Well, first off, Happy 4th of July everyone!  It’s really odd not being in Oxford, let alone the United States for Independence Day.  There’s only been one 4th that I can remember when I wasn’t in Oxford so being away from everything and not seeing fireworks was kind of a let down, but we exchange students made the best of it!  Today we actually had a trip planned to see all the most well known things in Antofagasta and a Chilean BBQ for afterwards!  It was kind of a send off for the people that are only here for this semester and a chance to get together officially one last time.

Quite early in the morning (for a Saturday, anyway) at 9AM, I left the house and got on a micro to UCN.  Once all of the exchange students had assembled at the front gate of the university, all of us:  Juani (Spain), Diego (Spain), Pancho(Spain), Fernanda (Argentina), Melanie (Perú), Shiney (Perú), Jemma (England), Judith (Wales), Carla (México), Raúl (México), Tim (US), Suhail (US), and I piled in a van and headed to Coloso.  Coloso is at the southern end of Antofagasta and is owned by Minera Escondida (where my host dad works).  It’s one of the ports that exports the copper mined in Escondida to other parts of the world, not to mention it also has one of the best views of the Antofagasta!  We saw a video about the process of mining copper (including some pretty awesome explosions!) and then we headed out climb to the top of Coloso.  Although nothing compared to the climb up Machupicchu, we did get up pretty high and we were able to see a lot of Antofagasta!  We climbed back down to the van and then began our journey across the city to the northern end to see Playa Juan Lopez.

On our way to Juan Lopez, I began to think (I know that’s dangerous, but sometimes I can’t help it).  I’ve been in Chile for four whole months.  Four months!  How did they go by so fast?  I feel like I’m just settling in!  I have a routine, I have friends, I have a host family.  I love the Spanish language and I enjoy speaking it everyday, learning constantly, and challenging myself in a way I never thought possible!  I never thought I would actually study abroad when I was in high school, I just talked about it.  Yet here I am, having the time of my life!  Sure, there were some low spots, but in all reality, this has been one of the most fun, most incredible, most challenging things I have ever done.  I didn’t know if I was ready to end this experience yet!

Upon arriving at Juan Lopez, we drove to the other end of the small town to a taller hill.  The town of Juan Lopez is filled with summer homes of people in Antofagasta and is one of the most popular summer spots for lots of Chileans from northern Chile.  We climbed to the top of the hill and got an excellent view of the beach and the town.  Then we headed down to the beach to hang out for a while talking and laughing.  It’s amazing how close we intercambios (exchange students) have gotten in just a short amount of time!  I found a shop that sold empanadas de queso so I was incredibly happy!  From there we hopped back into the vans and headed to La Portada.  Even though most of us went there at the beginning of the semester, it was nice to see the symbol of Antofagasta up close one last time.  I thought it was fitting, really.  My first week in Chile we went to go see the rock arch of La Portada as a group of exchange students from UCN that didn’t know each other very well.  Now we’re looking at it in our last week in Chile, a group of friends who love to have a good time and spend time with each other.  I realized at that moment that I have friends all over the world now, friends that I will miss very much.  Now it was time to head back to UCN to start our Chilean BBQ!

On our way back into Antofagasta, I began thinking again.  Even though it seemed like I’ve been here for such a short time and part of me wants to stay, I’m excited to go home too.  I have a routine there, I have friends there, I have my family there.  This is the first time in my life that I have gone so long without seeing Mom, Dad, and Laura and I miss them so much!  I can’t wait to share my stories with my friends back in Oxford and to start classes at Miami again.  I can’t wait to start helping other people with their Spanish and maybe volunteer in the International Office.  I can’t wait to use what I have learned.  I might want to stay and think that I’m not ready to go, but I am also excited for so many things when I get back!

We arrived at UCN to start our Chilean BBQ.  It was close to 3PM so we were all very hungry!  For everyone else, they broke out the beer and pisco sour to drink (me and a few others had some Fanta).  They even had Budweiser to help the gringos celebrate the 4th of July!  Budweiser is not a very common beer in Chile and is often a little more expensive, therefore students lean towards buying the cheaper Crystal.  Then they started cooking!  First was churrazcos, a type of sausage that kind of has a spicy taste to it, on bread.  I’ve actually been craving some spicy things since it’s not common for Chileans to like spicy food so I also put some ahí on it (basically a kind of spicy chili).  It was really good!  Then we got to try out some seasoned steaks that almost rival my dad’s steaks!  Then María Inés (the International Student Coordinator) and Juan Niera (our Spanish professor) had us gather around.  They had gotten each of us a picture book of the many sights to see in Antofagasta as a reminder of our time here.  After hugs and pictures with everyone, we sat around talking and laughing, making Super Suhail after tying on of the red table cloths around his neck for a cape, randomly dancing, and then began singing our respective countries’ national anthems.  We has such a great time this entire semester, and this was an awesome way to end it.

While getting off the micro in front of my house, I had a very common occurrence happen to me.  I got to jump off of a micro that wouldn’t stop moving.  Apparently the driver didn’t want to come to a complete stop so he wouldn’t have to change gears after starting rolling again.  This happens all the time to just about everyone and this time, I got a little tripped up getting off the micro and almost fell down, but I didn’t.  This got me thinking as well (this is becoming a hobby for me, I guess).  This whole experience of studying abroad has been like a micro ride.  I got on the micro in March and it took off fast, just like all micros do.  I was trucking along, hitting both smooth, enjoyable roads and bumpy or curvy roads.  Sometimes the micro sped up, sometimes it slowed down and it would stop to pick up people all the time.  Now it’s July and I’m getting to the point when it’s time for me to hop off the micro, time to press the buzzer to make the driver stop.  But when the door opens the micro is still moving, I’m still learning, I’m still settling it, and I’m still wanting to get to know the other people on the micro.  I don’t know if I’m ready to jump from a moving micro.  But I have to and I want to.  And even if I stumble a little bit when I jump off that micro, I will still be able to continue walking when I straighten up!

