Coming to an end February 28, 2009

I'm having difficulty starting this blog today - so I'll just spit it out....We're going home!

Ricardo and I are moving back to the Great White North, I'm leaving on Tuesday and Ricardo shortly afterwards. We haven't taken this decision lightly and we know we are letting down more than a few people who had plans to come and visit us down here in Chile but we got to do what we got to do and that's what we're doing.

My last week was luckily full of travel, family and friends here in Chile. A good reminder of how important people can be even when they live so far away. 

3 Things I'll miss about Chile

1. the ice cream (hands down latin america takes the cake in terms of ice cream - european gelato you've got nothing)

2. an overwhelming abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables for an insanely cheap price (just look around the grocery store to see where all the stuff comes from - CHILE!)

3. hearing and practicing spanish 

3 Things I won't miss about Chile

1. the smog (and I was told it is better in the summer than in the winter - too bad I won't get to experience the asthma like symptoms:()

2. hugging and kissing on the cheek to EVERYONE you meet (something in my north american made body does not want to get used to this invasion of my personal space) 

3. seeing the miserable lives of the numerous street dogs clinging to a undignified existence in this world (thank you Asha for opening my eyes a little more kindly all the living creatures in this world) I can't wait to get home and spend a day at the beach with my best four legged friend!

All in all I have to say this experience has been one of education and inspiration - I mean we actually did it we drove from Canada to Chile because we thought we could?!?!?! Maybe there is more to this world than meets the eye?

So this is it I'm not sure I'll write again maybe I'll start something different but at some point the journey's got to end - at least it was a great one!

With all my love to my friends and family

Promised Pics February 20, 2009

This is in the Teleferico overlooking Santiago

Cerro San Cristibal with it's beautiful flowers in bloom

The view from near the top of the Funicular

Riding up in the Funicular

Ricardo's uncle BBQing Chilean style - it's wild boar!?!

Catching up, Santiago February 18, 2009

OK I admit I've been very neglectful and after promising pictures to boot! Well I will upload some photos tomorrow so never fear my integrity has  not completely disintegrated. This past week has been a little busy and we've been enjoying the moments. I mean what else can you do right?

We took off from the smog infested city for valentines day and drove to the coast - our favorite little sleepy beach town called Maitencillo where we basked in the sun watching the brave dip their toes in the ice cold water caressing the sand. Mostly everyone IN the water had their wetsuits on. I have not succumb to putting my wetsuit on again, it's still too soon for me and I'm clinging to my fondest wetsuitless days riding the waves.....ahhhh to be back in Central America again.

I've been bumped up yet another spanish grade I can say I'm proud to be in class "2B". It feels like quite the accomplishment but I'm not so crazy about my new instructors they took the fun out of learning spanish and put the confusion back in?!?!

Ricardo still walks me to school every morning hand in hand and the other day he picked me up from school and we spent the day taking the Funicular up to cerro San Cristibal, we've been here before but after 6 years you can see how the city has grown and changed, and the Teleferico down which is like a ski gondola with great views although it is quite the sweat box when the temperature outside is over 30 degrees:(

When all is said and done at the end of the day I really have no excuses for not posting more regularly I'm just hoping you all love me enough to forgive me:)

News from the other side of the world, unless of course you live in the Southern Hemisphere.

My day down here goes something like this:

Wake up around 8am, make coffee and breakfast yell to Ricardo "breakfast is ready" and once he drags his slow sleepy feet up the stairs and sits down at the table we eat breakfast together. One of the nice things about living down here and not having to rush off early in the morning is we actually get to eat together which means we talk more. Afterwards I spend my dutiful time on the computer before getting ready and setting off for school. Ricardo walks with me to school every morning - I don't get molested as much this way and it reminds me every day just how much we're in love after 8 years of relationship. Aww that was sappy I'm not usually sapping I'll try to keep it to a minimum I don't want this blog going all romantic novelish!

When I get to school I have 4 hours of spanish classes with some pretty interesting characters from all over the world who each have their own unique and complicated life histories and adventures, this keeps me entertained so much the four hours usually zip by. Then I walk home alone (it is only about a 15 minutes walk). By the time I get home it's close to 2pm at this point I have neglected my digestive system and there is almost always rumblings and rumors about a full out war so I feed it to keep the peace. Once the devouring has been completed the rest of the day is up for grabs with a tummy full of nutritious food and armed with the power of slightly more intelligible spanish skills I feel like a conquistador, minus all the indigenous slaughtering that is. I do things like; go to the gym, search out more Starbucks locations (vital to my continuing survival), trade my english novels for new/used ones, and I always do my homework. 

