Completely Unexpected

So this is going to be a long one just to warn you...



Well this trip was my longest, but unintentionally. Thea, Colleen, Marina, and I went to Mendoza on Wednesday May 14th. We had heard great things about this small city across the border in Argentina. You had to go through the Andes to get there. We went there at night so we can save time during the say. So I didn't get to see any of the Andes which I was sad about. They woke us up at 3:00 am for Customs. We were there for 2 hours, I have no idea why. Anyways we arrived Thursday morning around 8:30 and checked in to our hostel and then went off exploring the city. We found many cute stores that we returned to over and over. Finally I set on 2 purses, but together they cost like $18. They aren't the best quality, but definitely cute. So after lunch we noticed the city was dead. They take their siestas seriously in this city. No stores were open so we decided we will nap too. This repeated itself almost every day we were there.


On Friday we did a bikes and wine tour. This included riding a bike to a bunch of wineries that were "close" together. We rented the bikes for half of a day so we had to rush to each winery we wanted to see. They all had red wine, which if you remember from the wine festival, is not my favorite. It was nice to be out in the country and away from the city.

On Saturday we continued our shopping until the stores closed on us. In the afternoon Colleen went paragliding and Marina became sick with some kind of food poisoning. So Thea and I went to this really pretty park and ended up at the Mendoza Zoo. This was a very entertaining experience. We have such great stories from it. The first is that we saw cute little animals in their cages, hear some animal getting kinda angry. So we walk around the corner and there is a lion behind a chain linked fence cage. Then we see a man sticking his fingers through the cage. Thea was quite uncomfortable so we fled before we were eaten alive. There was also many animals not in best mental state I believe. Here is a video of animal going out of his mind. I found it quite hilarious.

So then Saturday night Thea became sick, with the same throwing up mess Marina had. Colleen and I were scared we were next but we never got sick. Sunday morning we were all set to leave, headed to the bus station and when we got there we were turned away. The pass through the Andes was closed. We thought oh no big deal, we will go the next day. Slowly, I mean slowly, it became Wednesday and we were still in Mendoza. We were all quite depressed about this. Then Wednesday we made a decision to go to Chile the long way...

Colleen's birthday was May 24th and Marina's birthday is May 26th so they had a big birthday party planned on Saturday, May 24th. We needed to get back by then so we decided to pay some money and take a bus down South through Argentina and then back up North through Chile to Santiago. It was suppose to be around 30 hours, key word is suppose. So Wednesday, May 21st at 6:30 pm we left Mendoza. The next morning we woke up around 8am stopped on the road. In front of us was the police not letting us pass. Up ahead there were workers on strike (funny (but not) because our school had been on strike for like a month) and they were setting stuff on fire so it was not safe for us to pass. So our bus drivers finally decided after 7 hours of sitting there that we should find a new way which included dirt roads. Finally we were back on our way to Santiago. But then the next morning I woke up at a Shell gas station around 6 am hearing the bus driver talking (in spanish of course) but i didn't really comprehend anything since I was half awake. So I was like we are probably just here for  gas and bathroom since the bus bathroom was getting nasty. I go to use the bathroom, buy a drink and then my friends tell me the two ways to get to Santiago both have bridges that are flooded or destroyed by the heavy rain they had that week. The pic to the left here is showing where the bridge has been broken off of. Anyways...we were less than 3 hours away from Santiago!!! I was like you have got to be kidding me!!! So we hung out in the shell station, having all the junk food we could possibly blow our money on. Then around noon we finally had a plan. We would have to drive to the bridge, walk across and then another bus would pick us up on the other side. That sounds a lot more simple than it was. We had to wait at the bridge for about 2 hours for the other bus to come. After we crossed the bridge we took a van to find our bus in the traffic. Finally we get on our way around 330. Got to Santiago, bought our tickets for Vina at the bus terminal,run to the gate and missed our bus by like a minute. Why would the man sell me tickets for a bus I couldn't get to in time? So we stay in a long line to change our tickets and I know this isn't that big of a deal but after  having all the issues we did, we just wanted it to be simple. Luckily after we got on our bus to Vina, everything was good. I do want to note the bus from Mendoza to Santiago did not have the semicama (semi bed) which includes a platform for your legs to rest and the bus from Vina to Santiago did (1 hour and a half ride) Also on our 50 hour bus ride we were served one meal when we were told we would get all meals for while we were "suppose" to be on the bus. Luckily we stopped at gas stations they had those edible sandwiches. And we didn't have blankets or pillows!!! How dare they? Again fortunately I had my amazing neck pillow so I could get some sleep. And now I have this story to tell...