Sorry it’s been so long since I updated!  I finally found something to write about.  The education system here in Antofagasta has made my head spin while I’ve been down here.  I didn’t really realized how different it was until after spending almost four months in Chile.  It’s been really interesting looking at the education system here at Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN) from an outsider’s point of view.  When ever I’m asked about my university and how it works, my fellow students are usually shocked by a lot of things and I’m usually shocked a little too by how it works down here.

One of the first things I noticed was how little homework there was.  Very few classes, with the exception of mathematics-based classes, have a daily or consistent string of homework.  This was something that sometimes bothered me a lot.  I know we always complain about having too much homework in the States, but in all seriousness it keeps us from being completely bored!  I watch more TV, play on the internet, and try to find other things to occupy myself with.  There is actually less to do in Antofagasta than in Oxford!  Wow, I never thought I would say that!  The only class that I get even semi-daily homework in is my introduction to physics and astronomy class and it’s never more than a few problems to practice with.  What we do have a lot of is group projects.

Have you ever tried to do a group project with eight people?  I hadn’t until I came here.  The most I had ever worked with was six and for me, that was near impossible!  My first group project had eight other people working on it.  We had to do and essay on the history of magazines and press agencies and have a presentation with all of us in it.  That was really tough since it was hard for all of us to be free to work on it at the same time.  Just about all of my classes have some sort of group project or group essay, some of them in pairs and others in groups of eight.  I’m not sure why they have so many, but if the people in your group are not good workers, you can have a very big problem.  In one of my classes, three group projects account for 75% of the grade!  Luckily I’ve been in groups that want to get a good grade and want to work together to get that grade.

Timing of classes is also interesting.  Very frequently, class doesn’t start on time.  Actually, it’s a shock when class does start on time!  But since we have an hour and a half for each block of class, it’s a little easier to be late starting.  Normally the professor is late or the students just stay outside the classroom for fifteen minutes after class starts.  Of course, this is unheard of at Miami University.  If the professor isn’t there fifteen minutes after class starts, the students are allowed to leave at Miami.  At UCN, the professors are sometimes 25 or 30 minutes late!

One thing that usually shocks the UCN students when they ask about Miami University is the fact that we pick our own schedules, designing them how we want them.  Here, the schedules for all five or six years are set in front of the students of a major on their first day.  There is a paper with every class that they will be taking during their university career.  When I was talking about scheduling for first semester next year, they found it amazing that I had any say in the classes I got to take!

Also, the idea of a liberal education, taking classes from every field to receive a well rounded education, makes Chileans’ eyes get big.  In Miami’s case, I have to fulfill the Miami Plan, which includes two English classes, one math class, three science classes, one world culture class, one U.S. culture class, and one art class in addition to completing the classes for my major.  The UCN students only have to take the classes for their major and never have to touch the other subjects again in their lives.  I still get weird looks when I talk to journalism students about how I have to take an astronomy class here!

Probably the most difficult thing for me here when it comes to the university is the difficulty of the exams and the likelihood of success.  Most of the exams I’ve taken here are near impossible.  I’m lucky in the fact that I’m either getting credit for my classes or not getting credit.  All I have to do is pass the class and I get credit.  Chile is on a 7.0 scale which roughly translates like this:  7.0-6.0 is an A, 5.9-5.0 is a B, and 4.9-4.0 is a C and a 4.0 or above is considered passing (or in the blue zone as they say down here).  Anything below a 4.0 is in the red zone or failing so I have to get a 4.0 to pass my classes.  The highest grade I have seen on an exam is a 5.6 in my history class and the highest I’ve gotten is a 5.2 on that same exam.  Most kids fail exams just as a norm at the university level.  The exams are incredibly difficult and usually cover way to much information or don’t cover information talked about in class.  In some majors, students are expected to go and do unassigned research since there is information not taught in class or even mentioned by the professor on the exam!  The success rate of the students is kind of low and it’s disheartening for both me and the other students.  To see every student  (literally every student) fail an exam and see the students blamed for it is very hard to swallow for an education major like myself.

All in all, the system might be different, but it’s all part of the experience.  I think I can take away a lot of the teaching methods I’ve seen here and try to apply the ones that worked and avoid the ones that didn’t.  I know what works and what doesn’t.  I know some of this stuff is hard to grasp, but just know that the professors here really are nice.  I have had close to zero problems with the professors here and they are always available for help and guidance.  They care about their students just as much if not more than the professors in the States care about their students.  Even though some things are hard to swallow, the people hear make it better and even enjoyable!

This will be another long winded post everyone!  I just got back from my trip to Valle de Elqui (Elqui Valley)in the Norte Chico region of Chile.  It was awesome to get a little time out of Antofagasta since I’ve been in the city since I went to Calama in April.  I, along with Tim (US), Suhail (US), and Galia, tookoff for La Serena last Wednesday night in a bus.  The ride is about 13 hours long, almost 14, but after over 30 hours in a bus to Machupicchu, long bus rides don’t phase me!  The plan was to arrive in La Serena and Coquimbo and spend Thursday there, before taking a bus to Vicuña in Valle de Elqui where we could find out where we wanted to go next.

When we got off the bus in the La Serena bus terminal, we headed up the main street of La Serena.  I was very pleased with what we found:  trees, grass, and leaves that looked like the ones back in Ohio!  It created a lot of nostalgia for Tim and I who come from climates like the one in La Serena.  The clouds, cooler temperatures, and similar landscape really made us think about home.  But we didn’t have too much time to reminisce about home as we headed down the center walkway lined with trees, statues, and street venders.  The first thing we wanted to do was find a tourist center to find out about the observatories in Valle de Elqui.  Since it was going to be the new moon that weekend, we wanted to get a really good view of everything!

