and more

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2161263&l=d60fd&id=14218621

http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2161293&l=c8746&id=14218621

Pictures

Album 1: http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160933&l=894f6&id=14218621


Album 2: http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160937&l=474a7&id=14218621


More to come.

I'M HOME!!!

Hi I'm in the United States!!!!!
Anyway, just thought I'd let you know ;-)

I'll probably (hopefully?) get the Patagonia pics on Facebook soon, and I'll also make a final post with some favorite pictures and such, later this week.

Love,
Katie

Patagonia!!

Well, I'm supposed to be packing, so just a quick run-through with pictures here since I can't get them to load on Facebook and I can tell the stories... well, in person very very soon. lol

Monday was a fantastic day. We hiked to the Torres del Paine look-out. Danielle and I hiked together (there were 6 of us on the trip total) and we made it in about 3 hours, 2 of them tough and uphill. But when we got there the clouds were just clearing up, so we stayed for about an hour before hiking back down. I wish I had gotten to know Danielle better earlier in the semester, we had a lot of fun and also a lot of coversation about God, faith, Catholicism, etc. (she is also Catholic)... it was great.


The first hour out/last hour back was up along a hill overlooking this valley. Beautiful.


The 45 minutes or so just before and after we got to the Torres, we had to climb this. yikes!


The middle section of the hike was generally like this:


On Tuesday we took a bus tour of the park. This is looking towards the Torres- we got lucky, because if we had gone on Monday it would have been too cloudy to see them in the morning. In the foreground of the pic you can see a few guanacos, which I think are kind of like llamas.


The Cuernos del Paine.


Some icebergs, and in the back center you can see a glacier!!


The last stop was this enormous cave... I wasn't even halfway back when I took this one.


PENGUINS! On Wednesday afternoon we went to a penguin colony. I got within about a foot or 2 of this one. The rest of them we mostly saw from a distance.




Overlooking Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world. (and it wasn't really that warm, but we had just walked up the hill so I had my winter coat off. lol)

On Thursday we crossed the Strait of Magellan to the Tierra del Fuego, the large island that forms the tip of South America. This is the ferry docked at the island.


I took this at about 11pm... wow! Its not even completely dark yet!


Overall, very very awesome trip...



Well, I think I'm going to go computer-less tomorrow, in order to A, pack and B, enjoy the last day here. So, next time you hear from me, I'll be back in the States! Its so weird to think about! Its going to be really hard to say good-bye tomorrow, but I'm soooo excited to come home!! See you soon!

Love,
Katie

I'm back!

Back to Valpo, my trip was amaaaazing. Patagonia is gorgeous!!! I have the pictures loaded on my computer, but I figure I only have 2 days of summer left before coming home, so I am going to go out for a while and maybe put them up tonight.
Love,
Katie

The end of the world!

Well, I'm off tomorrow to the "end of the world"! (Really! look at the map on the right of your screen- I'm basically going to the very bottom of that)

I'll spend two days at Torres del Paine National Park (click here), the first day hiking and the second day on a bus tour that will include getting to see a glacier!

Then we will return to Punta Arenas, the southern-most city in the world (here). On Thursday we'll be visiting a penguin colony in the Strait of Magellan! Then we fly back on Friday and I'll get back to Vina/Valpo on Friday night or Saturday, depending on whether we make the last bus Friday night.

Have a good week everyone!

Love,
Katie

la Amandita

Ok, editing again... I'm leaving the video link in case it works for someone. If not, find someone with Facebook, have them load the video application, and then they can show it to you here: http://pitt.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=536786992543
Or you can wait til I get back.


In any case, it looks something like this:

only on a different day so different clothes lol... isn't she adorable!?

Today I discovered flavored alfajores...

