More bicentenario photos!

¡Bicentenario Feliz!

The Chilean bicentennial was exactly what my family and friends had promised: 5 days of non-stop partying. Chileans party like there is no tomorrow....there will be days when I am up early (not many) and I see groups of people beer cans in hand walking around town. If José asks me what time I got home after a night of partying and I say 3:00-4:00am, he'll say '¡Temprano!'/ Early!. In order to celebrate the bicentennial to the fullest all schools and most companies/businesses were closed Friday-Monday. Going into the bicentennial everyone informed me that I would gain 3-4 kilos (7-8 pounds) from drinking and eating.....this proved to be painfully true....and very delicious......

I was lucky to be able to celebrate the bicentennial weekend with both my Chilean family and members of my bad-ass girl posse (called TEAM MAGALLANES). We started the weekend early by taking a ferry across the Straight of Magellan to the town of Porvenir on Tierra del Fuego island and partying there for a couple of days. Chileans celebrate their independence day by going to venues called 'fondas,' where they eat, drink, and dance for hours on end. There were fondas all throughout town classified by profession, neighborhood, socioeconomic standing, etc. On the actual bicentennial I went to an Army fonda that was decorated 'camo' style in addition to pine branches and colors of the Chilean flag (red, white, and blue). Two of my friends here are dating men in the Army, so we were able to tag along and check it out. I proceeded to drink and dive into the local gastronomy after making a fool of myself dancing. The traditional dance of Chile is the 'Cueca,' and is supposedly based on the courting rituals of a rooster and a hen. I really like the fact that people from all walks of life here participate in this dance-skaters, goths, flaites (wannabe rappers), etc. When danced well, the cueca is beautiful. Ladies, I have a new appreciation for male dancers........

The day after the bicentennial there was a huge parade honoring the various branches of military in Punta Arenas. Parades in Chile are more serious and usually consist of groups of soldiers marching. There were so many people lining the streets that my friend Carly climbed a pretty tall/sketchy fence to see. I wasn't as brave and hoisted myself up high enough to see the action. Afterward, José drove me and Carly out to his family's house in the countryside right outside of Punta Arenas. My favorite part about Chile hands down has to be my family, they're amazing people. There house is right by the water and is the perfect getaway.......and perfect party house! As soon as we arrived we were offered food and drink and got to watch my aunt María Ercillia make her delicious empanadas. Carly and I ate such a big lunch that we took a nap and had my sister Natalia read us fairytales in Spanish. After the nap we ate and drank again, repeating this cycle until José drove us back to Punta Arenas around 9:30-10:00. Not wanting to waste a second of the bicentennial weekend, José immediately drove us to a fonda called 'Gatitos del Sur'/'Kitties of the south' (I love this name!!!!) so that we could see a fonda hosted by the 'real' people of Punta Arenas. I taught José the expressions 'white collar,' and 'blue collar,' so he was excited to say that we were going to a 'blue collar' fonda. He had to enter the fonda before his two gringa companions could enter to make sure it was safe for us to go in....José was worried that there would be too many drunk cowboys that would get rowdy and touchy-feely. After giving us the green light we went in. Inside there was the most adorable boy band dancing and singing traditional Chilean music while wearing matching white suits, they were precious! A couple of rowdy guys did ask us to dance, but after a couple of rounds with them we pretended to be tired in order to avoid them. We both danced with José as well, who informed us that we were bad dancers and weren't dancing with our hearts. I don't know where José gets his material, but he seriously needs to have his own TV show or at least a made-for-TV movie. After this, we continued on to José's favorite bar, Celebrity to hear more live music and continue dancing (badly).

The last day of the bicentennial break was spent recovering and walking around the elaborately decorated cemetery...

Here are some of the foods I ate/drank in mass quantities:
anticuchos-a nice greasy shish-kabob containing a variety of meat (usually chorizo and hot dogs), onions, and peppers
empanadas-A hispanic take on the calzone. Empanadas come in a variety of flavors and sizes. The most common are queso (cheese) and pino (meat, a hard boiled egg, an olive, and a raisin).
choripanes-Chorizo sausage cooked into a link of greasy-goodness then slapped on piece of either toasted or fluffy bread. 'Pan' is Spanish for 'bread,' 'chorizo,' is spanish for 'ball of heaven'.......just joking. 'Chorizo' is Spanish for 'chorizo.'
chicha-Usually made from grapes or apples, chica has a slightly milky appearance, and a slightly sour aftertaste, reminiscent of hard apple cider. It is drunk either young and sweet or mature and strong. It contains a slight amount of alcohol, 1-3% (The word itself refers to any kind of fermented beverage)
pisco-A liquor distilled from grapes that can range anywhere from 60 -86+proof. Weaker piscos tend to taste more like watered rum where aged pisco tastes more like bourbon.

Question: What would be the traditional dance of the USA be? The traditional foods? The traditional drinks??

I'm curious to hear what my fellow Americans (Estadounidenses) think about this....


¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley

Pictures in this blog:
1. Some of the fabulous members of Team Magallanes
2. Cazuela-A Chilean take on chicken soup and quite possibly my favorite Chilean dish under 3,000 calories
3. Aunt María Ercillia making empanadas del horno
4. A Chilean parade...the kid in the cherry picker is one of my students!
5. A student at my school in her Cueca dress

Puerto Natales: A Patagonian Fairytale of a Town Part 2

Believe it or not, I managed to stay pretty warm throughout the night.....it also helped that I slept in the middle! We woke up early the next morning to hike up to the base of the Torres del Paine, where we immediately proceeded to scream like buffoons and drink glacier water. The hike back to the pickup spot was a lot easier because our packs were lighter and the majority of the trail was downhill. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any pumas, but I think that was probably for the best.

Doing this trek was such an amazing experience, I knew as soon as I left that I had to go back...........And now I am!