Buenos Aires 4/30/08- 5/4/08

So in the beginning of the month I went to Buenos Aires with my friend Kira. This was the one place I really wanted to visit while I was in South America. I have to say I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. However, I feel like I needed more time to explore the city and all of its glory. The city is so big that in 4 days you cover very little ground. A big part of life of this city is eating out and shopping, which we did. It was very different than Chile. I have to say as an ignorant American, I assume South America is like the United States and each country is just like a different state. Of course that is not true. Argentina is very different. People say its more European, but I have never been to Europe so I cannot make that call. The spanish was usually easier to understand unless they threw in their funny accent by making the "sha" sound in the place of the "ll" sound. I know I might be confusing you so here is an example. Instead of saying "ella" it sounds like "esha" Get it? Anyways the bus system was very different from Chile as well. I guess you could say I had a bit of cultural shock, as in I expected everything to be like Chile. The buses there have specific bus stops and they wont just pick you up or drop you off wherever you want. My friend and I were shocked when we waved our hand and the bus continued driving by. I think I explained to you, the bus drivers here work on commission so you can just hail a bus wherever you are. You also have to exact change, however Argentina is on shortage of change. So we tried to avoid buses and take the metro or cheap taxis. So yeah we just walked around, shopping, and went out to eat and to bars for most of the time we were there. Hopefully I will make it back one day to see more.

PS to Chick-fil-a workers and fans: Look what I saw in a street market in Buenos Aires. I was in shock, seriously my jaw dropped. I wanted to buy it but decided to save my money :-)

Where did the time go?

Wow, I have been slack. I really do want to write about every event that happens here but to sit down and do it is easier said than done for some reason. So I am going to retrace my steps back till the beginning of May and then do separate entries for my few trips. But in this entry I am just going to do the stuff going around Valparaiso and Vina.

So as you know my school has been on strike. But did I tell you about the students taking over the buildings? In spanish its called a Toma. So my interpretation of a toma is students sleep and stay in the building and not let anyone in to make sure classes are not going on. Its pretty absurd and a mess for us foreign exchange students who are still having our classes. I have 4 classes, 3 of them only have foreign students in them so those have still been taking place. Anyways back to the "toma"... A couple of weeks ago the students took over the main building of the university, there was supposed to be an agreement that the students would never take that building. They did not keep their agreement I suppose I should say. I had to use a back entrance and go up some staircase I never knew about to get into the Study Abroad office which is like my home base. Each day I had to wonder around the streets to find an entrance to find my relocated class. Also I went into the main building and I had to give them my student id and then stand in line to get it back when I left. The students were running this whole things, telling me to stand in line up against the wall. I was quite offended thinking they could speak to me like this as I would like to be seen as their peer. Anyways its all over now, thank goodness! Everything is back to normal, or as normal Chile can be. It has been raining since yesterday afternoon and there are gigantic puddles everywhere. They do not have a very efficient drain system so parts of the streets and the dips (there are many) in the sidewalks are flooded. My feet remain cold and wet for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I plan on investing in rain boots...

PS- Don't forget to check out the links to see all of my pictures.

que pasa

So when I looked at the date of my last entry, I thought April 9th wasn't that long ago. Then I look at today's date and was shocked to see over 10 days have passed. Well I have stopped traveling for a few weeks so I feel like not much is going on but I actually do have things to share.

First off there was a student strike last week. Students strike against not going to class because the bus fare is supposed to go up. We now pay about 30 cents, and they want to raise it about 50 cents. Thats a pretty big increase, I think. I even realized that at home in north carolina, students can ride buses for free, even the one that goes from raleigh to chapel hill and durham. So I thought I didn't have classes, but then I ended up having some of them since they are full of exchange students. I don't really want to further explain because this lack of communication is just one thing that frustrates me. This is a picture of the main building of my university.

