Machu Picchu

My first view of Machu Picchu! It really is as incredible as one might think. I recommend you all go right away!

Andes, at the base of the Amazon.

One of the many llamas we saw there! We even saw one hiking up Wayna Picchu.

At the bottom of the photo is the Inca Bridge. It was built as a secret entrance for the Incan army.

On the second morning, we woke up at 4am and got in line for the bus to Machu Picchu at 5:15 so that we could get passes to hike up Wayna Picchu- the mountain in the distance. They only allow 400 people on this mountain each day, and everyone know that this is THE hike to do while you are there, so that's why waking up so early was necessary.

View from the top! We hiked almost straight up for about an hour- it was so incredible! There are ruins up there as well. Look how small the ruins seem below!

Masters domination

Standing on a cliff, with the trees below!

Pretty incredible, huh?

In the afternoon on our last day at the park, the storm clouds rolled in. It is the rainy season in Peru, which is considered the tourist 'down' season as well. Most go from about May to September, when it is dry. We very much lucked out with the weather because prices are low, the weather was warm and no rain!

This was the end to my phenomenal adventure in South America! I really do hope to return someday- I'd like to spend much more time in Argentina and go to Iguasu Falls and the other side of Patagonia! But that will likely be a long ways away...

Thank you to those who read this blog! I know I will look back on it with fond memories and it was fun to be able to share all of this with my friends and family. Chao!

Final days in Chile

My dad and I on a boat tour of Valparaiso. My dad and his friend, Jeff loved Valpo as much as I did!

We toured a vineyard in Chile- Cousino Macul.

The underground cellar.

We also went hiking just outside of Santiago.

Las Cascadas de las Animas.


A glimpse of Cusco, Peru. This is in the Plaza de las Armas. I really liked Cusco- it was the center of the Incan empire and then taken over by the Spanish. There are amazingly old cathedrals and churches throughout the city. We spent a day in Cusco to aclimate, then 2 in Machu Picchu, then one day to see the sights in Cusco and another day in Lima, Peru and we flew out very early the following morning (about 4am).

Chao Chile

Alejandra and Hector, good friends of Erika, had me, my dad and his friend Jeff over for a final 'asado' or a long bbq, basically. It was nice to have my dad meet my host family and I think they really enjoyed the exchange! We at GREAT food-- lots of salads, good meat, wine, pisco and about 3 desserts, too!

My host family.

Just part of the feast.

With Alejandra and Hector.

These photos come from a final dinner with my study abroad group! Our professors came and we had a big meal at a restaurant in Valparaiso.

Me and Emy- my service learning partner for the semester.

CSBSJU Study abroad group! We had 6 boys, out of 27 people in total. I had a great time getting to know this group and we are already planning our Chile reunions when we return!

A group of lovely ladies!

Patagonia

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

A guanaco [type of llama indigenous to S. America] crossing the road on the way into the park.

This is before you even get in!

Jumping for joy inside the park! We took a sort of bus tour for our day in Torres del Paine. Ideally we would have liked to hike more, but we would have seen way less of this huge park and it was great for the little amount of time that we did have. We had two hiking opportunities, which we took advantage of.

A waterfall. The water is that lighter blue because it comes from a glacier, instead of regular lake water.

That is a hotel where it is $1000 a night to stay in! Maybe someday...

The view from where we ate lunch.

In the back left, you can see a glimpse of Glacier Gray. This ice is obviously remnants of that glacier.

Seno Otway Penguin Colony

near Punta Arenas, Chile

Strait of Magellan

On Sunday, our last day, we took a ferry across the Strait of Magellan to the region of Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago at the southernmost tip of S. American mainland (taken straight from Wikipedia). We went to the largest town called Porvenir, which is actually pretty small with not much to do. We did go to a musuem and learned about the Selk'nam indigenous people in Tierra del Fuego, had some delicious king crab in a restaurant and headed back to the ferry!


OY! My Dad leaves for Chile tomorrow and will arrive Wednesday morning! I have to do a final for one class and finish up a few other loose ends in other classes, but I can see the light at the end of the homework tunnel!

Service Learning

Jefas de Hogar

Escuela Alemania, Valparaiso

The school that I taught at. It is an elementary school and cute little Chilean kids were always running around. The Municipalidad de Valparaiso received permission to use their classrooms for our English classes.

My student, Carolina. Throughout the semester I had a couple other students that came semi-regularly, including Erika, but Carolina was the only constant one. She has a fire in her to learn, as she studied and read on her own in workbooks she bought. Carolina always came in with new questions and was the best student I could ask for!

On my last day, we learned body parts. She asked me about the song "Baby Got Back", so we listened to it and she was able to translate it very well: I like big butts and I cannot lie.

She gave me a necklace as a thank-you for being her teacher, with a few tears as well! I won't miss planning lessons twice a week, but I will miss her! She was patient with my Spanish, as I was with her English.

-Fondo Esperanza-

Valparaiso Office

This is a classroom in the Valpo office, where classes about business tactics are held.

Emy (my service learning partner for the semester) with Veronica and Loreto, our two favorite women in the office. They were both so welcoming and enjoyed having us in the office!

Me outside the office.

Overall with the FE experience, I learned more about how microlending works. In the last month, I was able to attend a few meetings of the Banco Comunales, or groups of about 20 that receive the micro loans. Before that, we did a lot of administrative work (filing papers, running errands) which gave us a good foundation, but that got old very fast. Luckily we spoke up and they accomodated our requests willingly. FE is a great organization, they have in total 30,000 recipients in Chile who are small business owners, 87% women. I hope that CSB-SJU continues to send students to this organization, with a bit more guidance on where they are needed.

-I leave for Patagonia in 2 days!-

Concha y Toro

We had a group excursion today to the Santiago bodega (winery) of Concha y Toro. Here they grow about 30% of the grapes they use for their wines, the rest are brought from producers around Chile and Argentina. The grounds were very impressive, beautiful buildings and gardens! In Argentina, I went to two much smaller bodegas, so this one was a definite contrast.

The entrance- Concha y Toro.

One sight of the vineyard itself.





This is down below in a cellar, called the Devil's Dungeon.

We were able to sample a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon.

And take the wine glasses home with us!

A Chilean Thanksgiving

The stuffing we successfully made! We had 4 more pans of this deliciousness.

And of course, hand turkeys were made. I had to explain to Erika what a hand turkey is!

At the dinner- the people that live in Chorrillos! I've spent a lot of time with these people, since we tend to walk everywhere together and what not.

My delicious meal.

Erika, myself and Daniela came to try our Thanksgiving FEAST! It was so good. Though the pumpkin pie and gravy did need some work.