot has changed here, whereas I feel like I spent my entire exchange year changing. It's almost like I never left, or like I just went for a week vacation. I think I am still kind of in shock that it's over. I don't yet realize that I'm not going to see all my friends at school the next day.
The worst part about leaving was, obviously, the goodbyes. I think the hardest part was the fact that my class, being as amazing as they are, decided to give my five going away parties. It all started with my closest classmates a week before I left, then a party at school during our last block on Friday with my whole class. On Saturday there was another party with the whole class at a friends house. I wasn't planning to go to school Monday, because I left Wednesday, but was told I had to because my teachers and classmates wanted to do a going away ceremony for me with the whole school. That was one of the most amazing experiences of my exchange. That would never happen at Scona, and it just showed me how much they thought I really was part of the school. Then, finally, on Monday night at a classmate's house, we had one final goodbye party, because I would be leaving Tuesday morning for La Serena to catch my plane early Monday morning. It was so sweet of them to do all that, but it also just got harder and harder to say goodbye each time. And then, on Wednesday at the airport, all my exchange student friends from La Serena and Ovalle came to say goodbye to me and Christina, who was also a student who was leaving that day. It was so hard to say goodbye to them, but even harder to say goodbye to my host mom.
But, as hard as the goodbyes were, it was an amazing feeling to arrive home in the airport in Edmonton. It was so strange to see everything look the same, almost exactly, as when I left. My first order of business after arriving home? Sleeping. I hadn't slept most of the almost 12 hour plane ride from Santiago to Toronto, and of course it was impossible to sleep once I was in the plane on my way to Edmonton. After a nice nap, my friend came over to my house and picked me up and we went back to my highschool to say hi to people. Being back in my highschool after so long was weird, and it felt like I had never left at all.
And although it is still hard when I think about not seeing all the amazing people I have met in Chile soon, I will always keep in touch with them. I hope to go back to Chile one day, and to the other home countries of my exchange friends. Now I just have to get a job and save some money...

The End :(

So, I just got back from my final orientation in Iquique, in the north of Chile. It was only really a day and a half, way to short, and it went by so fast. It was also the district conference of District 4320, which meant we had to go to a meeting and say a few words in front of the presidents of each club of the district, which covers everything north of Santiago in Chile. We only went to the one meeting, and because there are 19 of us, we did not speak long, just where we were from and where we live in Chile, and the meeting we went to was only 2 hours or so. The rest of the time, we just basically got to spend time with the other exchange students, because it was the last time we would see each other.

We also got to go to the Zofri, or the Zona Franca, which is the mall of entirely tax-free shopping. We were there for about 3 hours, a long time, but it also gave us time to hang out all together. I think the weirdest part about the Zofri that I noticed was the fact that it really didn't have a roof. It basically just had a tarp overtop to make shade. Then I remembered where we were. Iquique is in the middle of the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world, and it NEVER rains. So, obviously they don't really need a roof. Besides the Zofri, we didn't really have time to do a lot of other sight seeing. We all arrived Saturday morning around 1 am and had to leave to the airport or bus station around 4:30 on Sunday. It was a short trip, but I'm glad we had time to spend together one last time.

A few people went home in plane, but we (all the people living in Ovalle, La Serena, Copiapó and Vallenar) had to go in bus. That was because Rotary could not find us flights home. We were travelling on the 18th of May, and the 21st is Battle of Iquique Day, one of the biggest, maybe THE biggest national holidays in Chile. It is the day when Chile won the Pacific war with Peru and took all the land north of Iquique from them. Everyone travels on or around that day, so there were no empty flights for us. That meant we went home on bus, a looooong 21 hour bus ride through the desert, which really, is nothing. Just a lot of sand and really flat land. We left at 6:30 pm on Sunday afternoon and Nikolaj and I arrived at Ovalle, the last stop, around 3:30 pm on Monday. Luckily a lot of it was durin the night, so I slept a lot of the way, but not confortably. I remember waking up once and looking outside, and it was just flat and sand everywhere. I could actually see a lot, because that night also happened to be a full moon. I felt kind of like I was in Aladdin :P

I posted a few pictures of the trip on Facebook and you can view them here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115790&l=8ef59&id=841485230

So, that was my trip. Definitely short, but well worth it. And since this may be my last entry here in Chile, I thought I'd just say a few things about my exchange year.

