Chilean Christmas

This Christmas was my first Christmas away from my family and away from Canada. It was strange, because the one thing that I connect with Christmas is snow. Christmas and winter are synonomous to me. Being on the opposite side of the equator this year, Christmas is in summer. Not only was there no snow, but it was actually 25º on Christmas day.

Christmas here is celebrated mainly the day before, on the 24th. Here they celebrate up until midnight on the 24th. We had a big family dinner that night, and went to the plaza to watch a play on the birth of Jesus. I thought it was pretty funny that I went to watch this show outside at 10:00 at night in my capris and sandals on Christmas Eve. Maybe the only time I´ll ever do that, and definately the first time for me. Technically, we were supposed to open presents at midnight, but my host nephew was tired, so we ended up opening them around 11. None of the presents were labeled as from anybody, they were all from "Viejito Pascuero", Santa. Which means that you never find out exactly who your presents were from. Like Secret Santa. On Christmas day, we basically just slept a lot, ate a big lunch (not because it was Christmas day, but because we´re in Chile.) It was strange that we didn´t do anything special for Christmas day. I got a pair of sandals and a bag and some candy. But the most excited gift was the puppy that my sisters bought for my mom. A 2-month old cocker spaniel named Laicy.

The actual day isn´t as important here as the days leading up to Christmas. There are no Christmas charities in Ovalle, so my mom buys gifts and candy herself and takes them to small schools in the country. I went with her this year, and they were literally one-room schools. The one we went to was grades 1-8 but was only 8 people. For lunch, they all go together to one of the student´s house for a homemade meal, since there is no where for hours around to buy food. It felt good to do something charitable for Christmas, since I wasn´t home to do Santa´s Anonymous this year.

The End of the End-Punta Arenas

So, the day we were going to Punta Arenas, we got up later than most days (finally.) On our way back to Punta Arenas, we stopped at a little Chilean-style petting zoo. There, we saw penguins, ostriches, emus, llamas. Basically all the things in we saw in the wild, but we could touch some of them. We stayed there for lunch, too. We ate lamb (delicious) and really really good potato salad :) After that, we went to watch them shear a sheep. It doesn´t look fun. They have to hold it down really hard because the sheep are trembling so much. There was another sheep waiting in the pen while one was getting sheared, and it freaked out and jumped the fence, it was so scared. They don´t hurt the sheep, the sheep just hate it (Jazz getting her nails clipped...)



After that was the part I had been waiting for the whole trip. We got to go see wild penguins. The ones we saw are called Magellan Penguins, and they are only found here, in the south of Chile. They don´t live in snow, either, but in grassy field type things near the ocean. They were sooooo cute, and when the got excited they would try to run and it was so cute. We stayed and watched them for a good hour, and no one wanted to leave.



On our last full day in Punta Arenas, we went to the third most famous cemetery in the world (behind the one in Paris, which I have also been to, and another one somewhere.) We got 20 minutes to walk around and look at the graves. They weren´t like normal graves, though. They were like small homes, with front gardens and everything, and fences. Most of them had entire families in them. After the cemetery, we went to a park to take pictures and relax. After a quick stop at the hotel for a huge lunch, we went to the duty free area of Punta Arenas, called la Zona Franco. We had two hours to shop there, and wander around. That night, we had a little farewell to Punta Arenas party with the whole group and the chaperones.