In the evening the best part of the day here in Santiago when the sun starts to set around 8pm and the heat starts to subside we are usually out and about doing whatever has come up in the day, because something always comes up. Like yesterday Ricardo's aunt phoned to remind us of lunch today - yup another epic Chilean 6 hour eating ordeal and no I did not eat dinner last night nor will I eat breakfast today - but we didn't even know it was planned in the first place!

And finally our heads usually land softly but firmly on our pillows around midnight to drift off into the land of dreaminess until the blissful sounds of buzzing disturb us into another day.

So that's it folks now you know how the story goes. In the next few days I'm going camera armed to take some shots of the city - look for some results at the beginning of next week. 

Ice creamless in Sanitago

Today is day 8 I'm writing because it's a pivotal day for me, my nerves are shot, the withdrawl is in full tilt today it is now 7pm and I figure if I stay in the house until bed my chances are better of successfully completing another day of the ice cream fast. Who knows what will happen tomorrow on my walk to and from spanish classes I'm focusing on the here and now....22 more days to go - whoever invented ice cream is a bastard (only for today) - I'm just glad I never tried smoking or drugs.

Nothing in excess is healthy - that's my motto for this fast!

Stationary in Santiago

Today I realized I am not traveling anymore! What a bummer:( 

Now I'm a resident (temporarily of course) of a country I can't yet speak the language well enough to get into conversations deeper than an immature 10 year - at least I've moved up from the 5 year old status I felt I earned in Costa Rica. So, I contemplated what this actually means to my life in the relatively near future and came to this shocking conclusion: not f@cking much. 

Let's see I came from a country born from immigrants and blossoming in multiculturalism - seems like I'm not the only person in the world going or gone through this type of experience. Ahhhhhhh perspective is a blessing some of the time.

On a good note I was kicked up into a more intermediate spanish class. Seems I've learned a thing or two in the last few months but I'm keeping my ego in check daily with the strange head-cocked confused looks I get when trying to actually use my spanish outside of the classroom. I am starting to understand Chileans don't speak caveman spanish and they actually expect me to use other tenses other than the present?!?! I like to live in the here and now why doesn't anyone understand that?

Entonces chicos, siempre considere perspectiva!

Gringa in Santiago

Ok so we have been in Chile since the 6th of January and today was my first day of spanish classes at VIA Spanish which, luckily is only about a 20 minute walk away! My most loving husband walked me to my first day of school and came back to pick me up - it was sweet:) I discovered that I am not the worst spanish speaker in the world which is the way I have been feeling since we got to this fast speaking, slang slurring country. I actually understand my slow speaking animated teacher thus have increased my confidence a notch.

Now you might be asking "what is life like in Santiago for a gringa". Oh and I epitomize the concept of gringa with my white skin (even with a four month tan) and blonde hair. Most people start speaking to me in english right away....."excuzzze me senorita where are you frem?" I get this question countless times a day. Since I stand out like a sore thumb, actually more like a infected pus spewing thumb at times, people STARE a lot and this makes me a little uncomfortable so I tried waving hoping they might feel embarrassed and look away but quickly realized it works more like an invitation to come closer. Needless to say I have abandoned this technique for the far superior stare at the ground technique or talk rapidly in english to Ricardo technique.

I have found and actually mapped out the locations of over 11 Starbucks in Santiago so I can continue to support my addiction to coffee in the land of instant fresh ground is like gold. I decided to take control of the ice cream addiction - it was way out of hand - and am currently on day 3 of my ice cream fast. The goal is 30 days ice creamless; I will keep you updated on the struggle.

Finally yesterday we attended our first Chilean lunch at Ricardo's god parents house. Here's the thing about being invited to lunch to prepare for this you must not eat for at least 24hrs before. You must like to eat a lot of meat, potatoes and rice and be prepared for at least 6 hours of eating continuously with your drink being refilled even if still half full; therefore, afterwards it is very difficult to get up from the table or move at all. Chileans so not take "no por favor" as a response. The tactic is to eat very, very slowly and push the food around the plate this way they can only fill your plate when there is room:) 

Entonces amigos hasta leugo de Chile

Kimberlee

 

PHOTOS of Machu Picchu

       

January 15, 2009 La Serena

Paris had landed and efforts are being made to resusitate her back into action. I truly believe she is need of a good rest and relaxation period and is just asserting her feminine need to be heard! I hear you Paris!