This time I am doing a seven day trek full of camping, hiking, beautiful scenery, and dried fruit. I am going to do a trek/hike called 'The Circuit' with my friends Merrette and Carly. I leave next Friday! Here is our itinerary:

Friday Night:
Arrive in Natales- Buy food- Sort gear

Saturday:
7 - 10 am bus to Hosteria Las Torres in Torres Del Paine
HIKE Hosteria Las Torres to Campamento Serón (4 hours, 5.5 miles)
CAMP Campamento Serón

Sunday:
HIKE Campamento Serón to Refugio Dickenson (6 hours, 11.8 miles)
CAMP Refugio Dickenson

Monday:
HIKE Refugio Dickenson to Campamento Los Perros (4 hours, 5.5 miles)
CAMP Campamento Los Perros

Tuesday:
HIKE Campamento Los Perros to Campamento Los Guardas (9 hours, 11 miles) * This will be the hardest hike but it will have beautiful view of glacier grey.
CAMP Campamento Los Guardas

Wednesday:
HIKE Campamento Los Guardas to Campamento Italiano (7.5 hours, 14 miles) *A lot of miles this day, but it will be on easy terrain.
CAMP Campamento Italiano

Thursday:
HIKE Campamento Italiano to Campamento Británico & Lookout then back to Campamento Italiano (6 hours, 8.5 miles)
CAMP Campamento Italiano

Friday:
HIKE Campamento Italiano to Campamento Torres (10 hours, 14 miles)
CAMP Campamento Torres

Saturday:
HIKE Campamento Torres to a lookout of the towers (1 hour) and then back to Hosteria Las Torres (3.5 hours) Total miles= 6.

FINISH!!

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley

Puerto Natales: A Patagonian Fairytale of a Town

Before coming down to Chile I had thought that I would literally have to navigate my way through forests and glaciers, fighting off wild dogs and befriending penguins in order to get to school let alone a grocery store. Hah! Ok, so maybe I didn't think it would be that adventurous, but I did think that there would at least be hiking trails that I could easily access from my house and that I would have many handsome gauchos/lumberjack-esque men ready to hike them with me.

Needless to say I was surprised to be living in a town of 150,000 people, many restaurants/bars, paved roads, and a duty-free shopping district. And even though I love my Patagonian metropolis by the sea, it was time to get out and start getting dirty (and burn off the pan and chocolate I have been eating non-stop). Insert Puerto Natales, home of the the world-renown Torres del Paine national park. Paired with two lovely members of Team Magallanes, Megan and Brooke, we took off one Saturday afternoon for a whirlwind of a trip. The bus ride to Puerto Natales from Punta Arenas is around 3 hours, stopping to pick people up alongside the highway (who seem to come out of nowhere, there is literally nothing but great expanses of land between the towns) throughout the trip. After arriving in Natales, we quickly checked into our hostel, and figured out our game plan.

Erratic Rock, the name of our hostel, can be summed up in two words: buena onda. The employees are highly knowledgeable about the park (they are guides), funny, can cook a mean breakfast, and are pretty easy on the eyes....Since we decided to trek through the park during the end of winter, only a few routes we available and in order to make the most of our time in the park we decided to camp overnight at a site about 9 kilometers in the forest. We also had to rent, hiking poles, backpacks, a cook stove, sleeping bags, a tent as well as buy gas and enough food for 4 meals. In order to have a good meal after an entire day of hiking, we precooked chicken, peppers, and onions the night before as well as made sure that our bags were well-packed with plenty of dry clothes/layers.

Sunday morning at 8am we took a bus to get to the park, which is about an hour/hour and a half outside of Natales. Due to the various breaks that the driver took for coffee, to chat with other drivers, and the unexpected 30min stop at the cueva del milodón (which we didn't know was going to happen) we didn't get to our starting point until 12:30pm. Trying my best to 'lighten the mood,' I decided to inform everyone in our bus/party every time I saw a guanaco (like a deluxe llama) by shouting 'GUANACO!' (guah-nah-ko) which happened pretty much every 2 minutes. Try shouting this at home, it's a pretty fun word to say/yell. Here's what's not as fun to say: Ñandú (lesser rhea in English, like an ostrich). Moving along.....

As we were walking the 7 km just to get to the start of the trail, I noticed that I couldn't see guanacos anymore....After going through every possible option as to why they had disappeared, it finally clicked. There could only be one reason why there weren't any guanacos in this region.....PUMAS. The combination of my active imagination and the fact that I was hungry for lunch led me to create a scenario that would have made the writers/cartoonists behind the 80's GI Joe cartoon proud. I won't share all of the details because I intend to capitalize on them one day in the future, but I'll tell you it involved a puma mafia that has their headquarter in a puma-shaped dome on a hill looking over their turf.....and all the pumas wear berets.

We briefly stopped for lunch and began the second and hardest leg of our hike. I was so grateful that we had rented hiking poles (even though I did look like a short non-stripey version of 'Where's Waldo') because they helped carry my weight up the vertical climb and took some of the tension off of my knees when we ascended the other side of the hill we had climbed. We stopped briefly at a refugio to get more water and relieve our backs from the weight of our packs, the surged on to our campsite. We arrived right at dusk and immediately set up our tents and prepared for dinner. I wasn't cracking as many jokes on the last leg of our hike the first day because I was pretty tired, sore, and a little grumpy at myself for wiping out and accidentally tossing my camera in a stream (it turned out to be ok). Due to a huge wildfire set my a camper a couple of years ago in the park, fires are not permitted so we had to use flashlights/head lamps in order to be able to see anything. Night closed in and we braced ourselves for the dark and the cold of a Patagonian forest in the winter.........

