Los Andes

Yesterday, I got up around 3:30am to meet with some friends and ski the Andes.  These mountains are HUGE.  They seem to go on forever.  Ski Portillo is about 3 hours or so from where I live in Chile.  It's crazy to me that when I woke up, I walked by the beach to meet with the group, spent a day skiing in the mountains with tons of snow and then returned to the beach all in one day!

This is a Slope map of the ski resort.  The tall mountain on the right side of the map is in Argentina and is named Aconcagua which is the tallest mountain in the Andes and the Americas (22,841 feet). 

To give you a frame of reference for this photo, the orange sign is just over 6 feet tall.

The sunset over the Andes during the drive back home.  

Santiago - Day 3

Villa Grimaldi is one many concentration camp of the Pinochet dictatorship 1973-1990.

This site, where today, 
this park is lifted up
It was during 1974-1978
A place where torture, death, and disappearance were practiced like the politics of the State.

The names of each one of their corners
corresponds to testimonies;
the distressed record of some survivors
of the the Ex "Villa Gramaldi"

Each Flower, watered with the tears of yesterday
is a firm purpose from here. Never again!

Never again in Chile!

All of us were going to be queens.

Cerro Santa Lucia

Me doing a Traditional Chilean Dance

The View from Cerro Santa Lucia

View from Cerro San Cristobal - the tallest hill in Santiago 

Santiago - Day 2

The view from La Chascona.  La Chascona is one of Pablo Neruda's 3 houses in Chile.

One of the bars in Neruda's house.  This particular house has more bars than bedrooms.

Museum of Memory and Human Rights
This museum focuses on the crimes against humanity committed during  Pinochet dictatorship from 1973-1990 in Chile. 

Santiago de Chile - Day 1

I had the privilege of spending this past weekend in Santiago with some friends.  It was a wonderful trip!  I'll be posting a couple of more times to show some more photos, for there are too many to put in just one post.  

One can see many incredible views of the mountains throughout the city.  This is just one of those taken from near the Mercado Central.

How many cities have llamas downtown?

La Plaza de Armas

Front Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago

The Cathedral from the inside

A stray dog drinking from the fountain.  This is very common in the city.  There are tons of stray dogs everywhere.

Gas Explosion in Viña del Mar

This is a video of a gas explosion in Viña yesterday.  This happened in a totally different part of the city from where I live.  I was at school (in Valparaíso, a different city) when it occurred and learned about it on CNN Chile.

This is a link to the youtube page for the video, if you cannot get it to load here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B73_fy0W3GQ

Around Chile

Here are some photos of some random things around the area.  Enjoy!

Way cool way to weed-eat!

Viña y Valparaíso from Playa del Sol

Casa Central in my University.  How could is it to have palm trees growing inside the school!

Even Polly hates the Winter.

This was drunk in a day!  3 L I T E R S of Coke! 

The tiny blip just to the right of the land and right under the horizon is a submarine.  They are all over the water around the port.

The Land at the End of the World

Today marks 3 weeks I've been in Chile and 1 full week of school.  Since orientation and school began, time has flown.  I'm starting to settle into the ebb and flow of life here in the land at the end of the world, as they call it.  In many ways, life here seems like home yet distinctly foreign all at the same time.  The many new Chilenismos aren't quite so strange anymore, and the speed of speech is slowing. Polly follows me around like a member of the family. I'm more accustomed to the cold indoors and the eating schedule, but hopefully the temperature will improve as we move into the Summer!  ¡Salud desde Chile!

Las Dunas

Just outside of the city, there are some huge sand dunes where you can sled and 'snow' board.  Fantastic way to pass the afternoon!