Dulce o Truco!

How do you say, "Trick or Treat" in Spanish? Dulce o Truco.

Last night after Mom left I came home and started setting up for the Halloween party at our house. Then Nacha and I took Panchi and her cousin Dani Dulce o Truco-ing. Finally we were ready to come back and enjoy the fun that happens when you mix chileans and gringos!

Panchi and Dani:

Responsible adult #1:

Responsible adult #2:

The cutest Mini Mouse EVER:

Dan and I dressed up as Chilean Candy bars:

It was indeed a sweet Halloween.

Bueno Bye!

Mama Pregliasco

This past week I got to enjoy having Mom, Aunt Dee and Aunt Dee's friends, Michelle, Meg, Phyllis, Jackie, and Doris with me in Santiago. While I was in class for the first few days they enjoyed Chilean wine country, Valparaiso, and Viña del Mar. I met up with them Wednesday. Thursday we all did a city tour and then Mom and I had dinner with my host sisters. Friday I had a midterm so Mom enjoyed the Los Dominicos market during the day. After class Mom took the 7 other students in my program to get gelato. We then spent Saturday at Cerro Santa Lucia. Here are some pictures from her time here (she and Aunt Dee have many more):

Mom and me in front of La Moneda, the Chilean White House:

Mom enjoying a super sophisticated Chilean meal (the problem with only having 2 of us was that the photos are always of one of us or the other):

Mom at the bottom of Cerro Santa Lucia:

Mom having made it to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia:

Now Mom is a real Chilean:

By the time she had it all figured out and had become a real Chilean it was time for her to leave:

It was really great to get to see Mom and to share my life here with her. She got to meet the people I talk about constantly and get a taste of Santiago. I was sad to see her go, but the good news is that we've already been apart for 10 weeks and now there are only 6 more.

Bueno bye!

3 Revelations

1. Gringos are weird.

2. Chilean colleges are Hollywood's depiction of high school

3. Living with an 8 year old is awesome!

Elaborations on the earlier points:

1. On Sunday I went to support a friend at an Ultimate Frisbee game. I explained to my host family that I was going to a frisbee game. My host mom asked, "Frisbees? Like what you throw to a dog?" I tried to explain that it's a sport with teams. She asked, "So gringos stand in a circle and just toss a disk made for dogs?" I don't think Chileans will give up football for frisbee anytime soon.

2. In college, everyone still lives with their parents so it's a lot like high school. But there's more to it than that. It's like Hollywood's depiction of high school because everyone is 18-24 and now that the weather's warm there's music in the courtyard every day during lunch. But it's loud popular music or live bands. This was my lunch hour yesterday:

3. Living with an 8 year old is awesome! Panchi got halloween candy yesterday. Today we tried it out after dinner. It's called "Pinta Lengua" literally Paints Tongue. This is what it did to my tongue:

I get to see Mom and Aunt Dee tomorrow after class tomorrow. I'm really excited!!!!!

Bueno Bye!

Punta Arenas

The final leg of the journey was Punta Arenas nestled into the Straight of Magellan (named for Ferdinand Magellan who was the first explorer to round the tip of South America in 1520). Naturally the weather was colder at the tip of the continent, but the wind was what really did us gringos in. It's common for it to be around 80 miles per hour as it's the place where the currents/winds from the Atlantic and Pacific meet. Brrrr.

A shipwreck that was left there to serve as a monument to all of those who have perished in the Straight of Magellan:

The town of Punta Arenas. There can't be any tall buildings because of the wind:

The location on this pole closest to Punta Arenas is Antarctica:

The only living beings with enough layers to enjoy Punta Arenas are sheep. I was trying to take some pointers:

No really, even the sheep herder was as miserably cold as I was:

In Punta Arenas there is a beautiful old cemetery with GIGANTIC mausoleums:

The cemetery had huge rows of trees throughout to help cut down on the wind...it looked a little like Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament maze:

Many of the tombstones were very creative like this one:

The statue tribute to Magellan in the town square:

That's all for now! Bueno Bye!!

I'm on a boat!

Thus began the second large part of our journey... we got to spend a whole day on a boat cruising through glaciers. There were so many beautiful sights that this one is going to be a long one. I apologize in advance.

We were up and at 'em pretty early, but this meant we got to enjoy the latter part of the sunrise:

As the sun parted through the clouds it created a cool affect on the mountains:

The view from the boat:

The view from the boat:

Birds that are from the same class as penguins:

A family of sea lions:

Journey to Antartica:

The Grey Glacier:

The Grey Glacier and me:

ICE!

The Serrano Glacier ( We hopped out to get closer to this one. This was my favorite spot of the entire trip. It was in this peaceful lagoon of melted glacier water. It was hard to make myself leave despite the cold.):

Me and the Serrano Glacier:

We got back on the boat for a bit and then hopped out again for lunch (lamb):

Me with the lamb after it had been carved up:

Sometimes Chile looks a bit like what I imagine Scotland looks like:

You're now 2/3 the way done with the trip recap. Way to be a trooper.

Bueno Bye!

Torres Del Paine

I'm back from my excursion to the south. There were three main parts to the trip:

1. A tour of Torres Del Paine National Park (Named after the tower shaped mountains)
2. A boat cruise through glaciers
3. Punta Arenas, a small town nestled into the Straight of Magellan

There was such magnificent natural beauty that I was blown away. (I was also blown away by the 80 mile per hour winds that can accumulate at Chile's Southern tip.) My eyes literally felt tired by the end of the trip from trying to soak up as much as possible. I'm breaking up the trip into 3 parts so that I don't overwhelm with pictures.

The view when we first entered the park:

A pack of alpacas beneath the mountains from which the park gets its name:

Baywatch: winter wear edition:

The towers:

Again, but closer this time:

A waterfall created by melting snow:

My favorite spot in the park, we also got to enjoy lunch while staring at this view:

A fox who wanted to join us for lunch:

A few glaciers floating in one of the many lakes throughout the park:

The wind was so strong that you could lean back and it would support your entire body weight:

That concludes our trip to Torres Del Paine. Bueno Bye!

I'm off!

For the next 6 days I will be in Torres del Paine, a small town in the southern tip of Chile. I thought I'd get some good bonding in with the glaciers.

I know how greatly this saddens you, so to attempt to ease your pain I will share with you 2 of my discoveries last night:

1. Vino Navegado: It's heated red wine with sugar and orange slices. It's delicious and warms you up like apple cider. We ordered some last night because Spring in Chile is just like Spring in the US, one day you're sweating and the next day you've pulled out your winter coat again.
2. The painting "Hollywood Last Supper." It was hanging in the restaurant last night and I really enjoyed it:

Bueno Bye for a few days!