Stay tuned for Puerto Natales: A Patagonian Fairytale of a Town Part 2/I can't walk without pain

Photos in this blog:
-Guanaco!
-Me wearing my trekking gear...I bought new waterproof pants that you can make into shorts! Sweet!
-The Torres del Paine reflected in a laguna before we got on the trail
-Me posing on the bus ride to the Torres

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley : )

The man, the myth, the legend: Papa José

One night while we were sitting down having a glass of wine (or was it pisco.....) José asked me, "After seeing all of these decorations in my house, what did you think I would be like?"

Without hesitating I replied, "Ridiculous."

I really nailed it with my predictions of what José would be like, although I believe he prefers to be considered more as a roommate than my Chilean father. Papa José, who informs me that he prefers to be called 'José Carlos,' has been a great host and constantly keeps me entertained simply by his unpredictability. When he first came back from his vacation, José informed us that he kept a very strict routine and liked to have everything in order. Five minutes after that spiel we started drinking pisco.

One Tuesday evening after declaring that he was going to karate practice for two hours, José packed up all of his karate gear and took off.....only to return an hour later with several bottles of wine and two friends, and proceeded to have a party until one a.m.

Wanting to take full advantage of his situation (having a gringa living in his house), José has decided to learn English. As I was sitting down trying to write one afternoon, he dropped 18 'Let's Learn English!' CDs on the table in front of me and asked me to review them for him so see if they would be helpful. Fortunately, he has settled for me writing down words and expressions for him.

After flipping through his 'cuaderno' (notebook) the other day I realized I am teaching him the English equivalent of the Spanish that a restaurant employee can learn from native Spanish-speakers in the back of a restaurant. José is going to be fluent in 'dirty English' in a couple of months. I think I have created a monster. And it only gets worse when my friends come over...they all want to see the expressions and words that he knows and then give me even more suggestions (which are always hilarious and always dirty). José did buy a great book (I forget the name of it) that includes a self-monitoring system so he can give himself tests and quizzes on the material he learns. In fact, he has already taken one quiz, although he informs me he could have done better. My favorite part is when we sit down and he repeats and practices his pronunciation, because we usually end up yelling the word.

me (normally): January
José (normally): Jan-u-areey
me (slightly louder): January
José (slightly louder): Jan-u-ary
me (a little louder): January!
José (same level): January!
Together (yelling): JANUARY!!!!

I have a feeling that the neighbors don't like it when we do that........

José has been very great to not only me, but my friends here as well. He has let 3 different people come stay with us and is always going out of his way to make us feel comfortable. He gave me rides to school a couple of times when my back was hurting, helped me find an open ATM one night so I could get money to travel, and even dropped my friend's huge travel backpack off to her yesterday so she didn't have to haul it around Punta Arenas until her bus left at 5pm. José is a very sweet man, and even though he claims to be like Charlie Sheen's character in 'Two and a Half Men,' it's obvious that he is a softie. I'll have to just include all of his hilarious expressions as they come along, but they are mostly about beautiful women, alcohol, and bathroom humor......I'm such a great influence!!!!

Picture: José giving the shaka this weekend while eating an empanada and dancing with his niece (my cutie-pie chilean cousin) Natalia (la Nati)

Besos y abrazos!

La Keeley

Brokedown palace aka MY LIFE

Bah! After my tragic fall down the waxed stairs in my house life got pretty poopy for yours truly. I thought that everything would be alright and that I could go back to my normal routine after applying a pack of frozen corn to my back, but lord was I wrong! I tried to do my exercise routine the next day and was in such incredible pain that I had to leave the gym. I went to a clinic that night and had to get an injection in my butt (all of the female nurses seemed to disappear when it was time for the shot) and some x-rays taken but got nothing for the pain. I couldn't/didn't work for a couple of days to get some rest and relax (called a 'reposo') but when the pain didn't get any better I had to visit a back specialist who informed me that I had fractured the cartiledge around my ribs. This specialist also gave me a perscription for more effective medicine and told me that I needed to wear a back brace for a month (which is as you can probably imagine, muuuy sexy). I have been a little sad about my stupid accident and have kept a pretty low profile. I haven't been able to walk without discomfort until yesterday and that paired with the poor weather has prevented me from getting out around town. I'm not supposed to go back to the gym until next week but after a weekend of emotional/bored eating I returned to the gym yesterday (I'm only doing cardio this week and it's VERY necessary).

I have a very fun two weeks ahead of me, Chile's bicentennial is coming up and I am traveling to Puerto Natales and Porvenir/an estancia (farm) outside of Porvenir. I am going to try my darndest to keep current with the blog this week, so keep your fingers crossed with me. I would write more write now but José keeps talking to me and telling me to focus on what he's saying/showing/playing. He is absolutely ridiculous and so funny, I had it right on the money when I said that he was going to be an amazing host dad. Here is a little teaser for my next blog:

A couple of words and expressions that I have taught José (that he has asked me to teach him):
-foxy lady
-Beer me!
-Sometimes I am a bad boy!
-I can't wait for Halloween!

Blogs to come:
-A Chilean is born/Papa José: the man, the myth, the legend
-My hilarious students/I work with hard knocks (wannabe hard knocks)

Pictures in this blog:
-The stairs where I had my tragic fall
-My distractor aka Papa José!

Schoolioolio

¡Hola!

