Viaje al Sur

All right so I definitely have a lot of catching up to do in regards to my blog. There is some good news though. Even though I have not updated my blog with a new entry since before I left on my trip of southern Chile and Argentina on January 31^st (to be exact), I did write while I was on my trip. Yes I did bust out the pen to paper. Just letting all of my readers know or at least all 3 of them! Yes I will give a shout out to Kevin, Megan, and Emily. Thanks for reading :D I know my entries suck at times but hey, if it wasn’t for my loyal 3 then I would have no reason to put these entries on here. But here is my one entry I sat and wrote in a coffee shop in Puerto Varas, Chile.

Out of all the places I’ve been and the people I have met so far the highlight of my trip has been trekking the “W” in Torres del Paine, Chile (see picture below) and befriending 3 Israeli girls in a hostel, which was predominately inhabited by Israelis. I went to Torres del Paine to hike (hard and long trails) and camp something that I have never done before. Also, I went to Ushuaia, Argentina “the end of the world” and got a great taste of Israeli culture. These two experiences are something I will remember for the rest of my life.

            What I liked most about Torres is I hiked and camped. Something I have never done before. Camping was not my favorite experience but it wasn’t half bad. After carrying around a big-ass backpack stuffed with clothes, food, a sleeping bag, tent, and mattress attached to it for more than 24 km one of the days I felt a great sense of accomplishment. It felt great to trek that far with that much weight on my back because when I got to the campsite and set everything up, sat down and enjoyed a cup of tea everything seemed so worth every drop of sweat, pinch of hunger, and burning and aching in my muscles. As I sat down near the rushing river the cool breeze off the water and the soft pinks, reds, and blues dancing off the glaciers in the nearby mountains brought me to an inner peace. In the moment of listening to the calming and pleasant sounds of the overwhelmingly captivating countryside, I began to bask in a sense of pride. I wanted to remain in that state and place along the river for longer than Mother Nature could allow me. I had to respect the sun’s disappearance into the far horizon and get back to my tent before the night captured any remaining light from the day (a flashlight would have been great at this point)! It was the small luxuries on that camping trip that made me the most happy like being able to lie down at night after a long days hike, a small peace of chocolate melting In my mouth, or the cool water I often collected from the rivers I passed. Overall the experience in Torres del Paine was amazing and being there sparked a great feeling of inner peace, respect for natural beauty, and self-pride (plus I took so many awesome pictures).

            Traveling in South America I was ready to experience the Argentine and Chilean culture but little did I know I was going to experience a taste of Israel. In el Calafate, Argentina my traveling companion Ashley and I befriended three Israeli guys. They first went out to get ice cream with us (even though it’s not kosher to eat dairy right after meat), they taught us some Hebrew, and they even made us a typical Israeli dish, Shakshuka. We did not get to spend much time with them since we were leaving to Ushuaia the next day but they told us to stay in the Nana an Israeli hostel in Ushuaia. So when we got there we found the famous Nana. We sat ringing the doorbell for about 5 long minutes before someone came out, not to greet us but to exit to smoke a cigarette. With a puzzled expression on his face he forced a smile in our direction and walked outside. As Ashley and I turned to one another with a look of uneasiness we lugged our packed backpacks and carry-on items into the Israeli hostel. When we entered a young Israeli must have sensed our confusion so he offered to help. We asked him “Where is the office”? In his best English the young man replied, “Oh, it is in the back. Here I will show you”. So we followed this guy with all of our belongings through the kitchen, into an outdoor covered patio where 20 Israeli people sat in a circle singing songs in Hebrew. I tried not to stare too much but I shot a few glances around the room, careful not to make eye contact with anyone so they wouldn’t sense my uneasiness. As we approached what seemed like a dead-end three people got up in front of us and moved their chairs to open up a door that seemed as if it were part of the wall. We passed through the disguised passageway to the office where we reserved our spot with a nice Argentine lady. We followed her back through the singing Israelis and proceeded upstairs to pick our room. We had three choices but we chose the room with a bathroom attached. There were 5 beds in it so Ashley and I knew that we would have 3 other roommates. What appealed to me was the orderliness of the room and a private bathroom (let my tell you those are hard to come by in a hostel). So we decided on staying in room 7 of the Nana.

Immediately after putting our things down Ashley and I decided to go out to grab a bite after sitting on a 20 hour bus ride. When we returned we met out roommates, three Israeli girls that spoke broken English. At first we were all quiet towards one another and even Ashley and I hardly spoke but we managed to get their three very Israeli-sounding names Inbal, Galit, and Lital. As it turned out Ashley and I became good friends with our Israeli roommates in the 4 days we were there. We had some great adventures together to the Tierra del Fuego national park, Ramos Generales café, and Laguna Esmerelda.

