When you're traveling or experiencing something new, do you ever make lists or journal entries to remember all those little things that make up the day but that you would never remember otherwise? I do. And I've started a list of things Chile has taught me. You're lucky, because now I'm going to share it with you!
1. Sometimes, you really just have to be aggressive to get what you want.
2. If you don't understand a conversation, make one up. It's probably more interesting, and when it's not, it's at least very entertaining when you figure out what they're really saying!
3. It's OK to look around while you make out in the metro station.
4. "Style" is all in how you wear it.
5. Dude, keep it simple. Bread, cheese, and butter could very well be the most delicious thing you have ever eaten. (just did, actually)
6. Everything gets easier after a beer. Or a Pisco.
7. Mom was right about catching a cold when the weather changes. Who knew?
8. If you just don't look at the mountains, you won't realize how polluted the air actually is.
9. Language barriers are both so much harder and so much easier to overcome than I thought.
10. I don't like long showers.
11. Fanny packs are cool.
12. People really do enjoy life more when they have something horrible in their past.
13. The days may last long, but the people last longer!
14. The "bump" game is universal. (You know what I'm talking about!)
15. Mullets can be attractive.
16. I can accept the above fact and retain my self-esteem!
17. Toast is better when you make it on the stove.
18. You will never actually be free of technology - cell phones and the internet will follow you to your death.
19. You can dance if you want to, but you can NOT leave your friends behind!
20. Butter never goes bad.
OK, now enough of the boring format, back to rambling. The past few days have been full! On Friday a group of us went with our Chilean buddies to a concert at la Universidad de Chile that featured some of the bigger South 
American groups. The whole scene was different from campus concerts int he States. First of all, you know that whole idea of pregaming a show? Well, Chileans do it on the streets. Everyone crowds the botelleria and then carries their forties/pisco/ron out onto the curb and starts hanging out with their buddies. It's actually illegal, but the cops weren't making much of a presenc.e Imagine a block party that covered about eight blocks, except very chill. Once inside, it's just packed. And when the music starts, people don't stop moving! The show started at 10 with a line-up of three bands, and when we left at 2, the second band hadn't finished yet. Yelling, dancing, jumping, meeting people all over the place... It was great. Chancho de la Piedra was freaking amazing! South American funk. Yes. Please note the insanity in this picture. Kids from the group, a kid from another SIT group, a Chilean buddy, and a random Chilean that hung out with us all night and we were pretty sure was tripping ecstasy because he was trying to have sex with everyone and was very very happy. He was strange, but entertaining. (No, not the guy with glasses. He's strange, but in the best way possible!)
American groups. The whole scene was different from campus concerts int he States. First of all, you know that whole idea of pregaming a show? Well, Chileans do it on the streets. Everyone crowds the botelleria and then carries their forties/pisco/ron out onto the curb and starts hanging out with their buddies. It's actually illegal, but the cops weren't making much of a presenc.e Imagine a block party that covered about eight blocks, except very chill. Once inside, it's just packed. And when the music starts, people don't stop moving! The show started at 10 with a line-up of three bands, and when we left at 2, the second band hadn't finished yet. Yelling, dancing, jumping, meeting people all over the place... It was great. Chancho de la Piedra was freaking amazing! South American funk. Yes. Please note the insanity in this picture. Kids from the group, a kid from another SIT group, a Chilean buddy, and a random Chilean that hung out with us all night and we were pretty sure was tripping ecstasy because he was trying to have sex with everyone and was very very happy. He was strange, but entertaining. (No, not the guy with glasses. He's strange, but in the best way possible!) This picture is dedicated to two things. One, the delicous and perfectly poured 
Kunstmann I am about to enjoy (thank you, Darren). The second is the man in all the metro announcements saying 'Esto es muy importante!' and informing people not to try and keep the doors open, and please stay behind the yellow line so that you will not be hit by an incoming train ('mind the gap' in four times the words). His expression is priceless. I have almost captured it - it's my new project. Also, the vain side of me thinks that my new hair cut looks stunning in this photo.
