all she wrote

December 22nd. wow. At times, I thought this day would never come. At others, I couldn't believe how fast life was passing by! The reality is, it's here. It's time to pick up and leave Chile. Tomorrow. crazy. In some ways this is reminiscent of the end of college. Everyone is going in different directions, I don't know what lies in front of me, I'm broke...On the other hand, it's different because Chile will continue to chug along. My host mother will still buy bread each afternoon, go to church on Sunday nights and worry about every aspect of her son's lives. Chile will elect a new president, the students will continue to protest, vendors will continue to sell used pens, pirated CDs, band-aids and peaches from the same cart.

In this sense, it's comforting to think that when and if I come back (I'd love to come back and travel more in the south of Chile), not much will have changed. I know that Sunday will involve a huge lunch followed by coffee and dessert and the standard conversation bouncing from weather to family gossip with silly humor mixed in. In Chile, family is the highest priority.

Not money, fame, possessions--as much as American influence is trying to change that. Life moves a tad bit slower here. People complete one or two tasks a day instead of trying to "fit" or "squeeze" everything in over the lunch hour. Lines are standard. The bank, grocery store, pharmacy, bus. Waiting is a way of life and Chileans learn from a young age that impatience will get you no where here. I've definitely taken away the virtue of patience here. I'm guessing it'll take me a second to get used to drive through, self-checkout and driving my own car.

In the end, all things must come to and end. And this is yet another end in my life. I'm blessed and fortunate enough to have experiences many only dream of and for that I am endlessly thankful and humbled. Nonetheless, goodbyes are difficult. My host family has been a rock for me this year and without the stability of my host mother, I don't know what I would've done. (I even managed to make a peanut butter addict out of her!) I learned a lot through my first year of teaching and I've been able to travel to the top and bottom of Chile. When I write it all down, I've done a lot. At times, I've been bored, cold, frustrated and lonely. At others, (like now!), I've been energized, inspired and surrounded by loving people.

This is a super random post but I think I'm going to keep it as such. Such is life in Chile. RANDOM. así no más. :)

Off to pack while pumpin' the reggatón beats.

Chao pescaooooo.

Adiós Chile

I love lists. Organizing, categorizing, crossing off items, everything. I just love 'em. :) I find they help me make sense of things. Not only the obvious everyday processes like packing or grocery shopping but also what I like, don't like, pros and cons of a certain big decision and finding out what's important to me.

Therefore, I find myself making mini lists in my head all the time. Lately, it's been a "what I'm going to miss about Chile" list. I leave in 7 days and can't really believe it. There was so much that went into this year (application, working, saving $, volunteering, packing, endless amounts of paperwork and appointments, travel plans etc.) Then I arrived and had a year filled with highs and lows. I learned a lot! How to teach, how to plan lessons, how to live with a Chilean family, how to navigate the bus system, how to stretch my meager stipend, how to travel, how to be alone, how to arrive at Duoc just before a downpour, how to speak Chilean spanish and on and on. See, I already made a list before the list I was meaning to make!

Saying goodbye is always bittersweet. (Unless the experience one had was completely negative.) While I didn't love everything about this year, it is definitely going to be hard to say goodbye to Chile. In many ways, the difficult moments made me realize how easy my life has been / is and appreciate what I have. (family, friends, transportation, heat, ability to get a job, a good education). Also, Chile, and living in my green house here in Concepción is all I have known for a year. It'll be strange and uncomfortable to enter back into the world of capitalism and consumption. Buy! buy! buy! A world where people are constantly connected- music, cell phones, internet- but yet struggle to communicate face to face.

I've said to myself many times (especially the past few months) that I am ready to leave Chile. I'm ready to go back to the US, find a job-or two- and work, save money, spend time with my family and work on figuring out my next step. I truly think I am ready. I don't want to teach at Duoc another year. I don't want to live in Conce another year. Yet at the same time, it will be hard to ride the bus one last time and wave to my kind host family from the window.

I tell myself I'll be back. I want to continue traveling in South America --especially the south of Chile and Patagonia. But who knows when this will be. Hopefully its not an empty promise...I still have yet to return to Costa Rica. But, as Laly says, "You have a house in Chile."

Alright, I got sidetracked typing out my thoughts...here is the list.

Things I'll miss about Chile.

-My host family. Particularly my host mom, Laly. She has been my rock this year, always looking out for me, helping me, listening to my broken Spanish. Life's about the little things, and Laly gets this. She's always doing little things for me that I appreciate deeply.

-Spanish (as horrible as los chilenos speak, I'm going to miss Spanish. mucho)

-kiosks on every corner selling anything from kilos of fresh strawberries and asparagus to woll socks and sunglasses.

