Recent Pictures

At the top of El Misti (5825m). After starting the summit mission at 2am in the morning we finally made it at 9am (that was after trying to get over the altitude). It was great because our whole group made it up.

Pascal with the previous girl's little sister. (notice the mountains in the background...I will miss those mountains)

One of the little girls at the school in Arequipa, Peru. Instead of volunteering at the orphanage, they placed me at the school.

On the top of Waynapicchu looking down at Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu... definitely impressive (Waynapicchu is the mountain just directly behind Machu Picchu)

Arequipa

I have to apologize for not posting lately. I will give you a recap of the last two weeks.

Beth made it in safely. It was great to have her in South America. We spent a few days in Lima and then spent a few days in Cuzco/Aguas Caliente. Lima can be a pretty intimidating place when you first get off the plane. The airport isn't in a great area of town and so you have to be careful with the taxi you choose and you have to be careful of your possessions. I just didn't want her to be nervous of Lima when she got in. Once she got settled, we walked around town the first few days and found ourselves in a couple of casinos. We had a good time playing the slots... unfortunately it is addicting, but when you are playing with .01 soles, you aren't using too much money.

Next adventure was heading off to Cuzco. Once we got to the airport to make our way to Cuzco, we picked up the tickets and had a pretty nice surprise waiting for us. When I was booking our flight to Cuzco, for some reason I purchased first class seats. I could have sworn that they were the cheapest seats I found...I was decently embarrassed, but we had a good time sitting up there. When we got to Cuzco, I definitely was feeling the effects of the altitude. Beth was much more of a trooper when it came to that. Unfortunately, it affected us both pretty heavily during the evening. The next day we took the train to Aguas Calientes, which is a very touristy town rightbefore Machu Picchu. In Aguas Calientes, we decided to climb a mountain that has a great view of Machu Picchu...Mt. Putucusi. My hat goes off to BA- there was about 100-200 meters of ladders that you had to climb to get to the trail. Coming down off of the mountain is a pretty scary/intense experience, it doesn't matter who you are. The next day, we headed off to Machu Picchu, which was great. We had to get to the bus stop at a little past 5 to make sure that we got tickets to Waynapichu. It was well worth the lost sleep to make it up there. I will post pictures soon. Ceara...you are going to fall in love with Machu Picchu.

We then headed back to Lima and after spending two days there, we had to say goodbye to one another. I will admit, saying goodbye knowing that I wouldn't be able to talk to her as much once she was gone was a bit difficult. Going from getting to talk to her at any point of the day to talking to her maybe once a day or once every other day has its difficulty. Once I dropped her off at the airport (technically the taxi cab driver and I) I spent the night in Lima before heading off to Arequipa.

16 hr bus ride, and I made it into Arequipa. This has to be one of my favorite cities that I have visited in South America. It is a great place to just walk around and look at the architecture and landscape. There are three mountains off in the distance...one of which I am hoping to climb this weekend with some of the other volunteers... Thankfully, once I got to the hostel I met a few of the other volunteers that had been there for some time. They got me set up with the office and underway at the school. So I thought I was going to be at the orphanage, but you have to commit for at least a month...and so knowing that I couldn't do that, I went off to the school to teach English. I´ve also joined the construction team that is working on building up a bathroom and wall to give boundaries to the school. School is in the afternoon and construction is in the morning, so it works out perfectly.

The area that the school is in is outside of Arequipa, so you have to take a colectivo to get out there...which proves to be an experience every time I get on one. Imagine packing 15-25 people in this small van... and there you go. The area where the school reminds me a lot of the colonias in Nuevo Laredo. It might be just one step up. But, similar to the experiences of many, the people there are so inviting and willing to give you anything that they have.

One thing I wanted to work on while I am here was to introduce some kind of physician visit for the kids...or at the minimum a vitamin plan. Knowing that the diet of the kids can be extremely variable, I think that it would be amazing to be able to provide vitamins to the kids at least once or twice a week. But, I also am hoping to find a donor from a large pharmaceutical company to ensure that it is a sustainable program... We will see how it goes. I will write more soon.