We found Tur Elqui close to the town center and they suggested Observatorio Cancana in Cochihuaz.  The guy working there told us that it was a lot more observation than lecture and that it’s really easy to get reservations there.  That’s exactly what we were looking for!  He also told us about a hostal in La Serena where we could stay for the night before heading out to Vicuña in the morning.  We headed out to find the hostal to drop our stuff off so we could explore La Serena and Coquimbo more freely.  The hostal looked nice enough and Hector (the owner) was very nice to us so we decided to stay there for the night.

Then we started our walk to Coquimbo to find some fresh empanadas de mariscos (a mixture of different types of shellfish).  Coquimbo is famous for having some of the best fish!  As we were walking, fog became the dominate feature.  It was as if we were walking though clouds!  In the distance, El Faro began to appear in front of us through the fog.  El Faro is kind of the symbol of La Serena.  Faro actually means lighthouse in Spanish, and that’s exactly what it is.  It’s a fortified lighthouse on the shoreline with a gigantic canon facing out towards the ocean.  We enjoyed ourselves climbing on the canon and walls (also reminiscent of Oxford’s own canon) before continuing our walk down the shore to Coquimbo.

While walking, we spotted a huge flock of seagulls and pelicans circling above the ocean.  Then suddenly, all at once, the gulls all dived into the water and popped back up!  It was so much fun to watch!  We stayed there for a little while taking pictures and watching the birds try to catch a meal before leaving to find out own meal.  Upon finding the wharf, we discovered that there were actually two wharfs in Coquimbo:  one for bringing in the fish and selling them to expensive restaurants on the shore and another one for selling the fish more cheaply called La Caleta de Pescadores.  La Caleta was on the other side of town!  So we hoped on a micro to the center of town and found our way from there to La Caleta.  The sun was beginning to set just as we found the wharf and our empanadas (best. empanadas. ever.) and we had a good long talk with one of the local women selling the empanadas.  She told us about Fuerte de Coquimbo, a seaside fort built a really long time ago.  So we decided to take a walk to see that.

We walked though Barrio Ingles, a street that contained mostly bars and dance clubs and saw most of the shows started a lot later (it was only 8PM or so).  We found a bar and café called Babylon that had a reggae band playing around 11PM and a bar that was offering a pitcher of Cristal for 1500 pesos (around $2.50 US, very cheap).  So we had plenty of time to head down to El Fuerte go to the bar before the show we wanted to see started.  By the time we got to El Fuerte, the sun had gone down and it was very hard to see anything with all the fog.  But we did get to explore the rocks around the fort and the huge canon placed facing the ocean.  There was even a playground!  Eventually we started hearing a sound that sounded like a big cat, like a puma or something, growling.  Very eerie!  The guard at the entrance to the fort told us that it was a sea lion!

We headed back towards Barrio Ingles to check out the bar with the very cheap pitchers and took a seat in the bar.  While Tim, Suhail, and Galia enjoyed their pitchers, I got to try out jugo de papaya, a juice that the region is famous for. It was some of the best jugo I’ve had down here!  After spending about an hour in the bar, we headed out to Babylon to see the reggae band.  When we got there at 11:30PM, they told us that the band wouldn’t start until 12PM (that would be Chilean time!) so we got some food from a street stand:  completos (hot dogs with avocado, tomatoes, mayo, and ketchup) and papas fritas (french fries with mayo and ketchup).  The reggae band very good!  They had a lot of good songs and the atmosphere in Babylon reminded me of a darker Kofenya, but by 1AM, we were pretty tired.  So we hoped into a colectivo and headed back to our hostal in La Serena.

The next morning, we woke up and went to the supermarket to buy supplies for camping in Valle de Elquifor the next few nights before going to the bus station to catch a rideto Vicuña in the center of the valley.  The bus ride was only a little over an hour, but I fell asleep almost instantly!  Upon arriving in Vicuña, we went to visit the Entomology Museum there.  Those were some gigantic bugs!  Some of the bettles and butterflies were the size of my hand!  We shopped around in the market for a while before checking out a tourist office to see about reserving spots at Observatorio Cancana.

What we hadn’t known about this observatory was that it was kind of in the middle of nowhere, about 12 miles from the nearest bus stop.  The guy in the office told us that the most common way of getting there was by hitchhiking.  That made my eyes get big.  Hitchhiking is a big no-no in the United States and I’ve always been told that it is very dangerous.  But the other three were all over it and still wanted to go to this observatory.  So it didn’t look like I would have any choice!

One of the things that Valle de Elqui is famous for is being the only place in Chile that grows the grapes for making pisco wine.  Pisco is kind of like the national wine of Chile and Vicuña has the Capel Pisco Plant.  We decided that we wanted to go take a tour of the plant while we were waiting for our bus to Montegrande (where we would start hitchhiking to Cochiguaz).  The plant was really cool!  We got to see how the wine is made and how long it takes.  We also got to try some of the wine.  I tried some of the mango flavored pisco which was actually ok if I got past the alcohol taste.  I also tried the manjar (kind of like caramel) flavored pisco too, which I didn’t like as much.  After our adventure to the pisco plant, we hopped on a bus to Montegrande.

After arriving in Montegrande, we split into two groups:  Tim and I, and Suhail and Galia.  We started our walk down the road to Cochiguaz with Galia and Suhail heading down 5 minutes before Tim and I.  To put it lightly, I was scared out of my wits.  The other three had done it before, Tim and Suhail in Chile and Galia in Mexico and Chile, and all assured me that it is safe and normal in Chile.  In reality, the people picking us up are the one’s that aren’t safe.  That did make sense, but I still don’t like putting myself in vulnerable situations like that.  It ended up being a very cool experience though!  The couple that picked us up were very nice and we had some good conversations about what we were doing in Valle de Elqui and how Tim and I were studying abroad.  We got to Cochiguaz in no time!

