Chile, Estados Unidos of the South

Sorry for the long delay I have just been living in LA-LA land for the last few weeks. After arriving in Santiago de Chile on the 4th of June I changed my money in for thousands of Pesos thinking I was in for a good time. A few seconds later i spent all that I had to catch a bus to the house of Andreas, Vicki, Felix and Max Vorwerk, my family in Chile! Initially it was great to be out of Hostels so for the first day I just hung out and rested under what I thought were cloudy skies but later found out was a substance familiar to my heart, smog. I helped Max, my second cousin (our grandparents were brother and sister), take these three great dogs for a walk in the hills above Santiago, ang the next day went to school with Max. Basically I was one of the family. The next day I went to the center of Santiago and visited an amazing pre-columbian art museum, where I thought of my sister who did her thesis on that type of art. That night I went out with some of Max´s friends to a bar and to a disco, the whole time I was trying to size up the differences in the way i was seeing the city compared to my normal methods of hanging in a hostel near the center of the city.

Later on I was invited surfing with some of Max´s friends, Pancho and his friend. I was told by Pancho to be ready at 4, but being pretty smart I called him at 4 to find out that he wouldnt be there until later, lucky me. The drive was beautiful, especially as the sun began to rise over un-smoggy hills. When we arrived at the beach and I eventually found my way into the water I realized that my rented wetsuit was completely inadequete. Wow was it cold. I caught a few waves before I completely lost feeling in my feet and hands. However before we got in Pancho told me I had to stay in for a while so as not to be a mariposon, like a wimp but a more negative conotation of being a butterfly as well (god only knows why that is so terrible). Therefore, when I finally got out I experienced some of the worst pain of my life as my feet were completely numb to my high ankles and it was pretty difficult to walk. I only regained feeling in all 20 toes after about an hour and a half. Anyway, it was really fun to be out of Santiago. The next day we had a great lunch with the family in which Max and Felix cooked, and then I left for Pucon on a night bus to visit the cousin and aunt of Cecelia.

Before I leave Santiago let me tell you a few things. It is big, and by big I mean Los Angeles big. Starting that comparison, let me just finish it. LA, terrible public transportation, Santiago, a new bus system called transantiago which is the subject of complaints on EVERY single episode of the nightly news the whole time Ive been in Chile, and which takes an hour to reach any where in the city. LA, smog, ditto Santiago. LA, miserably selfish people obsessed with money. Well this is difficult bc of my limited experience, but yea most people I met, obviously not my family or any of there friends, were very closed off and inacessible, and yes selfish. Example? Anytime, anywhere, if you are standing or sitting in someones way and they wish to get around you, they will not ask if you can move, or tap you lightly, they will just sort of push you. I think this is a manifestation of selfishness, but I could be wrong. Despite these obvious flaws, my family and their friends were some of the most warm and welcoming people I have ever met, and welcomed me into their lives as though I had always been there. Including speaking German at a birthday dinner for Andreas in which I was the only one of about 13 people who didnt know what the heck was going on. And in the middle Vicki asks me if I understand anything in spanish and I answered in English, ¨no, Im confused¨ to the uproirous laughter of everybody at the table. I really was confused. I had been speaking spanish with Sergio, (cecelias cousin) and then read an entire book in English on the way home, and then spent a whole night trying to speak German, I couldnt speak properly in any language for days!

So as you may have figured I spent more time in Santiago after Pucon. When I got back to Santiago they had just recieved over 2 meters of snow and I was able to go on the first day of the season to Valle Nevado, a mountain just over 12,000 feet which is only 40 minutes from Santiago. The first day was great, well scratch that, the snow was great but the visibility was about as bad as it can be. I tried to snowboard but continually almost injured myself falling off small cliffs which were completely invisible to me. I got a few great runs in knee deep powder and vowed to return. And return I did, the next day. I went with Felix and his friend Sven and Svens girlfriend who happened to have a cabin directly on the slopes. Wow, I couldnt imagine two more different days. The first day I took a miserable bus to the slopes which took forever and cost a fortune, the second day rode up in style in Svens Range Rover. The first day I couldnt see an thing, the second day the sun was shining and I could almost see the ocean. It was incredible! Felix and I did so many runs, I was in the powder and he was on the groomed runs initially, but I convinced him to do some crazy stuff with me. We did a chute between two rocks and got fresh tracks on a black diamond that was closed off, it was sweet. I had one of the best days ever bc I wasnt with the powder hounds of California and was able to get fresh tracks from bottom to top, which never ever happens in Cali. Anyway, I finished off my Santiago experience the right way and took off to La Serena in the north, where I am writing now before getting on a bus to Arica which will cover about 1,500 km and 19 hours!