Off to Lima

I have to apologize for my lack of posts, but this one will hopefully make it for it. So I didn´t have much time to explain the futbòl game...the Boca Jrs game. It was scary, but amazing at the same time. I have never seen a crowd get that rowdy. They sang/jumped up and down/waved flags the whole game. The only time they stopped jumping and singing was halftime. What made the experience even better was the fact that we were in the cheap seats, which was where all of the action happens (in reference to the fans). The only thing that I didn't quite understand is that they get so pumped up and into cheering that half of them don't even get to watch the whole game. Part of the view is blocked by huge flags bearing pictures of players. It was also an experience trying to get tickets off of a scalper...you just never know if the tickets are real (unless you'd used those tickets before).

The next day I went off to explore part of the city, before getting the chance to see this amazing drum show at the Konex Cultural Center in BA. The different styles of drums, bongos and other instruments together made incredible sounds and beats. It was interesting to watch the crowd...I believe it was at an event like this that the "mosh pit" was started. After the show I went off to grab a nice steak at a cheap steakhouse in Buenos Aires...eating was definitely a highlight of that trip. You could grab a steak sandwhich in BA for about 4 dollars...maybe 5 depending on the place.

The last night I spent in Buenos Aires we ended up having a parilla (Argentinian bar-b-que). There ended up being about 8 of us having a good time on the roof of the hostel cooking up a storm. It was a nice way to finish my trip to Buenos Aires. But that night made for an interesting one. So the guy that I had been traveling made some interesting life decisions that night. He would tell me about his girlfriend back in GA and how he great she was, etc. The first night when we went with some people from our hostel to a club, he met an Israeli girl (you are bound to meet people from Israel here, just because once they finish their civil/military service they head off to travel) and he stayed in contact with her. Well, that night she came to the parilla to see him. It seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves and when the food was gone everyone started to head back downstairs to bed. There had been 3 of us sleeping in the 10 bed dormroom, which was nice because everyone could sprawl out. Though the British guy and I tried to mention to Jonathan (the guy from GA) that there better not be any visitors in our dorm room that night...we failed. I was so thankful that the British guy was snoring... it just helped to drown out any noise. Of all the hostels I have stayed at in South America, this has never happened. It was an awkward night. I was also thankful for the fact that I was able to fall asleep very quickly that night. The next day I woke up and packed up and said goodbye to everyone and made my way closer to the bus station.

After a 21 hr bus trip, I made my way back into Santiago. For the last part of the bus trip, I had an interesting conversation with an Australian Chiropractor who tried to tell me that the H1N1 influenza virus was just a hoax and that it didn't actually exist. I had a good laugh with that one. From the bus station I slowly made my way back to the CHASERS apartment. It was one of the girls birthdays so we went out to a fantastic pizza place in Santiago and had a great time. That night I had a little over 2 hrs of sleep (though I went to bed at a little before midnight, the van company who was coming to pick me up called the house phone at 2:15). I didn't understand half of what she was saying, partially because I was in a daze from just waking up and partially because she was speaking so quickly. I had to check the door about every 10 minutes to check to see if they were outside (they eventually picked me up at 3:20). After catching the 6:40 flight to Lima, I made my way to the hostel in Barranco. Yesterday was a lazy day around Lima, just getting caught up on sleep and on making sure that everything was ready for Beth to come in. I'm looking forward to spending time with her. Around 10pm tonight I will head back to the airport to pick her up.

I will try to write more soon. Take care.

Buenos Aires

I was tempted to just spend a few lazy days in Bariloche or Cordoba, but decided at the last minute to head to Buenos Aires (BA). Probably one of the best last minute decisions that I have made thus far on the trip (I say right on par with spending the night in Baños Morales). The ferias here are amazing and the food is unbelievable. There are only two downsides, I´ve slept a total of 4.5 hrs the past two nights. The first night was spent on a bus coming from Mendoza, and for some odd reason I couldn´t sleep. Yesterday evening was a good time. The last three days I´ve been traveling with this guy from Georgia. He was one of the guys I did the wine tour with and we actually were on the same bus to BA. Jonathan and I joined a group from the hostel that went out to a club, the only problem about BA is that the clubs arent really hopping until 2am...So we had a a good time out and everyone made it home safe and sound. My internal alarm clock is on, and has been on since I´ve left Texas. I woke up at 8:45 this morning after getting to bed at 6:15 this morning. After Mass, went to the feria for a while before getting ready for a futbòl game in BA. I have never experienced such a sporting event. I will have to write more soon about it. I hope that I can post a video of the event (I took a few, just to try to capture such an event).