Kunstmann I am about to enjoy (thank you, Darren). The second is the man in all the metro announcements saying 'Esto es muy importante!' and informing people not to try and keep the doors open, and please stay behind the yellow line so that you will not be hit by an incoming train ('mind the gap' in four times the words). His expression is priceless. I have almost captured it - it's my new project. Also, the vain side of me thinks that my new hair cut looks stunning in this photo. The next bazillion pictures are from one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. A small group of us headed out to Cerro La Campana, a national park
west and a bit north of Santiago for some good ole naturaleza. As soon as the bus started to clear the city, the houses stretched further and further apart, the trees got taller, the sky got clearer, and I got lighter. Before we even made it to the park I could feel all sorts of tension leaving that I didn't even know had built up. City life! We had an interesting afternoon making it out there, involving lots of last minutes decisions and a lot of good luck, finally making it to camp with enough light to set up tents and get some wood together. A bit of wine, a bit of whisky, and lots of avocado and manjar later, we found ourselves stargazing in the middle of the campground, peering in amazement at more stars than any of us have ever seen. I'm sure most of you know that Chile is home to some of the best telescopes/starviewing labs (sorry, name escapes me right now, planetarium?) in the world, and supposedly the view we had can't even be compared to the views further north. However. You know those nights when you can see the pale smudge of the Milky Way? Here, the Milky Way look a little like dust blown across the sky, with twirls at the edges and pockets of density where you can almost see the universe stretching away, where you can feel yourself getting thrown out into space, can sense the great immensity of this existence without
becoming totally overwhelmed. Then we were almost run over by a man riding a horse, who appeared startlingly like the Colombian coffee guy, and wished us all buenos noches as he disappeared into the dark.
west and a bit north of Santiago for some good ole naturaleza. As soon as the bus started to clear the city, the houses stretched further and further apart, the trees got taller, the sky got clearer, and I got lighter. Before we even made it to the park I could feel all sorts of tension leaving that I didn't even know had built up. City life! We had an interesting afternoon making it out there, involving lots of last minutes decisions and a lot of good luck, finally making it to camp with enough light to set up tents and get some wood together. A bit of wine, a bit of whisky, and lots of avocado and manjar later, we found ourselves stargazing in the middle of the campground, peering in amazement at more stars than any of us have ever seen. I'm sure most of you know that Chile is home to some of the best telescopes/starviewing labs (sorry, name escapes me right now, planetarium?) in the world, and supposedly the view we had can't even be compared to the views further north. However. You know those nights when you can see the pale smudge of the Milky Way? Here, the Milky Way look a little like dust blown across the sky, with twirls at the edges and pockets of density where you can almost see the universe stretching away, where you can feel yourself getting thrown out into space, can sense the great immensity of this existence without
becoming totally overwhelmed. Then we were almost run over by a man riding a horse, who appeared startlingly like the Colombian coffee guy, and wished us all buenos noches as he disappeared into the dark. Also, Chile is the birthplace of the monkey birds in the Wizard of Oz. I know because they were giving their mating calls all around our tents that night.
Here is a picture of one of the hugest spiders I have ever seen in my life. The first one we saw was near our campsight, and Lauren thought it was a mouse. Hiking back to the town on Sunday, I almost stepped on two of them, and I'm pretty sure they just would have bitten right through my shoe if that had happened. Scary dudes. But slow, thank god.
Sunday started out very foggy, but cool, and the first part of our hike took us through these misty and obscured forests, somewhat desert and somewhat jungle. About a third of the way up, we suddenly emerged from this bank of muteness and could see the mountains around us rising like sirens calling to us 
to lift our feet and trust in the air, in the encompassing light that surrounded us. The higher we got, the more amazing the view. Mountains hid behind mountains, straightening their shoulders to appear at exactly this step in the trail, or behind this certain corner. Chileans also do not mess around with their trails.. this thing was almost straight up the entire way. Soooo awesome. Greta had never been camping before, or hiking, and she certainly picked a hell of a hike to start on! That girl is a baller, I've got to say. She never gave up! Greta also has picked up an amazing pololo - Jorge is an incredible guy who cares about everyone and everything, is willing to help out, and is very chill but energetic on top of it all. Oh, and he's Chilean. And they're way too cute.
