Update! 2-16

I am on the second part of my Feb travels. I just spent two nights in the swelteringly hot Buenos Aires. Now, I am in Montevideo, Uruguay and off to Punta Del Este, Uruguay tomorrow!

Brady

Patagonia!

On the 29th of Jan, we flew on a 6am flight to the bottom of the world. Punta Arenas. Arguably the southernmost city in the world. However, given that Argentina hates to be outdone by other countries (see the Fauklands War of the 1980s and their persistence that those islands are theirs), Argentina, of course, lays claim that Ushuaia is in fact the southernmost. ANYWAY. Punta Arenas and Patagonia in general are very beautiful but at the same time can be dismal places. As we soon found out, the best thing to do in this po-dunk little town is leave -- so we did. To Puerto Natales. A smaller, somewhat more remote town three hours north of Punta Arenas (see Patagonia Map and see Map of Chile).
     Puerto Natales - A sleepy, windswept town that functions as the main jumping off point to all backpackers who are headed to Torres del Paine National Park. The Torres (see picture below) are the main attraction and are seen on two types of treks: the W (4-5 days) and the Circuit (7-9 days). Due to our limited time and the fact the the national park (BBC article about the fire), we were limited to a 4 night 5 day trek to see the highlights of this spectacular place.
    Torres del Paine - INCREDIBLE. I already want to go back and do the full circuit. The fire ravaged parts of the park are pretty saddening and hard to bear. Still, some of the most beautiful valleys and mountainsides are preserved. Notable places are the Valle de Frances, Los Cuernos, Paine Grande, and obviously, Los Torres. See the Just Pictures section for more photos!
    El Calafate - Across the border in Argentina, this town resembles a Colorado ski town more so than a tucked-away town in Patagonia. Like all of Patagonia, this town featured sometimes howling winds and rapidly changing weather. BUT, featured an incredible array of chocolate stores, ice cream shops and pizza joints (not to mention parrillas or Argentine beef and steak restaurants). The town is largely a tourist trap, but has access to the Perito Moreno glacier (see Just Pictures for the shots of the glacier).
    El Chalten - We went here on a day trip from El Calafate to attempt to see Mount Fitz Roy. Fitz Roy. Google will have to suffice because the entire, ENTIRE, time we hiked around this national park it SNOWED. It snowed consistently for four hours in the middle of the summer. That is basically the story of Patagonia. Wind. Sun. Rain. Snow. Before lunch.
    Lastly, we ended our whirlwind tour of the south end of the world with two days in Punta Arenas. I enjoyed some time to myself with my kindle in a small coffee shop that overlooked the Strait of Magellan. This was really nice because aside from walking, or paying to go see a bunch of penguins, there really is nothing to do there. On the last night, though, I was able to try a roast of Guanaco, a Patagonian llama. Delicious!

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the pictures!

Leaving for February

In less than 12 hours I hop on a plane that begins a month of travelling. My itinerary is as follows:

Puerto Natales, Chile (Chilean Patagonia)
Torres del Paine National Park (to backpack for 5 days)
El Calafate, Argentina
Punta Arenas, Chile
Santiago, Chile (for a day to do laundry and regroup)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Montevideo, Uruguay
Punta del Este, Uruguay
Easter Island, Chile

It's going to be a busy 32 days.

Before.

After

A lot of the things that make that backpack enormous are due to the need to stuff everything inside for the flight to Patagonia. Luckily, I will be able to ditch my tent, pad and sleeping bag in Santiago before I head out again for Buenos Aires and Uruguay.

See you in March!

Valparaiso and Viña del Mar

So this post is a little late in the making, but here it is anyway. Last weekend I went to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar for the weekend, in part on my own and in part with the abroad group. Viña del Mar is the glitzy tourist trap and summer break haven for all Chileans, Argentineans and people looking for a long beach and no ozone layer to get tan with. Valparaiso is a "Bohemian" city and former home to the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. In reality, the majority of the city is grungy, smelly and crawling (literally) with stray dogs and their feces. Now that you have that image, there are some nice parts of the town, but they require a van to see. Most of the picturesque places of the city are up the hills and amidst the narrow and winding streets.