Argentina

A park in Mendoza, Argentina with some friends
After a couple of glasses of wine on the wine/bike tour just outside of Mendoza

View from the wine bar outside of Mendoza

Another view of the wine bar with a few friends

The Wine Museum

Mendoza

I apologize for my lack of posts recently...

I have had the opportunity to:
-Spend afternoons reading a book at a nice park in Santiago
-Visited the national museum
-Finished my Spanish class! (definitely excited about this one)
-Attended a concert that the national symphany was offering
-Said goodbye to the Chasers in Santiago
-Took a bus to Mendoza, Argentina.

It was interesting how much they took notice that I was an American at the Chile-Argentina border. They didn´t let me cross without a bombardment of questioning. They wanted to know if I had the swine flu or any symptoms of such (the only thing is that I´ve been out of the states since early April), so I don´t think I would have had the chance to be exposed to it. From what I have heard, Chile is the first country to take extra precautions toward the Swine Flu. They have a temperature sensor that they make all US and Mexican citizens go through to check if they have a body temp above 100 (this is in the Santiago airport). We will see how it is on the way back to Santiago next week. I am currently debating whether I should head to Buenos Aires on Saturday or if I should just stay in Mendoza (this place seems like a really nice place to just chill). We will see. I hope that everyone is staying safe.

Cheese and Mushroom Empanadas

Sorry, right now I am just bitter about something I purchased at a side street store. For lunch, I purchased a Queso y Pollo Champiñon empanada thinking that it was a cheese and chicken empanada...nothing out of the ordinary. One would think that after almost 2 weeks of Spanish (plus the Spanish from high school and from living in Laredo) I would know what champiñons are ... mushrooms. I can eat just about anything that someone puts in front of me...but to this day, mushrooms still aren't on my list of highly palatable foods. oh well... I hopefully won't make that mistake again.

Aside from that, things are going well. Spanish class is still going to be the death of me. The class is down to only one person now. The second member of the class quite today... not because the profesora or the institute. He hadn't been trying in class, or outside of class, and thus he struggled everyday to learn the information.

I hope that everyone is doing well. One more exam (for those that are taking neuro)!

Beard

I chopped off my beard last night. I wouldn't have thought I would be so attached to facial hair, but alas now that my beard is gone, I feel as though I´m not quite as intimidating... oh well. I will write more soon.

ps. Spanish class is going to be the death of me...

More pics of Cajon del Maipo

The Church.
Reading before Church.

What my covering looked like after it fell.

My makeshift tent the next morning... (I had to reconstruct it the next morning to just take a picture of it)

On the way back from the glacier.

Cajon del Maipo

The sun setting on Cajon Del Maipo.

Two hours later, I made it to the glacier.

On the way to the glacier.

My failed attempt at taking a picture with the mountain...

He is probably one of the only reasons why I made it to Baños Morales...

This will probably end up being my longest post yet, so please bear with with me. This was one eventful weekend. To start off, I had gone to El Hombre De La Mancha the night before, so I thought I was starting the weekend off on the right foot...

I woke up on time and made it to the metro with time to spare. But when packing I made several large mistakes, which will be revealed as the story goes on. My first mistake was that I forgot to bring the Chile - Lonely Planet guidebook. It had important suggestions on how to get to Cajon del Maipo. Cajon del Maipo is a canyon located in the Cordillera de los Andes, about two hours away from Santiago. There is a string of towns leading up to the National Park (where the glacier and the mountains were), which is an important detail for the story. So it took me three tries to actually get outside of the city. I first ended up at the bus station, but could not for the life of me find where the bus going to San Jose de Maipo (this was the first city in the string of cities leading up to Cajon del Maipo) was. I asked about 5 people, but no one could give me a direct answer. So then I went with plan B- I took the metro to the city center where I thought a colectivo (a taxi type vehicle) was going to take people to Baños Morales (the location of the National Park). Unfortunately I was an hour too late, or so I was told. Thankfully there were quite a few backpackers going somewhere and I was able to ask them how to get to Cajon del Maipo. With their direction, I took the metro to Bellavista de la Florida (close to the outskirts of town) and then was able to hop on a bus going to a town just past San Jose de Maipo.

