Plaza de Armas- Iglesia Catedral de Santiago

So, I said good bye to some of my friends this weekend. They went to Puerto Mont (sp?) and I didn't feel like spending a $190 on an airplane ticket for a 2 day weekend... Call me cheap but I'd rather take the bus...Any who, feeling bored I decided to go check out Plaza de Armas today. It's an old historical square, and a lot of cities in Latin America have a least one. So there's a lot of them.

Sm room on left.

statue on top corner.

I went there because I wanted to check out the Iglesia Catedral de Santiago. It's huge! and one of the pretties Cathedrals I have ever seen! I had a hard time fitting the whole thing in a picture. I'll definitely go back to explore the square more, and take some more pictures. This place is cool though, and it was surprisingly cool inside (considering it was pretty hot outside). When you walk in off to the right is smaller room with an altar in it. I'm not really sure what kinds of masses are done in there but it was a lot brighter than the rest of the rest of the church which was pretty dimly lit.

Map of the church

As you walk along the sides of the cathedral they have a lot of different altars for different saints and important people in the churches history. I ended up staying for an afternoon mass which was pretty interesting to see. It's no different than church in the US, except it's in Spanish. It's my second mass I've been two since I've been here and I'm starting to catch on to the Spanish way of saying things. My favorite part is when we shake each others hands and say La Paz, instead of peace be with you.. it's the same thing. Also it was interesting because before the mass they roped off part of the church that leads off to a room. I just figured out what it's for.. it's the thing where they put the left over communion bread. I'm assuming they roped it off so tourist don't bump into the priest who is taking the bread there.

Anways it was a nice little mass. I felt weird taking pictures in a church, but I'm only here for 4 months and you never know if your going to make it back. So   here's some of the pics.

<3 Leslie

Names of past Bishops in Santiago

Ceiling part of it! it was too pretty! 

San Jose

Part of the altar.

Santa Teresa de los Andes (?)

Some of them are kind of blurry so apologies!

Normal school day to describing public transportation

Hey all!

It's been a while since my last post. Nothing too exciting is happening at the moment.. I haven't been anywhere since La Serena. No, it's not out of fear, it's just I can't get people to go... or try to get a concrete answer out of people if they wanna go or not.. And the homework load has been kind of heavy too.

I guess I can tell you about a normal school day. First I drag my booty out of bed 2 hours before class starts.. grab a breakfast, get ready, the whole morning routine thing... Then comes the 50 min commute to school. Now I've lived on campus for the past couple of years, and I thought getting up for an 8am class was horrible and a lot of complaining went down.. here, if i did take an 8am class i'd have to get up at least twice as early...

Ok, so the commute to schools isn't bad, the metro is super efficient here and I have never had a problem using it. Instead it's the crowds of people that get on the thing... say goodbye to personal space when you get closer to a combination or a busy part of the city. People honestly push (not violently or anything) and try to squeeze in the train when the buzzer is going off and the warning that the doors are closing is going off.. It can get a little bit ridiculous and hot and stuffy in the train, and I am glad that during the busy times and at the combo stations they have security to tell everyone to stay behind the yellow line, and to make sure everything goes smoothly

When I am on the metro, I'm usually the one shoved in the back by the time I get to the station I need because I live in the outer part of the red line (aka linea 1) where there aren't as many people trying to get on. In other words, I have to be very consciousness of where I am so I can start to make my way to the door, with a long line of permiso's..

I guess I can describe the micro (bus)... omg I will never complain about the Milwaukee bus system again, at least those buses come! haha, but the bus here is pretty different than the average bus ride in Milwaukee. Most of the buses don't except cash/change... Instead they have this card called Bip (pronounced Beep in spanish).  and you bip on to the bus by holding it up to a sensor thing that beeps and tells you how much money is on it and how much your ticket was.

But actually getting on the bus is the tricky part. Well not really, but if you are at a bus stop and the bus you want is coming, then you have to hold out your hand.. like you hail a taxi...and it stops. But if you forget and assume the bus just stops then it will keep on driving by, unless people want to get off. In which you would have to probably knock on the window and the driver will open the door because here, or at least I've noticed, that the front door is only used for passengers coming on and the back doors are for the exiting passengers..

There is no schedule for buses here either.. nope no timetable, nada. They come fairly consistently during the day, byt late at night you might have to wait 45 min for your bus. Also you should check out the bus stop sign, because that will tell you the basic route of the bus and the times it runs. Some do run for 24 hours.