I was not sure at all what to expect when I got here. It was a especially hard for me, because at the Spring Orientation in Canada, there were no returning students from Chile, so I really didn't know a lot about what I was getting myself into. Even though Chile is probably the most well-off country in South America, it is a completely different life-style, and one that I got used to almost immediately. Everyone is so kind and open, and the daily pace of life is so calm. Although it still annoys me, I have gotten used to the fact that when someone tells you to meet them somewhere at 5, it really means between 5 and 6. And, even though I have missed spicy food, I looooove the food here. These are just a few of the MANY differences I have experienced this year. And, although there have been hard times, and even harder times, this year has definitely been the best year of my life. I was sad at first when I realized the choice was do this exchange or graduate with my friends back home, since I would be too old to do the exchange next year, and as hard as that decision was for me, it was well worth it and I would not change it for the world. I have met such amazing people this year, both my Chilean friends and family and other exchange students, and although it will be one of the hardest things I have to do to say goodbye to them all, I know I will keep in touch with everyone. This sounds really cliché, but this year really has changed my life and I will never ever forget the places I went and the people I met here. And for that, I want to thank both my host families here in Chile, all my friends, Chilean and exchange, but mostly I want to thank Rotary in Canada and my real family for giving me a chance to do something as amazing as this. Muchas Gracias!!

¡¡¡VIVA CHILE!!!

Peru!!!! (Cuzco)