So before I left I had mentioned something to Beth that went along the lines of this: 'I know how to get to Cajon del Maipo, but I think coming back is going to prove to be a little bit more difficult'... Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I think God was watching over me this past weekend, because I don't know how I would've gotten to the park otherwise. While I was getting on the bus to go to San Jose de Maipo, I struck up a conversation with one guy (Carlos). We began (I say we, it was actually him telling me in Spanish about the mountains , and with me trying to ask questions in my broken Spanish) discussing the mountains outside of Santiago. He was heading the same direction so we decided to take a colectivo together to get from the city outside of San Jose de Maipo. Once we were dropped off, there wasn't a colectivo to be found, so we just started to walk. Well after about 30 minutes we found a bus taking a few others to a town about 20 minutes away. After getting dropped off by that bus, I was forced to do one thing that both my mom and Beth had asked me not to do...hitchhike. (Mom and Beth, you might want to skip ahead a few paragraphs). We hitchhiked the rest of the way to the National Park (which was actually a really good thing because the point that we started walking to the national park ended up being a 45 minute car ride).

Thankfully with Carlos' help, I got to the park and managed to get a ride back with a van that will bring you back to the city's center. I found out that I couldn't camp in the park because there had been an avalanche a few weeks prior to my visit. So Carlos and I walked into the park and started making our way to the lake and the glacier (from the entrance to the glacier it was approximately 8 kms). I ended up speeding up ahead of Carlos and ended up making it to the lake before Carlos and so I had a small lunch there. Thankfully I brought a little bit of food (I thought I might be able to get more in Baños Morales, but that proved to be difficult, as seen later in the story) and brought 1.5L of water, two juice boxes and .5 L of wine (these are important details later in the story). From the lake I walked about 2.2kms up to the glacier, which was an amazing spectacle, well worth the trip up there. The trip was definitely a nice little workout (It was about 2200 meters above sea level, thus I was a little out of breath once I made it up to the glacier). At the glacier I met some students from Germany, Holland and the US. I ended up making my way back to the entrance with them. They made the time pass quickly as were exiting. Once we reached the entrance I had to make my decision whether I wanted to head back to Santiago that night or whether I should head back the next day. I went back and forth with my decision and finally decided to stay in Baños Morales for the night. That is when the party started. I said goodbye to the group and to Carlos and then decided that I would spend the night at a hostel just outside of town (called Refugio Aleman). After asking for directions twice I decided to take a shortcut up a hill back to the main road...big mistake. So I got back up to the main road, but I couldn't find Refugio Aleman. I spent about 20-30 minutes walking around trying to find it, and then gave up. At that point I was frustrated and the sun was going down. I knew I had approximately 20 minutes until it would get dark and so I made my way back into town. By the time I got back into town it was already dark and I honestly had no idea how to get to the campground. Plus I had just downed the rest of my water, and two juice boxes, and was still thirsty. After asking for directions twice, I found the owner who agreed to walk me up to the campground.

After picking a spot, the fun began. So when I was packing, for some odd reason I left my headlamp back at the apartment in Santiago, leaving me without any source of light to put up my tent. As most of you know, I choose not to curse, it just isn't part of my nature, but that night the explicatives were flying. I took out the tent that I had borrowed from the group that I am staying with and could not figure out how to put it together. Dad, at that moment you would've been so disappointed with me (but I redeemed myself 10 minutes later). I went over to a group of people that were camping about 20 meters away from me and asked them if I could borrow a flashlight. I went back with the light and tried to assemble the tent. About two minutes after I went to borrow the light I figured out why I was having such a hard time putting together a tent...it was because I didn't actually have a tent in hand, what I had was the tent cover (for rain or wind). I ended up finding four large rocks and with the help of a couple of the guys from the group that lent me the light I was able to bend the rods into a tent like formation and placed the tent cover over it. What I had was a quadrangular shaped tent without a floor. It was enough space to place my sleep mat down and house my pack, which was all I really needed. Once I got out of the tent, the whole structure collapsed. So dehydrated, hungry and without a true tent, I was frustrated to say the least.

