Mayonnaise, salt and hot dogs

     When someone says "Chile" is the first thing you think "oh they have fantastic food there?" After spending 2 days here you will know that the food is not fantastic. Don't get me wrong I've had some incredible dishes, but overall the food here is either full of sodium and oil, or bland.  I bet you didn't know that Chile is the second largest consumer in the world behind Germany.  The average Chilean eats 90 kilos of bread per year. That's about 180 loaves of bread a year! The bread isn't thick and hearty bread either, it's plain and simple white bread. Fortunately my family knows that I don't really eat bread and my host mom even bought wheat pitas and whole wheat crackers for me.
      Chileans love......MAYONNAISE! Chile is the third largest consumer per capita of mayo in the world. It became widely accessible in the 1980s and they haven't stopped eating it since. They put this egg yolk-oil-vinager-thick-white stuff on just about everything..... from corn to hot dogs, potatoes to rice. I always give my host dad a hard time when he puts mayo on his artichokes or on his chicken. He says it's normal and similar to americans eating ketchup, but we don't usually put ketchup on our vegetables (except potatoes) or on grains!
    Baking-last week some of my friends and I really wanted to bake cookies.  We went to the Lider (owned by Walmart) thinking they would have every ingredient we needed. After all it is Walmart right?  Well we wandered around for almost an hour trying to figure out what all we needed. We found a tiny bag of chocolate chips that were $5USD so we smashed candy bars instead, the jar of Great Value peanut butter was almost $6USD, brown sugar which wasn't refined and some sort of baking powder or soda. I pulled out a spanish dictionary and asked a worker if they had "baking soda" and he was incredibly confused. Nonetheless we made the cookies after my host mom had baking soda which comes in a circular container. They were delicious and my host family couldn't get enough of them.
     Every morning I walk out my bedroom and there is a bowl of fruit-banana, kiwi, pear, and apple some incredibly liquidy yogurt and brain flakes. I enjoy it every time! We always have so much fruit in our house. I think I eat at least 4 clementines a day even after sharing some with my friends.
    Lunch is the biggest meal in Chile and on weekends is usually enjoyed for hours with multiple courses.  There are microwaves at school so people usually heat up their lunch.
    Completos- a version of a hot dog that is topped with tomatoes, half an inch of mashed avocado and another inch of mayo.  They can't get enough of them here. Every street vendor and restaurant advertises them.
    Empanadas- this weekend in Pomaire the boys each got a kilo empanada which, like the name suggests was a whole kilo worth of meat inside the empanada.  At one point Mark pulled out a whole chicken drumstick. There were eggs, chicken, beef, onions and who knows what else inside. It was like a treasure chest.
     Ensalada- Salad here consists of shredded ice berg lettuce, tomatoes and occasionally a cucumber. No such thing as salad dressing here- only oil and vinegar and salt.
    Instant coffee is a staple here. Put a little Nescafe in your cup with some hot water and you're set. Chileans also really enjoy their tea or Mate.  I personally like none of those, but I do like hot chocolate. It's great to have at home because when you buy it at as restaurant it's $4USD a cup.
    Overall I consider myself fortunate with my food situation...some of my friends have plain pasta with no sauce and a hot dog for dinner or lentils with a hot dog on top. My favorite meal here was tacos with all the fixings, potato chips with guac and ice cream for dessert!

