So I Fought Nature and It Kicked My Butt

Just for clarification: I bought a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad...not 2 sleeping bags...thanks Dave. Sunday I went to Cascada de Animas (Waterfall of Spirits) to go white water rafting. It was $80 USD for transportation, rafting, lunch, and we could use the pool. So for my boat, my guide was named Benjamin (say it with a spanish accent). He gave us instructions in spanish and we were off. About 5 minutes into the trip, we hit a huge bolder and our boat got stuck on top of it. When the boat fell off, I was thrown into the river. The only scary part was, at first, I couldn't come up because I was under the boat. When I was able to surface, Benjamin threw me a rope, and the rescue boat picked me up. Then, I was taken back to the boat. I thought it was awesome. My favorite part was sitting in the front and getting hit by all the waves. No one else was thrown from their boat. After that, we went to the pool and then hiked to the waterfall which was incredible. I stood under the waterfall, but was yelled at by the guide because apparently I could have been hit in the head with a rock from above...woops. After getting back from the trip, I went to a show at La Moneda. The show featured a 50 feet woman/puppet which was held up by a crane. The show was incredible. Yesterday, I bought more stuff for my camping adventure. Today, I visited a place where I might do service. It was called Centro Abierto. It's an after school program for underpriveleged kids. The workers there took us to the house of two of kids who go there. We were able to talk to the family for about a half hour. It was really eye opening to see the poor side of Chile because I live in a city which can be compared to New York.

Future Plans

Last night, we went to a dance club for a girl in my class's birthday. Apparently, Chileans like to party really late. We left the dance club at 5am!!!! Yeah, I was exhausted, but it was worth it. We had so much fun! Today, I went to the park and did a little homework.
So my plans for the future are:
Tomorrow: White water rafting on a river named Maipu
February: Go camping in Patagonia, Torres del Paine, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, and possibly hit Cape Horn. All these place are in the south of Chile.
Yesterday, I bought a hiking backpack, a sleeping bag, a sleeping bag, and a tent. I know I need more than this to go camping, but I'll get that stuff later. I'm so excited to camp in Torres del Paine. It's Chile's National Park.

Chile Can Be Disturbing and Beautiful

On Tuesday, I went to a contemporary museum and it was so weird. One of the artists used his own tears, blood, and something else I don't want to mention to make his pieces of art. There was a room of embalmed dogs having a party, and two were hanging from the ceiling. There was a similar room with embalmed cats. One cool room had a man and desk made completely out of gold tacks. However, the most disturbing room was the room of art made of shaved human bones, and the music in the room was the sound of the artist cutting the bones. The next day we went to Pablo Neruda's house in Providencia. This house was absolutely amazing. I'm now a huge fan of Neruda. He lived such an interesting life. One of his best friends was Pablo Picasso. My favorite saying of his is "Hoy es hoy, ayer fue ayer...no hay duda." "Today is today, yesterday was yesterday...there is no doubt." Today, I went to the top of Cerro San Cristobal which has a huge statue of Mary at the top. The statue is so beautiful, and so are the views of all of Santiago. What I really liked was the area next to the statue, where you can light candles and leave notes for Mary. It was a very emotional experience.

An Absolutely Incredible Weekend

Thursday, we all went to two different places to get forms and other things in order to get our Chilean IDs. It took a really long time, but we didn't have any problems. We can pick them up on January 30th. On Friday, we to an art museum under el Palacio de Moneda and then took a tour of el Palacio. The art museum was really cool...until I was yelled at for taking pictures where I wasn't supposed to...haha. El Palacio was beautiful, but the tour guide we had talked forever. It was such a long tour. After the tour, I tried to get Elton John tickets, but they were sold out. We are going to try to scalp them, if we can. Saturday, our group moderator took us all to Valparaiso, which is on the west coast. We went to one of Pablo Neruda's house, which was incredible. Then, we had a huge seafood lunch, which was paid for by the University. Then, I went shopping and bought a pair cool shoes. My shoe size in Chile is 43. That night, I ate a huge hot dog with mayo, lettuce, tomatoe, and avocado...sounds gross, but it was good. Then, we went to Cafe Journal, which was a three-story dance club. It was so much fun...I may or may not have danced on the tables and got cheered on by the whole club. No...I was not intoxicated. Yesterday, we went to church and then to the beach for about four hours. I got burned really bad. After that, I got some ice cream and got on the bus back to Providencia. Last night, I saw the most amazing show I've ever seen. It took up an entire block. There was a guy flying attached to a crane, people walking down the sides of the buildings, and a huge human wheel. It's really hard to explain, but it was awesome. This morning I went running with a few other students, and four stray dogs ran with us the whole time. It was so funny.

Burned to a Crisp!

Yesterday, I went to the pool after class. The pool was really nice. It was at one of the best private high schools in Santiago. Everyone had a great time there, but we all got burned a little bit. Today in class, I had to present a story to the class with a partner. We all had to read the story for homework, but Rob and I directed the conversation in class...like we were the teachers. The teacher said we did a great job! After class, I walked to see the stadium where Elton John is playing. The stadium is huge, and I also found an amusement park called Fantasy Land. After a huge lunch, most of the group went to a mountain called Santa Lucia. It has many beautiful statues and crazy winding steps. There I tried a juice called el jugo de mote con huesillos. The juice was really good, but the peach and corn inside the drink was gross. After Santa Lucia, we went to a kind of flea market for tourists, and I bought a really nice Chilean flag for my room. The vendors there spoke so fast and they mumbled, so it was really hard to understand them. Tonight, I went to an Improv show. I didn't understand most of it because they spoke so fast, but at the end I was able to put most of it together. At the show, I met a guy from Thailand, who speaks Thai, English, and is learning Spanish. He is a chef at a Thai restaurant in Providencia. Tomorrow, as a class, we are going to get Chilean IDs.

Corinne, why did I like the giraffes so much?

Sunday, after church, I went to the zoo with three friends from the US. It was about a half hour walk. The zoo is on the side of a mountain called el Cerro San Cristobal. This zoo was huge. We spent almost four hours there just looking at all the animals. The view of the city from the mountain was incredible. Yesterday, I started classes. I had a class called Latinamerican Stories and another called Conversation. In my Conversation class, we tried some tongue twisters in spanish. It was so funny. Today, I have a grammar class. Yesterday, I tried to go to a public pool with most of my class, but we got lost many times. When we finally got there, the pool was closed. So...I went to dinner with a few of the students just so we could say that we did something =P After class today, we are going straight to the pool, now that we know where the pool is. Last night, my Chilean host brother passed his final exam to become a teacher, and he already has a small job. FYI: the hole in the toilet here is facing the front, not the back like in the states. (Go look at your toilet.) PS I'm going to try to get tickets for an Elton John concert here in February!

Church

Pictures of the church I went to today. It's called La Parroquia de Jesus Nazareno.