I had my first couple of days solo-teaching last week and it went pretty well. I will be working with seven different classes at different levels/grades. Some classes I meet with three times a week and some classes I only see once a week. Each class has at least eight students and it will be my job to focus mainly on speaking and listening exercises. I really like the fact that once students are in the third/junior year of high school they got to focus on either medicine, tourism, or another area of interest (I forget the other options). Two of the classes I will be working with are English classes designed for tourism purposes. One of my co-teachers (I have two) helped to write the 4th year (cuarto) textbook, which is more of a in-depth, historical guide to the Magallanes region of Chile! This means that I can design fun, interactive lessons which have my students taking me on tours around town...for free....haha! I am meeting more and more students with the most interesting knick names, such as 'beaver,' 'bad angel,' 'grandpa,' and 'little crazy girl.' The knick names are all pretty accurate.....especially the last one.....if I ever decide to go back and teach in the United States I will have a pretty easy time after these next four months! The students are all pretty respectful and truly want to learn and improve their English. My first time meeting with with each class was pretty simple. I asked everyone to make name tags for me and write down their full names (they have 4-ex. María Elena Villega Muñoz), their interests, and why they want to learn English so that I can design lessons that they will find interesting. I was very pleased and taken aback at how well and sincere they were in their responses. One student wrote me a short story breaking down what a sentimental young man he is......which I don't if I fully believe because part of his email address is 'team alcoholicos'.....Friday afternoon proved to be very educational. I got to know more of my students and I had them teach me more naughty words and expression.

jugar a la pelota-to play around with a soccer ball (like juggling the ball)
estar arriba de la pelota-to be tipsy (halfway to 'drunktown')

Thank you for the lesson, 'little crazy girl.'

When I asked to work at the secondary level, I forgot that the legal drinking level in Chile is 18. According to my Chilean sister Gabi, the eighteen year-olds all hang out at the same discoteca and many pubs don't let anyone under 21 in (thank goodness).

I fully intended to write more tonight but I am going to put myself to bed early. I was carrying my dried laundry to my room (the laundry drying room is on the second floor, mine is on the first) and slipped down the last four stairs, smacking my back and butt pretty hard. I am going to have huge bruises. I should have been more careful and not worn my bedroom slippers to walk down the polished wood stairs...oops. I should have also been more careful because I always get bruises in three's....I already had one on my scalp from attempting to do an elaborate dance move on the floor Friday night and smacking my head on the wall (don't ask). I am writing this post with a bag of frozen corn on my back and 5 advils (two of them are advil pm...ooooooh) in my belly. Since you can't watch TV online here, I have had to download movies from itunes...so I am going to watch the movie I rented (which took 22 hours to download).

Note to the women:
Do not watch Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightly version) more than once a week.....I have become a disgusting hopeless romantic and can now feel my heart aching for my true love before I go to bed (¿¿¿¿Dónde está mi Señor Darcy????) I even downloaded the soundtrack to the movie on itunes today....I know, it's a new personal low, but it is also the most beautiful, romantic music I have ever heard.

Alright, time for bed.

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley

Pictures: the main entrance of my school and the stoplight skate park near my house

Rain rain, go away!

"'Patagonia!' he cried. 'She is a hard mistress. She casts her spell. An enchantress! She folds you in her arms and never lets go.'"
-An excerpt from In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin

I had every intention of taking more photos of Punta Arenas yesterday, I even brought my camera to school so I could take pictures on my walk home.....but the Patagonian winter won, as I'm told it always does. It hasn't stopped raining since! It briefly snowed around 10pm but quickly fell backing into freezing rain. There is a singular patch of opaque plastic roofing in my house that the rain used as a vessel for percussion to let us know that it hadn't let up. Between the soft roar of the gas heater, the roof, and reading In Patagonia, I was quickly able to fall asleep.

Today I woke up dreading the body evaluation I had at my gym. I put off going there until the last minute and had to run/walk in my long, brown coat in the freezing rain to make it there on time. My socks were wet by the time I had gotten there mainly due to the fact that I thought I could jump over this one big puddle on the sidewalk and fell about a foot short---why do I always think I am taller than I really am? I'm blaming my legs and the song "Walking on Sunshine," for that one for instilling in me a false sense of hope. My evaluation was everything I thought it would be--embarrassing, intrusive, and a huge wake-up call. The good news is that I guess when I bought my gym membership it came with a sort-of personal trainer. Paolo, my evaluator/instructor gave me a new regimen that I didn't even know I wanted! Instead of showing me the machines I should use in order to tone various muscles, Paolo gave me a series of 5 exercises that I have to do four times in a cycle (I have to do each exercise for a minute). This is preceded by a ten minute warm-up and followed with 40 minutes on either the treadmill or elliptical, making sure that I have my heart rate between 127-147 RPM in order to burn the most fat. According to Paolo, this will get me to where I need/want to be the fastest. In order to save face, I won't tell you the results of the body evaluation, but I will tell you that Paolo said 70% of my problem was changing my eating habits.......no kidding Paolo.

I was feeling a little lonely on the walk home from the gym when I decided two things:
1. Patagonia is my new mistress (I guess technically it would be 'mister') and
2. A crab empanada will never really love you back....

Anyhoo, I am looking forward to my first day of solo-teaching tomorrow. I'm sure I will have a full report on that this week...wish me luck!

Things to come:
-Papa José's return from Israel/meeting Papa José
-Carbs, I hate you.....but I really love you.../Hah! I'm hot!
-My students........

Pictures featured in this post:
-Welcome sign to Punta Arenas (located at the entrance to the center of town)
-Two things that have led me to buy a gym membership: Austral beer (brewed here in town) and a marisco empanada

¡Besos y abrazos!

KEEEEEE-LEEEEEEEEE

Magallanes, te quiero

I have to say that in spite of the cold, I truly love it here. Punta Arenas is a pretty clean city--the tap water is devine and the air is pure. Santiago definitely had a better nightlife and more action, but it was a pretty congested city. The one day I went running, I began to taste the pollution (no exaggeration) a mile into my workout. I guess people don't normally run on the streets of Santiago, because I have never gotten so much attention in my life! Workers were spilling out of their semis, whistling up a storm, and macho men were honking the most ridiculous sounding horns I have ever heard (a horse/mustang neighing and a elaborate wolf-whistle that went on for at least 20 seconds). It was great for my self-esteem and reminded me that I really need to get the car horn that plays the godfather theme song, I have waited long enough! Speaking of working out, I have joined a gym! I had a serious talk with myself after I could no longer zip up a pair of the jeans I brought without having...a muffin top....gross. Turns out that eating copious amounts of fried foods, bread with every meal, and 2-3 dinners are not the key to a hot body. Who knew? For those looking to gain weight, come to Chile.