Thankfully putting up the tent was easy enough and so I spent 5 minutes working on that and then I decided that it was time to eat dinner and head to bed (it was probably 8:30 at that point). Since I didn't have anything else to drink, I decided I had to choke down part of the wine (which technically dehydrates you even more). The wine was horrible, to say the least. For dinner, I had part of pack of cookies, a portion of a container of pringles and an apple. As for the night's rest, I was so thankful that I have a pretty good sleeping bag. If not, I might've frozen to death.

Once I woke up, I packed up things and made my way back to town hoping that there would be a place open where I could purchase some water. So I think I might've been born with a sign on my forehead that says 'Ayudame por favor', because someone came up to me as I was wondering around town and asked me if I needed help. Because there weren't any places open at that time, I was planning on just sitting on a rock and reading. Instead, this 75 yr old Chilean gentleman started to talk to me and asked me if I would join him for breakfast at his son's restaurant. Our conversations were purely in Spanish, which were a bit of a struggle for me, but thankfully he was extremely patient (my Spanish is definitely improving, but it still isn't anywhere close to where I would like it to be). I gulped down a cup of coffee and a slice of bread with cheese on it, which turned out to be an extremely expensive breakfast (just about four dollars). After breakfast I asked him if he knew where the Church was and what time Mass was. Thankfully he did, and so we walked up to the Church and we were able to inquire about the Mass schedule. At that point it was around 10 in the morning, and with Mass at noon I had few hours to read. I've been trying to finish a Hundred Years of Solitude... (an interesting read, I highly suggest it). I made my way up to Mass at noon and the congregation could not have been more hospitable. It seemed like they were not used to foreigners coming up to Mass at their Church. They blessed my travels and made sure that I did not leave without giving each of them a hug (there were only about 10 people at the Mass). After Mass, I said my goodbyes and walked back to the National Park.

I spent the rest of Sunday in the park. It was so peaceful; it was what I needed. I wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle and smog of Santiago. At around 5 I left the park and made my way back to the bus stop. Without any problems, thankfully, I arrived in Santiago and eventually made my way back to the apartment.

I will write more soon (about my Spanish class adventures). I hope that y'all are doing well. Take care.

The end of the week

View from my seat for the showing "El Hombre De La Mancha". The seat was on the 4th floor of the theatre, but it was not an extremely large theatre so you could see everything.

This picture is from the park near La Moneda (see paragraph 2).

So I must apologize for not posting anything at the end of last week, but the post from this weekend will make up for it...I give you my word on that.

I will start from Wednesday of last week. So Wednesday was a normal day, I spent the morning in class and then spent the afternoon reading at a park near La Moneda. This park is absolutely gorgeous, it is right in front of the capital building and you will always find a number of people just sitting there talking or having lunch (or what many adolescent Chileans do is lay in the park together either kissing or just hugging. It seems like the younger Chilean population is pro-PDA, due to the fact that most live at home and so they have restrictions put on them. Thus they must find other places to show the affection. But I digressed from the main point...sorry).

Thursday was an interesting afternoon. I went to class and the Swiss gentleman showed up again. We spent the afternoon discussing politics, religion, and abortion (he got to know my answer about the last one very quickly). I was looking forward to this day, not because of the discussion, but because I had purchased a ticket to the musical- El Hombre De La Mancha (the story of Don Quixote). So at 7 I jumped onto the Metro to go down to El Teatro Municipal to see the show. I walk up to the doorman and hand him my ticket, at which point he said, "Este billete es por manana". I looked down at the ticket and sure enough I bought the ticket for Friday and not Thursday. I felt like a fool, but I thought 'at least I didn't miss it'. I went back to the apartment and ended up watching a movie with the CHasers (the group that I am staying with).

