El resto de septiembre

Title Translation: The rest of September

Well, I still have to finish the rest of the week of September 18th! Oofta! September was really crazy. That weekend, I headed to Iquique with Mauro and Erin in order to meet Mauro's family and see his hometown. He is originally from Iquique, but he is studying here in Arica. It was such a wonderful experience to finally go there, and also, to meet Mauro's family. We had a four hour bus ride since Iquique is four hours south of Arica. It always surprises me so much to see the outskirts of cities in this area...it really does look like perhaps the moon or something (pic below). We got to Iquique and met Mauro's grandmother, and then the rest of his family. That night we walked around to see the city at night, and then Erin and I headed to our hostal. The next day, we walked around more of Iquique, and we enjoyed the beautiful sights...I will leave pictures do the rest of the talking...

 A goose statue (I think?) and a pretty structure in the city center of Iquique.

 Me with a couple of Mauro's siblings from Iquique. They are sweethearts!

 A nice little video of the center of Iquique :)

 The crazy three that went on the trip. Erin, Mauro, and me. Thank you to Mauro for going with us and sharing your city with us!

 Gringas in Iquique ;)

 A huge ship that is called Esmeralda with a tiny gringa in Iquique.

 The flags of South America...and then obviously the best flag of South America...Chile's :)

 One of Iquique´s beautiful beaches.

 Gorgeous, right?

 Yellow hibiscus flower!!! I need to attempt to grow an hibiscus flower when I get home.

My very first ice cream sundae...ever.

The following weekend, the crazy four, Mauro, Erin, Hernán, and I. That weekend I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. In Chile, there are many Virgen Mary Statues that are located, typically in the mountains. Every year, many people walk this long and exhausting hike in which you cross a river many times, and walk and walk and walk for five hours! Yes, five hours! We left around 2 am. We took a bus ride to get to the place where we start walking (they had special buses continuously running  because so many people go), and then we began walking at 2 am until 8 am. We have to do it at night becuase the day is too hot in the desert. Now some of you may think this sounds crazy, but like I said it was an amazing experience. Why? It's a journey of faith. A five hour walk that hundreds of people take in one weekend. People help each other across bridges, help those who are sick or disabled get futher, and even the old. It was such a cool sight to see everyone's little flash lights walking through the night in lines and packs of people. When we almost arrived, I was completely exhausted, and I saw an older man (probably in his 70s or 80s) with a huge smile on his face and laughing. It was a beautiful sight, and I thought to myself "if he can do it, I can too!" becuase he was such an inspiration. As we got closer, we could start to hear the music of the dancers from the little pueblo. When we arrived we slept for a good 4 or 5 hours on the ground under the shade of a tree. There were many tents from people that had stayed the night as well that surrouned us. When we woke up, we grabbed a bite to eat, and then we headed to see the Virgen de Las Peñas. There is a statue of a virgen inside a church that is built against the side of the mountain. Behind the Virgen, within the rock, one is supposed to be able to see the form of the Virgen Mary in the rock. Way back when people were crossing the mountains to get to the coast, they came across this rock and saw this Virgen Mary in the rock and there was a white dove. Now, every year, people make the sacrice of walking to see a statue of the Virgen in this place, and pray to her, usually asking her for something. If what they ask for comes true, they are supposed to return year after year for the rest of their lives, making the sacrifice to thank the Virgen. It was a beautiful experience to share with Mauro, Erin, and Hernán (Nano). Nano was the only one that had gone before, and he wanted to share that special place with us, and I'm so thankful that he did. I'll never ever forget the memories of walking, talking, and seeing the beauty of nature and people helping one another. Here are some photos of our walk.

 Me and Nano- we finally made it after five hours of walking :)

 My new friend Alfred and me :D

Nano and I waiting for a bite to eat.

 Some of the people selling items that could be blessed next to the statue of the Virgen.

 People bathing in the water. It was super hot during the day!

 A statue of Jesus on the way to see the statue of the Virgen.

 "Faith allows us to correct the bad, increase the good, and enjoy what is best." 

 Virgen de las peñas with people kneeling and praying, along with the woman who blesses items.

 Video of people dancing for the Virgen.

 The church where the Virgen Statue is located and me.

 The village

 A river in the middle of the desert...incredible!

 Nano and I on our walk  back home.

 During one of our rests, there were some cops on horses...