I figured that I had better get a serious action plan because no one wants to read a blog entitled: "Sad, chubby gringa in Chile."
Step 1: I am walking to and from school every day so I will get at least a 45 minute walk in every day
Step 2: I joined a gym that has a nice array of machines, classes, and good-looking men
Step 3: I will force myself to brave the elements and walk (eventually run?) to the gym in the mornings/afternoons which will add another 30 minutes

When I went to sign up at the gym yesterday I was told that everyone has to have an evaluation with an team member/instructor who measures your body fat and weighs you....mine is tomorrow....can't wait! The good news is that I have already been able to use the machines and plan to get a nice workout in tomorrow as well because there is no school tomorrow. My plan is to kick my gringa status up from hot to fiery.....I at least have to look good for the disco-themed birthday party I intend to have!

My School!
I love it! I have been placed at a high school that is notorious for having 'rowdy' students (especially the girls). They aren't too particularly fond of school/working/learning, but I intend to play into their interests to motivate them. Once you get them talking about things they like, they won't stop! I have had to introduce myself to around 8-10 different classes and it is really funny/cute to here them try to pronounce my name KEA-lee? KYE-lee? Oh, KEEEEE-LEEEEE! I have gotten asked in the most awkward way if I have a boyfriend, if I'm married, and if I have any children. "How old is your boyfriend?" "You have babies?"
-My answers: no, No, NO!

There are some students that are particularly fond of greeting me in the mornings, especially this one student who's rocking a mullet like there's no tomorrow. "Hello miss! Good morning miiiisss!" (pronounced ('mees')

I will begin teaching this Thursday and I will have my own room, that's long, very narrow and robin's egg blue. Since all of the walls are bare in my room, feel free to send me English-related decorations, I would like it a lot! I am going to look for some cheap markers, poster board, and other miscellaneous art supplies. Email me and I'll send you my address!!!!! I will be working with students at all levels, which I am excited about because I will be able to use my Spanish to make the time we spend together more meaningful and worth-while. Yesterday both the teachers and the students started teaching my 'bad/dirty' words and phrases---apparently there are a lot of them and then a mountain of other words/expressions that when used in the wrong context are also bad! Good thing I have 2 Chilean diccionarios thanks to my new friend who will remain anonymous!

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley

Pictures featured in this post:
-Sunset from outside my house
-Downtown Punta Arenas with the ocean in the distance!

Patagonia....the end of the world

"Patagonia is the farthest place to which man walked from his place of origins. It is therefore a symbol of his restlessness. From its discovery it had the effect on the imagination something like the Moon, but in my opinion more powerful."

--Bruce Chatwin, author of In Patagonia, stating one of the four points he believed were key to understanding his book.

The night before I was scheduled to leave for Punta Arenas I couldn't sleep.....alright, I probably could have slept, but decided it was pointless to sleep for a couple of hours only to have to wake up at 3:45am. I decided to spend the night partying with Angela, Jack, and Diego, my favorite Hosteling International Santiago employee (Natalie, if you ever read this blog I love you too). Needless to say, by the time we were picked up at 4:15 I was very crabby. I dozed in and out of sleep the entire flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt and Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas. My cheerful friend (now roommate) Angela was talking up a storm with the woman seated in our row, and I was half drooling (okay, full on snoring/drooling) on my neck rest pillow. Towards the end of the flight I woke up a little more and started to stare out of the window. At first I couldn't see anything other than a listless and foamy sea of clouds, but then the sky opened up and revealed the prehistoric expanse that is Patagonia. My mind buzzed with the thousands of things I had promised to make happen for myself here and my heart began to beat as though I was a kindergartener again kissing my first crush on the school bus coming back home from Lanikai Elementary. I knew instantly that this place was where I needed to be and that I was going to get even closer to becoming the woman I'm destined to be.

Alright, enough sappy shit. I was picked up at the airport by the regional coordinator of my program who immediately informed me that I would be living in a house with my friend Angela. She also went on to say that the man we would be living with was away on a vacation and that we would be having a 'enana' ('nanny') coming and preparing us lunch every day. Neli, our nanny, was at the house when we arrived and had been preparing us our first meal in Punta Arenas. She has been the nanny for our Chilean father for over eight years and has helped him raise his two daughters. Neli and my Chilean father often eat lunch together, and I have been told that he sees her as a beloved mother figure.......

Speaking of my Chilean father, I have decided to call him Papa José. Here is the four month breakdown of his knicknames: August/early September:Papa José
Mid/late September:Pay-jota (P-J en español)
October:P-J (in English)
November: Peej

Papa José is truly a modern day Renaissance man.....a badass Renaissance man, that is. When you first enter his house you can't help but notice the vast array of martial arts weapons he has. The ninja turtles would be jealous. Papa José's arsenal of weapons include 2 sais, 11 bow staffs of various lengths, and a samurai sword. There is a black belt that hangs casually over some the bow staffs and sword as if to say, "Yeah, I got a black belt. No biggie." The front room of his/my house also has 6 plants (I'm told they all have names and that Papa José talks to them to help them grow). Along with these items are a guitar, a microphone, and a boombox with a variety of CDs that you would not expect an almost 50 year old to have (Amy Winehouse?!). After talking to Papa José's sister Saturday night, tía/mamá Merry, I have been told that P.J. thinks he is a fabulous singer, especially after a few drinks (according to the rest of his family, this is not the case) and often is the source of 2am music jams.....