Next up we have the celebration of my host parents' wedding anniversary. They are celebrating 20 years this Wednesday. However they celebrate it a little bit differently. Every year they have a little gathering with family and friends. I went with my host parents because I wanted to meet their family and see how Chileans celebrate this event. I was good for the first hour, meeting people and listening to conversation. I want to note the previous night I had gotten about 5 hours of sleep. So I had a pisco sour and then I wanted to just go to bed. The party started at 9:30. We didn't eat dinner till midnight!!! My host mom told me the party would be over early. We didn't get home till 2:30 in the morning!! That is early for me if I was out at the bar or club but I thought that was a little late for my host parents that go to bed around midnight I believe. Anyways, everyone was really nice. Its a custom here to kiss each other on the cheek when you greet someone and its so nice because it feels so welcoming when you meet new people. So it was hard to keep up with all the different conversations in Spanish. Then people started getting a little drunk and it was even harder to understand what was going on. My host parents kept telling me they were telling jokes. Also, my host parents received presents; 2 boxes of chocolates, set of orange sheets, and a set of 4 plates. I am glad I went but if I had known what I was getting myself into, I would have probably passed.


Well I guess thats all for now...

Out of the Ordinary

So I went to Patagonia last week to go backpacking in the Torres del Paine National Park. The whole week I was thinking, what did I get myself into? First of all, I have never been backpacking. And then also, I don't like hiking, I am very out of shape, and camping isn't my favorite activity. However it turned out to be a good experience. I really wanted to travel to this part of the country so I sacrificed my comfort to see some amazing views. Here is what six girls and I did day by day...

It took 7 buses, 4 minibuses (vans), 2 airplanes, 1 ferry and 27 miles of hiking to cover all the ground we did.

Tuesday April 1: Flew out of Santiago to Punta Arenas. Did grocery shopping there, got lunch, took 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales. Stayed in a hostel and rented our camping gear.



Wednesday April 2: Took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from Puerto Natales to the Torres del Paine National Park entrance. Then we had to wait for the ferry. We had about an hour to wait and that is when I met a NC State graduate and 2 people from Cary, NC. What a coincidence! We even later met them on the trail the next day. The ferry cost about $25 for a 45 min bus ride. I thought that was outrageous after already paying a park entrance fee. When we got to the other side of the lake we set up camp. Then we started on our first hike of the week. Less than 30 minutes of hiking and I already felt out of breath and did not want to continue. But then the thought of seeing a glacier kept me going. The hills were really hard for me, I could not catch my breath a lot and felt like I was having a slight panic attack when I approached a hill. About 4 hours later we finally arrived at the lookout for Glacier Grey. It was a great view, something we all describe as National Geographic like. We followed tradition and had whiskey and glacier ice. I had 2 sips because whiskey is just gross. After enjoying the glacier's view we knew we had to get going because it was going to get dark soon. Luckily we got through the hard part of the trail before dark but then we had to hike for a couple of hours in the dark. All I could think about was this lady who had gotten killed my a puma. I kept my thoughts to myself so I wouldn't scare the other girls. Finally we arrived back to the campsite right after the "kitchen" closed. Peanut butter crackers fulfilled as dinner and then to bed we went. It was hard to sleep, I actually was really hot and even slept on top of my sleeping bag. I also had a fear of rats because I could hear them getting into our bags but I was too scared to look.

Thursday April 2: We woke up to find some ramen eaten by the rats. Oh well, we had like 15 more bags of it. We started on another hike, this time actually backpacking with our stuff. The weather also too a big change and it was windy and rainy. No fun! We had to walk through a river that had flooded. It was the coldest water I have ever had to step in. There were also lots of rocks on the bottom so it was extra painful. We took our shoes and socks off so we could have dry feet for the rest of the day. It took us about 3 hours to get to the other campsite but when I got there I just wanted to be warm and dry. I decided to stay behind at camp instead of going on another hike. It was a good decision, I must say.



Friday April 3: We had all day to get to the next campsite but it took 7 hours plus stopping for lunch and breaks (which i need very often). It wasn't too hard but just a really long day. Luckily my friend Kelin and I have the same pace so I never found myself alone while hiking which was a wonderful motivation. The campsite we stayed at Friday night was really nice because it was the only one where we could have a fire. The past two days had been pretty cold so this was a nice feature.

Saturday April 4: Three girls left at 4:30 am to go on a hike before our bus left in the afternoon. I was not about to go on an optional hike at 4:30 in the morning. Instead the other 4 of us had a nice time around the campfire; the part of camping I enjoy. We left the park, returned our equipment in Puerto Natales and then went to Punta Arenas to stay for the night. The hostel in Punta Arenas was a very authentic hostel but it did have the NCAA tournament on which was very exciting for me because I have missed March Madness this year.