It was an hour or so before dark when we got to Cochiguaz, so we quickly found a campsite (it was easy, one of two locations!) and set up our tents.  Once night fell, so did the temperature (I think it was around 35°F) so we set to work gathering wood and making a fire.  Eventually, Tim got the fire going and we started cooking hot dogs.  Then after our little dinner, I walked away from the fire to see this amazing night sky that everyone mentions when they talk about Valle de Elqui, especially during the new moon (like it was when we went).  I was absolutely blown away.  There really aren’t words to describe the night sky that I saw.  I have never seen so many stars in my life, clusters of billions and billions of stars, all of the constellations I had read about that were in the southern hemisphere, and something else truely spectacular:  the Milky Way.  Now, when I say the Milky Way, I mean the whole thing, spanning across the entire sky, clear and bright.  I have never seen the sky like that before and I don’t know if I ever will again.  It was truely an eye-opening experience.

At 11PM, we headed back up the hill to the tiny town to start our tour of Observatorio Cancana.  The first part of the tour included the astronomer pointing out (actually pointing out, with the coolest laser pointer ever) constellations.  There are actually two types of constellations:  the normal ones that stars make pictures, and then dark constellations that the parts of the sky without stars make pictures!  Of course, you never notice them in other places of the world where you can’t see all of the stars, but he pointed out a llama, a snake, and a baby llama!  Then we went inside and he gave us a little power point presentation about the solar system for the second part of the tour.  The third part was going up to the observation deck and looking though the telescope!  We got to see the most star populated area of the sky, Saturn, the Sombrero Galaxy, the Butterfly Cluster, and a lot of other things!  After the tour, we headed back to our campsite and laided out under the stars for a while before heading to the tents for sleep.

In the morning, we packed up our things and hiked back up the hill to Cochiguaz.  At the store/camping office/restaurant/observatory office, the lady working that morning told us about a rock farther up the hill that was the “magnetic center” of the area.  Sounded interesting, so we decided to treck up the hill to find it.  On the way, we saw lots of people riding horses (a very normal way to travel around here), a little black puppy that looked just like Molly did when she was little, and a lot of nice people to talk to.  I swear, everyone in Chile is so nice!  We found the rock that had llamas carved into the rock.  Apparently, the rock was used by a lot of different cultures in the area, including the Inca!  We hiked back down the hill and hitchhiked again to Montegrande to catch a bus to Pisco Elqui.

In Pisco Elqui, we found another place to camp called El Río that was about a five minute walk from the town, but it was a really beautiful location.  I river ran straight through the campsite and I have never seen cleaner campsite bathrooms in my life!  Some of the hostals I’ve stayed in had worse bathrooms than this campsite!  Truely estonishing…Anyway, we set up camp and then headed up to see what the town had to offer.  We found a cultural market that had empanadas for sale cheap, so we got a little pre-dinner before our hot dogs back at the campsite.  We stopped in all of the shops we could find and did a lot of exploring before heading back to our campsite.  The couple who were running the campsite were really nice!  They even offered dry wood, a torch-style light, and matresses for out tents!  We started up our fire (well, Tim did) and cooked out hot dogs before doing some more star-gazing and heading to bed.

The next morning, I took the coldest shower I have ever had in my life (so cold it gave me a headache!) and packed up all of my stuff.  We ate some breakfast, packed the tents away, and delivered the mattresses to the couple before heading up to Pisco Elqui to catch the bus to La Serena.  Once we were back in La Serena, we had four hours to kill before our bus left for Antofagasta.  So we headed over to El Jardín Japones (Japanese Garden) and did a lot of picture taking and savoring of the trees and grass before heading over to the mall to find some dinner.  After dinner, we headed to the bus terminal and waited for our bus.  Bad news was it got there an hour and a half late, and I had to go to class the next morning!  We ended up getting into Antofagasta around 11:15AM and I had class at 11:45!  Needless to say, I was late for class, but as we say in Chile…¡Vale la pena!  It was worth it!

I’m beginning to notice quite a few differences between Chilean culture and that of the United States. I didn’t really notice when I first arrived here in March, but now the differences are becoming much more clear.  They are not gigantic constrasts that threaten to tear apart friendships or even countries or make life incredibly difficult for someone living in a different culture, just small insignificant (or seemingly insignificant) details that one might overlook.  Details that I tend to overlook a little more than I should!

It all started when I went to Calama with my host family for Easter.  Both Sussy and Francisco have their entire families in Calama.  Calama is about three hours north of Antofagasta and is also in the desert.  It’s a smaller city but is right next to the largest mine in the world:  Chuquicamata.  We were sitting eating lunch at Sussy’s parent’s house when I asked Michelle if she wanted more juice saying “Michelle, ¿quieres más jugo?”  Sussy got really excited and told me that was the first time she had ever heard me say Michelle’s name to her.  I just blinked and then Sussy asked me why I don’t use names very often.  I thought about it for a second…and came up with nothing.  I don’t know if it is just me, but I don’t often use people’s names.  I’ll use someone’s name once in a day, maybe.  In the United States, I have never had a problem with this.  I asked Sussy later and she said that not using people’s names when addressing them is a sign that you are not well-educated.  Needless to say, I’ve been trying to use names more than I have been!

Another difference that I’ve found is the difference in the definition of the word “clean.”  The word in Chile is not “limpio” like the dictionary says, it’s “ordenado” or organized.  Very different concepts!  Before this past weekend, I would have considered my room a clean room (nothing on the floor, clothes put away, things neatly stacked on desks and tables).  Not anymore!  The first time that I have seen anything close to Sussy being frustrated with me was when she asked me to clean my room and I had no idea what I needed to do to it.  In my eyes, it was clean.  Nope…I had to sweep it, make my bed like it is in a hotel, put everything on my desk and tables away, and wipe all of the windows.  I didn’t mind, I just thought that it was hysterical that I didn’t know what to do with my room when she said to clean it!  So I showed her a picture of my sister Laura’s room…I think she had a heart attack!