Ok, well first of all, I'm done with school!!! Yeah Christmas break!! And before you complain, remember that I started 2 (Mom and ?Abby?) to 6 (Olivia) weeks before you did-- August 1. So you really have to wait at LEAST 2 weeks to complain, and by then most of you will be about done as well. ;-)

Anyway. I decided that since it was my last couple weeks here, I would be more liberal in my alfajor and kuchen buying. Kuchen is a German pastry that is super popular in Chile... its like apple pie but with a thicker, sweeter crust and less apples. You can buy a small square of it in just about any bakery, and there are lots of bakeries here. Alfajores are basically two cookies sandwiched together with manjar (like dulce de leche) in between, coated in chocolate, and often with sprinkles on top. Well, today I discovered flavored alfajores. They had about 15-20 flavors. I got cherry. So instead of manjar (which is good, but not fantastic) in between the cookies, it had like a sweet cherry filling (think, like jelly doughnut, but with real cherries in it more like jelly). DELICIOUS. It was at a chocolate shop in the mall. I see more mall trips in the near future, seeing as I'll only be in Vina del Mar a total of 5 more days!

Wow! 5 more days?? Crazy... Tomorrow I'll be in Quintay for a picnic all day so that doesn't even really count... then I have Friday and Saturday, then I leave for my trip. Then I have Saturday and Sunday when I get back, and then I leave on Monday! This week is already flying by...

Happy Thanksgiving/Christmas decorating day!

Last night was ISA's annual Thanksgiving/good-bye dinner. It was sad because it was the last time out group will be together, but most of the people who were there I will see again before we all go back to the states. It seems so unreal that we're almost done here! The dinner was nice. ISA provided the turkey, the families brought corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, rice, and salads, and the students brought desserts. There was a lot of food!!!


Missing Thanksgiving was weird- I've never not spent Thanksgiving with my family. To be perfectly honest, though, I think I'm more upset about missing today! I loovvveee the Christmas season, but I refuse to listen to Christmas music or anything until the day after Thanksgiving. Its one of the best days of the year! After mom gets home from shopping and we eat lunch (leftovers if we're lucky!), the Christmas CDs go in, and 5 (or 6?) boxes stuffed with Christmas lights and other various decorations come out... and that doesn't even include the boxes of ornaments and the trees!! We then spend the whole afternoon basically taking everything off every shelf we have downstairs and replacing it with Christmas stuff, setting up trees, decorating trees, putting lights outside... I love it!! (last year)
This year its just weird... Halloween and even Thanksgiving didn't seem that out of place for me, but I just can't really make sense of the concept that its Christmas time when its almost 90 degrees outside. Listening to my Amy Grant Christmas music seems wrong- my memories associated with that are more along the lines of riding in the car on a snowy day! Today just seems so out of place... I went into Jumbo and I just wanted to stay there in the middle of the Christmas decorations because that was the only time I felt like it might really actually be the end of November. Plus I always spend the day with my family. I guess maybe I'll have wait until I'm home for the Christmas spirit to really hit... meanwhile I'll just keep trying with my Christmas music and the mini-stocking I bought to have some sort of decoration. lol See? Beach stuff on sale with the Christmas decorations?!?

Mail

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to let you know, no more mail! The last time I will be able to go to the ISA office is in less than 2 weeks, so I can't guarantee I'll receive anything you send now. If you for some reason are just dying to send me something, you may mail it to my home address here for the next week or so... if you need that one let me know or call my parents and they can give it to you!
Love, Katie

El Volcán Villarrica

On Saturday morning we woke up to clear skies at 6:30am. We got on the bus around 7:10 and proceeded to the offices of the tour company to gear up for a day of climbing- pants, jacket, ankle-warmers, boots, helmets, backpacks, clampons to strap onto our boots, and piolets (ice-pick/climbing stick). Sure now that whether would not keep us from going, imagine our thoughts: "This will be the coolest thing I have ever done!" "How amazing it will be to see the top of the volcano!" "It will be so fun to slide down when we make it!" etc.

