I'll always remember my first.

The anniversary of the Naval Battle of Iquique brought an opportunity to revel in Chilean pride and hear about the courageous actions of a national hero named Arturo Prat. He was the captain of a wooden ship called the Esmeralda that was sent into battle against a Peruvian ironside during the War of the Pacific in 1879. Unfortunately for Cpt. Prat, this story doesn't have a Hollywood ending where some sort of miracle overrides the common sense that it takes to predict a Peruvian victory (although they have recently made a 'big' budget movie here about the battle). At some point, the Peruvians simply rammed the Esmeralda, causing it to sink. In the process, Arturo Prat climbed aboard the attacking ship to find a good ol' fashioned fight. Apparently, he found one that was a bit too much for him as he was killed shortly thereafter. Those actions have resulted in monuments being erected and streets to be named in his honor in almost every city in this country.

So yes, Chilean's celebrate the anniversary of a battle in which they were absolutely slaughtered. The good news is that they went on to win the war and take some land from Bolivia and Peru as well. There is still tension between the countries to this day. I've found Chileans to be somewhat suspicious of all neighboring countries to a certain extent.

ANYWAY...this holiday suddenly granted us an unexpected three day weekend that we needed to fill with something fun. A few other volunteers and I decided that the best way to celebrate our first major holiday in the country was to get the heck out of it. We decided on a short-ish trip to El Calafate, Argentina to visit the nearby Parque Nacional Los Glaciares.

Much like almost all kinds of travel here in South America, it can take a while to get there from my city. There are flights but crossing any border around here always includes a hefty premium so taking a bus is almost always the best way to go. Another volunteer from my city and I decided to split the journey in half by first meeting up with fellow volunteers and co-travelers in Puerto Natales where they live and work. I've made this trip a few times before and it's a fairly easy, cheap 3 hr ride. We stayed overnight and took the first, and only, bus to El Calafate the next morning. This ride was a little more difficult but still cheap, only $20. It's scheduled for 4-5 hrs and you never know quite how long it will take because you have to pass through Chilean and Argentine customs. Unfortunately, we did have some problems at the border that took a little while to 'work out'. One of the volunteers that joined us for the trip is Chinese and teaches Mandarin at a school in Puerto Natales. For some still unknown reason, there has been a recent change in the relationship between China and Argentina which requires Chinese citizens to get visas specifically for Argentina before entering. Needless to say, our friend didn't know this and didn't have one. The border agents talked to her for quite a while before deciding that she wouldn't be allowed in. So 7 travelers suddenly became 6 and she had to take a taxi all the way back to Puerto Natales. It was quite sad and slightly surreal to see someone be denied access to a country just because of where she comes from. She took it all in stride but we all felt slightly guilty while having to watch her go back home.

We arrived in El Calafate around 1 in the afternoon and quickly set out to figure out how to get to the glacier the next morning. After finding a bus company with reasonable rates we found some place to eat and then headed to the cabin we'd be staying at for the weekend. It was outside the more developed commercial center of the city so we had to get a ride to get there. We were all a little unsure of what to expect as we rode on a very bumpy, unkept dirt road but the place we found was great. The cabin only had 2 bedrooms but there was enough room for up to 8 people to sleep comfortably. It was situated relatively close to the shore of Lago Argentino which provided us with great views directly from the kitchen/dining room. Besides the fact that we all had to share one bathroom, it was absolutely perfect. In fact, we'd only planned to stay for two nights but found out that we'd stumbled into a deal where we got the third night for free so we ended up extending our stay a bit.



We headed out for the glacier early Saturday morning, all of us very excited about what awaited. The bus ride from the town to the park was about an hour and a half and had the potential to be quite scenic. Once again, I slept most of the way because the windows fogged up almost immediately meaning there wouldn't be much sight seeing along the way. The bus eventually dropped us off at the base of a long, complex network of walkways that provide views of the enormous glacier from all sorts of different angles. We decided to opt for a boat ride that would take us relatively close to the glacier first and save the walk around for later.

It's truly difficult to explain why the glacier was so incredible. After all, it's just a lot of old ice. The two things that I kept coming back to were the size and all the different colors displayed. I've never seen blues and greens like the ones we saw there. The color of the lake reminded me of water that you'd see at an amusement park or miniature golf course. The difference was this wasn't artificially created which made it way more awesome. I hope the pictures do it justice but I'm afraid they may not. We walked around and took in the sights for close to 6 hours and I felt like I could have stayed there for another 10. It was another one of those experiences that I'll never forget. I seem to be having a lot of those lately.