Here’s some other little differences that I have found thoughout my time here:

1. Very little homework in classes
2. No textbooks in classes either
3. Families come home for lunch and if you can’t do that, you pack a hot lunch like soup, meat, or potatoes…not buy one, bring one!
4. Students in colegio (grade school) are generally more ahead than the students in the United States…for example, Michelle is studying the level of chemistry that I studied senior year of high school and she’s 12!
5. Most families stay together even after the kids are out of the house either in the same town, region, or house
6. Fruit is dessert and it is better here
7. Food in general is better here

Those are just some of the ones I could think of off the top of my head.  These differences aren’t very big, but they are very interesting to talk about with the people who live here.  They are always eager to hear about the United States and what I think about life here.  So far the answer is that I love life here and it continues to get better and better.

On a side note, I have decided that I have about the same capacity for Spanish that I do English in this sense:  I can handle one-on-one conversations with people in both languages.  I can’t handle large conversations with more than three people in both languages. When I’m with English speakers in a large group, I usually don’t talk and it’s the same in Spanish!  Therefore, I have the same capacity in both languages!

This one is going to be a long post, so bare with me!  I just had one of the most amazing trips in my life!  Not only was it exciting and different, but it was also a test of who I am and how I handle situations that I’ve never been in before.  It taught me a few things about myself that I might never have known if I didn’t go to Machupicchu.

Slightly spur of the moment on the Thursday before we left for Machupicchu, I decided to go on this trip with two other exchange students:  Tim (from the US) and Galia (from México).  We were going to leave on Saturday night on a bus to Arica, Chile, the town on the border of Perú and Chile.  So we packed up backpacking backpacks and boarded an overnight bus for the 11 hour trip to Arica.

Upon our arrival to Arica, we went to the International Taxi Terminal and got a ride in a taxi to the border.  We wanted to get to Cuzco as soon as we could.  But when we reached the Chilean border, we were asked for our Chilean IDs.  Tim and I had not received our IDs yet because we were having trouble with Chilean red tape and we should be able to leave the country with just our passports.  But when we told them this, they told us that we received a piece of paper that had our RUT number (like SSN).  Tim had that paper, but Galiaand I did not.  On a stroke of luck, they let us through to the Peruvian border.  So we continued on to the Peruvian side of the border and Tim and I went through without a hitch.  We waited for Galia to come across the border, but she was taking a very long time.  Galia then came to inform us that because she was a Mexican, she needed a visa to just visit Perú as a tourist!  She could get an expressed visa, but it would cost more and we would have to wait until Monday because the Peruvian Consulate wasn’t open on Sundays.  Our luck had obviously run out.

Tim and I did not want to leave Galia by herself in Arica, so we turned around, got ourselves stamped out of Perú and back into Chile.  We hitched a ride with a bus back to Arica from the border and sat in the bus terminal.  It was a stroke of luck that Galia and I could even leave Chile without our “Chilean ID document” and now we might not be able to get back through the border without them.  On top of that, knowing our luck, Galia would most likely need it to get her visa in the first place.  For me, this was a major problem.  I was completely uncertain, in an unfamiliar city, and MIGHT be able to get across the border.  Uncertainty:  something that makes Sarah go absolutely crazy.  Somehow I had to deal with it, without losing my head.

We found an internet café and sent a message to Raúl, another exchange student back in Antofagasta, to go to my house and Galia’s house to pick up the documents.  He would then find a scanner and sent the documents to us via email.  He might get the message, he might not.  More uncertainty, more worry.  After calling my host family to give them a short review of what was happening and how a student would be coming to their house to get a piece of paper, we began wondering around Arica looking for the Peruvian Consulate and a hostal in which to stay in for the night. 

In our wanderings, we saw a gigantic cliff on one end of Arica.  It looked like there was a walkway on the side of it leading to the top.  We thought, “Why not?  We have nothing better to do!”  We trekked up the side of the cliff which was a little difficult with our backpacks but I didn’t have too much trouble.  Being optimistic, we said it was practice for climbing Machupicchu.  In reality, we had no idea whether or not we would even get there.  We found the cliff to be called Morro de Arica and it used to be a fortress for the defense of Chile during the Pacific War between Perú and Chile.  It also had a Touchdown Jesus on it (a statue of Jesus with his hands in the air as if he was signalling a touchdown).  We watched the sunset from that peak and then made our way down.  We found a pizza place and had a cheapish dinner before settling down for the night in a hostal.  We still had no word from Raúl.

In the morning, we sprinted over to an internet café to see if Raúl had responded.  Sure enough, Raúl had pulled through and the documents were in an email in Galia’s inbox.  We printed them out and went over to the Peruvian Consulate, where we sat for 5 hours waiting for Galia’s visa to be processed.  Have I ever mentioned that I hate red tape?  I really do!  So once again we headed out to the border, this time going through without a hitch.  However, my passport says that I’ve been to Perú twice and Chile three times!  I have a grand total of nine stamps due to this fiasco at the border!

We crossed the border to Tacna, Perú and went straight to the bus terminal to get a bus to Cuzco.  Sadly, the only bus that departed from Tacna to Cuzco left two hours before.  So we decided to take a bus from Tacna to Puno (about 11 hours) and from Puno to Cuzco (about 6 hours).  We had an hour or so to wait for the bus to depart, so we headed out to find something to eat.  Our first meal in Perú turned out to be from a street vendor.  Outside of the bus terminal was a group of women cooking different types of meat:  pork, sausages, and beef and potatoes to go with it.  I got two sausages and potatoes for 3 Peruvian soles.  3 soles is about equal to $1 US.  I have never eaten that cheap in my life…ever.  And it was good food, too!

The bus drove through the night to Puno, Perú, home of Lake Titicaca.  Sadly, we didn’t have enough time to go visit the lake since we had to get to Cuzco even faster now.  But during the ride out of Puno, we got a couple of really nice views of the lake and the surrounding city.  Personally, I was incredibly excited to see grass!  Slowly the landscape changed from desert, to rolling hills and fields, and finally to green mountains.  Cuzco and Machupicchu was getting closer and closer.  We arrived in Cuzco on Tuesday afternoon.