Another half-hour bus ride took us to the base of the mountain, where the guides gave us beginning instructions and the option to cut two hours by taking the ski-lift, which we declined as it cost roughly US$14. We started off just before 9am, walking in single file line in order to create a "rhythm".
From the very beginning we were hiking through snow, but by the first stop we were all sweating from the climb. We stopped for a break around 10 and the guides fastened the clampons (spikes) to our boots,
and told us what to do if we should fall (so we wouldn't slide all the way down the mountain or stab ourselves with the piolet or end up tumbling instead of sliding) and how to use the piolet. By 10:30 we were starting the zig-zag pattern that is necessary to tackle the steeper parts, and I was already exhausted and wondering whether I would make it to the top! All this time we were hiking in and out of clouds/fog, but would often get clear views to the top. I have never seen the sky such a deep, clear blue.
When we stopped at 11, the large group of us (16 total, I believe) started to break up, first into 3 groups- the first 2 of about 6-7 people and the last one just 2 people and a guide. The first group went on, rarely stopping at all, while those of us in the middle would walk a minute or two with 15-20 second breaks (doesn't sound like much, but it was very necessary!) We kept telling ourselves how worth it everything would be when (/if) we made it to the top and had an incredible view and could look into the crater, and how fun it would be to slide back down, and how great we would feel after such an accomplishment! I already realized it was physically the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. For one endless zig-zagging stretch, I would stop, say an Our Father or a Hail Mary and then challenge myself to take 50 steps. You have no idea how difficult 50 steps can be! I think once I even gave up after 20-some!

After a stop probably sometime between noon and 1pm, Jen and the guide in the back of the line started going much slower. I stayed with my group maybe another half hour, and then started falling behind as well. Another guide from our company, Cristian, happened to be at near us then (we were passing him, he was with a woman probably about 70 years old!), and I stopped and he put a band-aid on the blister on my left foot, putting me behind enough to finish the climb with Jen and her guide, Leandro. They were going at a much nicer pace!
(Jen)

We eventually made it to the last main stopping point, nicknamed the "pinguinera" because when people hike in the winter, they are so cold and huddled over by the time they make it that they look like penguins! We didn't know it at the time, but that would be the last place we got a clear view until well on our way back down. From there it takes 1-2 hours to get to the summit. The rest of our hike was defined by whiteness. Besides Jen, Leandro, and occasionally other groups passing us on their way down, all I saw was whiteness for that entire hour. White snow, white clouds, white everything. (This picture is not even the best representation, because you can make out a rocky ridge.) We eventually passed the other two ISA groups, who warned us that there was absolutely no visibility at the top, and although discouraged, we decided to continue on. (I have to admit, I still had hopes of the weather clearing- occasionally we would get a bit of weak sunlight) By this point the wind was fierce. We had already had icicles forming in our hair for some time, and the wind was making the cold almost unbearable. Our guide kept turning to us and telling us "10 more minutes" "Almost there" "We're practically there already" "a few more steps". The sulphur gas from the volcano hung thick in the clouds, turning the air yellow, and we began coughing. Finally, Leandro turned to us and said that the crater was "right there" (I could hardly see him, 10 feet away, so I have no idea where "right there" was) and said that we needed to turn around- "toxic gas, toxic gas". That may have the most miserable moment of my life. Every muscle in my body ached, my lungs were burning, the cold was ridiculous... and all this with no reward at the top. We turned around and started trudging back down. Exhausted, disappointed, and discouraged, it was also scary! The volcano at this point was quite steep, and after zig-zagging back a little we started on a more direct path almost straight down, with our clampons and piolets keeping us from sliding down the mountain. We also began to realize that the snow chutes we had been looking forward to sliding down would not be an option... we could hardly see 20 feet in front of us, it would be too dangerous to slide. Occasionally we would hear the other guide (Cristian) with the old lady yelling for us (they actually made it up!! they were the last- the two girls in our group who were behind us had to turn back), and once we stopped to wait for them but eventually decided to move on. At some points I was still able to marvel at how fascinating it was to be in a world of absolute whiteness- like we truly were in the middle of nowhere- but most of the time there seemed to be this complete sense of isolation and desolation... it seemed that we could end up lost forever on the side of this mountain, wandering endless hours in pure whiteness and utter exhaustion...