Avocado with egg salad

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough

vegetable soup

chicken, eggs, and potato balls

completo

La Serena

           Last week we didn't have school on Thursday and since we never have classes on Fridays it was a long weekend just tempting us for travel. On Thursday Murphy, Logan, Paul and I decided to buy bus tickets to go to La Serena. We had looked online at purchasing tickets and thought we were doing well until it wouldn't let us complete the purchase. I tried calling the bus company too and that proved to be a good idea that had no promise of an answer. Papa said they're no good at answering phone calls or emails, typical Chile once again.  So we went to the bus terminal and purchased our tickets for the 11:30pm 7 hour bus to La Serena.  We hopped on the bus that night and the boys quickly passed out while I was awake and anxious as there were a bunch of guys eating potato chips, speaking incredibly fast spanish and pointing at us at one point. The boys had a great night sleep and I got to look out the window and enjoy the stars. When we arrived in La Serena we didn't have anything to do. With no hostels, restaurants or shops open we decided there was only one place to go so we grabbed a cab and said "la playa por favor" (the beach please). I can only imagine his thought as he dropped off 4 gringos at the beach at 6:30am on a Friday morning. Eventually we did stay at Hostal El Punto. We enjoyed $4 cups of hot chocolate in a little cafe after being followed for several blocks by at least 10 dogs.  The locals found this hysterical while we definitely did not. We took a nice nap in our hostel and then were refreshed for the night. We were so excited to cook our own food that night so we bought a rotisserie chicken, pasta, salad stuff, bread, carrots and drinks. We were unpleasantly surprised when the kitchen worker at the hostel had other ideas for us than to let us boil a pot of pasta. We feasted on the chicken, carrots and bread and got by all right.  We played Pirates/liars dice and cards for a few hours nestled next to a tiny fireplace while listening to oldies music. That night we treated the locals to one of Paul's favorite Creed songs at karaoke "Higher".  We got a solid round of applause, but maybe that was because they were so excited to have us be finished! Those of you who know my incredibly awful singing ability imagine combining that with 2 boys and a Creed song, ya yikes! After that bar we stumbled upon a Rock n Roll bar and were extremely out of place almost immediately being the only people not dressed completely in black with skulls on our shirts. The idea of Rock n Roll music sounds nice until it is like death metal music videos turned up extremely loud. We left there pretty quickly. The next day we slept in and were told that breakfast went till 11:30 so we woke up before breakfast only to find out that breakfast is only served until 10:30. This hostel really just wanted us to have to go out and support other restaurants I guess. We spent the remainder of the day taking a dirty public bus with 2 drunk men to the nearest port town, Coquimbo.  It was a really cloudy, cold day so we didn't spend much time walking around the fish market and town park.  We revisited the grocery store and bought another rotisserie chicken, cheese and meat, rolls and ingredients for guac....it was a great feast.

Coquimbo port

         This night at the hostel we were all together in what we affectionately called "The Penthouse" because it had 5 beds plus a couch and a little table. This was the perfect setting for the next 9 hours of dinner, cards and dice, singing and quality debates about the legalization of marijuana in the US as countries in South America are considering legalizing it.  Sunday

Elqui Valley

Pisco Factory 

we had to be up at 8am for a tour so we definitely didn't miss breakfast! We went with a tour company to the Elqui Valley. We toured a museum, church, Pisco factory (the drink of the country. it's made from grapes but sort of similar to vodka), and went to the city of Vicuña. The valley reminded me of Western Idaho/Eastern Oregon. Pretty desolate with brown hills and little vegetation, but still beautiful.  Tens of thousands of grape vines covered the sunny valley.  We stayed in Vicuña instead of coming back to La Serena with the tour in hopes of going to the observatory that night. We found the only tour company for the observatory and were there 3 minutes before their schedule said they would return from their lunch break. In true Chilean fashion it was 45 minutes before they returned. We passed the time by flicking a bottle cap to each other across the street and using it like a football. After purchasing our tickets we still had 2 hours to kill. Vicuña is a small town and nothing was open because it was Sunday. We sat on a park bench eating peanuts and pringles and laughed and tried to solve Murphy's complex riddles.  Finally we arrived at Mamalluca Observatory and it was awesome! It's about 1000m above sea level in the Elqui Valley. The four of us had a telescope all to ourselves with our "aficiando" (fan of outer space).  Through the telescope we could see Saturn's rings and moons, Venus and the craters on the moon! It was almost a full moon so the sky was pretty light making it hard to see many stars but it was incredible.  Our aficiando responded without a doubt "YES" when asked "is there extraterrestrial life?" Interesting. He had an awesome green laser pointer that he could use to point out constellations, not available for use in the USA! We had a great time playing with it though.  I absolutely love looking at the stars and night sky in general. You can let your imagination run wild and take you to a completely different place. We made it back to the hostel on a bus and enjoyed a dinner of crackers and peanut butter. We departed La Serena on Monday at noon.  It was such a fun little excursion. These boys are characters who love adventure, quoting movies, and being kids. I'm thankful they'll always be here to protect me and make me laugh (and snort)! 