As for Ricardo and I, I think it took us a couple of days for the new found home country to sink in. We were racing to get to appointments on time - in South America we had somehow forgotten the ¨must be 30 mintues late¨rule.....go figure! Now we are slow as turtles - god bless turtles! and muster ourselve out of bed around 9 or 10 am - even me the 0600 girl. I´m fighting to find some purpose for the day already as my old workaholic self is just as restless as ever I´m looking forward to reaching Santiago and starting spanish lessons which will be occupying 4 hours of time a day. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the 20 other hours in the day!?!?

I will be posting more pics soon just can´t connect our laptop at the moment - be patient - be still - be one with the silence:)

January 13, 2008 La Serena Chile

First apologies for the deliquency on the blog writing. But I´m here now! We have made it to Chile all the way to Ricardo´s mom´s house in La Serena which has felt great to be in a house and do laundry and make food in a kitchen - it´s the little things you miss the most. Our journey here was not without some final drama. We drove into Chile int he evening and spent the first night at a Copec gas station in Arica the most northernly Chilean town. The next morning we left and headed to Iquiqui a few hours south after doing some errands we headed off toward San Pedro in the Atacama desert only along the way we ran out of gas in the dark in the middle of the desert not the most ideal situation. Luckily we were only 5 mintues from a another Copec so Ricardo hoped a ride with a truck and hitched back. We pulled into the Copec for the night to sleep along with a bunch of truckers. Woke up the next day and to our surprise Paris refused the start. And so the drama begins - or did it begin with the running out of gas in the middle of the desert? Eventually we tow her to a little town int eh desert with a mechanic reccommended bythe police. I steer Paris while Ricardo tows with a little pickup truck with a rope less than a meter long. It was a LONG 70kms I think I have some gray hair now:( Two days the mechanic works on her and nothing - nothing she starts but seems unmotivated to go anywhere. Maybe we forgot to tell her we wanted to get all the way to Santiago and she thought the job was done? Anyways to make the long story shorter we have put her in thebelly of a truck and she will be arriving in La Serena tomorrow and straight to a mechanic apparently Paris´lack of motivation to continue has something to do with what the mechanics call the ¨fuel injection¨.

SO Ricardo and I uncerimonously arrived afetr a 17hours bus ride fromthe north at 6am to La Serena wher we fell into bed and slept for a few more hours. It wasn´t the happily ever after in Chile ending we had planned but we are here and trying to figure out what to do next!

Jan 2 2009 REVISITED Re: Dec 31 2008 It Started and Ended with Potatoes

To all those who have secretely muttered something along the lines of ´lucky bastards`while reading this blog, you´re going to like this entry. 

To bring you up to speed our mission was to get to Cusco to get to Machupicchu, Peru. That was going to take about 3 days from the coast.
So first day (Dec 29), we drove up and up and up on a really good highway. We reached our elevation peak of 4800m at which we stopped for Kim to take a picture of Paris. To not waste time she decided to run back to the van about 20m away. When she arrived she had the biggest head rush of all time and was heavily panting. That did not go away she had a horrible night and the next day she felt a huge migrain and now understands, she says, why people can´t come to work when they have one.
On this day, day2, we entered a town (Ayachuco) where the paved road unexpectedly ended and gave way to a winding dirt road. We were told it would be for about four hours, little did we know it was going to be for the next two days... 370 km of dirt road with sharp curves, steep up and downhills!!! So needless to say day two ended on a dirt road in the dark in some little village. Exhausted.
We didn´t know where we were but we stayed in somebody´s driveway that didn´t have tire tracks so we figured we wouldn´t be in the way. This was in a small, small indigenous village called Airabamba Baja. Pay attention, this is important.

