personal
I think Nunu deserves her own post, for being the big presence she is in my life. Personally, I prefer dogs because they're a little more durable, but she holds her own for weighing all of 5 lbs...maybe a bit more, but most of it is fluff.
Read Moresmoggy Santiago skyline
The things I'll probably miss. Food vendors on the street: sopaipillas, empanadas de queso, eggrolls (but only near the bar scene at 2am)...all of it fried. Sugar roasted peanuts, hamburgers made with carne de soya, the little push carts near the metro station...
Read More19 april 2015 // flying back to Santiago from Calama, post-Atacama trip
It's the small things, like writing the date on class notes 22.4.2015 or saying I live half a kilometer up Irarrázaval. The ways in which you've changed but don't really know when exactly it happened; they just kind of sneak up on you. Elbowing my way into a metro car (forget Midwestern nice, if you're making it into that car you gotta squish), strategically placing myself in the metro car depending on how many stops I have to go to avoid having to wade through 20 people to get out of the door before it closes at my stop. Keeping spare 100 peso coins in my back pocket (damn no front pocket in womens' jeans) to give to street performers or musicians on the metro. Knowing to hold up the number of fingers you want for thousand pesos you want charged to your Bip - holding up 3 fingers for 3000 pesos - because the card rechargers can't hear very well through the glass. After three months abroad, two of them in Chile, a lot of things have snuck up on me. And it's nice to know you've learned something, especially if they're the small things.
Desert, desolation, pure hot sand as far as you can see...and then you pop over a sand dune and see ocean! That's what it's like to be travel from Bolivia through the Atacama Desert, to Iquique, a medium-sized port city in northern Chile. This time I arrived via airplane from Santiago and spent Easter weekend in Iquique.
Read MoreValpo and Viña, sister towns on the coast near Santiago de Chile, were two great towns to explore. For less than a $5 bus ticket I got to the beach and out of the big city. I know where I'll be most weekends from now on...
Viña
Valpo // cats and coffee
Viña // the town's dogs loved sleeping on the beach
Valpo
Viña // pure happiness, eating a fresh-out-of-the-fryer empanada and watching the sunset
Viña
one of a billion sunset photos, but this one's mine
An ode to the ocean and my film camera that makes me so happy.
As beautiful of a city it is and as much as I love speaking Spanish, the transition to living in Santiago de Chile has been rough for me. I went from volunteering on a farm in rural Bolivia - to living and navigating a city of 7 million people in Chile, a country with an average income triple that of Bolivia. Taking the Metro, navigating the bus system, and just being immersed in the energy of 7 million human beings has been like constantly leaning on the accelerator pedal: feeling constantly drained. After a month it's definitely getting better, thanks to wonderful friends, host family, and my parents taking my calls with their never-ending patience and love. Here's to becoming a big city fish sooner than later...
film. taken from Santa Lucia hill in the middle of the city. beautiful.
I live with my chilean host family in one of many apartment buildings with a large central park area where families and groups of school kids gather to talk
Skyline of Santiago's business district, affectionately known as "Sanhatten"
Flowers Outside the Bellas Artes metro stop // nature and concrete
Manquehue metro stop // steel and light
Gustock music festival raising money for the public park // good music and even better veggie pesto ravioli
Camila Moreno performs at Gustock music festival // love the sparkly blue dress
"Bienvenidos! El museo ahora es gratis" (Welcome! The museum is now free) did not apply to the dog who followed us in. He was not welcomed by the museum staff :(
NuNu's derp face // no animals were harmed in the taking of this photo
Fruit from the Vega market, known for its cheap, fresh produce. I bought a kilo of strawberries for less than 2 dollars and a small box of huge juicy blackberries for the same amount // nomnom
Shadow of a palm tree on the concrete in Parque Uruguay
Buildings in the older sector of Santiago
More photos to come...semester ends in July.
film. Sunset from a friend's balcony.
From high vantage points it's apparent that the city goes on and on, in layers of buildings and cranes that get blurrier as the distance increases, due to the smog.
People from all over the world come to Oruro, Bolivia, to watch and take part in Carnaval: a multi-day parade with thousands of dancers and musicians.
Read MoreI spent two weeks at a HelpX farm called Vinto Lindo, located just outside Cochabamba. It was nice to be out of the hustle-and-bustle of the city and work with my body in the garden, pulling weeds, getting calluses digging post holes, planting fruit trees, harvesting corn by hand, and sharing hour-long lunches with the other volunteers and our host.
view from the farm
Two teams being led by local farmers in the corn field
building with the volunteer kitchen and tool shed
garden extension and greenhouse
Main garden with lettuce, pole beans, onions, potatoes, strawberries, and squash
I met some people that were very genuine souls: a Tim from France who made a killer Bechamel sauce (used in vegetable lasagna..nom nom), Caitlin from England who had been travelling South America for the past few months, and Anneliese from Canada who did advanced-level woodworking and knew a lot about permaculture from WWOOFing in New Zealand.
Tim playing his violin
famous vegetable lasagna with Bechamel sauce, my first meal at the farm
Caitlin bonded with this little creature who followed us home
Quinoa plant
Cactus and its fruit, tuna
plant outside the volunteers' quarters
The stars at night were gorgeous, a glimpse into the southern hemisphere's night sky
A lot of cherry tomatoes and some evening inspiration. And my dog, who was mostly a willing model. Poor guy sees my camera and just gives up. <3 My mom has had a garden since I can remember, and this year is especially bountiful. The Earth is good.
My mother's hard-working hands
"This is not an all-natural beef treat as you led me to believe"
The whole tomato family and some accidentally picked green ones.
Support shelter dog adoption and you too can have a tomato-investigating furry tailed friend.