The moon through the telescope

Las Montañas

      I've spent my whole life living near the mountains. I lived in the same house at the base of the mountains in Sandy, Utah for 18 years, then lived in Denver for 2 for college and now I'm here in Chile. Some of my favorite memories have been in the mountains around the states, Canada and Costa Rica and now adding Chile to that list. I think it's the shrill peace and beauty that encompasses mountains of any kind. They're the closest to God I'll ever physically be without flying.
   Today was incredible!  A group of 20 of us gringos headed to Portillo on the Argentina/Chile boarder at 5:30am with a company called Ski Portillo Viña .  After a couple of hours of travel in the back of a van we were nearly there until......the pass was closed :( In Chile there isn't much urge for time or hurriedness and schedules aren't followed too strictly. That being said we hung out in a line of cars for 90 minutes waiting to go the last 20km to Portillo.  Finally or driver just decided to pass the line of cars and start his ascent toward the resort. We still have no idea how he got past the people guarding the pass, but they let us go. They probably said something like "the pass is really dangerous and it's still icy so use at your own risk." That's exactly what we did and we made it up the 31 switchbacks and arrived a the resort. There are no guard rails on this pass, signs that show cars falling off cliffs, and ice all over. We all got fitted for our gear and started to shred. Everyone had an incredible time and at no point in time did it seem real that we were actually skiing in the Andes.  I loved the snow, friends and the beauty. It was a perfect bluebird day with not a cloud in sight and the sun glistening on the lake at the base of the resort.
   That was the best $90USD I've spent in awhile for a lift ticket, rentals and transportation.

"The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change."-Thomas Wolfe

lake at the base

Relax, Listen, and Laugh

"Everyone laughs in the same language." It has no boundaries. I've learned a smile really can light up a room and sometimes when nothing else seems to make sense laughter does.  I laugh at the guys and all their immature jokes. I laugh that my sister puts mayonnaise on her rice and corn. Laugh that I have been so lost in a conversation that there's no turning back but no sense in moving forward with it.  I laugh when papa dances to Gangham style in the car. I laugh especially hard while on the phone with mama when I can't follow what she's trying to tell me.  I laugh that we sang Shania Twain at lunch as a family. Laugh when people immediately follow the question "where are you from?" with "Are you mormon?" People have started to figure out that I snort when I laugh and that just seems to bring out more laughter.
    I smile at the beautiful people. Their joy for life. They take time to eat their meals and enjoy conversations. Sundays are "tranquil" days meant to be spent with family not rushing from people to places. I smile during mass when I literally don't understand more than 10 words even though I've gone to mass for 20 years. I smile at the incredibly peaceful sunsets over the ocean that project red hues on the windows of all the buildings. I smile while eating the top 5 best ice creams I have ever had even though I didn't know what kind it was. I smile realizing this really is a dream that has come true. This place is magical.  Yeah sure the language is incredibly difficult, but no one can take away a smile and everyone understands what a smile and a little laughter means.

So this is Chile

I wont make these posts too long for the people who do actually read these, but sharing my 4 month abroad adventures might take some time.  Thus far Chile has proved everything it's ever been cracked up to be.  Tons of people, beautiful country side, incredibly fast spanish spoken, and lots of beer. Not to mention stray dongs all over the place and consumption of abundant amounts of bread at every meal, my two personal favorite things about this country (NOT).  We arrived in Santiago on Sunday morning and quickly became friends with 30 other people while waiting in the airport to head to Hotel-Rent-A-Home (very Spanish name).  The hotel was apartment style so we had a couple of roommates.  The past 3 days have been filled with LOTS of sitting and listening to our program coordinator. I'm so thankful that's done because it got a little repetitive. We toured Santiago and saw the presidential palace, a cathedral, the center of the city, and a vineyard.  We all felt like we were back in grade school on a field trip going place to place walking all together. That had to be a sight watching 30 gringos get off the bus with their big cameras around their necks.  I really liked the cathedral today because there was a mass just ending and the archbishop of Santiago was present and somehow David and I ended up being really close to him with a bunch of Chilean camera crews.  Santiago is massive-almost 7 million people! It reminds me of Salt Lake with its proximity to the mountains.  There was tons of smog and no one in the group really understood what it was, but after living in Salt Lake that's normal for winter time.  Last night was a  great night at Louisiana.  The ratio of Americans to Chileans in the bar had to be 5:1.  It was karaoke night...perfect for us gringos.  Classic songs were song while the DJ looked thoroughly ecstatic to have his job. haha The food is not very good here. It's pretty bland. If you order "pollo y papas fritas" you will literally get french fries and a piece of chicken.  There isn't much flavor. Their "ensaladas" are just iceberg lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers with oil and vinegar for dressing.  Chile is the second largest consumer of bread after Germany.  They eat so much bread! Don't worry my host family knows I don't want any bread.  Speaking of host families we took the 90 minute bus ride from Santiago to Viña del Mar to meet our families. Everyone on the bus was twerking getting nervous.  It was funny to watch the host families pick us up. Imagine them looking at 30 gringos going "oh I don't want that one. oh please not the one with 3 suitcases. really the kid with the ski boots?"  I think it'll all work out for everyone though. I like my host family thus far. Things are going well. I'm freezing constantly because there isn't central air inside buildings and it's only 40 degrees at night.
      I'm really glad I had my 20 day trip to Costa Rica in December because that helped me prepare a lot for this trip. If I could survive that trip I can survive anywhere!
          I've met a lot of really cool people. There are 10 people from DU on the trip but none of us were super close before the trip. What a great crew we are though, taking over Chile.  It's been a blast to get to know everyone. We're planning trips already to go exploring! Chao 