On our last last day, we went to a view point that overlooked Punta Arenas and the Ocean. There, there were three tall pilars with little wooden signs that people had made pointing to different cities or countries around the world. They also said the distance to each place. It was a little disappointing, because there was not a single one from Canada. So I guess that mean I HAVE to go back so I can bring a sign to point toward Edmonton. :) After that, we went to a little market nearby. We also went to the plaza in La Serena where we had to kiss the foot of a statue for good luck. We ate one last lunch in the restaurant, and then headed off the airport. Back in Santiago, most people stayed together to go to the bus station. Some were picked up at Santiago, because they lived nearby, and two were taking the plane to farther cities. We went as a big group to the bus station. Of course, me and Nikolaj, being the first to leave Ovalle at the very beginning of the trip, had the very last bus out of Santiago that night, at half past midnight, after waiting 3 hours in the bus terminal. It was boring, but I´d say we got the best deal for our money, because we got the longest trip! ;)

My Trip to the End of the World-Puerto Natales

So, after all that waiting around and the delayed flight and the insanely early bus ride, we were finally in Punta Arenas. The thing with the Punta Arenas airport is that the run way is facing out to the ocean, away from where we came. So when we arrived, we had to go past Punta Arenas, essentially heading toward Antarctica, and do a complete 180º to land at the airport. Over the ocean, with really really strong wind. I have been flying quite a few times, so it didn´t bother me, but not all the passengers were too happy with the turbulence or the hairpin turn.

When we landed, we went straight to our bus, which was basically our home on wheels for the whole trip. We met "Tio" John, our guide. The direct translation of tio is uncle, but in Chile they use it as a respectful term. Like Mr. So we met our guide, who was our guide for the whole trip. Our first stop was lunch in Punta Arenas, at the restaurant at the hotel where we would be staying. The plates were huge even for Chile. Then, we were off to our first city, Puerto Natales, a small touristy town a few hours north of Punta Arenas, where we stayed for the first 3 nights. On our way to Puerto Natales, we stopped at La Cueva del Milodón. That´s a huge cave where the found fossils of a thing called a Milodón, like a prehistoric bear. It took us about 20 minutes to walk through the cave, that was how big it was.

After the cave, we arrived in Puerto Natales. We got a chance to walk around the town. It was really touristy, and I think I heard more English and German than Spanish. Our second day was the day long bus tour through Torres del Paine. It sounds kind of boring, but it was actually so much fun. Torres del Paine is the second largest national park in Chile, centered around this mountain that looks like two giant towers (torres.) We saw a lot of wild animals, like wild ostriches, emus, llamas, alpacas, foxes and guanacos (similar to alpacas.) We also saw a lot of lakes. There were two distinct colors to the lakes. Some were really really blue, and others were sea green. The greener ones had a lot more salt in them, as we found when we were told to taste them. There was one lake that we went to that had both colors in it, and you could see the line where the two colors were separated. We also went to a waterfall that fed glacier water into one of the lakes. The last thing we did that day was see ice burgs. I have never seen them before, and had no idea that they are blue. Like really really blue. Because of how compact the ice is. There were about 10 huge iceburgs just floating on the lake. Then, at the far end of the lake, there was a giant glacier.

The next day, we went on a boat ride to a glacier. Or, we were supposed to. The boat ride was 3 hours each way, and it was extremely windy when we got into the middle of the ocean. These tours are always done with two boats, in case something should happen to one boat. Our group had one boat, and the other boat was a group of elderly German tourists. It all seemed fine, until we were about 2 hours in and the other boat had to turn around. The people on the other boat were all sea sick. Because they turned around, we had to too. It was disappointing, but the boat ride was still fun. At one point, me and a girl named Chelsea bundled up and braved the outer deck. I never did figure out if it was raining, or just so windy that the wind was blowing up sea water, but it was really really windy. We had to hold onto the rail or we would have gone overboard. It was a lot of fun, and we were the only two brave enough (or stupid enough) to do it. When we came back in, looking like drowned rats, we got a nice round of applause. Part of the boat trip was a stop at this remote restaurant literally in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Because we didn´t get there by boat, we drove there. It took about 2 hours, but the drive was also a lot of fun. And the food was so delicious, it was well worth it.

That was our last day in Puerto Natales. That night, we had a little party with the whole group, also to celebrate a student´s birthday. We left the next morning to Punta Arenas....