We started the descent from the summit around 3:10pm. I have no sense of our timing for that part but I would say that between an hour and 2 hours later we came across a group of Spaniards (the group the old lady was from) with yet another guide from our tour company. Leandro sent Jen and I to catch up with them while he waited for Cristian and the woman. Shortly after that, we finally came out of the cloud cover, and the view from that point was spectacular.Spectacular, but also let us see how far we still had to go! We were hiking straight down a very steep slope- once again, thank goodness for the clampons! Those last hours were awful. After a seemingly endless 3.5 hours after reaching the top of the volcano, we made it to the van waiting to take us back to the town.

Overall, I still haven't completely come to a conclusion on the ordeal. I am still pretty bitter about our experience at the summit, especially when I see my postcard with the aerial pictue of hikers looking down into the crater of the volcano, or pictures from other ISA students' experience last semester. I could hardly walk the day after the volcano, but that has passed, and I still have a large sore from the blister on my left foot. I'm proud of myself for making it to the top, though, and despite the negatives, it was an amazing experience that I will never forget.


The rest of the pictures:
http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2155448&l=1ae4c&id=14218621

Pucón

Ok, well here's some pictures! Finally!

Pucón is a cute little tourist-y town about 12 hours south of here, built on the edge of Lake Villarrica and nearly at the base of Volcan Villarrica. The buildings were all wood-and-stone lodge kind of construction. It was nice to get away to someplace quiet for a weekend of nature!

The first day in Pucón, after making our excursion reservations (volcano climbing, horseback riding, rafting, and canopy were all optional... I did the volcano and canopy), we visited several waterfalls

and a lake

and finished up at some hot springs, natually heated water pumped up from under the volcano. That felt nice, although the weather was cold there- like real November!


Then all the girls in my cabin (5 of us), plus three other girls and Zan's dad made dinner together! Our original plan was cook-out, but as we forgot to buy charcoal we settled for oven... we made chicken that we marinated in teryaki sauce while on the tour, spaghetti, salad, and brownies! yum! That was nice. Yay for ISA-paid trips being in such nice accomadations (we had a two-story cabin!)(Notice I'm eating with a spoon... our cabin, like I said, was for 5 people. lol)

On Sunday, most of the group had signed up for canopy, which is like zipline, so we went to do that in the afternoon. The place we went boasts the longest canopy in South America, 4 lines (and 2 practice lines) for a total of 3km (~1.8 miles)!(looking back at one of the shorter lines)




And, here's the albums. Volcano is coming, don't worry.
Pucón: http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2155327&l=4efca&id=14218621


Pucón 2: http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2155333&l=c268e&id=14218621

Love, Katie

I climbed a volcano

and it was the most hardest and horrible and painful and coldest and longest and disappointing and ridiculous and awful thing ive ever done in my life.

When we got to the top, after SIX hours, it was cloudy and we couldnt see ANYTHING except pure yellowness because the sulphur gas was so thick that we couldnt breathe,and it was super windy, and then we had to walk all the way down instead of sliding because the visibility was so bad.

Here's what the top of a volcano looks like:


Ok, well thats my paintshop rendition... haha.

Really, I do have some cool pictures from farther down. But I'm exhausted so the complete story and more pictures will come later.

Love,
Katie

Volcano!

Well, I'm off again. I'm trying not to get overly excited just in case we have bad weather/seismic activity but I'M GOING TO CLIMB A VOLCANO THIS WEEKEND!!! I mean, could that not be just about the coolest thing ever? So, pray for safe travels, good weather, and, er, no volcanic eruptions. Haha. Really though, if there were increased seismic activity we would cancel, so don't worry about me. Ok, have a good weekend everyone!

P.S. I went to Jumbo (the supermarket) today to get some flip-flops and a couple snacks for my trip, and I discovered they have Christmas stuff out! Not so weird, since I'm sure its been out longer in the US, but the weird part is that it was right next to the beach stuff! I think I'm going to have to go back and take a picture of that next week. lol

Crossing the Andes

Yep, crossing the Andes gets its own entry. lol. I think the trip was worth it just for the travel itself! Because, of course, the whole border between Argentina and Chile is the Andes mountains, the highest range outside of Asia. So, how exactly do we get across? Like this:

Our bus- two stories!