We got to Cuzco at around 10:00 the next morning and the first thing I noticed was less humidity than Lima (which often has 100% humidity but almost never rains) and that my heart was pounding like I had just been running. It took me a while to figure out it was from the altitude. We were at around 3300 m above sea level (Edmonton is under 700 m.) I also started to feel sick and had a headache. Luckily we had nothing planned for that first day in the morning, so I just slept. When I woke up, my body was used to the altitude, and I felt alot better, but heart kept beating really hard the entire 4 days we were there. Even just walking around made it pound like I had run a marathon. In the afternoon, we went on a city tour of Cuzco. Our first stop was the Plaza de Armas, the central plaza of Cuzco. It had two curches, which is strange for any plaza in South America, normally they only have one. We went into the bigger one. We were not allowed to take pictures, but I wish I could have. There were about 20 alters all over the giant cathedral and all of them were covered in gold or silver or both. And they were huge some of them over 2 stories high, covered completely in gold. It was really beautiful. After the church, we took the bus to another monastery. In the central courtyard of the monastery had been built various room and small temples to show tourists Incan construction like that at Machu Picchu. After the monastery, we went outside Cuzco to where there were Incan ruins. First, we saw the ruins of a giant temple where they hold the Festival of the Sun during the winter soltice in July. We also went to a cave where they found the first tattoed mummy from the Incas. Then, we took the bus to another temple where there were three fountains that are still working from Incan times. There, we were over 3500 m above sea level. My host brother, who was still not used to the altitude, decided it was a good idea to run up the hill to the temple, and almost fell over at the top. If you drink from the fountains, depending on which one, you get youth, knowledge or fertility.
The next day was what I had been looking forward to the entire trip. We got up aroun 4am to go to the train station to Machu Picchu!! I was ok getting up too early, I was too excited to be tired. The train ride was about 4 hours, to the town of Aquas Calientes, the last little town before Machu Picchu. You can only take the train there, because otherwise there would waaaay too many tourists there. From Aquas Calientes, we took a bus for about 30 mintues in a zig-zag up the mountain to Machu Picchu. It was so beautiful, right in the middle of the jungle. Because of all the trees, you couldn't really see much of the ruins until you were right in the front gates, then suddenly, you could see them all. They were huge, way bigger than I ever thought they were. I decided to go in an English tour separate from my mom and brother to give myself a break. Our tour guide was really good, and knew alot. But most important was how amazing the ruins were. They were so beautiful. I still don't understand how they built something that huge on the side of a mountain, out of such huge rocks. Our tour lasted about 3 hours. I really wanted to stay longer, to see more, but we had to get back to Aquas Calientes to eat lucnh before the train came. But, hopefully I will get to go back. :) We got back to Cuzco at night and I went to bed right away, I was so exhausted from all the walking and climbing.
The next day, around 9am, we were picked up for our last tour. We went to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. That was the route they took to get to Machu Picchu, so there were lots of ruins. First we went to the town of Pisac, to a market. There, they raised guinea pigs to eat!! I never ate one, but apparently they are delicious. We did a tour through the entire valley, through all the little towns where the "campesinas" (country people) live and grow over 50 types of corn and potatoes. We stopped at a buffet restaurant for lunch. Across the road was a store that sold things made from alpaca wool. It was all so soft, and really expensive. After lunch, we went to what I call Mini Picchu because I can't remember the name of it :P It looked a lot like Machu Picchu, but smaller. We climbed to the top, and you could see the entire Sacred Valley. It was beautiful. After the ruins, we went to a town to another traditional market and an old church. In the market, they sold popcorn covered in sugar. The popcorn was made of white corn from the valley, and the kernals are 4 or 5 five times bigger than normal corn, so the popcorn was giant, almost as big as a small plum, and sooooo good. I bought two bags of it and ate it all :) We took the bus back to Cuzco and by the time we arrived, it was dark.
Monday, our last full day in Cuzco, was a free day. I went with my mom to the plaza and the market one last time. We ate at a restaurant at the plaza that made pizza in a giant mud oven, that made the pzza crust really crispy. We left at 7 the next morning from the airport in Cuzco. When we got to Lima around 8, I realized my heart had suddenly stopped beating hard. It was so strange how it just immediatly slowed down when I got off the plane. We had the whole day to wait, because the only flight to Lima was at 9 at night. We went to a hotel in Old Lima and I slept and read almost the whole time. We ate lunch at the plaza, and I had one last glass of Chicha Morada. At 7, we were picked up for our flight. I thought we should have gone earlier, because the traffic was crazy in Lima at that time, but we were on time (barely) for the flight. We got back to Santiago around 2 Chilean time (one hour ahead of Peru).
I was exhausted from the trip, but it was soooo amazing, especially Machu Picchu. It went way too fast, and I really hope I get to go back some day.
Instead of uploading a few photos, you can look at this album I made of my photos of Peru:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111197&l=abdb0&id=841485230

Peru!!!!!!!!! (Lima)