Mauro, Erin, me, and Nano on the way back from seeing Virgen de las peñas :)

 Nature <3

 If you look real close, you can see people crossing the river down below.

Another picture of people crossing and helping one another.

I believe that was the majority of my September...in two blog posts. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I guess I still have to write for October...and holy cow is November flying!? Hope all is well wherever you are. 

"Remember to live, dream, and travel."

Much love from Chile (mucho amor desde Chile,

Katie Lea :)

Hace mucho tiempo! Agosto, septiembre, octubre y noviembre ay ay ay! (pero este es solamente un poquito de agosto y septiembre)

Title translation: It's been a long time! August, September, October, and November Oh my! (but...this is just a bit of August and September)

Holiiiii!

¿Cómo están ustedes? Espero que bien! Hace mucho tiempo desde escribí en mi blog, pero por fin estoy escribiendo de nuevo ;) No sé por qué estoy escribiendo en español...ok ahora inglés! :D

--->How are you all? I hope well! It's been so long since I have written in my blog, but finally, I'm writing again ;) I don't know why I was writing in Spanish...but here I go in English since that is what the majority of you understand anyway :)

We began classes at the university right after we got back from our amazing trip to Santiago. August was interesting for me since I had to try to get used to not having the group here and it just being Colton, Erin, and I as the gringos. There are other gringos in Arica; the majority of them are volunteers for a program called English Open Doors in which they come to Chile to teach English. Every now and then we'll see a gringo backpacker come through the city. It is to the point now that we completely stare if there is another gringo...you can't help it. They just stick out so much here ;) Classes have been going well. I am taking four classes (a writing, speaking, literature, and elective grammar class). This classes are with Chileans, so essentially they are at a much higher level of academic Spanish than what I am used to; however, the students have helped us out a lot to understand, and the teachers have been great as well. I have three different professors, and two of them are professors that I actually had when I was in the CISP program my first time here. Some photos from my time in August...

 For you Mom & Dad---first day of school in Chile ;)

 Relaxing day on the beach :)

 Gorgeous!!! I live here! :D

 Still no Chileans since it is winter here...only the crazy gringos come when it's so "cold" ;)
(Taken in August)

 Colton and I shopping at Lider to make some quedadillas...I accidently forgot the queso..so we had dillas :D

 They have toys you can ride outside of Lider...just like at Walmart! 

 A really cool mural that I run next to in Arica. 

 I can't get enough of these hibiscus bushes. So beautiful!

On my running route & the view :)

September came and went! Man, did it fly! As you will see, I was busier than ever. The thing is, I had no classes the whole week of September 18th, which is Chile's Independence Day. The weekend before
the 18th, I headed to Tacna, Peru for two days with Erin. Our friends Mauro and Hernán ended up coming with us for the first day, and we had a wonderful time shopping, trying some Peruvian cuisine (including the best fruit juice in the world), and relaxing.  With the guys, we went to this huge restaurant that was on the outskirst of Tacna, and we had a mini asado (bbq) at the restaurant. Here are couple photos from Tacna.

 This lady makes the BEST juice in the world, and she's a sweetheart :)

 A butterfly made out of flowers in Tacna, Peru

 Hanging out under a cool flower structure

Steak smothered in some sauce with mushrooms with baked potatoes and this amazing Peruvian sauce.

I had to get at least one silly photo on here... :)

Once we got back from Peru, it was full force celebrating Chile! Between empanadas, asados (bbq), meat on a stick (yes, I forgot the name of it...), sopapillas, and trying typical Chilean drinks, I was exhausted just from eating food. I went to two asados: one at my friend Mauro's house and the other at Erin's family's house. The night before 18, I headed to Mauro's and celebrated with all my friends. Here's a few photos from that night...

 Megan (she's teaching at the university and suprisingly is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa!), me, and Hernán eating some typical Chilean food for 18 de septiembre.

 Hernán, me, Erin, and Mauro ( I didn't have a photo of them from when we went to Tacna, so here's one of us from the asado).

Part of the group and some of my best friends from here in Chile.

Hernán and I...yes, as you are probably assumming (if you didn't know already), we are dating :) He's the best boyfriend in the world, and I'm so lucky to be with him! You'll be seeing enough photos and hearing about him in my coming blogs ;)

Well, I'm actually going to leave you here. I will be writing again very soon. I know, I have been absoutley terrible at keeping up with my blog posts, but the thing is, I have just been trying to enjoy as much time as I can here. I know that seven months is a long time to be away, and it should leave me enough time to write my little blog to keep you up to date, but the truth is...seven months isn't enough time at all. This place is amazing, and honestly, it's the people that make this place what it is. I have been so blessed to meet so many friendly, geunine, and loving people during my stay here so far. I can't wait to share even more stories with you all. 