I guess I have a story now. A couple weeks ago my friend Jessica and I went to Alto los Condes, a mall thats huge and really cool, and we decided to take the micro home. Well, it was around 7ish, and there was a huge crowd of people waiting for the micro. We saw the bus we needed 3 times and it was either jam packed or too many people were trying to get on the bus. It was soo insane we decided to get on a different bus that was headed towards a metro station we knew and was also close to home.

There are 6 million people in this city it may not seem like it but when it comes to public transportation it you can definitely start to see that there are a lot of people in this city. 

The most horrible/first trip out of Santiago Part Dos

Ch 3. Back to La serena

Ok so where did i leave off... ok yeah we returned the rental car and were trying to find a bus to Punto de Chorros. But first after all this stress and walking we wanted something to eat, it was about lunch time anyways. It was delicious, I can't remember what its called but April and I split a Chilean dish. It was French fries covered with chorizo (sausage), another kind of meat we couldnt/didnt want to figure out what it was, and cheese, and onions.. it was probably most unhealthiest thing I have eaten in Chile, so far at least.

After we were done eating we met the owners to the restaurant and we just talking to them. They were truly impressed with our Spanish. They also helped us find a tour guiding place that would take us to the Penguins. For some reason we thought it was back at the bus station where we arrived in La Serena.. Completely wrong direction, it was just past Plaza de Armas. So once we actually found the place, after walking past it once and then getting the help of Manuel, a waiter we met on the street who was hanging out business cards for Restaurant Do Brasil (where he worked). It turned out to be closed, but somehow Manuel had the number for the owner of that place too... But it turned out all of the buses were doing a tour in Santiago that weekend.

So since we needed somewhere to stay Manuel knew a person who owned a hostel... By this point it seemed kind of sketchy, and I didn't know whether we should trust him or not. It just because people in the United States wouldn't normally go this far out of their way to help someone.. and he didn't ask us for money, I think he just wanted us to come to his restaurant that night.

So we settled into a the Hostel Residencial Suiza, we decided to have a look around at this little market down the street, called La Recova. (When we were back in Santiago, Jessica's mom told us to go here. But when we got here we wanted to look for it, but we didn't realize we had already found it until the day before we left) (if that made any sense).  So we went shopping, I bought a hat made out of alpaca wool (typical Gringo) and a key chain made out of this stone, Lapis Lazuli, that is only found in Chile and Afghanistan. There's a few other places but it is not as abundant there. I also bought this alcohol that is kinda like rum. One was made from strawberries and the other from papaya.

So we went to Do Brasil for dinner to see our new found friend Manuel. It was a little pricey, but the food was good. I think there and the other restaurants they take your order and then go down to the meat market that is in La Recova and buy it there. It was really interesting to see how interdependent all of the stores/restaurants where in La Serena.

None of us are in the right state of mind here.. but its a good pic!

The only little annoying thing was that when we were heading up to the restaurant there were all these other waiters and waitresses trying to get us to eat at there places. But I think since it is winter and there isn't much tourism so all the places are suffering. We were actually the only ones in our restaurant at the time...

So after out stomachs were full we headed back to the hostel, but ended up stopping at a bar called Gringuito.. (little foreigner) because we figured there would be a lot of younger people in there... (I still have no idea as to why we figured this... it's like judging a book by its cover). Any ways we ended up meeting some guys and they kept buying us beer... and this beer doesn't come in cans or bottles or on tap... it come by the liter. so we all split them and shared it... It was a fun night/interesting night to say the least.

The next day Dustin, Sarah, and April had to leave... They had Monday Classes to attend, while Jessica and I had a relaxing rest to the weekend. It was well deserved after the adventure we had had in Vicuna. We just went back to La Recova and shopped around a little more... Then before we knew it, we were headed back home on the Turbus...

April and I with our onion omelet

So, I guess that concludes the adventure of the most horrible/first trip out of Santiago.. hope you enjoyed

<3Leslie

P.s sorry for all the english grammar errors and weird sentence structure.. I think being submersed into a place wheres its Spanish all the time has some what affected my ability of using the english language...

intermission from la serana story

front

back

Side view

I bought a 60 liter backpack for traveling! im sooooo excited and i think i might just plan a trip just so i can break it in! anyways it was really expenisve like 114$ish... but it will come in use in the future when i do travel... and it's my 2nd bag to bring home stuff it! anyways im sure you didnt want to read or hear about it but i just wanted to share!!

