Pachamama

Okay, so the tour I´m on is totally perfect for:
1. Where I want to go and
2. My non-existant Spanish skills.
The name of the company is Pachamama. I did not know that it meant "Earth-Mother" when I signed up, but besides the name everything is great.

Here´s the van we drive around in (thankfully they didn´t paint pictures of trees or the wind or women giving birth, phew):


Before we left for our long drive yesterday, we enjoyed a sunset off the Chilean coast:


Then, early in the morning we hit the road and our only real stop was in Santa Cruz at the Museo de Colchagua. It´s the country´s biggest private museum built by Carlos Cardoen. Who is this guy? Um... an arms dealer who was on the US Government's 10 Most Wanted list for years. So, going to his museum was strange. Here was one of the exhibits:


I left Santa Cruz feeling confused. Fortunately I had pleasant views of Chile from the van window to get my mind off warfare:


Now we´re in Pucon which means "Entrance to the Mountain." I´m going to be here until Wednesday. I hope to get in some rafting and hiking. It´s possible to hike up a volcano, but that´s not my style. Somethings are better seen than experienced - like lava.
-Katie

Santiago and Environs

I was only in Santiago for a couple days, but I was told by the locals that that´s all you need to see the sights of the city. Pretty much as soon as I got off the plane a few days ago I started feeling not so great and yesterday the not so great feeling morphed into a fully formed illness. It´s not anything too exciting, no explosive diarrhea or anything, it´s just a headcold. I am pretty sure I got the cold because the air quality here sucks. But, I didn´t let that stop me. The only thing I had to skip was a gay night out with some locals which is a bummer, but I think I needed my 12 hours of sleep. Anyway, I saw Santiago! Here are the pics:

A sculpture garden:


I went on this long walk through a city park that was up on a hill. I was able to get a view of the city. What? You can´t really see it? Oh, that´s the smog that will clog your lungs and make you sick and snotty:


Here´s a fountain commemorating something (it was in Spanish):


And the capital:


So, that´s it for Santiago. I already left this morning on a tour, usually I wouldn´t splurge for something like that, but this one seemed pretty cool and I think I´ll get to see more of the country this way.

Our first stop was in Pomaire where the inhabitants are known for their pottery skills:


Next we stopped at Rapel Dam, but the pictures suck and a dam is a dam no matter what country. Our tour guide, Jorge, said Chile gets most of its energy through hydropower. Wow.

Now I´m in Pichilemu. It´s a touristy town on the coast. We´re staying at a cute hostel with an underwater theme, whoa...


We´ll be here for the night and then we´re off to Pucon tomorrow. Hopefully I´ll be over this cold by then.
-Katie

Valparaiso

Valparaiso is a great little city an hour away from Santiago. I had a totally fun time just wandering around for the day. Here´s the scoop: it has two levels, the normal ground level but then a higher level on a hill that is accessible by crazy long steps or cable car. For example:



It is a beautiful city for a number of reasons. First, it has cool, fun architecture and alleyways:



Second, it has really cool murals:


Third, there are beautiful parks through out the city, complete with statues commemorating things, fountains, nice trees, and stray dogs:


And fourth, it has kick-ass graffiti art:



So, I spent the day just basking in the beauty of the city. It was totally great. Look! I made a friend. Andreas (he´s from Oslo) and I decided to take the day trip together. Here he is catching his breath after our climb up those god awful stairs.


That was today. Tomorrow: Santiago.
-Katie

Time Warp

So... I landed in Santiago at 12:15pm on March 3rd which is weird because I left Auckland at 5:30pm on March 3rd. Whoa. So, the only acceptable explanation is that I went through a time warp. Here's what a time warp looks like:



Santiago is... small. I'm acutally only going to be here for a few days before I head south. My hostel is kind of ridiculous. Think: "The Real World." I know, sick. So, I'm avoiding in the drunk 18 year olds and trying to enjoy South America!
-Katie

Cash-flow

So... I started my travels abroad in early September. Y'know what else happened in September? The dollar lost a ton of its value. Here is a chart that shows how many Euros a dollar would buy over the past 120 days:

I know I am not in Europe, therefore the value of the dollar to the Euro isn't totally relevant to me, but it would have been annoying to put charts of the dollar against the shekle, the rupee, the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, etc. and it is indicative of how the USD has been faring globally. It ain't pretty. Dammit!

One USD is currently buying about 0.65 Euros. Sweet Jesus. I need to go home. And I will. But first, Chile.
-Katie

Bye Dids!

You're leaving...
Gonna miss you.
Love,
Katie

Business

Here are the updates:
1. I got into graduate school, hooray! (That may mean bad news for all those reading this in Seattle...)

2. I left Rangiora for good a few days ago. I stayed there with (Pheonix's parents) Kate and Rob off and on since December. Who knows how they put up with my nonsense since then, but they did and with grace and generosity to boot. I know it doesn't suffice to just say thank you so thank you a lot. You guys rock. For real.

3. This is from a while ago, but it's... a pig that sits on command.

Hil.ar.i.ous. The video you just watched is of Lucy, a kuna kuna pig. She is in one word: horrific. Here's a close up:

See. Pheonix thinks she's cute. I think not.

4. All of you reading this already know I no longer look like this:

but you didn't know that I look like this:


see:
Heh heh.
To finish up the big news, I'm in Wellington and I'll be here until the 27th when I fly up to Auckland for a few days and say goodbye to Pheonix...
-Katie
Confidential to Lexi again: you're not allowed to comment on this post.