I don't think the sky was actually this blue, but it was pretty close.


Not the best picture, but the mountain in the distance is Mt. Aconcagua- the highest mountain in South America- and anywhere outside of Asia in general!


Welcome back to Chile! (not the actual border- the actual is in a tunnel!)


Check out the road! The Chile side is definitely much cooler

Coming from Argentina, it didn't seem like we went as far up, because the climb is more gradual... its just like, I got in the bus and it was 85 degrees outside, but 3 hours later there's is snow on the ground! It was a really cool ride... except the customs... because it was a holiday weekend (everyone had Thursday off), there were TONS of travellers. On the way back, we spent 4.5 hours at the Chilean checkpoint!! Making a total trip of 12 hours! Luckily, we had 2 movies (although I only watched one) and doubly luckily, they were in English with Spanish subtitles! lol. So even when it was hard to hear because of the bus, we could read it. The bus also had catering (although, that just means drinks and cookies). Yep, thats about it I think. Entry on Argentina in general below.

Argentina!

Hello! I've spent all afternoon putting up pictures and responding to emails and such, so here's my blog finally! (although, its only 2:30 there, so not so much "finally"- its 4:30 here!) Argentina was nice. I got there around 6pm on Thursday, and walked around with Maria and her Chilean family for awhile. On Friday Maria and I met up in the morning and spent the day wandering around- checking out different parks and plazas, stopping at a chocolate factory, browsing the millions of artisans tents, etc. We went to a nice restaurant for lunch and sat outside and ate (it was warm there! Probably highs around 90 degrees!). I got a steak with mushroom sauce with a side of rice, and counting the water (~$2) and the tip, I paid less than $10!!! Later we met Maria's family in the evening and went out for pizza with an Argentinian family they know. The pizza was amazingly delicious, and the family was a couple with a 2-year old daughter who was absolutely adorable! Saturday morning we went on a cabalgata (horse-back riding) which was awesome... We were in the pre-cordillera (cordillera=mountain range, here it always refers to the Andes), which is older than the Andes and about a third of the height. It was just the two of us and our guide, climbing rocks, winding up and down and around curves on narrow paths over large drops... in other words, it was a very good thing the horses know the area and know what they're doing, because a wrong step could have been pretty bad at times! The rest of Saturday we didn't do too much, just relaxed, and I went to Mass at a very nice church just a few blocks from my hostel in the evening. Speaking of my hostel, that was not a good experience. Loud, people coming in and out talking loudly alllll night long, not very clean bathroom, and the company I made my reservations through online messed up so I was not in an all-female dorm (and I also lost the 5 dollar deposit I paid through them grr.) But I guess you can't expect too much more for $8/night, and at least I had Maria's family's hotel room to go to!

A couple notable things about Argentina- First, the prices! Everything is really cheap! On Saturday evening I bought 2 sandwiches and a small cup of ice cream for what would be a little more than 2 US dollars!
Another thing that was really striking was the diversity... still not as much as the US, but much more than Chile! I did not feel weird, because plenty of Argentinos were naturally blonde and red-haired also! What a new feeling! lol



Mendoza had a lot of trees! It reminded me sometimes of a bigger version of Ann Arbor.


Plaza Espana


At the chocolate factory!


Our guide ahead of me on the cabalgata.


Me and my horse, Lluvia (which means "Rain")

Mendoza:
http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153191&l=32231&id=14218621
Corssing: http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2153198&l=a800e&id=14218621

Love,
Katie

Happy All Saints' Day!

Well, I'll be leaving bright and early tomorrow (Thursday) morning for Argentina! Say a prayer for me for safe travel! I believe there is internet access in my hostel, but I don't plan on using it much if at all, so I'll be back Sunday if you're sending me emails and waiting for a response. Chao!

A Map!

