Goodbye Chile

After leaving San Felipe (with a few tears), I returned back to Santiago to spend the last few days in Chile with my amazing friends from the program. We had an amazing time, but it was also quite sad as we had to say goodbye to another group every day. But we definitely used our time well, visiting the Santa Lucia market (every day) for shopping, visiting a huge cemetery that was absolutely beautiful and, of course, enjoying to great length the nightlife of Chile before we all departed. Now we're all back in the states or off on new adventures and I miss everyone and I miss Chile! There is still so much in South America that I haven't seen yet and I cannot wait to go back and see more. I hope I can return soon. I definitely recommend it to anyone that has interest in traveling, South America is amazing and now my second home!

Cropping!

Before I took off back to Santiago, one of the professors from my school called one of her friends to take us up the the fruit and vegetable crops in the mountains just outside of San Felipe. This is a main location where fruits and vegetables are grown to ship out to the United States. Although most of them bloom in the spring, I did get to see bundles of clementine crops and was able to pick a ton of them and take them home to eat. They are even better off the tree! It was such a beautiful sight to see San Felipe from afar, I couldn't believe I was leaving so soon! It was definitely an adventure, at times rather off road in our truck, but I was glad I got to see it before I left.

San Felipe Celebration

San Felipe was a cute little town to live in during my time in Chile. The view of the Andes from my street was so amazing, it looked like it was painted on the sky. The buildings were all so colorful and cute and the church was stunning. My last weekend there was the celebration of 100 years since the founding of the city! I was so lucky to be there during that time because there was a parade and an "artesania" which is basically a market that sells all types of souvenirs and artifacts from all over South America and beyond! Boy, was I in heaven. I think I went to the market three or four times before I was finally satisfied with all my purchases. It was real fun to walk around the market and see all the homemade things that people make in Chile. Although the parade was hard to see, I managed to find my school and take pictures of them as they began marching. It was fun to spend time with the kids outside of school for a bit and I felt proud to be part of the group! A great last week in my Chilean home town!

Parrillada

As if I hadn't eaten enough delicious stuff in Chile, here's another one to add to the list. Parrillada! It's basically a giant serving of meat with some potatoes thrown in there for good measure. For my last almuerzo together with my whole host family, we went to a small town outside San Felipe called Putaendos to enjoy some parrillada. Our meal started out with some delicious and still warm bread, followed by picada (picking plate, no mas) with escabeche, olives and arrollada (pork rolled in spices and then rolled up in it's own fat...delicious!). Then came the parrillada. The waiter basically sets down a small sized barbeque right in the middle of our table covered in chicken, beef and pork. Not to mention intestines and coagulated blood sausage, both of which I tried and both of which were very good! Even though there were five of us and we ordered the parrillada for four, we only finished probably half the meat that was on there! It seemed like the "four" is probably four giant men. We definitely had some good leftovers for a few days. Yum!

Arica & English Winter Camp

Arica, Chile was a beautiful city. It is pretty much the northern most city in Chile, basically on the border of Peru. I was so happy I got to visit, plus it was a great escape from the cold of San Felipe. Arica is known for having spring-like weather year round and, although it wasn't too sunny, we definitely felt the heat. We got to stay in an amazing hotel (with the best breakfast buffet ever) and it was super close to the center of town and even next door to a casino. One of the best sights of Arica is the "morro" which means cliff in Spanish. It's right on the coast, but you can see it from the center of the city. We were lucky enough to have someone take us to the top of the morro where they had a war museum, a giant statue of Jesus and lots more historical elements. But of course, the best thing was the view of the city and the water from the top! The night life in Arica was also really fun. One night we just happened upon a car show (I kinda felt like I was in "The Fast & The Furious). We visited a few different types of bars including the relaxed open air bar with a great view of the center, a salsa bar and one with a live band. Of course the real reason we were there was to be teachers at an English Camp during the Chilean winter vacation. It was amazing to be with a new group of kids who were so excited to learn English and already knew so much! We got to work with a Chilean student studying to be an English teacher (who was probably better at teaching English than I was). And I enjoyed spending time with other people from my program finally! We had such a good time together. It was a good break from our hometowns and the difficulties we were having at our own schools. It was a great week and definitely a highlight of my time in Chile.

Cusco, Peru & Machu Picchu

Cusco, Peru was an amazing city! I only wished I had more time to spend there. (Of course that's kind of how I feel about my entire trip!) The architecture was so amazing and the cobblestone streets were so cool. Some of the streets were only one car wide and I couldn't believe people would drive down the streets. Cusco is one of the highest cities in the world, sitting at 11,000 ft. above sea-level, but surprisingly I felt no horrible effects of the altitude. I was too excited to be there. I loved the sight of it from the minute I got there. I spent one day exploring the center of the city like the Plaza de Armas (in the photos above) and was lucky enough to be staying in a hostel just across the street from one of the biggest markets in the city! Needless to say, I spent a lot of time there browsing through the fresh fruits, bread and jewelry. My second full day consisted of a horseback tour that didn't go exactly as planned, but I did get to summit a huge mountain and see Cusco from above. Plus I hadn't ridden a horse in quite some time, so it was an adventure for sure. Although I didn't get to see everything I wanted to (due in part to this tour) all my bad feelings went away the next morning when I arrived at MACHU PICCHU!!

Machu Picchu was the most incredible sight I have ever seen and totally worth everything I had gone through to get there. Next time, I'm going to definitely extend the stay and travel by the whole Inca Trail, but I'm glad I got to see the city. It's just unreal. The whole thing was constructed almost completely with stones and there are llamas and giant chinchillas running about, not even caring about the massive groups of people visiting their home. Our tour guide was incredible at telling us the history and explaining all aspects of the village and I had a great time. I even met another girl traveling alone from Canada so we had a good time together. The city outside of Machu Picchu called Aguas Calientes was super cute as well. It's very small, but is lined with restaurants, hotels, markets and even has hot springs! A definite place I'd recommend spending more time in.

Here's me rocking my UW hat and just happened to run into a WSU Cougar on the mountain. What are the chances!? We had to take a picture because it was just too great. All in all, the small amount of Peru I saw, I definitely loved it and can't wait to go back and see more!

Back In Seattle

So I've been back in the states for a little over a week now. It has been an amazing time, but very bittersweet. I miss South America so much and am already thinking of my next great adventure! Lots happened in the last few weeks of my travels and I'm a little behind on my blogging, so here goes my attempt to catch up. Enjoy!

Stay Tuned...

I promise I'm not gone. I'm just enjoying my last few days here in Chile and will update when I'm back home in Seattle!