Just when I thought my exchange was winding down, I got a nice surprise. I was supposed to go on a trip to Brazil with my class in January, but was unable to go. Since the travel agency still had my money, my host mom and I decided to use that money to go to Peru!! I have always wanted to go to Peru, especially this year, being so close.
We left last Tuesday for Santiago. On Wednesday morning, at 6am, the plane was supposed to leave, but seeing as we were in Chile, it did not leave until 6:45. The plane ride was under three hours and went really quickly. We got breakfast (I ate waffles mmmmm) and a snack. We arrived at around 10:30 at Lima. The first thing I noticed was that while Chile is technically a third world country but it is hard to tell, you can tell that Peru is one. It was a lot more crowded in the city and kind of dirty. I still love it, although I think I almost died about 10 times just driving from the airport to our hotel in the newer area of Lima, Miraflores. In Peru they say the drive by "La ley de la selva" or the law of the jungle, and it sure seemed like it. For such a big city, it had very few traffic lights, and the ones that existed were basically ignored 80% of the time. I got used to it by the 3rd day, but it really scared me at first, and my host mom hated it.
The first day we had lunch at the mall right on the coast, Larcomar, at a Tony Roma's overlooking the beach. After lunch, we had a city tour. There were 15 other people on the tour with us, most of them from English speaking countries. It was so strange after so much time surrounded by Spanish to suddenly be in a group of all Enlish speakers. The tour took us through the area of Miraflores and then down the main highway to Old Lima. It reminded me a lot of old European cities. It was beautiful. We went to the central plaza, the oldest in Lima, and saw the old government building and the oldest church in Lima. After that, we walked to the oldest pub in Lima, El Cordeno, which has been open sincs 1905. There, we tried a popular Peruvian drink, Chicha Morada, a juice made of purple corn, sugar and lemon juice among other things. I really didn't like it the first time, but when I had it after that, it started the grow on me. After the pub, we went to the first monastery of Lima. We got to see all the wall murals that have been around for a hundred years or more. Then, we went underground to the catacombs of the monastery. Here, the priests and wealthy families of Lima were burried, over43000 of them. Because of earthquakes, none of the bodies were still intact, but arqueologists found the bones and they are all still underground in the tunnels. That night, we went to the restaurant Junios, where they had a live show of all the traditional Peruvian dances. It was also an all you can eat buffet of Peruvian food, so all around a good night. I love Peruvian food, because it is spicy and in Chile there is really no spicy food, and I have missed it a lot. There were a lot of dances, the show lasted over 2 hours, but I really liked it.
The next day, we had another tour, this time to the pyramids of the Incas outside Lima, called Pachacamac. They actually also belonged to three other native groups years before the Incas, but were expanded and rebuilt by the Incas most recently. They were about 15 minutes outside Lima, on the edges of the Atacama desert, the same desert in the north of Chile where Iquique and Arica are located. We saw a palace, and two temples, the temple of the sun and the temple of the moon. The moon temple is where all the Incan women live until they are chosen by the Incan king to be one of his brides, or to be a sacrifice. The women thought being chosen as a sacrifice was the highest honor, which I thought was strange. The sacrifices took place on the top of the sun temple. We got back from the tour in the afternoon. I had a nap and at night went with my mom to a restaurant, another buffet that had a dance show. We didn't stay long, though, because we had to get on a plane the next morning to go to Cuzco at 9 the next morning.