Furthermore, the walls of his dining room are adorned with pictures that simply contradict each other in the most extreme ways possible. The various wall hangings begin with a National Folklore plaque that casually flows into his various Patagonian karate tournament awards/medals....then Che Guevara comes into the picture. The poster begins with "Seremos como el Che!" (We will be like Che!) and has a picture of his face dissolving into an army of rebels. To the left of Sr. Guevara is a etched drawing of what I am assuming to be Papa José's dad (this guy's rocking the Buddy Holly glasses). Not to be outdone by the previous two, a photograph portrait of none other than Fidel Castro (entitled 'Fidel General') lies below daddy dearest. Next to this trio is a huge cross hanging from communion beads, of course. The best part about all of this it is all true. I couldn't make this up if I tried, and believe me, I have tried!

I would like to dedicate this blog post to my real father, Thomas William Cestare, who is definitely a Renaissance Man in his own freakishly athletic way. In addition to being a black belt in karate, an All-American lacrosse player, and a religious runner, he only sings in desperate times and dances once in a blue moon (or should I say whenever someone gets married in our backyard). Although he sparingly uses his gifts for singing and dancing, they are quite effective in swaying the mood of any crowd, I daresay. I just hope I can record/document his Irish jig next time I see it! Start practicing, Dad!

¡Valparaíso:así me gusta!

Going to Valparaíso (the locals call it Valpo) was a great decision! It started with Manu picking me up from my hostel and having to cram myself into his mom's SUV with a awesome mix of 5 chileans and peruvians! Valpo is an hour and a half outside of Santiago on the Pacific coast. We met up with Peter and got to stay at his house, which is absolutely beautiful! Not only does Peter have the best roommate/landlord ever, but the house is on a hill that overlooks the ocean! After many hugs and kisses between everyone we went to the grocery store and Manu made us a fabulous dinner consisting of meat and rice with a delicious mushroom cream sauce. Manu, if you're reading this, you really should open up a restaurant...like NOW. Adriana and I helped a little, that cheese wasn't going to cut and put itself on the crackers! After dinner we hit the Pisco pretty hard and everyone (9 in total) went out to a club called 'Máscara,' which reminded me of a Chilean version of my old 'go to' bar in Boulder, 'Bacaro.' That night I used my favorite Chilean equation: Pisco + Keeley=dancing machine. After a few songs I was in my own little world, dancing like the little engine (or in my case Italian) that could. For the most part, I was dancing by myself! It could be that no one could keep up with my awesome rhythm/dance moves, but in reality no one wants to dance with 'elbows mcgee.' Although I may have failed the elbows part, it was an overall successful night because I didn't headbutt anyone (an embarrassing and painful move that I do more times than I like to admit...ooops!). We danced the night away and of course I had to hit up a late night food stand for a snacky-poo on the way back to Peter's house. I forget what it was called, but I had the most delicious meat sandwich with palta (avocado)...yum! Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

It definitely took awhile to get going the next day (technically the same day), but I got my shiz-nat together and Peter and I went out to eat lunch. Since Valpo is right on the water, we went to a seafood restaurant and ate like kings! We shared a crab empanada (wowza!), congridae (a nice white fish), and paila marina (a thin broth loaded with seafood/fish). Afterward we went on a wonderful stroll around Valparaíso with the lovely Lautaro. After walking around for three hours (mainly uphill....) I decided that we deserved a pastry and we stopped into a pastelería and bought a huge crema berlina that we had to immediately sit down and eat. I also made the boys go back to this cute wintery store where I bought an adorable black dressy coat (it has pleats-so cute!) for around $28 USD. That day I found out that was placed in Punta Arenas, the capital of the Magallanes region! Since I was scheduled to fly out of Santiago early Friday morning, I decided to leave Valpo Wednesday night so I could get all of my miscellaneous errands done on Thursday.

Thanks to everyone, especially Peter and Lautaro, for a great time in Valpo. I loved this city so much that I believe I am going to have to live there for at least a month after my program ends November 24th. I have been thinking about it and if I return to Colorado, I will have back-to-back winters.....no thanks! Besides, I need to send Sasha down here so she can pick out which dog she wants to be her Chilean brother/sister!

¡Muchos besos y abrazos!

Keeley : )

Next blog: My life at the end of the freaking world or help! I can't feel my legs!
I will also have my snapfish site updated with all of my photos for everyone to look through!

Pictures in this blog:
-Peter and I doing 'jumping' action shots
-the brightly colored houses of Valparaíso
-the pastelería where I bought the crema berlina (top left hand corner of the display case)....I told the employee that she was in my shot afterward and finally got a smile out of her!

Peter Pedro and legit Chilenos

First of many blogs to come this week, catching up on my schnanigans:

So my reunion with Peter Wednesday afternoon began as it usually always does, with a lot of screaming y besitos. True to form, I made him eat dinner with me at the hostel (where it is free) and then we went out to eat dinner #2. Peter took me to a Japanese/Peruvian restaurant for dinner where we met up with his friends Manu, Maca, and 2 wonderful peruvian girls. The sushi wasn't too different than sushi in the United States but it was still very very good and only cost 1/4 of the price I usually pay when I go out to sushi with friends. Maca and Manu are friends that Peter met during previous trips to Santiago, and they're absolutely fabulous! They are so funny and full of life, it was great going out and practicing my Chilean Spanish with them. After dinner we tried to go to this bar called 'La Piojera,' which translates to 'The Lice Den,' in English, but it was about to close so no dice. I am going to have to try and go back there because they have a drink called 'el terremoto'/'the earthquake' that every visitor to Santiago has to try at least once! From what I understand, it is very similar to 'the volcano' at K's China (one of my favorite bars in Boulder). And for whatever reason I decided to tell them about the Hawaiian version of lice, 'ukus' and how I used to have 'uku checks' in elementary school......We ended up going to barrio Bella Vista and drinking outside in the bitter cold then going to a reggae club called 'Jammin'' (pronounced 'yamming') where we danced the night away. Since I have been living in a dorm room with six other girls, I can't turn on the light when I get home, so climbing to the top bunk/brushing my teeth/putting on my pajamas is quite the challenge! I didn't even notice that my jacket that was once white was now tie-dyed brown.