Second Orientation

Since the first orientation, the one thing I have been looking forward to more than anything else is our Rotary planned trip to the south of Chile. The chance to see all the exchange student again and go "the end of the world" was so exciting. We started off just me and Nikolaj, the other student in my city from Denmark. We left at the ungodly hour of 9am on a Friday to take the bus from Ovalle to La Serena. It took about an hour and a half, and then when we got there we had to wait another two hours for our next bus, which was, of course, late (by an hour) so we actually waited for 3 hours. But while we were waiting, we met up with all the exchange students living in La Serena. There are 8 of them, all from the United States except for one girl from Denmark. We also met up with the students who lived to the north of us, in Copiapó.

From there, we went to Villa Alemana, just outside of Santiago, to a little resort called Valle Verde. The same resort we went to for the first orientation in August. There, we had our half-way orientation. It was pretty boring, except for when we did the talent show. I, as a last minute thing, decided to play hot cross buns on glasses of water. Of course, one of the glasses broke right before, so it sounded more like (really flat note) cross buns. I didn´t win, but I did get chocolate. We all did because the chaperones told us we were the most enthusiastic group about the talent show. I guess the year before half the people didn´t do anything, and one guy stood up and burped the alfabet. I would have been impressed, but Rotary wasn´t. A boy from Antofogasta won for a song he wrote and played on the piano. It was about things he missed from home and things he liked in Chile, and it was hilarious because it was in Spanglish. Whenever he didn´t know a word, or he needed it to rhyme, he would just put in an english word or two.

That day, we also wrote a Spanish test. The first part was just an evaluation of our exchange so far, so Rotary could evaluate us as well as our clubs here in Chile. The second part was listening comprehension. It was actually really hard, because we only got to hear the passage once, and then had to answer questions. I got really worried about that part, but I didn´t really have to, because I got 100%!

So that was about all that happened at the Orientation. On the last night, we had to stay up until 1 am for the talent show, and at that time they proceded to tell us that for whoever was going on the trip to the south the bus was leaving at 5:30am. We all woke up around 5:15, rolled out of bed and fell straight back asleep on the bus to the Santiago airport. We all woke up in the airport, though, thanks to Starbucks. For me, my first Starbucks in more than 4 months. Our flight, of course, was delayed, but we finally left, all of us excited to start the trip.

Graduation

Because my school is so small here in comparison with my high school in Canada, the graduation ceremony is way different as well. There are only about 35 people in a graduation class, so each person is allowed to invite as many friends and family members as they want. Each student makes there own hand made invitations. I met a student in the graduating class, Nicol, when I went to the beach with friends in September. I also met her boyfriend, Daniel, and they both invited me to the ceremony. I had to buy gifts for both of them, a wallet for him and a makeup case for her.
The ceremony started off with the national anthem and the school hymn. Then, sixudent from my grade holding the flag of Chile and the school banner walked down the aisle slowly. Then came the graduating class. In pairs, they took one step every few seconds, walking to the graduating song (I don´t know what it´s called, but it´s the one they always use in movies.) It was very slow, it took almost 10 minutes just for everyone to walk down the aisle and take their seats on the stage.
Then they did each student individually. They came up to the front and their parents handed them their rings and diploma. It was much more personal than it would be at my high school. The school is so small that it doesn´t take too long for all the students to be called individually and then get pictures with their parents at the front. If they did that at Scona, we´d be there all night. This was still long, about 2 hours, but there was the school band and the choir to sing. And the kids in grades one and two sang a really adorable song. My friend Nicol was one of the speakers, and she said a little speech.
After, everyone crowded around the students to give them their presents. It took me almost an hour just to find my two friends in the crowd and give them their gifts. And I lost my mom in the process and took another half hour finding her. She was, of course, talking to another mom, completely oblivious to the fact that I had disappeared. It´s strange how much she reminds me of my own mom...

