maipo

yesterday i went for a hike in the maipo valley - a beautiful valley that ends with a glacier covered mountain peak. the area is very rich in mineral deposits, which gave a rich array of hues to the mountains and rocks that had fallen from them. the valley was strewn with boulders from the receding glacier and numerous rock falls. i went with a group of mostly americans (one girl from england) who where either intercambios or had graduated recently and were teaching english down here at an english institute for adults. getting there was a bit of an adventure in itself. we met at the metro and then found two collectivos (group taxis with a fixed fare) to carry us to our destination "cascadas de animas (waterfall of souls). when we arrived there we were told that our guide would be here in an hour and it would be about $10 per person. and that we couldn't go anywhere without the guide. balking at the obvious extortion, we caught the next bus to san gabriel, where we were told by our collectivo driver that all the gringos go and that it was free. free sounded good. we got off at a random corner that our driver assured us was san gabriel. after asking a few of the amused looking inhabitants, we were directed down a road that would take us to "some paths to climb." one of our members had a guidebook and found our location on the map. we seemed to be near a place called "banos de morales" which had hiking trails, hot springs etc. so off we went, trekking up the dusty mountain road, our eight gringo selves. after about twenty minutes we hit a snack shack with a bathroom and we decided to check our progress. there we learned we were about 20 km from banos de morales. at that point we decided hitchhiking would be our best option. four of us got in the cab of one nice young couple's truck, but they said the other four would have to wait, because riding in the bed of the truck op these unpaved roads would be too dangerous. i was in the cab, and the couple was from santiago, headed to the banos morales for the weekend. about half way there we were passed by another truck - whose bed was filled with our compatriots, blowing and bouncing dustily in the wind. we all got there in one piece, albeit some pieces dustier than others. then we began our hike - which was pretty much straight up until we crested the valley.  the first five minutes separated us into the fast and slow hikers. the fast hikers made it to the lake before we had to turn around to go catch our bus. going back down was a totally different challenge - i ended up running/bouncing down about a third of it. when we had the breath we exchanged stories about our travels  and experiences. dave, a practicing buddhist who grew up in vermont, had been traveling bolivia, peru and argentina for two months before coming to work as an english teacher here in santiago. he told us about the "hostel scene," five day machu picchu hikes and sketchy bolivian street food. danielle told us about moroccan whiskey (sweet spearmint tea - b/c they don't drink alcohol there) and spain (where she has studied for the last year). i managed to rip the seat of my linen pants when attempting to wash my hands in the lake. fortunately my scarf covered the 11 inch rip nicely. the bus back was dusty and crowded and quite entertaining. dave and i switched ipods and is now hooked on architecture in helsinki. our fellow passengers were quite enamored with us. they ordered their grandchildren out of the back seats so we could all sit together, sang us a chilean folk song, gave us  a liter of coca-cola and showed us where to get off for the metro. then they all said goodbye as we disembarked and waved farewell out of the window as they pulled out.

no soy un nugget ("i am not a nugget")

so two of the guinea pigs had babies. and they're pretty much adorable. and totally edible.... i will be sure to let you all know how that meal goes down. on a related note, we had chicken again today, because a cat got into the hen house.... 

i met today with the teacher i'll be teaching english classes with for the rest of the semester. she is young, sweet and eager to teach. i think it will be a really good experience. the school is called st. francis of asisi and it was really funny to see little monks with bald pates cut out of construction paper on the front of all the elementary classroom doors. i'll be helping to teach the lessons to classes of 40 4th graders, and especially helping with pronunciation. kind of intense to be "the example" on how to pronounce a language. 

i got my bip escolar yesterday (yay for 25 cent fares because i'm smart and po). on a whim i got off the bus about halfway to try to find a bookstore that sold pocketsize maps of the city. mission accomplished and now i no longer have to pull out my comically large full sized map when i need to check a street, which should come with a giant sign on the back that says "i'm lost! please take advantage of me!" i also walked the rest of the way (about a mile and a half, i think) to my destination, which was very pleasant. there is a sense of accomplishment that comes from recognizing your way around a city that was previously a jumble of similar looking streets and indecipherable systems. as i noted my progress in my now discreet pocket map, i thought about other cities i'd like to conquer. and how to travel to them since i'm going to be pretty broke for the next few years. any suggestions would be welcome : )

i'm loving my new family. the only problem is i only know about half of their names, because the 93 yr old aunt calls everyone "hijita" (diminuative of daughter) and the mom and the maid refer to the aunt as "la tia" or "abuelita" ("the aunt" "grandmother") and the mom refers to the maid as "senora." the husband calls the wife "corazon" or "amorcita" (my "heart" or "little love") so i know neither the aunt or the maid's name, and i wrote down the mom's name somewhere... the husband's name is william (billy for short) and he works up north during the week as an agronomist, so i only see him on the weekends (which is why i know his name, he is talked about in the 3rd person). and artur is the 3 yr old. he gets reprimanded enough that i picked his up too. he is pretty adorable, but have 8 younger siblings makes me less than susceptible to the charms of a 3 yr old. he knows this. he can sense my rebellion to the authority of his winsome smile alternated with menacing frown. i will NOT give you my cookies. NO. MINE. okay. the only reason you got the cookies was because your mom came in, and i cannot politely override her unspoken assumption that i will give you my cookies because you are 3 and you don't know any better than just to take them. but i am soooo on to you. i saw that gleam of victory in your eye. it's on. i am going to hide my cookies way better next time.

the maid is great - she's a wonderful cook - i almost never have to put salt on anything and i always clean my plate. its all very fresh and well-seasoned (whereas i think the only spice chileans are really familiar with is salt). she also is a marathon talker. i think she utilizes circular breathing during our "conversations" because i can get in a word about every 10 minutes. which is fine, because sometimes i totally lose the thread of comprehension and the entires plot-line takes a dive for about thirty seconds until i pick up some context again - oh so we went from the time you got robbed at knifepoint which is where that scar came from to the new chinese herbal remedy for something that you heard about on the discovery channel - i have no idea how that happened, but you are smiling, so i'll smile too...  she's super sweet though - always making sure i have enough to eat - she doesn't want me to lose my "watita" (little belly) on her watch. i'm going running again tomorrow morning...