You'll have to excuse this lame post, it's a rainy miserable day in Santiago and I am sick! I have been trying to write this blog for several hours and can't concentrate so I am going to get some rest and try again tomorrow (with caffeine). Don't worry, after hitting up the pharmacy down the block (which is attached to a gas station--Shell) I now have the whole schmorgesboard of Chilean medicines and tea.

Topics to come:
-More Peter Pedro (duh!)
-Keeley Cestare: the new patron saint of animals?!
-I speak Chilean Spanish, deal with it!
-Toquetones--short Chilean men being inappropriate

Love you all and expect a post that is 2X better tomorrow!

Kiki

Pictures: San Cristobal at night, view of the mountains behind Santiago from the street

Los perritos de la calle, "The Glacier of my Heart," and a blind man that meows...

How-do-ya-do?

I'm fantastic. A little bloated, but fantastic. The people in my program are amazing, I sometimes don't stop laughing for hours it seems. Thanks to everyone who comments on my posts, I love seeing that people are actually reading my blog! I am in a week long orientation program which is so incredibly bo-ring! They are re-teaching the TEFL course I just completed and I can't help but think that I could be using this time to explore the various Santiago neighborhoods and buy miscellaneous crap instead of beng cooped up in a conference room. I keep on nodding off in orientation and even woke up today with an imprint of my jacket's zipper on my face! Ooops! I never did learn well in warm rooms packed full of people.

Fortunately, there is a lunch break and we have these coupons/vouchers for 2500CLP ($5USD) that can buy you a very decent meal. After I had lunch yesterday with my new hilarious friend Angela, we were walking the streets checking things out when a blind man popped up out of nowhere, grabbed my arm, and in the creepiest voice possible said, "Meeeeeooooooowwwww." (Think alley cats in heat). I firmly told him "NO!" and then ran away. I can't say that has ever happened before....and I hope it never does again. Becca, you would have cried/laughed/peed your pantaloons!

One of the things that really kind of bothers me about Santiago/Chile are the 1,000s of street dogs. It is NOT that warm outside and these poor babies have nowhere to get warm and curl up. It absolutely breaks my heart. I have been trying to smuggle them into my hostel with no success. And to make matters worse, these castaway dogs have been driven into madness from years of rejection. They actually play with MOVING CARS. They'll chase cars in traffic, bitting at the tires and mud flaps. Can you believe that? On my way back to the hostel Sunday night, I was followed by an adorable dog baby I named 'Terrance.' He trotted happily along by my side, stopping to chase cars and motorcycles along the way. He was so sweet and only wanted to be loved. Luckily I had my friend Sara run up to our room to grab the leftover steak from lunch I made my friends save so I could feed the dogs. Terrance and his new dog novia (they met outside my hostel it was pretty much love at first sight) had the best meal of their little doggie lives! The bright side about the street dogs is that they are really well fed, Sasha would be pretty envious of some of the meals they get to eat. There are also many doggies fleeces that people buy and put on some of the dogs. So the people of Santiago basically feed and dress the street dogs but they don't take them in.....WTF? I may be bringing Sasha back a doggie brother or sister....It's better than bringing home a baby!

So far, I have had two BRILLIANT ideas. We're talking genius concepts here.

1. I have decided to write an epically romantic movie about finding love in the Patagonian wilderness entitled, "The Glacier of My Heart." I am not completely sold on the title and some other options include "Of Glaciers and Patagonians/Men," and "Gone with the Glaciers." Let me know if you have any ideas and/or suggestions. My friend Angela will be writing the accompanying rap/theme song to the movie and some possible lyrics include: "The Glacier of my heart/it happened from the start.." Any friends and family members wanting to be in the movie have to come visit me or it's NO DICE BABY!

2. My birthday is on the 24th of September and my friend Megan's birthday is September 9th. Since we'll both be in Magallanes, we have decided to do a birthday booze cruise to ANTARTICA. Angela has agreed to reveal/perform the rap song to "The Glacier of My Heart," (I will de doing the accompanying interpretive dance, of course) and we are going to try to find electric snow suits.

Tomorrow I will be meeting up with my dear friend Peter and we will be going out with a couple of Chileans, I can't wait. Apparently there is an on-going party every Wednesday night in this castle, which sounds like a lot of fun! It's now midnight here, so I'm gonna have to wind things down. I have a walking date at 7am so I can work off some more of the meat and potatoes I can't stop eating (I have thrown ice cream into the mix)! I am also looking into buying a gym membership so I can maintain my músculos/throw down if necessary. I don't think I have shown off my 'guns' since I have been here!

I love and miss you all!

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley : )

Partial Weekend Re-cap/I don't feel like putting it all into one post

¡Hola!

Well my first weekend in Chile has been a 'whirlwind' experience. So many things happen in the span of an hour, let alone one day! I thought my program was going to be small and that everyone would be in Patagonia. Turns out, English Opens Doors/Inglés Abre Puertas is a program throughout Chile. People have placements in the North, in Valparaíso, and in Santiago......and I'm in Patagonia???? I definitely should have done more research. All of the participants in the EOD program are staying in the same hostel in Santiago, so there are plenty of new friends to explore the city with. I am on the fourth/top floor of the hostel and had to haul my suitcase up 4 flights of stairs....luckily I did not get a hernia or pass out. I am staying in a small, 6 person room with bunk-beds. Not only am I on the top bunk but my luggage locker is high off the ground, so taking out items to wear or even grabbing my freaking toothbrush is quite a process for my 5'4" self. One of my new friends knew someone in the city and he (Roberto) has been taking us on daily expeditions to various neighborhoods and on several hikes. Roberto is a photographer and has been showing us very beautiful parts of town. I'm so glad we have been hanging out with him because until then I had only seen pretty hideous sections of town that made me seriously doubt coming down here. I will hopefully figure out how to post pictures on this blog/facebook/snapfish.