-Plazas. Every South American city has one and I love the feeling of community they emit. The US has no plazas, just malls.

-The mixture of mountains, rolling green hills, ocean, volcanoes, and rushing rivers all within a few miles of each other.

-my "good"students. By "good" I mean motivated, fun, interested, kind

-free time. I have a lot of it and I've been able to read, write, listen to music and chill more than I have in years. I know I'll miss it.

-I'm sure I think of more...I'm feeling the pressure of "the list" right now. :)

I hesitate in making a "things I won't miss about Chile" list at this moment. I'm focusing on the positive here...

Tonight I'm headed to Santiago for one last visit. I'm staying with Sidi and were planning on taking pictures around the city, buying last minute gifts and maybe renting bikes??

Still can't believe it's one week. Time is a sly guy, that's for sure.

Torres Day 4.

:( Qué triste, our last day came too fast!

In order to catch the catamaran out of the park at noon, we had to get up really early to hike up as far as possible to see the "Grey Glacier." After oatmeal and tea, we grabbed our water and set off for a 2 hours trek towards the wind and rain.

We lucked out on weather the entire trip. No rain, just a few clouds. Until we got up to the glacier. I felt like I'd been transported to Antarctica. I suppose I was pretty darn close! The whole scene was bizarre: the clouds were spewing freezing rain sideways. We could barely walk straight due to gale force winds and yet there was a rainbow on the other side of the lake. A few minutes later the skies opened up and the sun shined through. So unpredictable.

Pretty good shot of the glacier. If we'd had more time, the last part of the "W" hike includes a few more hours toward the glacier and camping there. We definitely weren't equipped for that.

Sun shining through.

Back down at the campsite. Passing time waiting for the catamaran. Chilean flag and Patagonian flag.

You've been good to me Torres.

Taken from the catamaran. What a way to end a string of unreal views.

Torres del Paine lives up to the hype. I've never seen nature like this. It inspired me to take advantage of my surroundings- especially since I'm moving to Colorado. I hope to hike, camp and get outdoors more.

It's far, but it was worth every peso I paid.

Torres Day 3

Day 3 was spent hiking up the valley to a Mirador. For some reason, this day felt really long. I think it's because we split our hikes into to parts. In the morning we were sans backpack (light as a feather!) and chugged up the mountain. We got our first glimpse at the glacier. You know how in the Alaska cruise line ads, the glaciers are always bright blue and sparkling? Well, I thought this was just crafty advertising and touching up. While I'm sure that's partly true, glaciers really are icy blue and sparkly! It's hard to capture on camera but they stand out like icy gems on the mountain.

The terrain was varied throughout the hike. We climbed rocks for awhile, crossed rushing rivers, tromped through woods and finally made it to a clearing of dead trees. It was starkly different from the rest of the landscape. Wonder what happened here...

One of our only group shots. These are my fellow Conce pals. Amy, Jen and Sara.

We made it to the top!

Throughout the week, I took a bunch of pictures through my sunglasses lens. I think it look cool. I was a bit off on this one..

The camera doesn't do it justice--if you look closely, you can see the icy blue glacier ice.

After a brief lunch of PB & J on tortillas, we started hike # 2. This time with all of our stuff. My turn to carry the tent. Definitely felt the difference. On this bridge, only one is allowed to pass at a time. Interestingly, the sign is in English. Guess they had to make sure the gringos understood..

After a couple hours frolicking through the meadow and singing Sound of Music, we arrived at Lago Pehoe, the site of the Paine Grande Lodge and people with lots of dinero. Luckily, they also have an inexpensive paid camping site. Hot water and beers available! We definitely weren't suffering too much on the trip!

I didn't love this campsite as much as the others, mostly due to the amount of people and it felt too exposed (to people and wind). But the view was spectacular.

Torres Day 2

Day 2 was our longest day in terms of hiking--we had to backtrack down the mountain to where we started, then hike over the lake and up to the free campsite. All in all, it was about 23km or almost 14 miles. It took awhile but the scenery made it easy to keep going. In fact, I was constantly torn between stopping and sitting for awhile and chugging along so we didn't arrive super late at the campsite. If I get the chance to come here again, I would stay longer. Honestly, I could sit and stare for hours here. 4 days wasn't enough for such down time. Hence the crazy amount of pictures. :)

A morning shot of the valley we camped in. Loved the green.

Back to the river.

The red flower was everywhere in the park. The perfect accent between all the blue and green.

The incredible Lago Nordenskjold.

We made it down to the beach!

The French River just outside our campsite #2. Washin' dishes in freezing cold water!