Friday ended up being a great day. I was able to get a run in before class (either I lost my ability to run for more than half an hour or the smog is getting to me) , I had the chance to talk with Beth and I ended up at the theatre. Hopefully I will be able to post a few pictures at the end of this post. El Hombre De La Mancha was phenomenal. I didn't understand most of what was being said, but I was able to pick up the general storyline. As you can tell from the picture, my seat was at the top of the theatre, and unfortunately I had a column in my way. Due to a shifting of seats by several older individuals in the crowd I was able to hop into a seat in the middle of the row and so it made it quite a bit easier to see everything.

Time in Santiago

So since my last posting....

1. A night out in Chile with the group that I am staying with.
2. A couple of lazy days in Santiago
3. A couple of days working on my Spanish.


So I am currently enrolled in a Spanish class for the next two weeks. I am starting from my basic understanding of Spanish...so I have quite a bit to work on. After class I spent the day wandering around the city before just plopping down at a cafe close to the apartment. The area that the apartment is in is beautiful. This area of town, Las Condes, is probably the richest area of Santiago and you can definitely tell that from some of the businesses in the district (the Ritz Carlton, Nike, etc.) .

Once I finished class today, I went walking with one of my classmates (a swiss gentleman). We had an educated discussion about the obesity epidemic in the United States and then enjoyed a couple of beers while working on our poor, poor Spanish. My thought is that I definitely left some room for improvement when I last took Spanish. I hope that all is well. Will write more soon.

Happy Easter - Photos Thus Far

Picture 1 - Lima, right outside of the hostel.

Picture 2 - Valparaiso. This is the view from the restaurant I ate at with one of Jamie Felton's friends that I randomly met while walking around town.

Picture 3 -I got to know this position very well for about three days in Pucon, Chile. This is my bed at the hostel. While I Pucon, I spent more hours there than I had outside... which was sad because look at the next two pics.

Picture 4 - Just a glimpse of what Pucon looked like. I was supposed to climb that volcano the second day I was there. That just means that I have to come back...

Picture 5 - My last day in Pucon I had the chance to spend an hour at the black sand beach. It was beautiful weather, but I was still too weak to go far from the hostel.

Here are only a select few photographs thus far. I will do my best to add more soon. I was able to go to the Easter Vigil Mass in Santiago with the group that I am staying with. It was a beautiful Mass. I will send a few more updates soon. Happy Easter!

Good Friday

First, I must apologize for how bad my typing has been thus far. I attribute it to the keyboards in South America. Second, I apologize for my last post. After reading it, I will admit, I was not in a good shape at that point, but I believe that I have come a long way from that point.

I did miss my boat to patagonia though, which stinks. But I am heading back to Santiago tonight and will rest and hopefully get everything ready to go for the next couple of months. I hope to spend the rest of this month in Santiago taking a Spanish course.

As a side note: Pucon is gorgeous. I spent part of the morning sitting at the beach reading.

Happy Easter to all!

Esta Enfermo

Let me explain the title: While horseback riding in Pucon (definitely on my top 5 places to visit), I told Greg the leader of the group esta enfermo...he said (in spanish) no, no, the horse isn´t sick. All the while I was trying to tell him that I was getting sick. While on the horse, I definitely threw up, more than once.... that began one of the worst nights I´ve had in South America. I feel a bit better today, just weak from not having food.

I hope that all is well. I will write more when I get teh chance.