Sunday April 5: We checked out of the hostel and explore Punta Arenas until our flight at 3:00. There were vendors all set up in the plaza and I went a little crazy with buying things and presents for people at home. I just love those hand craft markets, they have things I won't be able to find anywhere else in the world. We arrived in Santiago and then got a bus to Vina del Mar which was easier to say than do. Finally I arrived in my "warm" and homey apt at 11:30 at night. It was a long week and trip but definitely worth the experiences and sites I saw.

So thats just me rambling and not proofreading. I just wanted to get my thoughts out before I forget.

Send me mail!

Mail is always exciting to me but it is even better when I am thousands of miles away from home. Here is my address:

Katie Rehder
c/o Rossy Gutierrez
2 Oriente 610 Depto 12
Vina del Mar, Chile

Random Observations

So I have been here for 3 1/2 weeks and there are some things that I have observed that I would like to share:

1) Many people wear shirts with English words on them. I saw this boy that was probably about 9 years old and his shirt said, "I'll give you the ride of your life." Does he understand what that implies?

2) Lays American Cut potato chips are soooo much better here than in the states! I eat them as often as possible. I don't know what the difference is, some people say they have less salt here but I don't care, they are amazing!

3) Car Alarms! So even more people have car alarms or more people break into cars here, I am not sure which it is. Probably both.

3) Micro. There is lots to say about micros. Micros are the city buses. First off, I believe the drivers are working off commission. So the more people they pick up, the more money they make. This can be good and bad. So you can get on the bus pretty much wherever, just flag them down. Usually they are pretty good about stopping where you want as well. However, the other day I went an extra 2 blocks which isn't usual. The bus drivers take advantage of students because we get discounted rates. It cost about 35 cents (US) for students. The drivers weave in and out of lanes. I would feel comfortable driving in this city if it wasn't for them. Also, if there aren't many people on the micro then the driver will go slower and sit at stoplights waiting for people. It is quite annoying when I am in a hurry or just want to be "home" already! Riding the micro is just an experience in itself, just wait till 5 in the morning :-)

4) So I have trouble understanding my family's ways. So my host mom moderately cleans the apartment quite often. Every day everyone's room is cleaned and beds are made. Laundry is done like 3 times a week. Clean clothes show up folded on my bed or put away in my closet if I am not here. My host mom goes to the gym in the morning usually, cleans, cooks lunch, and then tutors in the afternoon. Then my host dad works somewhere, still haven't figured that out, and then is a professor in the evenings. Sometimes he doesn't get home till like 9. Also, sometimes he takes the car, sometimes not. Then we have a maid that comes every 3 weeks and does like a deep clean. The kind of cleaning that we have like every other year at my house. She was here for almost 12 hours last time. My host dad usually is waited on from my host mom. Then he will leave his dishes on the counter. Its just so old fashion. However, when my host mom wanted to watch a movie on tv, he cooked (heated leftovers in the microwave) dinner for me. So I guess it is balanced? It is just really common to have maids here. There are so many people trying to make money in any way possible.

I love my host family though. Anytime I mention some kind of food I like, they go and buy it. My host mom bought me big earrings because she knew I liked them. She also told me I was special and different from the other girls they have had and I almost cried. I hope to get to know them better and stay in touch when I leave.

5) PDA (Public Display of Affection): Wow, so many teenagers are all over each other sucking each others faces all down the street. My theory for why is, kids don't move out of their parents' house until they get married so they have no where else to make out? Its just kind of disturbing when the couple in front of you close the window curtain and are probably just riding the micro for some "privacy"?

6) Like I said, people try to make money any way they can. Many people board the micro with some kind of product. The strangest I have seen were band-aids. They walk up and down the aisle once in case anyone wants to buy a band-aid at that exact moment. Another way to make some pocket change is to help people back out of a parking space onto a street. When my family and I went to church a man tied down cardboard to people's car on the front and rear window to block the sun. Then when we went to get in the car, he takes it off and you give him money.

7) Smoking is pretty big here. People say its a lot cheaper so more people do it. Even if it was free, I would not smoke. Also, a pack of cigarettes has pictures of yellow teeth and damaged gums to show you what happens after smoking. I don't think its working...


Keep the emails & comments coming. Feel free to come down and visit :-)