My Birthday Weekend

So, not only was this my 18th birthday, but even better, I got to celebrate it in Chile!! I guess I will start off on Thursday night, which wasn't really part of my birthday, but definately a fun part of the weekend. At midnight (or so they said, but it was actually more like 1am) I went to my school to meet the people in my class who are studying biology. We took the bus together with the biologists from the class below us to Santiago, about a 6 hour bus drive. We got to the city around 8 am, after stopping for breakfast at a gas station (mmmmm.) Then, we drove through the morning traffic to the Museo de Historia Natural. We got there around 9, and surprise! we were early!! We had to wait in the park outside the museum until it opened at 10. Inside the museum was the regular stuff you'd expect to find at a Museum of Natural History, lots of animal bones and stuff. I really like museums, so I enjoyed it. We also got a tour of a new section at the museum about copper, the mining of which is a very important part of the economy. There, there was a map of where else in the world you could find copper and my class got a could laugh out of the fact that the only part completely empty was north america. Until I told them that we have diamonds in Canada.
After the museum, we went to the mall Parque Arauco, the well known "rich" mall in Santiago. It was like being back home, with the Starbucks, McDonalds, Zara and yes! Yogen Fruz!! We ate lunch there and after, at 2, we went across the road to where the Bodies exhibit was. The Bodies exhibit is an exhibit of human bodies, and parts of bodies on display, and all of it is real. I have been really excited to see this, and it was so amazing! I was never expecially interested in Biology before I saw this, but now I am excited for Bio next year! Afterwords, we had an hour in the mall again (I, of course had my Starbucks) and then we met at the bus to go home. The trip home seemed fast, because I slept all the way. It was a short trip, but sooo much fun.
On Saturday morning, I slept in. At 1 I woke up and showered, and went down for a little family BBQ. My mom decided to celebrate my birthday on Saturday because she knew my friend Christina was coming from La Serena to celebrate with me, but would have to leave in the morning on Sunday. At 2, not only did Christina arrive, but she brought four other of my friends from La Serena, Nynne, Kate, Heidi and Kelsey. It was a really nice surprise. We ate a huge BBQ. After, I took them on a little walking tour of Ovalle, which took an entire 30 minutes. I took them to a little ice cream shop that is famous in Chile because it is one of the only ones that makes cinnamon ice cream. I am really going to miss that. My sister Xime took me to have it on my first day here and I've been hooked ever since.
At night, we had tea and my cake. My friends and my mom and I decorated the living room, Even though we weren't really having a party in the house. My host mom gave me a necklace for my birthday, that had my picture engraved in it and said Felicidades Chile and my birthday on the back. It was so sweet of her to get me something so nice for my birthday, even though I am not her real daughter. After singing happy birthday, me and my friends got ready to go out. We went to my friend Loreto's house, where my class threw me a party! It was a lot of fun. I especially loved having all my friends, exchange and Chilean, together for my birthday. My friends left on Sunday. It was a short visit, but so much fun. And definately an unforgettable 18th birthday!!

Valle del Encanto

So my mom told me a while ago that she would love to see how I write in Spanish. She suggested that I write an entry in Spanish and English (and I am glad to show off :) So here goes:

La fin de semana pasada, una de mi mejores amigos de La Serena (en realidad de los Estados Unidos) vino a Ovalle a visitarme. Pensé que fuimos a difrutarnos en Ovalle, tal vez ver películas y comer mucho, como un "sleepover." Pero el Sábado, mi mamá nos sorpendió con un viajecito por el día. Nos dijo que fuimos a ir al Valle del Encanto, pero no dijo nada más. No tenía idea que erá el Valle del Encanto, pero sonó interesante. Fuimos en auto 15 minutos afuera de Ovalle con mi mamá, mi hermana la Daniela, y mi sobrino el David. Llegamos a un portón simple, y no tenía idea donde estuvimos.

Entramos y en primer, no ví nada especial. Erá un valle, muy lindo, es cierto, dentro del desierto, pero nada muy distinto que he visto en Chile hasta ahora. Pero cuando bajamos del auto y fuimos caminando a unas rocas grandes, ví algo en las rocas. Mi mamá me dijo que erán petroglifos de los Incas!! En primer, ví una o dos rocas con petroglifos, pero de repente, ví que casi todas las rocas los tenían. Erán muy lindos y no tenía idea que había algo así tan cerca de Ovalle.

Tamién, fuimos caminando por el otro lado del valle, donde habían rocas gigantes y un baño de Incas. Entramos en cuevos grandes también, todos de los Incas. Fuimos en total como dos horas, pero nunca había visto algo así en mi vida, y me gustó mucho. Creo que erá una de las cosas mas bakan de mi intercambio hasta ahora!!

And now in English...

This past weekend, one of my good friends from La Serena, well, actually from the USA, came to visit me in Ovalle. I assumed we were going to just have a good time in Ovalle, maybe watch some movies, have a sleep over-type weekend. But on Saturday my mom surprised us with a little day trip. She told us we were going to the Valle del Encanto (or Echanted Valley.) I had no idea what the Enchanted Valley was, but it sounded interesting. We went by car about 15 minutes outside of Ovalle with my mom, sister Daniela, and nephew David. We arrived at a simple, old gate and I had no idea where we were.