I hope you are doing well, and that the cold weather (if you are in the northern hempishere) isn't making you freeze too much. Enjoy your time off on break everyone (holy cow, it's Thanksgiving this week!). Happy Thanksgiving too...I guess...just in case I don't get a chance to write you before then ;)

Take care. Much love from Chile (Cuidate, mucho amor desde Chile),

Katie Lea :)

Santiago, Valparaíso, y Viña del Mar

Title translation: Santiago, Valparaíso, and Viña del Mar (Cities in the mid-section of Chile)

Hola! ¿Cómo estai? <----(Pronounced: ko-mo uh-st-i...how the Chileans sometimes say how are you instead of ¿cómo estás?)

I hope this blog post finds you all doing well and enjoying the first week back to classes. Okay, I left you off at Erin and I taking a flight to Santiago...so that's where I will begin.

July 31st...Erin and I woke up around 3:30 am in order to get ready and catch our flight from Arica to Santiago. The airport in Arica is about a half hour away from where we live, so we had to wake up extremely early! It was kind of miserable because I was batteling a cold at the time (not fun when you know you are going to be in even colder weather soon in Santiago). As we were going through security, the secuirty man took my bag and put it through the security scanner a second time. He then asked me if I had anything dangerous at all in my backpack. I looked at him like he was crazy. I definitely did not have anything dangerous in there! He put it through the scanner ANOTHER time, and when it came back he started digging in it, and pulled out a...wait for it...pocket knife?! Oops! I had bought one not that long ago, and I completely forgot that I had kept it in my backpack. So I had to say bye-bye to that! The flight went well overall and we took a taxi from the airport to my friend Rafael's house (he is from Santiago but I met him at the Univeristy of Northern Iowa when he was studying there this past semester).

I was hoping to see the mountains right away when we arrived; however, we weren't so lucky. There was a lot of smog that day, so we couldn't see them. But there were plenty of other things to look at. I absolutely fell in love with Santiago from the start (yes, even though it was smoggy). It was like a mix of all of my favorite places in one place: mountains like in the west of the U.S., palm trees like in Arica, "normal" trees like from back home, buildings and streets that resembled Europe, gringo stores and fast food restaurants that reminded me of home, and amazing Chileans that live there that speak the language I love. I don't know how you can find a place much better than that! (I'm guessing you like to look at pictures a little more, so I'm going to let my photos do the talking...)

 Our first night in Santiago we watched Rafael play some fútbol (a.k.a. soccer) with his friends. It was cold, but a lot of fun! They get together on certain nights and always play. It's kind of like a league.

 Erin and I trying to be artsy with the really beautiful mirror at Rafael's home.

 These trees exist in the same place! Unbelievable. I don't know how the palm trees survive in the cold down there during winter.

 Erin and I at the plaza de armas (main plaza) in downtown Santiago with a pretty fountain behind us.

 A cool shot from the plaza de armas. Palm trees, church, and tall city buildings. Oh! and sometimes when I watch the Chile news here, the reporters are often at the Plaza de Armas...you can see one of the tv vans (the white one) in this photo! Cool! I almost made it on tv during the trip. They were trying to interview people on the street, and I walked behind the lady they were interviewing, and I waved...I don't think they were quite filming yet though. Darn. :)

 This is inside of the church you can see in the photo above. I opened the huge doors, and my jaw just dropped. It was absoutely gorgeous!

 Erin & I with some crazy looking statue in the Plaza de Armas. There were sooo many art and crafty things. I was thinking about you, Heather (my sister-in-law), A LOT while I was in Santiago. I think you and Greg would love to visit there someday...maybe if I move down there someday ;)

 Our tour guides and I for the day (from the left: Rafael, me, and Rafael's friend Lucho) in front of La Moneda, which is the Chilean President's seat. It used to be a colonial mint way back in the day.

 Erin & I on the opposite side of La Moneda with the guards and horses. You can see the horse kind of liked me :)

The friendly horse that started trying to chew on my scarf.

Erin & I with our new boots that we bought during one of our stops at one of the many malls we went to.

