Dieciocho

(9/17-9/20) This was such an exciting week. The National Independence day was Tuesday and Chileans here started celebrating the Sunday before and ended the celebrations on Thursday. This week was truly amazing and very memorable so let me get to it. Monday wasn’t too eventful. Katie and I climbed Cerro San Cristobal with some friends then we took a nap, did Insanity, and went to bed. Tuesday was amazing. Katie, Phil, Phil’s brother who is visiting from the states Nathan, Phil’s friend who is visiting from the states Eddie, and I woke up at about 6am so we could spend the entire day skiing in the Andes Mountains. We got to the bus station around 7am and caught a bus to another bus station which took us to a bus stop near the skiing trip place bus station. This guy approached us asking if we were going to Valle Nevado and said he would take us for a little cheaper so we went with him. It was great luck because through this guy we got discounted ski tickets and discounted ski rentals. It was pretty cool. The bus was really nice too. We started the way up the mountain and about 20 minutes later I looked out the window to see a little patch of snow, the first snow citing. From there on the snow kept getting thicker and thicker and on top of that it started snowing. It was great! The bus had to pull over to put chains on the tires so we got to play in the snow for a little while. Once we reached the top of the mountain where the ski resort was it was 5 degrees F and snowing like crazy. You literally couldn’t see 50 feet in front of you. It was awesome though. I put on my skies and Katie and I tried to find our way to the bunny hill for beginners. We got a bit mixed up and went on a different hill which I immediately fell and some ski patrol lady told us we were on the wrong hill and how to get to the bunny hill. So we got to ride the ski lift down to the bunny hill. After falling a few times, Katie taught me how to stop and turn with my knees, the basics of skiing. She went on to bigger and better hills and I rocked the bunny hill all day. I was getting pretty dang good too! We had to leave at four because the snow was getting so bad. On my way back to the bus, I got stuck on the ski lift. It was a little terrifying because I was so high and it was snowing so I couldn’t see a whole lot. It was such a great experience though and I hope I get to go again in the future. Wednesday was pretty fun, not much happened in the morning except we went looking for food. but at about 4:30 we met some Chileans to go to a fonda in parque Ines de Suarez. This fonda was a little more expensive than the last one but it was still really fun. I got a lot more meat on a stick (anticuchos) and really enjoyed spending time with Chilean students. We danced and watched a circus and walked around for hours. It was really great.  I wish fondas happened all the time, well except for the fact that I would be broke. Anticuchos are just the best things in the world, as long as you’re not a vegetarian. Thursday El Oasis, instead of having a normal Tertulia, had a fonda to help raise money for a student here who is going to Thailand with Globalscope. We spent all day setting up for it and going to get decorations and making everything clean and Chilean. It was really fun decorating, so much white, red, and blue. The fonda started at 6 and my job was to be in charge of this ring toss game. It was really fun watching people try and try and try and never quite getting it. I ate a whole lot too. I ate 3 empanadas and 7 manjar filled chocolate covered rolls (chufli). My money went to a good cause so I just kept eating. It was all very very good. After eating all of that, me and a student named Koke got entered into a dance competition of the Cueca (the National dance of Chile), I had been practicing for a while. It was a blast, even though we didn’t win. After that it just turned into a huge dance party for about an hour or so. It was awesome! One student whose dad showed up wanted him to meet me which was really special to me. I thought it was super cute and her dad was very nice. Everyone left around 10:45 because the metro closes at 11 so we cleaned up after everyone left and went to sleep. 

before skiing

after skiing

la fonda en parque Ines de Suarez

me dancing the Cueca

still just a dancin'