Cuzco is one of the biggest cities I have ever been to.  We entered the city around 1:30PM, but we didn’t reach the bus terminal in the center of the city until 3PM and we were only in traffic for about 20 minutes!  It was absolutely huge!  houses and buildings covered the surrounding hills and the center of the city was in a valley between mountains.  Tim, Galia, and I knew that the only way to get to Aguas Calientes (the base of Machupicchu) was by train from Ollantaytambo (about two hours from Cuzco).  We headed to the train station in Cuzco to see about buying tickets from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.  We wanted to climb up Machupicchu on Wednesday and spend the day in Cuzco on Thursday, but it seemed as though our bad luck had followed us once again.  It turned out that all of the train tickets, every single one, was bought out for Wednesday.  There was no way of getting to Aguas Calientes on Wednesday.  The only available tickets were for Thursday at 5:30AM and we would be able to return Friday at 9AM.  Our thoughts:  As long as we get up Machupicchu!

So our plans got reversed.  We would spend Wednesday in Cuzco buying souvenirs and sightseeing and then head up to Ollantaytambo by taxi to wait for our train on Thursday.  By this time, it was night and we really wanted to just sit in a restaurant and eat food (not much to eat on a bus).  We found a restaurant named the Inka House and asked how much it cost.  He said 20 soles but we bartered it down to 15 soles or in other words $5 US for a four course meal.  Wow, just wow!  It was pisco sour (alcoholic drink native to Perú and Chile), papa rellena (stuffed potato with beef and vegetables), spaghetti, and a crepe for $5.  Not only is Perú beautiful and full of culture, it is very, very cheap.  But in order to buy anything, you have to know how to barter and you have to know how many soles equal a dollar!

I had a lot of fun bartering!  I got one of the famous hats that they sell in Cuzco for under $2 US!  Many vendors tried to trick me, because I’m obviously not from Perú, or South America for that matter.  I was at one point told that a blanket was 20 soles which is roughly $7 so I said 10 soles.  The vendor shook his head and said in English “I’ll give you a discount:  $15!”  I actually laughed and said “¡No estoy tan estupida!  No, no 10 soles.”  I’m not paying $15 when the original price was $7!  These vendors will do almost anything to make a sale so they don’t put prices on anything so you have to ask “¿Cuánto cuesta esto?”  You have to be sure you really want whatever you’re asking about!

After spending half of the day bartering in Cuzco on Wednesday, we got in a taxi to take us to Ollantaytambo.  The taxi driver was driving well over the speed limit to the point it was slightly scary, but we were a little too busy staring at the absolutely breathtaking scenery!  We got a look at the Andes Mountains and the surrounding countryside of Cuzco.  In Ollantaytambo, there were ruins that you could go and visit, but some of them cost money.  And since we’re poor college students, we went to the free ruins.  It was awesome because we got to see the sun set from the ruins on the side of the mountain and see all of the lights flicker on in the city below.  It was a beautiful sight!  We climbed down from the ruins and found a hostal to stay in for the night and went to bed early.  The next day was going to be the day we had been waiting for!

We woke up at 4AM, packed up, and headed to the train station in Ollantaytambo.  The sun came up as we were riding to Aguas Calientes and we got to see some amazing scenery on the way (that seemed to be the theme of Perú).  After we arrived in Aguas Calientes, we dropped off our backpacks in a baggage claim and started the treckto the base of the trail.  We finally got to the base and looked up at stone steps moving in switchbacks up the mountain and began climbing up.  Of course a combination of the altitude, going up stairs, and my leg made me have a semi-asthma attack when we where at about the halfway point.  That climb was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it was definitely worth it!

That first sight of the ruins of Machupicchu left the three of us absolutely speechless.  In fact, most of the people looking at it weren’t saying anything.  It was just a heavy silence looking out at this beautiful marvel on top of a mountain.  What people often say about Machupicchu is “No hay palabras” or “There are no words” and it is definitely true.  We climbed to the guardhouse where the famous Machupicchu picture is taken and then headed to look at the Inca Bridge.  The Inca built a bridge on a cliff side.  A cliff with a brick bridge on it, how they did it, we will never know!  We went through the ruins, up to the alter, and finally got to the other end where the entrance to the trail to Waynapicchu and Huynapicchu.

I knew I would have a lot of difficulty getting up the Waynapicchu which is a collection of ruins on top of the tallest mountain in the area.  So while Tim and Galia went up there, I went to the smaller Huynapicchu.  I got to climb up some rather steep trails and had to use a rope at one point to get up.  At the peak of Huynapicchu, I saw a wonderful view of Machupicchu and the surrounding mountains before heading back down to get a closer look at the ruins of Machupicchu.  While Tim and Galia were still up at Waynapicchu, I went around the ruins again and talked to a lot of people from different countries.  Some from the US, some from Latin American countries, and some from Europe.  All of the Spanish speakers were shocked when they found out I could speak Spanish semi-fluently (and I think I can say that now!) and were always delighted that I had taken the time to learn the language.  Most people are taken aback by the fact I’ve been studying Spanish for 6 years now.

After Tim and Galia got back, we headed back down the mountain which, not surprisingly, hurt more than going up.  We found a hostel in Aguas Calientes and explored the town a little bit.  The food was a little more expensive since this town is basically a tourist town but we had brought food from Ollantaytambo.  Needless to say we got in bed early after spending two hours climbing up and down Machupicchu and 5 hours wandering around the ruins!  We boarded our train the next morning back to Ollantaytambo, climbed on a bus to Cuzco (and slept).  In Cuzco we wandered around rather aimlessly for a while.  This is what really tested me.  The unplannedness of this trip bothered me a little bit since I like knowing where I’m going and how long it will take to get there, but I got over that after the border fiasco.  I just hated wandering around aimlessly.  I like having a purpose and I like making progress.  It bothered me to no end that we were not going to the bus terminal right then.  That’s one thing I learned about myself on this trip:  if I’m not making progress towards something, I get frustrated.  And when Sarah is tired and frustrated and has a 30lbs backpack…watch out…

We did eventually make it to the bus terminal where we found a bus going to Arequipa and then Tacna.  So we waited in the terminal for 3 hours and it rained for the first time on our trip, actually the first time in South America for us!  We got on the bus to Arequipa (and slept) and then the bus to Tacna (and slept).  We had a little while in Tacna before our bus back to Antofagasta left, so we explored the city a little, finding the Plaza and some ice cream.  Finally, we headed back across the border without a hitch (thank God!) and found ourselves in Arica again.  We boarded the bus, and slept all the way back to Antofagasta.