adiós y buena suerte

Throughout the past year I've lived in Utah, New York and Denver. I've traveled to 22 states, Canada, and Costa Rica.  Every day has brought a new adventure. Thinking back on these experiences every one them has turned out to be incredible.  There's been difficult times, but those are all just learning experiences.  On to the future and great times ahead.  Since I was 7 years old I've said I wanted to study abroad for one year, first in a Spanish speaking country. Today that dream and goal becomes a reality as I leave to study in Viña del Mar, Chile.  I'll live with a host family, take classes with 80 other international students, run along the beach, hike Machu Picchu, attend church, ski in the Andes, and make friends for a lifetime. The most common regret I've heard from adults is they wish they would have studied abroad when they were younger. This will not be a regret of mine. I can't wait to see what God has planned.  There's a mixture of excitement and nervousness, but why be nervous? Every other time I've boarded a plane and gone somewhere where I didn't know anyone it's turned out to be one of the best times in my life. Yesterday on the bus my bus driver from Kenya said "I'm so glad you are going to study somewhere else. I appreciate people like that. To learn and grow with the culture and the people. You can't learn by just staying in one place.  Well here we go!!!!

Boston or Bust

Back in February my friend Mur talked about how she was going to have to drive her car back home to Boston at the end of the year and I casually said "can I come with you?"  That's when the adventure began.   

   On Wednesday June 5 at 12:30pm Mur, Sam David and I piled in Mur's car.  We set out to drop Sam off in Kansas City, KS.  We went through this trip knowing we had 6 days to get to Mur's house but that was the only plan besides dropping Sam off in KC, KS.  We had no places set up to stay, no precise times to be anywhere and no one we had to answer to.  Based on each city we were in here's what happened--

Kansas City, KS- stayed at Sam's house and met her friends, her mom had a cookie cake with our names on it.  

Kansas City, MO- Wendy David treated us to breakfast. quaint city to walk around, the river is pretty

*What I learned in Kansas and KC,KS-- Tech 9 is from KC, KS, driving through Kansas is prettier than I ever thought (it's actually green with hills), I saw one the most beautiful sunsets in my rear view mirror, Hallmark started in KC, Kate Spade is from KC

St. Louis, MO- met up with my friend Jessica Foley from HOBY WLC '09, you NEVER want to be in East St. Louis (we accidentally ended up there), the Cardinals stadium is cool,  St. Louis Bread Co. is really the EXACT same thing as Panera Bread

Evanston, IL- stayed with Clayton Wheeler and got to his house at midnight. So generous to let us stay there and his parents were very nice. woke up the next morning and went to Starbucks to use the wifi and so I could change my clothes.  Then filled up with gas where I bought a toothbrush and preceded to brush my teeth in the bathroom

Chicago, IL- skyline is beautiful! Both Mur and I had only been there once.  We rode the $6 Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier, Walked around Millenium Park, all over Michigan Ave, the art museum and then took the train to Wriggley Field.  Caught a Cubs game for $20.  They have some great fans who LOVE their beer.  

