¿y por qué no "Louisville" o "Covington"?

This was a box of chocolates I saw in a supermarket in Pucón. I'm familiar with the term "foreign branding", but I don't really understand the connection between Lexington and fine chocolates.

cómo estoy andando

I now only have about 7 weeks left in Chile. My dad and my uncle Jack are coming to visit on December 5th, and we are all leaving Chile together on December 14th. There are still a lot of places that I want to see in Chile, such as the Atacama Desert and Easter Island. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have time to visit them all. School ends on November 22nd (ironically, Thanksgiving back at home) and then I have two weeks or so of final project presentations and final papers.

Next week I am going to Brazil. A friend of mine who is also here in Santiago for a year and I are going to Río de Janeiro. We leave on Tuesday and return the next Sunday, November 4th. I am looking forward to seeing yet another South American country, going to a traditional sort of beach with palm trees and such, and, of course, practicing my Portuguese. I studied Portuguese for a year back at Georgetown, but I'm afraid I've forgotten a lot of it.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the recently-arrived spring weather here in Santiago. We are now on daylight saving-time and the daytime highs have been in the mid 80s. Finally I can put the scarf, coat, and gloves (which I was wearing even indoors for months thanks to the lack-of-heating situation) back in the closet and wear t-shirts again!

Pucón, de nuevo

Last weekend was the study abroad program's semester trip to Pucón, and I decided to go along again. If you will remember, Pucón is the place in the south of Chile where I climbed the volcano back in April. This time I decided to go whitewater rafting instead of climbing the volcano again. As it turned out, no one could climb the volcano because the weather was bad.

I have been whitewater rafting in Tennessee and West Virginia, so the concept was not new. What was new was the frigidness of the river water. All of the rivers in Chile are fed by snow melting in the Andes. They are also very short (Chile is only about 100 miles wide) and very swift. Before getting into the rafts, we were given wetsuits to protect us from the cold. I (perhaps unwisely) sat in the front of the raft. The first rapid we went through was a 4, and I got splashed by a huge wave. The water was so cold that it took my breath away, and when I finally could breathe again, my chest hurt. After that first splash, I got used to the water and it wasn't so bad.

The river was high after days of continuous rain and the fact that it is now spring in Chile, which means that snow in the Andes is melting. One rapid was so strong that we had to get out of the raft and do a portage.

In comparison with my rafting adventures in WV and TN, I can say that the rapids were far more intense in Chile, but we spent much less time on the water (an hour or so compared with all day in the USA). When I think of all the things one can do in Chile, I realize that it really is a paradise for outdoor activities. Where else could you go volcano climbing, whitewater rafting, skiing, mountain biking, hiking, surfing and scuba diving -- all within 100 miles of each other?

un fin de semana en la playa

Two weeks ago, my Chilean flatmate, Francisco, invited me to come along with him to spend the weekend at the beach. A friend of his had rented a house in Los Molles, about 2.5 hours north of Santiago. On Friday afternoon, we piled into Francisco's pickup truck and headed out of town. Francisco's friend's girlfriend was a member of Supernova, a Chilean girl-pop band which had a one-hit wonder about 7 years ago.

Los Molles wasn't anything particularly exciting, but it was nice to get out of the city for a few days. The town was kind of ramshackle and had no frills whatsoever. I spent the days reading and riding a mountain bike around. Francisco and Pop Princess went scuba diving everyday. We had an asado, or a Chilean barbecue, every night.

The pictures are from a bike ride I took one morning. There was a sea lion colony close to the town, but I didn't manage to get a very good shot of them in the water near their rock.

The ocean along Chile's shore is very cold thanks to the Humboldt current. The waves are quite strong as well. Nothing really stands in their way to stop them between New Zealand and Chile. Consequently, a Chilean beach is nothing as idyllic as, say, a Caribbean one. There were no palm trees in the sand at Los Molles, and you'd be freezing if you showed up in a bathing suit. So don't think I spent the weekend sipping piña coladas and getting a suntan!

la visita de mamá

Oh dear, I am a terrible blogger, aren't I? I swore that I would never let another absence in writing go by again, but here it is a full month and half since I've updated. I'll blame it on school, which has been much more demanding this semester than last.

About a month ago, Mom and Anita came for a visit. It was so nice to see familiar faces after being away from home for 8 months! I tried to be a good host, but of course classes took away from my time with them. I did manage to take them to Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, and Isla Negra. Pablo Neruda's third home was in Isla Negra, and now I can say that I have completed the Neruda trilogy, having toured all three homes.

On Sunday afternoon, Chilean mother Nora met American mother Teresa. We had a wonderful lunch prepared by a friend of Nora's. I translated with the help of Natalie, who is Nora's new homestay student.

You'll have to talk to my mom and Anita to find out their impressions of Chile. I was just glad to see someone familiar again.