Torres del Paine National Park

The End of the World

This past week, I had the incredible opportunity to visit Torres del Paine National Park (Paine Towers) in the south of Chile, also known as Patagonia. It's going to take me a while to process my experience and I think this blog will help. I've never seen such concentrated natural beauty. Everywhere I looked, I could've taken a picture. (Because of this "problem," I ended up with over 400 pictures in a 5 day trip!) Words like beautiful, pretty, impressive, breathtaking and gorgeous don't do the park justice. Therefore, I'm going to take you on a virtual trip, starting from the airport in Santiago, in an attempt to share a little slice of the incredible beauty in Patagonia.

First of all, my travel group. The three girls I've mentioned before, Sara, Jen and Amy are all fellow Duoc profs. We had a week free from Duoc duties and decided months ago that Torres was a "must-see." Being the frugal volunteers that we are, we saved our pesos throughout the semester. We bought all our food for the park here in Conce and packed it in our backpacks for the long ride down to Patagonia.

Here's a map to give you an idea of the distances. I live in Concepción, about 7 hours south of Santiago.

Despite living in Chile, Patagonia is still really far away! It took us a good 36 hours to arrive at the park entrance. We left Saturday night for Santiago on an overnight bus, took a plane from Santiago to Punta Arenas, a bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. There we rented our gear (tents, pots, pans, sleeping bags etc.) Thanks to a very kind student of mine, I had most of the necessary gear! Gracias Andres! We spent the night --cozy down comforters and all-- in Puerto Natales. The next day, we had a hearty breakfast and caught the 7:30am bus with slew of other gringos. Three hours later, we were there! Because we have Chilean ID cards, we got in for only $8usd instead of the steep $30 fee for foreigners. holla!!

We ran into a herd of sheep on the way to the park. Wool is a primary industry in Patagonia.

Our first glimpse of the Torres. We had to get out of the van, cross the bridge on foot, then get back in on the other side. Safety first in Chile too. (sometimes...)

I had to put this in here. We made 4 HUGE bags of GORP. Looking at this now makes me a ill...ugh.

And we're off! First big hike up the "W" loop. The "W" is the most popular hike in the park. You guess it, it's shaped like a "W"! We started on the right side of the "W" and hiked to the top of the 1st finger. I'm guessing my pack weighed between 25-30lbs-- more when I had the tent. The first day was about 14km total. Mostly uphill.

Getting closer the the Torres!

The weather the trip was awesome. (again, we lucked out) Patagonia is known for extreme weather, drastically changing throughout the day. We had clear blue skies the first few days and only a few clouds and drizzle the last day.

My favorite part of the park: filling my water bottle up at ANY stream/river! Glacier water is delicioso :) And free!

After setting up camp, we hiked the last 1.5hrs to the Mirador Las Torres. What a sight. After all the traveling, we were there. We took tons of pictures and later simply sat, quietly contemplating the view. I couldn't believe it. Very surreal.

Dinner was pasta and tomato sauce. Dessert: GORP. I'm pretty sure this picture was taken around 10pm--over 18 hours of daylight!

More to come on days 2-4. I have a lot of pictures to sort through...

coming to an end

It's been a few weeks since I've written..mostly due to "flojera," one of my favorite Spanish words used to describe laziness. My students are "flojos," for example. Muy flojos.

But! I'm finished with classes. As of yesterday, I am no longer a WorldTeach teacher. There are still a few last minute grades to post and the looming "oral final," but pretty much, the party's over. And I'm excited about that. This year has been many things: random, trying, frustrating, cold, rainy, exciting, depressing, eye-opening and challenging. I could say this about teaching in general too. I've enjoyed my students but I'm excited to move on.

Last weekend, I was up in Santiago for the End of Service Conference with the whole WorldTeach crew. It was fun to see everyone and catch up on the last semester. These are the people I met at the airport in Miami, sat through a month of orientation with and teach at various Duoc sites around Chile. Because of this, we are all very connected and have lots of common ground. It's funny how everyone came down here to "teach English at a technical/professional school" but in the end, each volunteer's situation looks very different from the next. I found it fascinating to hear about host families (good and bad) and friends people made. In terms of teaching, we all had similar stories. We could still be exchanging tales...

We had a few "sessions" complete with reflection, reverse culture shock talk and a resume-building workshop. The latter was what stuck with me the most. I haven't really been thinking too intensely about the future but when we all started working on our resumes and sharing ideas, it struck me that I'm going back to a very different world. A world of self-promotion, competition and strategy. I'm not sure I'm ready for such a world, but my bank account says otherwise. In the end, I know I'll find a job (or two) and work for awhile. Yet, my travel bug hasn't been cured by this year living and teaching in Chile. If anything, I think it's worse. I have no idea what the future holds, but I'm thinking it involves a passport...

ps. Currently packing for PATAGONIA!!! That's right, I'm headed to the end of the world.