The most horrible/best first trip out of Santiago

T

Before we left (excited)

excited to go

So it's been a while since I have last written, and a lot has happened. So, I guess I can start at the beginning of last weekends adventure to La Serena and make my way up to the present. 

The Beginning

Last Thursday night Jessica, Sarah and I made our way to the bus station, which is so conveniently located right outside of the metro station Universidad de Santiago, to meet up with April. As we were waiting for her Dustin showed up and I guess he wasn't going to come, but then he changed his mind. 

The plan for this weekend was to go to Punto De Chorros, a little city that has a park with penguins and other marine life, and then go to el desierto florida (a desert that gets rain only about once every 20 years) to see the fields of flowers and then go to pisco eliqui. Yeah somehow this got really turned around in the end. 

It's about a 6 hour bus ride from Santiago to La Serena. We left at midnight and arrived at 6am. I slept pretty well on the bus actually. I was afraid because on the airplane ride down I didn't sleep at all, and was I didn't want this to happen on the bus too. So we grabbed our bags and got in a taxi to head to Plaza de Armas where the tourist information place was, when all of a sudden Dustin tells the taxi driver "La Playa" (the beach). We all started laughing, and since the tourist place didnt open til 9 we decided to spend some time at the beach and watch the sunrise...

 When we got to the beach  there was a group of Chilean guys, who were still out from the previous night, just chilling there. We walk past them say good morning and we just start talking... Dustin mentions he going for a swim and then all of a sudden they freak out and are like "no you can't! theres sharks!". It was pretty entertaining because we knew he was joking. The water on the pacific coast of Chile is actually really cold because the current from Antarctica brings up cold water never letting the ocean warm. 

Us at the ocean

cannon at the light house

So were at the beach now chilling and taking pictures in the semi darkness when we finally realized the sun rises in the East and sets in the West... well, since we were on the west coast of Chile it was kinda hard to watch the sunrise.. But we found this cool lighthouse place that had a cannon pointing out to the ocean so we got some pictures with it.

Around 7:30 we decided to walk to Plaza de Armas...and 2km later after carrying all our bags we finally reach the plaza and have to wait like 15 min before the tourist place opened. When we finally got in there we talked to the owner, and he helped us out a lot. He said it would be really hard to do everything we wanted to do but we could do it. They also didn't have a bus to desierto florida or it would be hard to get up there because its so vast.  Then he told us we can rent a car if we wanted to...We thought don't you have to be 25 to rent a car? Apparently not in Chile, it does depend on the place.

map of vicuna and pisco elqui

So we walked back the way we came to go find a car rental.. (i was perfectly fine taking a bus and dealing with all that but the majority ruled and wanted a car). Four rental car places and a wast of 3 luca on a 2 block taxi ride later we finally found a place that would let us have a car. With Jessica's passport, Aprils license, and Dustin being the only one to know how to drive stick, we headed off to Vicuna for the night. And for a stop at Pisco Elqui to see a pisco distillery.

Little did we know the adventure of the most horrible/best first trip out of Santiago was just about to start....

  Vicuna (Day 1 and 2)

So driving a long we stop and take pictures of a Dam. And actually walk across it. It was quite cool and you could buy things at the little shops they had. They also had this juice from a cactus for sale.. it was really sweat and nothing like I've ever tasted before.

Soon after we were off again. When we arrived in Vicuna we went off and explored the city. It was a little place so we found the tourist office really quick. We ended up signing up for an astronomy tour and to double check we were going to right way to pisco eliqui. We grabbed lunch at this restaurant.. The food wasn't the best, but oh well, one bad meal isn't going to hurt you.

After we found a hostel that was really cute and tiny and put our things in there. We then headed out to Pisco Eliqui (Well first we were going to find a Capel Distilleria which was a lot closer, but we ended up not finding it and continued to drive). So a few picture taking stops and a long winding road through several different towns we finally found it. It turned out to be closed for an event... so we hung around a little bit and had a little snack at a local restaurant. In the end we ended up driving back to Vicuna. It was disappointing that the place was closed but the views of the mountains when we were driving were amazing and helped make the trip kind of worth driving all the way out there.

Later that night our astronomy tour ended up being canceled because a university  was utilizing it. So we ended up just hanging out in our room at the hostel. I fell asleep pretty early. and that is the end of day one.