I’m now three weeks into classes at Universidad Católica del Norte here in Antofagasta and I’d like to tell you all a little more about this wonderful university!  It’s situated in the southern part of Antofagasta and is one of the bigger universities in the city.  There are around 7,500 students here and the university seems much smaller than Miami because it’s much more compact.

The buildings of the university are arranged according to department and there is one building with extra classrooms.  Universidad Católica del Norte is famous for its Astronomy Institute because there are quite a few observatories surrounding Antofagasta.  The actual designs of the buildings are also interesting.  All of the staircases are on the outside of the buildings and the doors to the classroom are outside as well.  I have not walked through very many hallways since I’ve been here! 

One very important difference between this university and the universities in the United States is that it is very career specific.  Once you pick your major or “carrera,” you stick to that carrera for your entire time in school.  The students in a carrera have the same exact class schedule  and get to know each other very well.  Whenever I explain why I’m in two different carreras, it takes a little while for the other students to catch on.  Also, classes are specific to a carrera.  Astronomy students only take classes catered towards astronomy and journalism students only take journalism classes.  It’s interesting to try and explain that I have to go to astronomy class to the students in my journalism classes!

I’m taking four classes:  Introduction to Physics and Astronomy, Methods and Theory of Information, Contemporary History, and Cinematography Aprecciation.  I think the physics class is going to be the most difficult for me because science is not my strong point but I don’t think I will have any trouble in my other classes.  My film class is going to be very interesting because we have a 3 hour long class so we can watch a full movie and then discuss it.  I’m really excited for all of my classes!

Speaking of classes, the class schedule is a little different as well.  Classes are not as ridged as in the United States.  You can have one class at 8AM one day and have the same class at 6PM the next day.  It’s not like you have class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9AM to 10AM like I’m used to.  There is also a break in classes from 1:30PM to 2:45 for the students to go home and have lunch with their families.  Classes last for an hour and a half (still getting used to that).  I sometimes want to stop listening after 50 minutes!

One thing that really shocked me was the treatment of mechones in the university.  Mechones is the word that Chileans use for freshman.  Hazing is prominent on campus during the first few weeks of school.  Each carrera has something that they do to the first years.  The journalism mechones were tied together with string and drenched with water balloons, hoses, and water guns (super soaker sized) by the upperclassmen after class.  But the astronomy mechones had it worse!  Upperclassmen came into our classroom after class was over on Monday and told us to hand over all of our backpacks, cellphones, and money.  Then they told us that we had to go to El Centro to ask for money until we each had 15,000 pesos to pay to get our stuff back.  The other day, I saw students close to the big supermarket called Jumbo covered in paint and beans asking for pesos.  I think they were from Universidad de Antofagasta.  I was able to escape these events, luckily, due to the fact that I was an exchange student and that I’m a second year.  My fellow classmates told the upperclassmen this and backed me up when I said that I was a second year.  The upperclassmen let me go.  Have I mentioned that everyone’s really nice here?

Well, I’m off to Machu Picchu on Saturday for the week!  We’ll be taking a bus to the Chile-Peru border and then a bus to Cuzco.  Then we’ll camp in a smaller town called Aguas Calientes and hike up to Machu Picchu and other ruins in the area.  So my next update will be Machu Picchu!

Until then, ¡chao!

I think I’ve started to get used to life here in Antofagasta, Chile.  There’s a lot to do here and a lot to still discover, but I’d like to give you a little about where I’m living.

Antofagasta is the capital of  Region II in Chile (also named Antofagasta) and sits directly on the Pacific Ocean.  The city, in general, is very colorful with a lot of bright colors like blue, yellow, and orange.  There are very few skyscrapers within the city and most buildings are under three stories.  The easiest way to get around Antofagasta is to go by either micro or taxi.  Both go all over the city for a flat rate, though the micro routes are sometimes hard to figure out and taxis are a little more expensive than micros.  Taxis are usually 500 pesos while micros are around 450 pesos, less than $1 US for either!

The relative center of the city is El Centro, where there are a lot of shops, department stores, and restaurants.  El Centro is one long street where no cars are permited to drive and masses of people can be found walking in peak hours of the day.  El Centro also has the biggest Catholic church in Antofagasta and the schools (colegios) are usually close to El Centro.  While El Centro is the center of the city for the citizens of Antofagasta, it does not really attract tourists because it has few tourist attractions or souvenir shops.

Another important street is Avenida Brasil.  This is one of the few streets with grass.  Good lord, I miss grass!!  Down the center of the avenue is a long island with grass, trees, playgrounds, and benches.  The more tourist-type shops are located on this street such as bookshops, jewelry stores, and souvenir shops.  This street also leads directly to the MallPlaza Antofagasta.  The mall is looks just like any mall in the US, the only difference is people speak Spanish and some of the stores are different.  But it is the same basic design.

The area around Antofagasta is desert, but there are a couple of interesting places to visit around or close to the city.  Most recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Monumental Natural La Portada.  La Portada is an arch of rock in the ocean near Antofagasta and is considered to be like the Gateway to Antofagasta, kind of like the Arch in St. Louis is the Gateway to the West.  Some of the biggest mines in the world are also located around Antofagasta such as Chuquicamata and La Escondida.  The Atacama Desert is also very close by with the mysterious city of San Pedro de Atacama located within the desert.  Atacama is the driest desert in the world and does not have a recorded day of rain in its center.