Santiago Part 2

Last weekend, I went to Santiago for a second time. This time, I went with my current family. My host mom and "nephew" and a friend of my mom. My older sister and brother, who live in Santiago, met us there, and my other older sister was there for work. My mom wanted to take me to the soccer game there, Chile vs. Paraguay. We left Wednesday morning. We picked up some friends of my oldest host sister, Alejandra, who live near Ovalle. There were eight of us in the car, which was meant to hold eight, but it was still a tight fit, especially for the almost 6 hour drive through the foothills to Santiago.

We arrived around 5, after having stopped, of course, for a giant lunch around 3. The game started at 10:30, and I assumed, being in Chile, that would mean we would leave at 9 at the earliest, and most likely the game would be late. But, no matter how late Chileans are for everything else, soccer (or should I say, futbol?) is always on time. So, in order to get good seats, we went at 7:30. I was all decked out in my fan wear. A red team Chile jersey, a big red white and blue hat, the flag painted on my cheek and a big Chilean flag. I though we would be bored for three hours, but I wasn´t. We took a bunch of newspaper to rip up to make confetti, and that occupied a lot of time. Also, as the stadium began to fill up, people started little competitions to see which group of fans could cheer the loudest. I thought Edmonton Oilers fans were loud, well they are nothing compared to Chilean soccer fans. At least 3/4 of the people were wearing red and everyone had confetti to throw. Also, someone brought a doll of a Paraguayan player that people started playing "catch" with, and eventually ripped apart. There was a Paraguay fan section, fenced off so that the Chilean fans couldn´t get to them, and surrounded by armed police officers. But armed police officers don´t stop people from yelling insults at the Paraguayans. Let´s just say I learned some very "colorful" language at that soccer game. Especially when the opposition scored. The pre-game started with a marching band performing the national anthem (sung way louder than at any Oiler´s playoff game.) Then, a man came running onto the field with two giant Chilean flags. He went to every corner and led them in a cheer to see who could get the loudest, then danced around the field with the flags. Then the game started. I really liked it, even thought we lost (3-0, the fans were not happy.) It went really fast, and before I knew it, it was over. The 50 or so Paraguay fans had to be kept in the stadium until all the Chilean fans had left, so that they wouldn´t be mobbed. My mom told me this quite calmly, like it was perfectly normal. We went for dinner after, although it was nearly impossible to find an open restaurant. Because Chile had lost, everyone went home early and the restaurants all closed.

The next night, we all went to a restaurant called Lo Buen Muchacho. It was huge, with a live band and a big dance floor. There were also a lot of tourists, with little flags from there countries on the tables. There was a flag from Canada, but they left before I had a chance to go talk to them. All the Chileans danced salsa (I even gave it a shot and was told I was a natural!) and then this guy got on stage and led the "gringos" (Chilean word for anyone non-spanish) in a sort of a salsa line dance type thing. Dinner was three big pots of meat and 6 different types of salads. I tried blood sausage, which has a really weird flavor, but is delicious, and something that looked a lot like intestines, and basically tasted like really salty fatty beef. I didn´t ask what it was, I just prefered to enjoy it without knowing.

On Friday night, I went with my mom, sister, and her friends to a Tango club. I have never seen the Tango live, or that close up. I think it is one of the most beautiful dances I´ve ever seen, but really hard. They had men who would walk around to the tables and ask the women to dance. Then, they had two professional couples come out and dance two different types of Tango, one slow (the more traditional one) and a newer, faster type of tango. They were both amazing, and made me really want to go to Argentina. I think my mom must have read my mind, because she told me the next day she was planning on taking me and my oldest sister to Argentina in March! I really hope we can go, I have always wanted to go to Argentina.

So that was my second experience in Santiago. Very different from the relaxed, meeting the families trip I had the first time. But I had SO much fun. Especially at the soccer game, getting all dressed up and learning the chants. I can´t wait for my next trip.