Wilmette, IL- Stayed with Alex Chipparoni and his family.  They live right on Lake Michigan so we got a gorgeous sunset over the lake.  Lake Michigan reminds of an ocean because it's so expansive.  drove past Northwestern's football stadium so I could see where cousin Adam played football. delicious breakfast made by Mrs. Chipparoni.

Ann Arbor, MI- stopped for lunch at a dive restaurant  bought some expensive, but delicious chocolate, shopped in the cute shops, and starbucks for some wifi.  Ann Arbor is really pretty, the football stadium is massive! The campus is pretty with old, white brick

Detroit, MI-Motor City,USA.  tons of graffiti everywhere, old rundown buildings

London, ON, CAN- stayed with Matt Ferguson from HOBY WLC '09 (haven't seen each other in 4 years).  We turned off our phones when we crossed the border so we told Matt we would knock on his door between 7:30-8 that night and sure enough we did at 7:45. His roommates were really nice. We accompanied them to "The Beer Store" (it's literally called that because all the sell is beer in a refrigerated building).  Met more of Matt's friends including 2 cousins who were some of the funniest people I've ever met.  Went out to an outdoor bar that night.  The bouncers laughed at our ID's saying they looked like really cheap fake IDs. people behind us just laughed. We caught the last of the Blackhawks game before finding a table to sit at for a few hours.   Everyone was so nice and friendly. It was a different atmosphere then in the states. our favorite part was that people talked to us and were genuinely interested in us instead of just playing on their phones. We headed to McDonalds and then off to bed at 4am!

*this was my favorite night of the trip

Toronto, CAN-left Matt's house at 8am and drove to Toronto.  It's a lot like Chicago as far as being a big city on the water.  The city is growing extremely quickly. Most of their buildings were built with glass so it made all the architecture gorgeous.  We saw the CN Tour, Blue Jays stadium, and walked around the city and lakefront

Montreal, QC,CAN- stayed with Mur's family friends from when they lived there for 2 years when they lived there 15 years ago. We had a great dinner and then Mur and I walked around Montreal. We probably walked 6 miles that night. Stopped and had some Fro-Yo.  Some much French in Montreal, well Quebec in general. It's like a completely different country.  Not much english anywhere. In the morning we went to a look, went to McGill University and through old town Montreal.  pretty city. 

*we learned that in Canada the speed limit is 100kmph means at least 120kmph or you will be passed by trucks.  "Eh" is a common thing people really do say. people are all friendly and call each other "brother", universities are a lot cheaper there

Stowe, VT- small, small ski town. We met up with Mur's brother Rob and his girlfriend Erin. We climbed and submitted Vermont's tallest peak where you could see lake Champlain.  It was so windy on top but really pretty. I kept making the comment that it's a ski hill not a mountain, but this is one of the Northeast's best places to ski.we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then played tag on a playground for half an hour (extreme tag while jumping over railings).  Ate maple ice cream and black raspberry ice cream. drove to Burlington to see some of their friends and walk around UVM.  It's a nice college town right on lake Champlain.  the first Ben&Jerry's was here. church street is a lot like Pearl Street in Boulder because the same guy designed it. in the morning we toured the Ben&Jerry's factory and tasted Milk and Cookies ice cream, delicious! 

Medfield, MA- hung out and relaxed. met Mur's friends, saw the state championship HS guys lax game at Harvard Stadium, watched the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals at a local bar in Boston, had ice cream at Bubbling Brook, hiked to an overlook of the city, embraced all the rain!

Providence, RI-flew out of here to come home. Literally got to the airport at 5:20 and my flight was at 5:40. Made it non the less

The end of an incredible experience. We spent about $500 on gas and tolls along the way, drove over 2,400 miles in 6 days, hung out with incredible people and made new friends. Every step of the way we had to explain that we go to school in Denver but Mur lives in Boston and I'm from Utah but I just wanted to drive with her. People were confused at first but then jealous of our journey. We called ourselves nomades throughout the adventure. we heard almost every song on the radio, satellite radio, cds and our phones. "I want Crazy", "Wagon Wheel","Landslide", "Get Lucky" were our top played songs. I encourage everyone to set out on an adventure like this. It was fun to do it as a 20 year old with one friend.  We never knew where we were going to stay but managed to find people every step of the way. Thank you to everyone who hosted us! America (and Canada) are incredibly beautiful and diverse places that should be explored. Learn something new everyday and meet someone different.