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 :)