And so we began December 31st. We woke up in the van heard some kid outside, he was startled when we came out and several localsfolk were admiring the van. ¨Que bonito el carro!¨ they would say.
A couple of the townswomen said come over for breakfast just down the road. And we did. And it was incredible! There we were in a little adobe (mud brick) house with many guinea pig and little kids running around accepting steamed cowmilk with oatmeal, cheese and baked potatoes for breakfast. We shared a lot with the family, learned about their way of living and we explained ours and our trip. We felt bad about not being able to finish all the potatoes they put on our plates, but it was A LOT of potatoes really. And really, how many baked potatoes can you scarf down first thing in the morning? No biggie. It was an amazing experience and an unexpected one but it was time to hit the road, so we gave them a few gifts of appreciation and were on our way. We returned to our van Paris. She started, then stalled and never started again. We tried to be cool but really we were freaking out cuz we were in the middle of nowhere with a van that wouldn´t turn on! This had happened to us before in California and I was afraid it was the relay switch. So the town didn´t have a mechanic but it did have many eager taxibuses willing to ¨tow¨ us to the next town.

And so with a single rope Paris was hauled to the next town. The trip was one for the books because we only had a bout 2m clearance to the back of the ¨tow truck¨ which of course had no working brake lights so it was a lot of close calls. On the downhills he would untie me and I would go in neutral downhill. We did a whole mountain face just on neutral and the little brakes we have left!

We arrived to the next town and fortunately the mechanic really knew his stuff and we were on our way by noon. High altitudes do funny things to your car. About four more hours and we FINALLY made it back to paved roads we were so extatic. We vroomvroomed our way up other mountains all the way to Cusco.

We arrived in Cusco at about 10 o clock at night and it was raining and very very busy with the whole new year looming. Now Cusco is a very touristy town with lots of nightlife and streets as narrow as Paris I´m not kidding. Add new yars buzz and rain to that? It wa sperfect chaos. And in these roads taxis were running in both directions such that if two were going up and one was coming down, the down guy lost and had to reverse outta the way. We didn´t know where our resereved hostal was but we did give a local a ride so he could help us. We finally arrived at the said hotel and it was sketchsville. We were guided to a overnight parking lot in the rain and taxied our way back to the hostel, hotel whatever you wanna call it. They let us into our room and we didn´t say it but were both thibnking it. THIS PLACE SUCKS. There was a knock a t the door and I thought it was to give us our towels ( I can hope right?) actually it was the owner lady saying she lost our reservation she thought were somebody else so we were out. Fine I said I´m not gonna fight to stay in the place but for your mistake the least you could do is let us leave our bags here while we find another place. Actually, she said, the couple with the reservation is outside waiting to get in. Well, I thought, it´s not their fault so fine we put our bags in the office with Kim guarding them.

And this was the icing on the cake: The same owner lady that had said sorry no space actually had the nerve to say "Well, I can make some space in the office for you too, so that you're not offended". Yeah thanks lady I'll pass. "Oh well no problem the place next door should shve room but just for one night then you come back here tomorrow!"... The nerve...

Now let´s recap here people. It´s 11pm on new year´s eve we´ve been travelling uphill on dirt for three days,we´re very wet , very cold from the rain and have no place to stay. Earlier that day I asked Kim how she wanted to end the year. To which she replied ¨happy¨. And I thought to myself I just wanna end it with a nice place to rest my head. HAHAHAHA!

So at 11:07pm I´m out on the streets in the rain looking a place, any place that has a aroom available for that night. Place is filled with young tourists laughing and begginning their shennainags and there I am deperate for a place while Kim´s alone in a crappy hotel office guarding hte bags waiting for me to get back.
Before midnite we were in another place that was not great but at least quiet. And Kim is very very upset. I tried my best to cheer her u. She said how she missed home and Sage and Diesel. That is how we ended 2008.

That ended kind of gloomy. I forgot to mention that after midnight I went down the streets to a street vendor I had seen. I asked for "dos jot dogs (2 hot dogs)" And he gave me this strange, technichally a hot dog but yummy nonetheless sandwiches. Then as we were eating them in the room we realized it even had frrench fries in it(!). So Kim made the observation "we started the day with potatoes and ended the day with potatoes".

The next morning we went for coffee, found a new hotel and had a laugh at the previous day. What more could we do?

Now it´s January 2nd we´re about to hop on a train to Machupicchu and have seen many amazing ruin sites today already as a warm up. This year´s been filled withadventures too but that´s another entry.
Until next time!
Kim + Ricardo