We entered the Valley, and at first, I didn´t see anything. It was a really pretty green calley, surrounded by desert, but nothing much different from what I have seen so far in Chile. But when we got out of the car and walked to these big rocks that were there, I saw there was something in the rocks. My mom told me they were hyrogyfics, left there by the Incas!! At first I was amazing at the one or two that I sawy, but suddenly I realised there were more. Almost every rock in view had some kind of drawing on it. There were really pretty and I had no idea there was something so cool so close to Ovalle.

We also went walking to the other side of the Valley where there HUGE rocks and an Incan bath!! In Spanish, baño means both bathtub and bathroom so at first I though we were going to see an Incan toilet, so I was really excited :) but it turns out it was an Incan bath, which was still really cool, because it was a huge, almost perfectly round hole in a rock. We also saw I giant Incan caves. We were only there a couple of hours, but I had never seen anything like that in my life and I liked it a lot. I think it was one of the coolest things I have seen in Chile so far.

The photos are from the top:

Kate and I next to one of the hyroglyfics

Kate and I in a giant crack between rocks

David being "eaten" by a rock shaped like a fish

Kate, David and I in the Incan "bathtub"

Kate and I on top of a giant rock. Yes those two spots up there are us.

Family Vacation to the South

I have been really lucky with the family I am staying with here in Chile. They have taken me on some really great vacations to La Serena, Viña del Mar, Olmué and more. My favorite vacation so far is the one that I just got back from. I went with my mom, sister Alejandra and brother Pedro to go visit my oldest sister, Paty, where she lives in a town called Futaleufu.

We first went to Santiago to pick up my sister Alejandra who lives and works there. We were there for two nights. Friday night my mom took me and my two sisters to El Giratorio, which is the big restaurant in downtown Santiago that spins slowly, like the one in Edmonton. I got an amazing view of Santiago at night. And the food was delicious. After that, my mom took us to a Cuban dance club where we listed to Cuban music and watched people dance. Saturday morning, we went to the Virgen on Santiago, which is a giant statue of the virgen on a hill above Santiago. It is bigger than the Christ statue in Rio de Janeiro Brasil. It took us 30 minutes to drive up the hill. In the afternoon we went to Fantasylandia, the only really amusment park in Chile. It was small, but a lot of fun.

We left early on Sunday morning, at 5:30 am for the airport. We got through security and were wating to board at 6:30. The flight was supposed to leave at 7:00. But and 7:15, they told us there were climate problems at our destination, Puerto Montt, and they would update us in an hour. At 8:15, they told us the same thing. They told us this 3 more times until finally, at 11:30 we were told there was a big forrest fire outside Puerto Montt but that the smoke had cleared and we could finally board the plane. After waiting for 5 hours in the airport, the flight was only 1 hour and 20 minutes. We got to Puerto Montt and had to rush to a small private airport where we took a little mini plane with 6 other people. The flight was half and hour, over a big lake and mountains. It was a really beautiful view.

We arrived in the town of Chaitén and were greeted by my sister Paty and a friend of hers. From there, we had to drive 3 hours to the town Futaleufu through very windy roads. The drive actually took us 4 hours because we kept stopping to take pictures of the scenery. It was beautiful, and made me feel like I was back in the mountains in Canada. When we arrived, even the town reminded me of Jasper, only a lot smaller. It wad definately the prettiest town I´ve seen so far in Chile. All the other cities or towns I´ve been through are kind of dirty, but I´ve gotten used to it.

On Monday, we went to a river to go swimming. It was the clearest most clean water I´ve ever seen, except maybe the rivers in the mountains in Canada. But those are too cold to swim in. This river was cold at first but once you got used to it, it was amazing. On Tuesday, we went on a walk to a waterfall. Paty´s husband Roberto told us it was a 5 minute walk on a nice path, but it turned out it was 45 minute trek through a river. By the end, my feet were so numb because the river was so cold, and I was just walking through the water. We got to the little mini waterfall and took pictures. Then Roberto and Pedro went swimming under it, in the ice cold water. Roberto told me that I had to go swimming too, because I was from Canada and therefore was used to the cold. I finally went under, and it was freezing.