Santiago and La Serena

Even though I am now living with another family, I have still kept in touch with my old family. When I left them, they told me they wanted to take me to Santiago to visit their family. I assumed it would be sometime in the summer, but two weeks ago, while I was visiting their house for lunch, they invited me to go with them. I was excited, not only to go to a big city for the first time in three months, but to see my older sister, Xime, who I had not seen in a month. I left school early on Friday, at 1:00. My former host dad took me to my house so I could pack and eat lunch, and around 4 we were off. It was a long drive, about 6.5 hours. And if you think driving through BC mountain roads is bad, try driving through Chilean mountains for 6 hours in a very small car. Not only are the road twisty, but they´re high up, and the cliffs are literally a few feet to the side of the car. And people like to take the hairpin turns on these roads at 70 km/h. It took a while for me to get used to that, but after a few drives to La Serena and back, it has become normal to me. The drive was still long, with one stop for drinks and an empanada (shrimp and cheese, delicious.)

When we arrived in Santiago, it was almost 11. Despite not having done anything for almost 7 hours, I was exhausted. But it was still exciting to finally be in Santiago. It was like being back in Downtown Edmonton, with the high buildings and freeways. The apartment, where my older host brother and sister are living while they go to university in Santiago was nice. It was strange though, because after being in such a small city for three months, I found that the noise in Santiago made it hard for me to sleep at night.

On Saturday morning, we went to my host mom´s sister´s house. Her sister and mom have the same birthday, so the whole family was there to celebrate. She has 3 brothers and a sister, so it was a big family. My host dad´s family, who we visted on Sunday, was much smaller, because he only had 1 brother and 1 sister. It is weird how similar that is to my real families in Canada. Anyway, we had lunch around 2 (late lunch, too, is becoming normal, too) We also had a BBQ around 9 for dinner, and the most delicious cake I have ever tasted. It was this pastry with chocolate and manjar between the layers. We left around 11, and Xime was planning on taking me to see a disco in Santiago, but we were so exhausted when we got back that we just slept.

Sunday, as I said, we went to my host dad´s parent´s house. It was nice, with a gorgeous garden that my mom would have loved. His mom also loved cats, and Xime told me she has 8. We had a BBQ there as well, and left around 2 for Ovalle.

The next weekend, my current family told me we were going to La Serena. They own an apartment there, and two in La Serena, one for the family and one for my brother, Pedro, who is going to University in Santiago (same year as my other host brother, Luis.) This drive was more reasonable, only 45 mintues. This is the fourth time I´ve been to La Serena since I got here. I like it, because it has a mall, but is not as big and loud as Santiago. The apartment was really nice, bigger than I expected, and with an amazing view. The Pacific Ocean, and the sunset.

Saturday morning, we woke up late and ate breakfast. Then, we went to Coquimbo. Coquimbo is a smaller city to the south of La Serena, but they have grown into one big city. In Coquimbo, there is a giant cross called the Cruz del Tercer Milenio, or Cross of the Third Milenium. It is 90 meters high, and you can go up by elevator 73 meters to the arms of the cross. From there, you get a complete 360º view of Coquimbo and La Serena, and the Ocean. It was amazing. After the cross, we went to a seafood restaurant for lunch. Before we went there, though, my family took me to a Chilean fish market. It was insane. I´m not the kind of person who is usually bothered by fish smell, but the smell there made me feel sick, it was so strong. Ther were people who would literally come up to us as yell in out faces to buy there fish. We just walked through it, and after, my family couldn´t stop laughing at the look on my face. After the fish market, we went for lunch. I found it odd that we were in a city beside the Ocean, but all the salmon that they serve at all the restaurants is from the river. It was still good though.

Sunday, we woke up late as well. I went for a bike ride with my host sister and we ate lunch. Around 5 we left for Ovalle. It was a fun weekend, and I am looking forward to more trips with both my families. The next one is a trip with my current family to Santiago to watch Chile play Argentina or Brasil to go to the World Cup for soccer in 2010 (I think.) I´m really excited, because I´ve never seen a real prefesional soccer game live, soccer is such a big part of South American culture. Keep checking the blog for that story!