Enjoy the pics!

Market scene

Fish at the market

Viña del Mar

The Group in Valparaiso

The Congress building: Pinochet's legacy

Inside an old passageway leading to a historic elevator

Street art

Girl with her puppy

Chattin' with Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso

Looking down to the port

Bierfest in Santiago

Saturday marked one of the best days in recent or not so recent memory. During this whole weekend, Santiago hosted its own beerfest. All Chilean beers. All microbrewed. All delicious. After spending almost five hours at Bierfest Santiago, drinking a liter or two and listening to a Chilean band sing covers of 80s rock, I left for home. I realized to my chagrin that I missed the first half of the Niners game. BUT, I was able to watch the second half on the internet. WHEW. THEN THE NINERS WON! Easily the best day so far in Chile. Here are some pictures from the day.

 Me, our new German friend named Jonathon and Sophie

The whole empanada.

 Just like Germany!

 A liter of HBH's Amber Ale.

Chilean cover band. 

Yum.

One week in

After a week in Chile...  I've found a new home. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME. Santiago can be a little sketchy at times. But what large South American city isn't? I've put up some pictures on the blog and on facebook of the past weeks events. I have settled into this cozy little house in Santiago. I have yet to learn how to tune out the chorus of dogs, both stray and pets, that sing me to sleep every night. It doesn't help that EVERY house on my block seems to have a dog that in turn feels compelled to bark at the same time each night.

Anyway, we had a welcome dinner last friday for our program at an awesome restaurant. The fact that I am the only guy on my abroad program was only compounded by the dinner only including the mothers of the Americans. Thus, I was one of two males at a dinner for 25.

This week has been a drag. We started our three weeks of intense classes. The three hour Spanish grammar and skills class begins at 8:30 in the morning.  Then at noon we have the ever exciting Chilean culture class for two hours.  Because Chileans eat lunch at 2 o'clock, most of us have to wait until we get home from class (roughly at 2:45) to eat lunch. Rough. In the end, it's not so terrible.

Here are some pics of the last week:

My house

The gringos

My host mother and the best cook in Chile

Los americanos y sus madres

In Chile, they call their babies "guaguas"

Santiago

The Leaving Part

     It was really crazy for me to actually stop and think about what I was doing, standing there in front of the airport in San Francisco. I had everything I would need for every aspect of my life crammed into three duffel bags and a small backpack. Even worse, one of the larger duffel bags was mainly filled with gear for backpacking and not actually things I would want to use on a daily basis. I already regret not using that space for more shorts and tank tops because its hotter than hell down here and I feel like melting from the second I wake up. Anyway. There I stood, smiling, just like any tourist about to leave the country; except, I was about to leave with no expectation of returning for seven months. Its an odd feeling to have in knowing that you won't see home for seven months. A feeling that I really didn't understand and still don't even now in Santiago. Nonetheless, at every turn in my travels from San Francisco to Dallas and then to Santiago, I would say "I can still turn back." I said this to myself up until I got on the plane from Dallas to Santiago. At that point, there really was no turning back. Either way, I didn't want to. 

     After 24 hours of travel, I finally arrived in Santiago de Chile. Our ever bubbly and always enthusiastic program director picked me and Sophie up from the airport and began to describe for us just what we had signed up for. Obviously, she said, we had left our English on the plane and would now speak only Spanish for the next seven months. Obviously, I hadn't, but I was willing to pretend. As I sat in the back of this van, sweating myself into a raisin of a human being, I realized the climate and I would not get along regardless of the language.
     I was finally dropped off at my host family's very nice little house in a leafy and quiet neighborhood of Santiago. Soon after unpacking my things into the closets and drawers (which unbeknownst to me could and likely do contain a spider called La Araña de Rincon that an kill humans in 8 hours), I was summoned to lunch. After feasting on a pork chop, green beans, salad, tomatos, rice and sauteed mushrooms, I decided that if I didn't leave Chile fluent in Spanish, I would certainly leave obese.
     When in Chile, Eat and Speak like the Chileans do.