On Wednesday, we went across the border to a town in Argentine called Esquel. We went to the centre to go shopping, then to the grocery store to buy food, because it is so much cheaper there. While we were driving back, there was a huge forest fire near the road. When we drove through the smoke, the entire sky was orange and you couldn´t see the sun. We got back in the afternoon and at 5, we went rafting on the River Espolón. There are two rafting rivers in this area. The other one, River Futaleufu, is way more advance rapids. I really wanted to go on that one, but we went with the whole family, including my two host nieces, who are young. It was still a lot of fun, though.

Thursday we went to another river to go swimming. It was actually kind of cold that day, so I didn´t go. And it also rained for the first time since my first day of school here in Chile!! I was so excited to see rain, but my family didn´t really understand why. Friday we relaxed the whole day, until the afternoon. I went for a walk with my mom and two sisters to a cemtery. On they way, we found hundreds of blackberries, which we picked and made a pie with. Saturday we climbed a big hill called Cerro de la Bandera. It was a really tough climb, and the path was not very good, so we basically had to walk through the bushes to get to the top. The view at the top was amazing though. We took lots of photos and on the way back, Roberto and Pedro swam in a freezing cold river.

Sunday we had a bbq with some Australians my mom had met the day before. One of them spoke spanish and so she invited them over for lunch. That is the thing I love most about Chile. People are so friendly. In Canada, you would never invite random tourists to your house for lunch, but here, it is no problem. I talked to them alot and helped translate for them. It made me realize how much spanish I actually know, because I could translate everything instantly.

We left Monday morning for Chaitén to take the mini plane back to Puerto Montt. In Puerto Montt, we went for lunch at a fish market (the best seafood I´ve had in Chile) and walked around the local crafts market, where they sold lots of clothing made of sheep, llama, and alpaca wool. Tuesday we went for lunch at a really nice restaurant that was built over the water. I ate the most delicious shrimp-filled crepes ever. We left Tueday afternoon for the airport and made our way back to Santiago, without mishaps, by plane. We stayed for the night in Santiago and drove back to Ovalle this morning.

I had so much fun on my trip. It was really relaxing, and my entire summer vacation was a lot of fun, but I am really excited to go to school tomorrow.

Photos:

1-Pedro, Paty, Alejandra, my mom and I at the River Futaleufu on the drive from Chaitén

2-Me at the mini waterfall we walked to

3-My host neice Camila and I rafting

4-At the top of the Cerro de la Bandera with Pedro, Camila and Roberto

5-My mom and I in Puerto Montt beside the giant statue overlooking the harbour

Summer Vacation

I wrote this entry about three weeks ago, but for some reason it never uploaded. So here it is:

So, I have about three weeks left of summer vacation, so I thought I should update everyone. After my last entry for New Years, I went home to Ovalle. I was supposed to go on a school trip to Brazil but couldn´t because I was told that I didn´t need a separate visa to get into Chile, but I did. It was sad that I couldn´t go, but I did some really fun things instead.

First, I went to an all inclusive resort in a town called Olmué, near Viña del Mar. It was beautiful there, with 5 pools, indoor and outdoor, hot tubs, saunas, buffets and a lot more. Plus all the free ice cream I could want. Surprisingly though, I actually lost weight that week. I think it might have been because I was allowed to choose my own food and portion sizes at meals, whereas at home, the maid serves the meals and gives me huge portions. I went with just my mom. Most of the days we spent lying by the pool or walking around the resort. On the third day, we went to Viña. It was beautiful. I got to see the famous Reloj de Flores, which is a giant clock on the side of a hill made of flowers, and it actually works. We also went to the mall, and while we were there, we ran into two friends of mine that live in a neardy town, Quilpué. They came the next day to the resort for the day. That was definately the most fun day. We participated in a lot of activites, the aquabox, dance lessons, and I sang karaoke. I also played a poker game and won second against all men.