Chile 101

Discovering different nuances about the Chilean environment I've found myself in has been one of the most interesting aspects of the experience thus far. Fortunately, nothing has been too shocking or embarrassing but I'm still holding out hope that I'll have a story like that soon. If/when it happens, it will absolutely be posted to this blog so keep your fingers crossed.

Here is a quick list of some of the things I've noticed so far:

Dining out can be a tedious experience.
The quick, attentive service received at restaurants in the USA is a thing of the past. Servers here don't seem to care too much. The weight of responsibility falls squarely on your shoulders when it comes to getting served. That means having to flag down a waiter whenever you want anything (a menu, a refill, salt, extra napkins...everything). Once you're lucky enough to have passed along your request, which is inevitably in broken Spanish when I'm doing the asking, you get to sit around for a few minutes and really think about how badly you want whatever it is you asked for. They don't have the quickest turnaround time. Bottomline, eating dinner at a restaurant usually takes at least 60-90 minutes so you better go with someone that can carry an interesting conversation.

Food germs? No way!
If you have a thing for germs, you'd probably have a hard time around here. Luckily, I don't believe in science which keeps my mind strong and my body safe. They enjoy leaving food out for extended periods of time that people in the US would definitely consider dangerous. For example, the butter and milk used for breakfast usually stays on the kitchen table for 10-12 hours per day. Chileans usually eat their largest meal of the day at lunch time and we usually just finish whatever is leftover for dinner. If you think they're going to waste the time and energy it takes to put everything in tupperware to put in in the fridge in the meantime, you're crazy. This is an especially delicious cultural quirk when it comes to soups and stews that are left in the pot for a couple days before they're finished.

Quieres Coke?
Maybe it's just my family, but they love their Coca Cola. We must burn through at least 2-3 liters every day. There's a convenience store right next to the house so it's common practice to see someone run out during dinner to go get a new bottle. I don't really drink much soda so I usually stick with water. Everyone always offers me soda, juice, tea or coffee where ever I go and then proceeds to look at me like I'm from Mars when I say I'll just have water. They seem to really have a problem believing that's all I want to drink.

The ''lovely'' weather
It was hard to know what to expect when I heard that I'd be living in one of the southernmost cities in the world and I think that's still an appropriate sentiment. The weather seems to turn itself around every 30-45 minutes. This makes deciding what to wear every morning especially difficult because you have to somehow figure out how to be prepared for anything. There have been days where I've only needed a long sleeve t-shirt in the morning but find myself being pelted by hail and blown around by 60 mph winds in the afternoon. The wind really is no joke. It's woken me up at night and I can feel it shake the house. Unfortunately, it's only supposed to get worse. September is supposed to be RIDICULOUS. There are a few places downtown where, because of the taller buildings, the wind swirls around from every direction. It's stopped me in my tracks a few times and I've seen more than a handful of people stumbling around while trying to regain their balance.

Expectations regarding personal space have shifted as we've gone further south.
I give and receive copious amounts of kisses on the cheek every day. Typically, it's reserved just for man-woman encounters with a good ol' fashioned handshake being suitable for the man on man situations. However, after a couple drinks and a few laughs even the manliest of men kiss on the cheek when it's time to leave. I'm still not sure if I'm supposed to kiss the nuns at school. I've been playing it safe and keeping my distance for now.

Riding around in a car can be pretty thrilling.
Related to personal space, the organized chaos that they call driving here is enough to make some people I know scream. As far as I can tell, there are no lanes but there are streets wide enough for cars to drive three wide...so they do. Cars get very close to each other both while stopped at lights and while driving. Most of the streets don't have lights or stop signs so there is a lot of yielding to oncoming traffic. This leads people to be much more bold than I'm accustomed to. The usual buffer of space that you'd like to have between you and a car coming at you at 40 mph just doesn't exist. People don't slow down unless they know they're going to hit you. This also carries over to pedestrian traffic. As long as you're at least a foot away from their car, you're considered out of harm's way. Don't worry, I'm 80% sure I won't get hit by a car while I'm here.

Los Perros...oy vey.
I've mentioned them a bit before but it is still a little shocking to see so many stray dogs out in the streets. Especially down here where it's so cold and windy all the time. Generally speaking, they aren't dangerous and rarely seem to care much about anybody or anything. That being said, there are a couple simple rules that one needs to follow to ensure they don't turn on you. You have to make sure you don't scare them. You have to stay away from them if they're fighting with each other. And lastly, you've can't walk between a group. I made this mistake the other day when I decided to ''shoot the gap'' between two dogs as I walked down my street. One of them snapped out at my leg and tried to bite me. Luckily, he didn't break through the jeans. They seem to be pretty smart and know how to take care of themselves because I've yet to see one that looked unhealthy or in trouble. They even know which way to look when they cross all the different one way streets around here, which is something I still have a hard time with.