I realized, after talking to Dad today, that most of you probably have no clue where the places I'm talking about are, I woudn't even if I weren't here. So, I made you a little map! If it doesn't show up well, just click it to get the full size version. The green star is where I am right now; the purple is Mendoza, Argentina, where I'm going next weekend; the blue is Pucon, where I'm going with ISA the next weekend for the volcano-climbing; and then the red is where I'm going in December (notice how close it is to Antarctica!).

oops

I forgot! One of the mooooosssst annoying things ever: PDA. PDA (Public Displays of Affection) is perfectly acceptable here. You have to be careful of sitting behind couples on a bus if you don't want a show. Bus stops and stores are fine for plenty of kissing. Beaches, parks, any random bench is fair game for making out. It drives me crazy.

Also, the US-ism really bothers me. The Chilean culture is soooo infiltrated by US culture, in TV shows (MTV, TV movies, sitcoms, you name it), movies, brands and products, language (email, for example, means email), etc. etc. etc. I go from being annoyed at not being able to see the real Chilean culture, to frustrated that they can't come up with their own stuff (lol), to sad that we're corrupting them, etc.

But anyway. I don't spend most of my time thinking of what I am annoyed about, honest I don't. This has just been a bit of a frustrating week, although better since the weather has been great (probably in the 80s) the past couple days. In any case, the next few weeks should fly by and then I'll be wishing I had a few more months here.

Why will they fly by? First, because I have a few trips. First, we don't have school on Thursday- all Saints' day- yay for Catholic school!- so I leave on Thursday to go to Mendoza, Argentina for a few days. Its about 32 dollars for a bus taking you through the Andes mountains, and then I'll be staying at a hostel for about 7 dollars/night. Awesome! I'm going with my friend Maria, and we haven't made definite plans yet, but we're thinking about a horse-back-riding tour in the foothills of the Andes for a few hours on Saturday. Then the next weekend is Pucon! Its an ISA trip, meaning the transportation, hotel, and breakfasts are free. What does that leave? CLIMBING A VOLCANO! Yes, thats right, if the weather is agreeable, I'll be paying about 70 dollars to climb a volcano on Saturday the 10th. That is pretty awesome. Secondly, there are only 4 more weeks of classes left! So in the next four weeks, I have at least 4 tests, 2 final projects, one take-home essay test, and the second half of don Quijote to read. Should be fun...

So, in summary, I should get back to reading El Burlador de Sevilla... (and watching football scores on ESPN.com's game cast)

Love, Katie

Day 100

Today is day 100! To celebrate, I made a list of all the things I will most definitely NOT miss about Chile. haha. But don't worry, I balanced it out with a list of all the things I will miss. I had longer lists before, but I can't find them. Oh well.

Things I will not miss:
1. Stray dogs
2. Fleas- I only had one problem, but I'm always paranoid.
3. Sticking out- sometimes its cool or at least ok, sometimes it bugs me that everyone is staring at me...
4. Buses with no schedule
5. Paying for transportation- yay for Pitt student IDs and PAT buses!
6. Cloudy days- because cloudy=cold. And rain is cool, but it never rains, its just cloudy!
7. Host mom- To be completely honest, she's nice, but I won't miss her all that much. At first I thought she was very absent-minded and thats why she never remembered ANYTHING I told her, but now it just seems like she doesn't try. And she asks me dumb questions. "What?! You were tired after the caminata?" "Well, yeah, it was 27 km"... *sigh* Among other things.
8. Communication. I'm tired of waiting for emails from people I see almost every day in Pittsburgh, and of my family not being able to call me.
9. Chilean time. Sometimes its nice that I can be late to everything, sometimes it annoys me that everything starts late.
10. Windows without screens. Its a nice day. Do I leave the window closed? Or open it and let half a billion flies in my bedroom?
11. Bakeries on every corner. Oh the temptation.
12. They put tons of oil and salt on their food. Umm, you don't need to cook noodles with soooooo much salt! Along the same lines, I don't need so much food! My host mom gives me (and everyone, except herself and Alejandra because Ale complains) enormous serving sizes, and usually I'm not hungry anymore after just the soup.