On our way back to the resort we went to Santiago. We picked up my grandma, aunt and cousin and went to Ovalle. We only stayed in Ovalle for a day, then went to the apartment in La Serena. It was so nice to be in a city by the beach, because Ovalle is so hot right now, and there is never any wind. We stayed in La Serena for two and a half weeks. I went on a boat tour from Coquimbo to a little rock island full of sea lions. They were cute, in an ugly way, but smelt terrible. We ate a lot of sea food, fresh from the fish market in Coquimbo, caught every morning from the ocean. It was so good. I also went out with friends sometimes, to the mall or the beach. I went two times to Guanaqueros to meet friends and hang out on the beach there.

We just got back from La Serena this week. I haven´t done alot, because my family works, and like most brother, my host brother spends most of his time on the computer. Being home for so much time with my family, I am really learning a lot about families in Chile. The dad is definately the head of the house, and doesn´t do much work at all. Well, in the case of my family he really doesn´t do anything. I usually help my mom cook on Sundays went the maid isn´t here. It really bugged me in the beginning that this was how things are, because I am not at all used to it, but I have accepted it now. I still don´t like it and will be glad to be home in a family that shares all the chores evenly. The kids here are in general very spoiled by their moms. Also, I have noticed that maturity wise, they are a few years behind most people their age in Canada. Most of my friends here are 16 or 17, but they seem a lot younger than me. I think it is because their mothers do almost everything for them here. I don´t really look on it negatively, but it´s definately a big cultural difference.

I will be spending the next few weeks here in Ovalle, or in La Serena, and I intend to take advantage of my last weeks of summer. Not that school is exactly stressfull for me here...

New Years in Chile

Chile being a mainly Catholic country, I assumed that Christmas would be the biggest celebration of the year. I was wrong, though, New Years is definately the biggest, at least for my family. My family owns an apartment in La Serena, where we were planning on celebrating New Years. I went home to Ovalle to get more clothes on the 30th, and came back late on the 31st. On the drive to La Serena, we kept driving by these stuffed dummies on the side of the road. My mom explained that they are dressed in clothes from the old year, and at midnight, they get burned. By the time we got through all the traffic (La Serena is apparently a very popular place to celebrate New Years) it was almost 10:00. In Canada, we would be well into New Years celebrating by then, but in Chile, as always, everything starts later.

We had a big family dinner, with all my host siblings, a friend of my sister, and my exchange friend from Ovalle, Nicole. It was an all-seafood meal, which I loved. We had muscles and this shrimp cocktail type thing, then this big peice of white fish called reineta, which is really popular here, with tomato and seafood sauce. It took us until almost midnight to eat it all. We did the countdown, then at midnight, exactly (the only time things are on time here) the fireworks started. Also, we had to eat a spoonful of lentils for luck in love, and 12 grapes for luck in each month of the new year. We all quickly did this, then ran outside the apartment to watch the fireworks. There were three sets, all along the beach and one in Coquimbo, the city right next to La Serena.

After the fireworks, we went back to the apartment to dance some cumbia. Not the national dance of Chile, but a very popular dance in Chile, especially at New Years. Around 1:00, my exchange student friends all came. There was Nynne from Denmark, and Christina, Kate and Hanna from the USA. It was Kate´s birthday, and my mom knew that, so she brought her a cake from Ovalle. We ate her cake before we headed to the beach, where the party was just starting. There, we partied with my friends and family until 7:30am! We wanted to stay up to watch the sun rise, but the morning was too cloudy, so we couldn´t even see it.

It was a really fun celebration, and I´m so excited to see what the New Year brings for me in Chile.