That sums up my trip to the south. The note worthy parts anyway. Happy reading J

Torres del Paine y Perito Moreno

Schools out for Summer (Chilean Summer!)

Today marked the end of my first two courses here at the PUCV. It was a great intensive 3 week program. I met many people from various places throughout the states and New Zealand. So now that I am done with class what am I going to do? Well travel of course! 

But first before I tell you about the trip im about to embark on (in about 1.5 hours) as promised I am going to discuss the strange but common methods of the taxi collectivo and funny thing that happened while I was riding it last night. Well there is this method of transportation here called the taxi collectivo. Yes, its called collectivo because everyone and anyone rides it. The collectiovs are generally small sized cars, black, and have a sign on the roof with the name of their general destinations and routes. Everyday for school (or general transportation) I walk down the hill I live at the top of and flag down a collectivo as soon as one that goes to the University comes my way. On any given day or time the car is full of people. It did not take me long to get used to brushing up and nearly sitting on the lap of a stranger. It does not help that the terrain is hilly which make the streets narrow and windy. As the drivers of the collectivos strategically dodge stray dogs, people, and other cars we the passengers are tossed around the back seat. Being a professional collectivo passenger by now the contact with complete strangers does not bug me whatsoever unless the person happens to be a.) smelly, b.) creepy looking, or c.) acting belligerently. Fortunately the passengers generally uphold a normal appearance and not strange enough to dread touching a fiber of my clothing against theirs. But as for last night I encountered the c-type person for the first time. 

Right after I joined the elderly driver and two other elderly passengers a crazy looking teenage kid stops the driver and asks for a ride. With one glance at this kid you could tell he had some problems. After he proceeded to lie to the driver affirming that he had money to pay for his voyage the driver asked for his faire. Not so surprisingly the juvenile responds in a raspy and substance impaired manner indicating that in fact he has no money at all but once he gets to his desired location he will get money to pay. Instead of trusting the passenger the driver asks the kid to get out immediately. He quickly shot back saying I will pay you when I get to the place I want to go in his best speech. Afer a minute of the collectivo driver yelling at the kid in a mixture of chilean garabatos (bad words) and commands the elderly man sitting to my left in the back seat of the cab decides to put his two-cents in. At this point the kid had no signs of complying so the driver suddenly stopped and me sitting next to this ridiculous character decided to help out the driver and old man in the back by opening the door for the kid. Still, he would not exit the cab so the driver quickly grabbed a baton-like weapon from under his seat and hopped out of the car. As soon as the kid saw he had a weapon he too hopped out of the car and started walking away yelling profanity at the poor old collectivo driver. I thought ahh ok great we will be on our way soon enough, I can get home and go to sleep. To my surprise I see the old  short-statured man run toward the kid as best as his small ancient legs could carry him with weapon in hand. The old man proceeded to strike the kid with what looked like all of his might on the back of the neck of the kid. Fortunately with all the force the old man could muster the blow looked no more painful than a slight tap on the wrist. Luckily the blow was either hard enough or scarey enough for the kid go running down the street. At that point, all I could do was join in the laughter with my fellow travelers. The old man quickly hobbled back to the car and we left. As soon as the action occured silence again returned amongst the passengers as it is the norm for everyone to sit completely silent and rigid during the duration of their travel. Ahh the collectivos they are such a great source of excitement at times. 

So now I will be leaving in less than an hour running on my 20th consecutive hour without sleep. It has been such an eventful and exciting day that I didn't get a chance to nap. And I have to say it has been a great day. And now I'm leaving to southern Chile. First me and my 3 girl friends from class are taking a bus to Santiago airport. From there we are flying to Puntas Arenas. We'll be staying there until the 13 visiting Torre del Paine (a nature reserve), Tierra del Fuego, and Ushuaia (the so-called most southern city in the world). Next we fly to Puerto Montt where we will stay for the remainder of the trip, and visiting sites around those parts. Then on the 23rd we will be taking our flight back to Santiago and back home to Viña del Mar. Wish me luck! 

Chao!

~Robert Carl

Chile, you know the long and skinny country on the world map!

Hola from Chile,

So I've been here for about a week and a half. Hmm where to start. So far I have to say everything has been great. I love my classes, I love the new people I've met so far, and I love my Chilean family. 