Well the plan for the next day was to get up early drive back to La Serena and go up to Punto de Chorros and el desierto florida... but when we got out to the car we found a little surprise. In the middle of the night someone took a rock and smashed in the front drivers side window... yup...and we had to pay for it because the only insurance that is offered on rental cars in Chile is liability... We found out shortly that the hostel had a little parking lot we could have parked in... it was gated and everything...

So the cops came out, they were really nice, and they made a report of the incident. It was 11am by the time we headed back to La Serena now... We wanted to get rid of the car as soon as we could.

I have to go do homework now.. I'll finish the rest of the story about my weekend later.

Us in the local restaurant in Pisco Eliqui

<3 Leslie

Saturday Night adventures and Other things.

Painted on the Wall.

Left to right: April, Jessica, Me, Sarah

The past few days haven't been very exciting. On Saturday night We went to a bar called "Bar Sin Nombre" which literally means Bar With No Name.Jessica, Sarah and I met up with April and a boy Dustin who is also from UW-Milwaukee. This was our first night using the Micro (or bus) in Santiago. On the way to the bar we asked like 6 people how to get there. We are so lucky people are so nice and are willing to help you if you're lost in Santiago. You'd think that the bigger the city the meaner the people might be, but that's the complete opposite here. We eventually found our way and arrived to the bar.

It was funny, the bartenders could totally tell we were Gringas (A word for foreigners) because as soon as we walked in the bar tender said, "Tus amigos estan arribas" (Your Friends are up stairs). We thanked them and went up to join them. It was a tiny place, and had barely any room to move around when it got full. They had a special that night get two mixed drinks for 5.000 (this is equal to 5,000 Chilean pesos or around 9$ in the US)  instead of pay 3,400 for one. And when Chileans make their drinks, they make them strong... at least for me they do. The ratio is about 1/2-3/4 alcohol and 1/2-1/4 mixer.. It's crazy strong.

The way home was an adventure in it self. Since Dustin lived the opposite way of April we walked April home and were going to take a bus. Well, I guess they don't have bus schedules in Chile (according to April a bus may come in 20 min, or 2 hours). So, we said good-bye April and waited for a little bit, After about 15 min, we decided just to call a taxi service instead of chance it with the bus. A thing you have to know, or maybe you already know, is that taking a taxi on the street you can be screwed over. Instead of taking most direct route to your destination they can take you way out of the way and over charge you. So in Santiago they have these taxis that are called Radio Taxis. They won't overcharge you and if you feel like they did then you can call a number and ask how much it usually is to take a taxi from point A to point B.
 
It was an interesting experience, and gave me an even bigger reason to learn how to use the bus. I don't want to have to pay for a taxi every night I go out. Even if it was only $3.

Today Jessica and I went to the Registro Civil (it's like the Chilean DMV) to apply for our cédula de identidad, or  Chilean Id Cards. We waited and waited, and met this cute boy who Jessica started to talk to. He told us some different kinds of Chilean singers and described to us how to get to our school after we were done registering. 2 and a half ours after waiting we finally done with everything and could make our way to San Joaquin, one of 4 campuses for my school and where all of my classes are going to be held. 


After we found our classrooms we headed back to Casa Central, the campus where the study abroad office is for foreign students. We got kinda lost in the metro, but it turned out we just went one stop too far, and were soon back on track. After we asked our questions we headed back home, and that is where I am right now. 

Kitchen

Stairs

 

Dining area

Sitting room

Up to the 3rd floor

entering my bedroom

My Bedroom

My house is 3 stories, and apart of a little gated community. When I walk into the house the stairs are just to the right and the kitchen is right in front of me. It is really narrow and small. The refrigerator also doesn't have a light when you open it, and you have to light the stove with a match. To my left is the dinning area and an sitting area. The don't have a T.V. there which I found quite strange. Instead the rooms have T.V's. They also have little patio area outside. Upstairs are bedrooms and bathrooms. when I walk up stairs I end up on this little landing. My bedroom is straight ahead and the Bathroom is on the left. To me it's a small house, but I'm used to seeing bigger houses, but with 4 million people living in one place, you need to build up instead of sideways I guess you can put it. Living in a city like Santiago is completely different than living in Racine or even Milwaukee (Which is big, but not this big. Even then houses are still only two stories and more spread out than here). my room is small, but I think that's good because it's less space to make a mess and easier to clean up. Well that's all for now.

Write Later,
Leslie