Estoy Perdido

Ok, so here goes: the last few days have been insane. But, this is one of the times in my life where I am definitely out of my comfort zone, but I really like it. This is a different challenge than I have ever faced. I am finally getting the chance to 'live in the moment'. I don't have to think about the future...just yet. I am having a hard enough time figuring out what I am doing right now. I get teh chance to see the sun set...watch it falling to the other side of the world. So I will begin where I left off. I ended up spending Saturday with a scottish girl, Shona, and an American girl, Desiree. We meet up at the catacombs in Lima, which were really impressive. Unfortunately they don't let you take pictures there, but that was ok. I probably wouldn't have taken any just because my stomach was not feeling so hot. I was extremely thankful for the outside air once we escaped. We then went to a restaurant not too far way and ended spending some time there. It seemed like a popular place, but they definitely had a mice infestation... Anne, I think we could have used a few of these guys...they probably were better at breeding than our original mice... But one of the girls ordered some interesting meat dish. I think it was probably chopped up kidney and liver, it didn't look quite as appetizing as one might hope. We then ventured off to get ice cream + pepto...great combo. We were stopped by a church procession, which was pretty neat to see. And then ran into locations where we were definitey the only gringos. Once we got done downtown, we went back to Barranco. I definitely suggest heading out there if you make your way to Lima (Beth, we will probably stay there while in Lima). The beach is right there, and it seemed to be a safer location overall.

Then I took a taxi to the airport with another American. She was heading back home and I was heading to Santiago. Once I got my ticket I realized that I only had 30 minutes before people boarded, and I just started running (I felt bad for ditching her). I had forgotten my visa (or piece of paper that is needed while staying in Peru...I had to make a mental note to not forget it again), my bad. That took a bit more time, but I made it to the plane right before boarding. The item that kept me from eating my arm off (I was really hungry by that time, only having rice for lunch and no dinner) was a kit-kat bar. Highly suggested for traveling.

Plane was great, a much better experience than the flight from the States to Lima (take TACA or LAN if anyone is going off to visit). The only problem is that I arrived and made it through customs at 3 (and 130 dollars shorter...they really need to take away the reciprocity fee). As soon as I stepped out of the airport you could tell an extreme difference between Santiago and Lima. I will explain more about it later. The van dropped me right off at the apartment (I'm staying with Katy Walter's friends) at 4am. This is when the fun began... I ended up trying to converse with the doorman who didn't speak a lick of English. No one answered the door at 4am, understandably, and so I thought I was going to be in some trouble... just at that point a guy came in from a bachelor party that knew english and lived in the building (his name is sebastian). So sebastian invited me to hang out with him until 6am (when I told Conner that I was going to be there) and we talked for the two hours. He didn't let me leave until I had a beer and till I gave him my word that I would come back to visit the rest of Santiago with him. The hospitality that he showed me was second to none (he said that it is typical of Chileans to be that hospitable). I went down at 6 to meet up with them and thankfully Conner answered the door. I slept till about 10 and enjoyed a breakfast with the Chasers (they had completed ACE in the previous year {a great program through Notre Dame where they teach for two years}). I then ran around the center of Santiago, which ended up being really enjoyable. It is a new experience just learning how to be by myself, but I am enjoying it. I went to Mass last night with the Chasers, and it was beautiful. It was a packed house, understandably so due to it being Palm Sunday.

So let me explain the title. I have been lost since I've been here. This phrase (Estoy Perdido) is now part of my vocabulary, along with como puedo llegar a...

I am now in Valparaiso. A coastal town just 1.5 hrs away from Santiago. I decided to come here for the day and will probably end up in Vina del Mar by the end of my two days away from Santiago. I am sorry that I hadn't posted as regularly, but will try to do so soon.

I miss each of you. Take care.

First Day

After a crazy experience with trying to get to South America I finally made it! Lima, though heavily populated and extremely poor (and areas are rich, they tend to be right next to each other) , it is a beautiful city. The city itself is right on the water and from the hostel I'm able to see the Pacific ocean.

My first experience is has been interesting. The hostel sent a driver to pick me up, which was definitely an experience. The car was not made to fit a guy that is over 6 ft. I practiced my Spanish with him and he practiced his English with me. I definitely need to spend some quality time with the language... oh well, that is what I am here for.

Next, I come to the hostel to find a party going on. We hop ship and head to a bar. I had a good time with the group (it consisted of an irishman, two english guys, 4 canadians and one swiss girl). I had a few beers and then headed back to the hostel (by that time it was approx 3 in the morning). It made for an exciting morning though... I am still on my normal wake up at 7am mode and that did not sit well with partying and staying out late. But it was part of the south american experience!

Will write more later. Take care.