Do I have a story for you!  Richard in the study abroad office was always telling me the best way to get to know a city is to get lost in it.  I never actually thought I would do it…well…not on purpose anyway!  But on Wednesday (the 11th), I got to see all of Antofagasta in an accidental misadventure on a micro bus.

It all started when I got on the wrong micro bus when I was heading home from UCN (Universidad Católica del Norte) around one in the afternoon.  For those of you that don’t know, a micro bus is a very, very small bus.  The ones in Antofagasta are blue and numbered and they will take you just about anywhere in the city for a little under $1 US.  Very cheap, and not that scary either.  I got on micro #104 when I went to UCN that morning, so I figured I would ride the same one home.  It would eventually circle around back to my house right?  Well, I was right…I just didn’t know how long this ride would end up being!

Now, I live pretty close to the center of Antofagasta (El Centro).  First, the micro started going towards El Centro, looping a little east of my house.  East of Antofagasta are mountains and on the side of the mountains are the poorer homes of the city.  I thought nothing of it.  It would turn towards my house eventually, I knew.  Then, our micro bus broke down just on the edge of the poorer housing.  We all had to get out of the micro and wait for the next 104 to come around.  Once it did, we all crammed into this tiny micro with some of us standing in the aisle.  The micro emptied out a little and I eventually got a seat.

What I hadn’t realized was that while I couldn’t see out of the windows, the micro had started to climb up the side of the mountain.  Up, up, up all the way to were I could see the farthest eastern edge of housing, followed by the dirt that led to the peaks of the mountains.  First thought:  oh, damn…

We just kept going up and north, farther and farther away from my house.  I had no intention of getting off in this part of town either.  Mi familia here in Chile told me many times not to go to the eastern part of the city by myself, not to go up the mountain.  I had originally had no intention to, but now I didn’t really have a choice.  I decided to stay on the micro until it circled around.  I knew it would…eventually.

By this time, it was around two in the afternoon.  The driver eventually turned onto a dirt road…and I was the last passenger on that micro.  He pulled into a bus station where there were a couple of micros parked.  The driver parked and turned around, and was very surprised to se me sitting there, ¿Qué pasó, señorita?

I was scared out of my mind.  I was in the most northeastern part of town, 10 miles away from my house, in a very dangerous place.  I told the driver that I needed to get to Avenida Argentina (close to my house) and his eyes got wide.  He told me that he would be going back there, but that we would circle around the mountain side again before we headed back down to El Centro.  I said ok and sat at the very front of the micro next to the driver and we set out for the trip back down.  I called mi mamá to let her know where I was (which was “no sé” since I had no idea) and that I would be late for lunch.

Needless to say, I kinda felt like an idiot considering what happened.  But on our way through the uppercity, I thought about a couple of things.  One:  I knew that I had to keep my head in situations like these. Sure, I was on the wrong side of the city, but I wasn’t going lose it over this.  Two:  I’d be on this micro for another hour so I might as well enjoy it.  Three:  I told myself at the beginning of this semester that there would be no regrets.  That’s why this blog is called “¡Sin Excusas!”  I didn’t want to regret this, not one thing.  Not coming to Chile, not getting on the wrong micro bus.

And I don’t regret it.  Mostly because when we turned a corner at one point in the uppercity, and there were no houses next to us, I looked out the window to see the most breathtaking view of Antofagasta I had ever seen.  I could see all of the buildings, the harbor, the Avenida Brasil, the beaches, and UCN.  I could see everything.  Antofagasta is like no other place I have ever been to, and I think I realized that on our way down that mountainside.

Maybe I should get on the wrong micro more often…

Well, I’m here!  I’ve only been here for four days, but I think I’m settling in okay.  I’m in Antofagasta with my host family.  My host family consists of four people:  the mom, Susana, the dad, Francisco, the daughter, Michelle (12), and the son, Mauricio (7).  We live in a group of six houses near the center of Antofagasta in casa four.  One of the other exchange students named Suhail lives in casa one.  Antofagasta is surrounded by…nothing.  It’s basically in the middle of a desert.  We are next to the Pacific Ocean, though.  I went to one of the beaches on Wednesday but I didn’t swim.

Wow, so much has happened in the last few days, I don’t know where to start!  I guess I’ll start with some of the things I’ve learned about Chilean culture.  One thing is greetings:  women always do a kiss on the cheek to both men and women.  Men do a kiss on the cheek to women, but shake hands or embrace to men.  Family is VERY important here.  Families do everything together: go to the store, eat meals, pick up the kids from school, everything!  Michelle and Mauricio go to school (colegio) from 8 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon and then come home for lunch.  Sometimes they have classes after than, sometimes they don’t.

When it comes to meals, my family has three meals a day.  Breakfast or desayuno is around 7 or 8 in the morning and usually consists of buttered bread, ham, and cheese.  Adults have coffee or tea and kids have milk, juice, or tea.  Lunch or almuerzo is the biggest meal of the day and is around 2 in the afternoon.  It has two courses:  the first course is usually soup in my family and then the second course is salad or pasta.  Once (yes, eleven in Spanish) is kinda like a really light dinner and that’s around 8 at night.  It usually consists of sandwiches kinda like at breakfast.  We usually get fresh bread and fruit everyday so I’m pretty much in heaven right now!

The university I’m attending is Universidad Católica del Norte en Antofagasta.  Antofagasta is the original campus for this university.  Most of my classes are in the Journalism (Periodismo) Department and I have one class in the Astronomy (Astronomía) Department.  The class schedule is in blocks, meaning that most classes last for about an hour and a half and you meet twice a week for most classes.  All of my classes are like that except for the astronomy class which meets three times a week for an hour and a half.  I am one of eight study abroad students.  Three of us are from the United States, three are from México, one is from Argentina, and one is from Bolivia.

Today, I rode the micro bus for the first time.  I’m not sure that I like it very much.  I’m not sure that I like cars in general here, don’t really like city driving!  People use their horns freely, too.  Scares the crap out of me every time!

I think that’s all for now.  I’ll get some pictures up soon…¡Chao!

Sarah

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