 At the Central Market. Fish, fish, and more fish!!

 Erin, me, and crazy guy in the background...at La Piojera (translation: The Lice). They call it this because there are so many people that come here from all around the world. It's a really fun atmosphere (check out the video below). 

The guy started singing my favorite Portugues song right to me, "ai se eu te pego" by Michel Telo, right after he sang this song, but I didn't get it on film. Oh well...

At La Piojera with my Maremoto (seaquake). They also have a brown one similar to this that is called terremoto (earthquake). The Maremoto had a mint taste which helped my cold a little bit :)

 Erin & I made a little coffee shop study break at a café close to Rafael's family's house. It may have been the best cake and coffee I have ever had in my life. The waiter looked like Ashton Kutcher!!! That was one thing I forgot to mention; wherever we went, there was a Chilean that was a celebrity look-a-like...without trying to be! It was crazy! We saw look-a-likes of Ashton Kutcher, Jake Gyllenhall, Steve Carrell, and many more! I would just be walking down the street and all of a sudden there would be a Chilean that looked sooo much like a celebrity!

 Erin & I after our little coffee break on our walk back home :)

The beautiful Andes Mountains and me in Santiago near a neighborhood park.

 A mime in front of the museum Bellas Artes (Fine Arts).

 These two really should lighten up... ;) at the museum Bellas Artes

 Checking out the big statues at the museum. We were pretty excited that it was free to enter, and there was a lot of beautiufl art there. 

 Palm tree with the beautiful Santiago sky.

 Grass moustache!!! :) We gave in to our temptation of laying on the grass. We miss having grass in Arica, so we just couldn't resist...although we got a few odd stairs. I can't imagine why ;)

 The sunset view from the bridge near the museum.

Ok...so this photo was taken in the subway on our way back to the house. You must realize that it is extremely difficult to take this sign seriously...the pronunciation of Maipú in English would sound something close to "My Poo." We have a street in Arica with the same name. You can only imagine all of the funny sentences we gringos can come up with.

Erin & I then headed off to the coast near Santiago to the cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. You can see the view of Valparaíso in the background of this photo. The city had so much charm with all of its winding streets and hills. It really reminded me of what San Francisco must be like...

 Erin & I in front of one of the three homes of Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. This one is called La Sebastiana and is in Valparaíso. All of the homes resemble being inside a boat!

In this photo, you can see on the hill that there is a ramp looking thing of some sort. That is called an ascensor (a.k.a. elevator/lift).  I have a video of us going up, but for some reason it doesn't want to load. There are 15 ascensores in Valparaíso, but there are only three that still work...this was one of them :)  It was a bit scary, but I'm so glad we did it!

The view from the ascensor at the top of the hill :)

 Me spying on the city of Valparaíso ;)

 Erin & I at the welcome area of Viña del Mar where there is a flower clock...that actually functions!

 I'm right...there! Yep, Chile!

 The famous one finger pet...I figure that I won't get any dieseases if I pet them with just one finger, and they are just too cute not to pet. That's the Pacific Ocean behind me-on a beach in Viña del Mar.

 At Pablo Neruda's (Chilean poet) house called La Chascona in Santiago. The translaiton... well the guide tried to say it in the most polite way possible, but he tried to say the translation by comparing it to my hair...and then saying it means something like bad hair day...no offense. Haha. He felt kind of bad, but hey, I understood after that ;)

 Some grafitti art of Pablo Neruda and his fourth wife ;)

Erin, me, and crazy Rafael after taking the tour of Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago.

 The wonderful siblings of the Uribe family with whom we stayed with while we were in Santiago. They were great! We got to meet a lot of their friends, and they showed us all around Santiago. From the left: Gonzalo, Erin, Valeria, me, and Rafael.

Rafael's amazing and sweet parents with Erin and I. They were wonderful! We felt right at home during our stay with them :)

Well, I believe that is it for our trip to Santiago, Valparaíso, and Viña del Mar. It was a phenomenal trip, and I hope you realize that you should probably take a little trip there someday if you get the chance. I absolutely fell in love with the city, and I really hope to return someday. We also got to see one of our professors from UNI while we were there! She went to Chile this summer with her Chilean husband and daughter in order to teach based off of a Fullbright Scholarship. It was amazing to see her and meet her husband and daughter.

I need a tiny break...but then I will try to get you all the way up-to-date with my first week of classes and everything. Talk soon!

Con amor,

Katie :)