Things I will miss:
1. Fruit! Its so cheap here! And they have every kind, almost all the time!
2. Pan (bread)- also really cheap, and I'm getting used to eating lots of Chilean bread fresh from the bakery every day!
3. Flowers. There were plenty of flowers even in wintertime. And now its spring!
4. el Mar (ocean)
5. Summer. Its going to be cold and gray when I get home.
6. Easy-access transportation. Step 1: Walk out front door. If I'm going to Vina, Step 2: cross the street.
7. Prices. While there are some things that cost a ton (like a regular bottle of sunscreen for 11 dollars), most things are really cheap.
8. My host niece, Amanda. I'll never see her first step, first word, etc.
9. Free time. Although I have busy weeks, in general I have a LOT more free time than at home. And this sometimes gets boring, but seriously, who would not miss having so much free time?
10. Mountains.
11. Bakeries on every corner.
12. Chile is gorgeous. They say that God created the world, and then took all the leftover parts and put them in Chile. Its probably true. It has the driest desert in the world, the highest mountain range outside of Asia, 4000 miles of coastline, glaciers, etc. etc.
13. My ISA friends!

Caminata!

Well, to get a better description of the walk and my general feelings on Catholicism in Chile, see Alli's blog (link is in the next post down). She sums it up well. For a quick description, on Saturday I left home at 3:30am to go with about 40 other college students from the area, including Alli and our other friend Ann and my group Pastoral, to bus to Chacabuco to walk a 27km (17 mile, the first half all up-hill) pilgrimage with 70,000 Chileans to the shrine of St. Teresa (where I went the week before). It was AMAZING.

As many times I have said this since arriving in Chile, the view on our way up was the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. And I really mean it this time. Because not only could we see miles of Chilean country-side--hills, cliffs, vineyards in the valley, and the Andes mountains to the left--but we could see miles of other pilgrims behind us and ahead of us, winding around the dirt road that we had passed hours before, or that we still would not get to for a couple hours. And perhaps the most amazing thing was that these were, in the vast majority, teenagers. High school and college students from all over Chile, and while it was clear that some were just there for a fun trip with their friends, I cannot imagine that they were not all touched in some way by our caminata from St. Teresa's childhood home to her tomb at the shrine.

St. Teresa is one of my new favorite saints. She was soooo holy, and she never even reached her 20th birthday! What a great inspiration for anyone, but especially those of us who are so young! And she has really united Chile... they have SO much pride in their first saint (and one of only 2 so far). You literally cannot go anywhere without seeing a picture of her!



(click this one, you'll be able to see the people winding all over the hills below us)


Ann and Alli


Me with Jorge and Mary Carmen, our group leaders (hence the 3 over Jorge), and Lorenzo


Reaching the summit


We made it!


For the second album, click here.

la Caminata!... to start with

Well, I need to get going for class, but I have one album for the Caminata done so far. I plan to make the other and post pictures here when I get back and after dinner, so it probably will be around 8 or 9 your time.

http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2149383&l=c29da&id=14218621

Also, I plan to just make a few comments, you can get details of the walk and a lot of how I felt about it from Alli's blog (click here). She summed up a lot of what I felt and I don't see a need to be super-repetitive.

Quintay

Last Monday (I know, I'm getting more and more behind!) I went to Quintay with my friends Lauren, Jen, and Maria. Its a quiet little fishing town about 45 minutes from here. We explored an old whaling port (I don't know what you would call it exactly...) (the boat below is one they would use to bring in blue whales a loooooong time ago! wow!), ate seafood and empanadas (and probably drove the waitress crazy... we were the only ones in the restaurant, so she kept waiting for us while we couldn't make up our minds. Plus, they didn't have a lot of things on the menu, so she kept having to clarify), played on a playground, and explored some paths on a hill going down to a rocky beach on the other side of the town. It was a beautiful day!
I took well over a hundred pictures, so when I finally put them on Facebook I'll let you know :-)