to lift our feet and trust in the air, in the encompassing light that surrounded us. The higher we got, the more amazing the view. Mountains hid behind mountains, straightening their shoulders to appear at exactly this step in the trail, or behind this certain corner. Chileans also do not mess around with their trails.. this thing was almost straight up the entire way. Soooo awesome. Greta had never been camping before, or hiking, and she certainly picked a hell of a hike to start on! That girl is a baller, I've got to say. She never gave up! Greta also has picked up an amazing pololo - Jorge is an incredible guy who cares about everyone and everything, is willing to help out, and is very chill but energetic on top of it all. Oh, and he's Chilean. And they're way too cute. The hike was definitely challenging, and exactly what most of us wanted. We got to the top as everyone else was heading down, so we had the whole place to ourselves. These pictures don't even begin to capture the pervading sense of both infinity and finiteness that waited at the summit. On one side, an unending sea of cloud 
and light, separated from the jagged and continous peaks of the Andes by a single ridge, over which poured this mist like effervescent pilgrims piously kneeling to that which gave them life, or to that which will take it away. After providing ourselves with the sustenance of palta, bread, and turkywineham, we all went entered our own meditative space, savoring the silence of wind and height, without the interruptions of car alarms or children's screams or smoggy air or elb
ows in your face or eyes staring at you and telling you that you don't belong here. The hike was the best day hike I have ever taken, in terms of view and in terms of the fulfillment it brought me.
and light, separated from the jagged and continous peaks of the Andes by a single ridge, over which poured this mist like effervescent pilgrims piously kneeling to that which gave them life, or to that which will take it away. After providing ourselves with the sustenance of palta, bread, and turkywineham, we all went entered our own meditative space, savoring the silence of wind and height, without the interruptions of car alarms or children's screams or smoggy air or elb
ows in your face or eyes staring at you and telling you that you don't belong here. The hike was the best day hike I have ever taken, in terms of view and in terms of the fulfillment it brought me. Above is the group of us at the top: Jorge, Greta, Lauren, Kira, Darren and me.
Here is a picture towards the coast. (On a clear day, both the ocean and the Andes are visible.) My favorite part is Darren in the corner, meditating. It's so appropriate that he is so small and so still, because that is how we all felt up there. Surreal.
The trip back was an adventure. Understatement. We got very caught up in the beauty at the top, and didn't really care about coming down in time. For this reason, we ended up trail-running the last half of it (which I loved!) and still ended in the dark. Here's the pressing fact: the last bus for the two-hour trip back to Santiago left at 8:20. We had to catch a bus in Olmué for the 20 minute trip to that station. Olmué had been a ten minute cab ride from the park entrance. We got off the trail at 7:30. No cabs would come get us. Three more huge spiders, some very scary large white dogs, lots of frantic hiking, and an intense discussion with a bus driver later, we 
found ourselves at the bus stop buying tickets. We were six, the tickets were two. Don't worry, we're all either very attractive or very lucky, because we all were able to get on the bus back home, with completos and Pisco to boot. (Completos are the Chilean hot dog... sausage, tomatoes, guacamole, mayonnais - i have no idea how to spell that - and often ahí sauce and mustard. ooohhh mmyy ggoooddd they are delicious.) All in all, trip = grand success.
found ourselves at the bus stop buying tickets. We were six, the tickets were two. Don't worry, we're all either very attractive or very lucky, because we all were able to get on the bus back home, with completos and Pisco to boot. (Completos are the Chilean hot dog... sausage, tomatoes, guacamole, mayonnais - i have no idea how to spell that - and often ahí sauce and mustard. ooohhh mmyy ggoooddd they are delicious.) All in all, trip = grand success. The trip was especially great for me because I had the chance to do a lot of thinking about things that have been on my mind, or buried just beneath, but haven't gotten any attention. I realized that I've changed a lot more than I thought I had, and that I really like the changes that I've noticed. There are a lot of internal changes going on, and I think there are many processes in place that I will not be able to see until much after the fact. I also thought a lot about the relationships that I am forming here - how they're different from those at home, and how they're the same. When thinking about this summer, after the program has ended, I've already started to get homesick for this group, for this place, for everything that we have created and discovered for ourselves. We are all in a place in our lives that we will never be able to return to, but which will affect us in every thought and decision and emotion that we will pass in our 
lives. Who will we be? Where will we go? How will our worlds be when we must exist without each other? While sitting at the top of La Campana, I could feel this line that we are balancing on. I couldn't grasp what fell away or reached away to either side, but I could feel this stark edge, at times that we are maintaining, and at times that we are about to cross. Are we falling into a new existence?
lives. Who will we be? Where will we go? How will our worlds be when we must exist without each other? While sitting at the top of La Campana, I could feel this line that we are balancing on. I couldn't grasp what fell away or reached away to either side, but I could feel this stark edge, at times that we are maintaining, and at times that we are about to cross. Are we falling into a new existence?
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