I hiked up two different mountains yesterday and got quite the workout! The second mountain, San Cristobal, was a nice 40 min hike UPHILL that made any entry point to Chataqua/Mt. Sanitas seem like a joke! I would have totally taken the tram to the top but other people in my program decided to walk, and since I have been on a straight meat and carb diet since I arrived I thought it would be good for me. By the time I got to the top I decided that I would rather be fat and bloated than hike that ever again.

The food here is...well...interesting. Italianos are everywhere, but since I am not a fan of mayonaise, I can't get down with hot dogs smothered in both avocado and mayonaise....at least not every day. My favorite meal so far is called 'Biffe a la Pobre'--a huge piece of steak next to a huge pile of french fries topped with two eggs and fried onions--it's delicious! I ate it yesterday for lunch at a restaurant called 'Las Vacas Gordas' (the fat cows)...Now you see why I felt I had to go on that arduous hike!

I was going to get a phone my first day here, but other people in my program advised me to wait until I get down to my region so making calls to other people in my region/my host family wouldn't be as expensive. I have a skype account, but it's not letting me sign in. I may have to restart my computer.......just tried doing that and no luck. I guess I'm going to have to be nice so someone will want to help me...lame! (just kidding!)

More to come either tonight or tomorrow, there's just too much to put in one post! Hopefully my pic of Santiago will show up in this post!

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley : )

3.5 horas en Santiago

Flying to Santiago last night was a surreal experience. Every time I travel to/live in a new place the first thing I notice is the sky. The closer the plane crept to South America, the more exotic the night sky appeared as I looked out the plane window. We flew over Panama, parts of Colombia and Ecuador and right before the sun rose this morning the full moon changed from an iridescent white (more like a buttercream frosting color, similar to the hue of Anika's wedding dress) to a bright, fiery orange. Have you ever really looked at the moon? The dark markings are almost a mirror image of North America's progression into Central and finally South America.....I made this profound discovery in a somewhat delirious state around 4 am after a couple of 'adult bevys.' Tomorrow I could be convinced that the dark markings in the moon are the spitting image of Ross Perot shaking his fist in a dilusional fit of rage! Flying over Chile and descending into Santiago the clouds took on a serious stratus shape that I had never seen before and there were bushes and snow scattered in foreign patterns over mountaintops. I arrived in Santiago this morning at 8:30am! I have met up with 4 other people in my program (English Opens Doors) and after eating italianos (hot dogs with whipped avocado and mayonaise piled on top) for breakfast we are waiting to check into our hostel in its lounge. And yes, it IS chilly in Chile! I'm so glad I brought numerous pairs of tights!!!!!! If I'm cold in Santiago, I'm going to freeze my culito off in Northern Patagonia!

Hey-ohh---now there are 10 more people in my program at my hostel....gotta go!

¡Besos y abrazos!

Keeley

Dubious Delta and adventures in the HOTlanta airport

I had expected my first post to be from some romantic/cool café in Santiago but I'm going to have to settle for the International terminal in the ATL airport. Here goes:

My Chilean adventure began with a minor anxiety attack after waiting in line for an hour to check my bag and get my boarding pass yesterday. After hearing that my flight out of Denver was delayed TWICE and that I had 10 minutes to make my connecting flight to Santiago, all attempts to be mature went out the window. My flight ended up leaving two hours behind schedule and all I could do was cross my enraged fingers and hope that my Santiago flight would be delayed as well. When I had landed in HOTlanta the kind gentleman next to me helped me find out the status of my next flight.....it was still boarding! A wave of hope rushed over me and when we parked at the gate I attempted the impossible: pushing 21 rows of angry, slow geriatric passengers out of my way so I could run to my gate. I had made it all the way to row 7 when a "lovely" man and his sloth-like wife informed me that they had a connecting flight to catch as well and fully blocked my way......15 minutes later I got off the plane only to find out that my plane had left 10 minutes earlier. Then came the embarrassing part.....all of the people I had pushed out of my way walked by as I waited in line at the Delta counter, casting me murderous glances and viciously whispering to their traveling companions. I would like to apologize to the passengers of flight 2016 Denver to Atlanta, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The good news is I have made several new airport friends, including Ray and Tuck, two Australian businessmen who very graciously tried to buy me a gas station barley soda only to find out that you can't buy liquor after midnight in the ATL. Today I had to check out of my hotel by 12:00 (the latest checkout time) and since their were no shuttles back to the airport, the GM of the hotel drove me back here in his BMW convertible (not too shabby) . He advised me that everyone should google any possible recalls on their vehicles because it can end up saving a car-owner mucho dinero (Frankie-I immediately thought of you when I heard this, it's your kind of tip!). And now I'm here, halfway through my 10 hour wait to fly out this evening at 10. At least I figured out how to make my blog! I have two meal vouchers left and in about 2-2.5 hours I will find out if they can be used on liquor.

The saddest part about missing that flight last night is that I could have spent part of today in Boulder, wishing the sweetest most beautiful dog in the world a happy third birthday. Sasha Siracha Cestare aka 'Haru,' is now three years old, which means that in human years she turns 21. Since she doesn't like beer, hopefully someone will give her a strawberry starburst (her favorite candy).

Well, that's all for now, if there's another flight delay I advise anyone who is opposed to 'strong language' not to read past the title of my next post (you'll know).

¡Besos y abrazos! (Kisses and hugs!)

Keeley