Me he enamorado de Chile de nuevo

Me he enamorado de Chile de nuevo.....I've fallen in love with Chile again. And you'll see why in the pictures!


So, as I mentioned in my last post (see this), I spent 8 days in the South of Chile in mid-December. Here's a map so you know where I'm talking about.

First, we took an overnight bus ride of about 10 hours to Valdivia and stayed for 2 nights. The day we arrived, we walked around the town and explored near the river that goes through the city (Rio Valdivia). We took a bus not too far away to go to the Kuntsmann beer factory. I drank and beer and ate some delicious German food.

Río Valdivia

at the Kuntsmann factory

Later that day, we went on a boat tour around the area. Valdivia is in the Region de Los Rios (River Region).

The following day, we took a bus about an hour away to a small town called Niebla. There, we visited the fort and enjoyed the scenery. The fort was built in 1645.

Fort in Niebla

Niebla

in Niebla

The next day, we left for Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas is a cute little town that sits on Lago Llanquihue. The town has a cute German feel to it. You can see Volcan Osorno on the other side. It's a gorgeous view. The first day we were there, we ran into Mel and Rad. It rained a bit and was kind of cold, so we walked around a little and mostly stayed inside and ate and drank.

Church in Puerto Varas

Kuchen and a beer. yum.

Lake Llanquihue in Puerto Varas. Volcán Osorno in the background

The next day, we took a bus for about an hour to Petrohué  to see the lake, Lago de Todos Los Santos (All Saints Lake), and the Saltos de Petrohué  (waterfalls). Absolutely gorgeous. Definitely my part of the trip I think. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Volcán Osorno

Lago Todos Los Santos

Saltos de Petrohue

After we left Puerto Varas, we were on our way to Chiloé, Chile's biggest island. We went to a bigger city towards the north of the island and stayed there for 3 days. We had to take a ferry over to the island- a new experience for me. Ancud was kind of a cute town. Apparently, before the earthquake and tsunami of 1960, it was an even more successful town. There isn't much to do in the city of Ancud, but we did go to a fort that was built in 1770. We also ate a food famous in Chiloé- it's called curanto. It's got mussels, clams, sausage, potatoes, and some kind of dough thing. It was....interesting.

on a boat

Fort in Ancud

Curanto

Ancud

One day trip that we took was about an hour drive through the hills in the west side of the island to see PENGUINS. We weren't allowed to get out of the boat to get closer to them, but we still got a pretty good look. 

Penguins!

Another day trip was to Castro and a nearby island...a trip of about 3 hours. Castro is known for the houses on stilts...called palafitos. The other island we went to is called Achao. There, we saw the oldest church on the island of Chiloé, built in 1740.

Palafitos in Castro

Church in Achao

After leaving Chiloé, our last stop was a town called Frutillar. Frutillar is a bit north of Puerto Varas and also sits on Lake Llanquihue. This town is also very cute and has a German feel to it. We were only there for about 7 hours so we walked around (not much to it) and enjoyed the beach and the view of the lake. That night we were back on a bus to Santiago. 

Lake Llanquihue in Frutillar. Volcán Osorno in the background.

So....it's been a while...

So, I haven't written in quite a long time, but I want to make this blog complete...so here it goes. 


Last time I wrote, it was in September right before the 18th, Chile's Fiestas Patrias....a national celebration for the country. I had fun but my weekend didn't really live up to all the hype. Oh well. At the end of the month, the group went to Pichilemu to celebrate Mel's birthday.

Pichilemu for Mel's b-day

October was a very difficult month....probably why I haven't posted in a while. The month started off with a break up (those are never fun). I then continued to have a mini early 20s life crisis because I was still unsure of what career path I wanted to pursue, and I was very undecided on if I wanted to stay here in Chile for another year or so (or two or three). I'm glad October came and went. October did have some fun aspects though- Halloween and got outside of the city a couple times. 

Pomaire

Viña del Mar

carved a pumpkin for Halloween

Halloween- yep, that happened.

November was better. I kept busy with preparing for the end of the semester at school and all that comes with it. I had the awesome experience of going to a Chile soccer game. It was so cool. Remember, soccer is ridiculously popular here. So fun!  Also, my gringo friends and I celebrated Thanksgiving together (delicious). Being away from home during the holidays is hard, but the gathering made that a lot better! Other events in November include the TeachingChile reunion (always a good time) and hanging out by the pool getting my tan on. 

Scott's birthday

Chile soccer game

Thanksgiving

TC reunion

December has come very quickly. At the beginning of the month were finals at Duoc. I felt kind of strange ending at Duoc.....the end of a routine that I was so used to and knowing that I won't see many of my students again. A few days later, I left for an 8 day trip to Southern Chile (blog post to follow). It was an awesome trip. Shortly after I got back, the goodbyes started as a few of my friends went back home for good. I don't like goodbyes. It's a bit harder saying goodbye to my Chilean friends because I know that there's a possibility I will never see some of them again. With the Americans, it will be a bit easier to be able to see them again. 

English department barbecue

despedida gigante

Anywho, it's summer here....and dang, is it hot. It hasn't felt like the holiday season at all. You know, there's no snow here...I'm not freezing my butt off, etc. I didn't get used to hearing Christmas songs in the grocery store or seeing Christmas decorations while I was sweating in shorts and a t-shirt. Even though I wasn't at home with my family, I still got to celebrate! On Christmas Eve, I was with a friend and fellow teacher, her husband and her father. On Christmas Day, I spent all day with a couple other friends. It was great being with such good company. 

Christmas Eve with Daniela 

Christmas dinner!

the spread

So, throughout the last few months, I've decided to come back to the U.S. I'll be home on January 19th (a little more than 3 weeks from now- eek). The plan is to get a job anywhere I find one in the marketing aspect of business; although, I think being a director of the international education department of a university would be pretty cool (I'll try working my way up). It was a really hard decision to make on whether or not to stay here. Unfortunately, my salary here right now as a teacher doesn't cut it because I have loans to pay back from college (those ruin everything). If loans didn't exist, I think I would have definitely stayed here longer. I think I'll be back though. More on the mushy subject of leaving Chile to come later. Now it's off to enjoy my last few weeks here (this time around) and take out of Santiago all there is to take.