My Chilean family is great. They are just like my family at home. Its almost like observing my own family when we were all the same ages. I feel like I am revisiting my childhood in a way because not only is the structure of my chilean family almost the same ( 2 girls 2 guys Isabel 12 Ernesto and David 10 and Andrea 6) but just their family environment is very similar to how mine was. I get most of my family experience here at the dinner table. Even though lunch is the biggest meal of the day and breakfast and dinner are usually just a small snack our conversations during dinner are great. For example tonight the little girl Andrea started crying and throwing a minor fit because her new puppy (golden retriever sooo cute) was with her brother Ernesto and she wanted to sleep with the puppy tonight. That made me think when me Christine, Brandon, and Vanessa were that age, that situation would spark a similar altercation amogst us and I just had to laugh at that. As for the parents and the grandma which has been staying here the past few nights from Santiago they are all very loving and accepting of me. The first day of school my mom Loreto took me to my classes walked me to the classroom and gave me a hug and kiss. Also, everyday she packs me a hearty lunch consisting of some kind of fruit (usually a plum or peach) and two sandwiches on typical chilean pan with butter and cheese or some kind of meet. haha the lunch actually sucks but it gets me through the day and I feel bad asking for something different. I am content with whatever is easiest for her. My chilean dad Eduardo is pretty funny. He definetly is the head of the family but hes not super macho or anything. He's like the oldest kid and Loreto usually refers to him as one of the kids. He's always crackin jokes at the dinner table even if they are not funny but he always gets a laugh out of me (sometimes out of sympathy) just like dear old dad Robert Carl Eckl I himself ;) Anyways the fam is awesome I feel like I'm really cared for here and I try to mingle with them as much as possible but obviously the language barrier is hard at times. But im getting better day by day! 

My classes have been great and also help me out alot learning the language. I love my professors. I started at the intermediate level but found it was way too easy and I was definetly at a higher level thus I moved up to the advanced level and I have to say it has been kickin my ass a little. The main difference is the people in the classes. Everyone in my advanced classes speak spanish at every opportunity. I have to admit I have been pretty bad and have been speaking alot of english with the other kids in the program :X I feel the weekends I can get away with speaking english because the weekend is supposed to be a break from school and thinking right!? ahaha During the week I do practice my spanish and I really hope to get better and somewhat fluent before I leave in July. I can communicate pretty well right now but as for deep conversational spanish it is a lot tougher. Back to the classes. I take 2 classes M-F 11:30-1:15 grammar class with Pedro. That guy is pretty awesome. He is very smart and I think he's only like 27. He is pretty open about everything he tells our class consisting of 4 girls and me (the only guy in both classes. You can imagine how I get attacked at times) how he parties a lot with his friends. He also told us he is not catholic even though he teaches at my Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso and once he was expelled from his catholic highschool for refusing to make the sign of the cross. My next class starts at 2 and ends at 3:45 that is my Chilean culture and conversation class. This class is the tougher of the two for sure. I really like my teacher Jorge also he is another smarty pants and knows a lot about not only chilean culture but American culture as well. This is the class I get attacked in usually when moral provoking topics come up. It is hard to defend my opinions when it comes to feminist ideals especially when 4 other girls can speak a lot better spanish than I do lol.  Anyways, the teacher Jorge can relate to the students very well and he was actually the one who helped me move to the advanced class. So overall the faculty at the school has been extremely helpful and I feel like they actually care which is awesome. Its a lot easier to do when classes are only 5 people large. 

My classes consist of people from all over the states and New Zealand. There are 4 kiwis here and all are super nice. I have also met people from Missississippi, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Cali, ahh all over the place pretty much. All those kids are extemely nice people but some are only here for a month or two while others are staying for a semester or two. I have already made sure to make close friends with those that are staying until July or longer. We plan to travel during the month of Febuary when we dont have classes. Its kinda funny there's the "Viña kids" which I am a part of because I live in Viña del Mar and the "Valpo kids". The "Valpo kids" tend to be the ones that are going to be leaving in a couple months. Anyways I'm getting tired of writing. I wanted to talk about the ride to school and back on the taxi colectivos because it quite a different experience and funny when I think about it but I guess I'll save it for another time. I am finally used to the 5 hour time difference now buuuttt my circadian rhythm is definetly thrown off right now because going to the discoteque "Scratch" (reeeallly fun by the way) until it closes at 5:3o in the morning 2 nights in a row, then sleeping until 4:30 in the afternoon has made me almost nocturnal. Alright buenas noches. Chao!

Thanks to everyone who came to my going away party Firday night. I had a great time and it meant a lot that everyone I invited showed up. 2 more days until I leave!