¡Juegue!

The phrase in the title is a ‘chilenismo’ that means to “attack life head-on” or basically carpe diem. Hmm..this is gonna be a long post because there is much that has happened since my last one. I should write more often I know…Bueno, life in Vina has been lovely and would be perfect if not marred by that thing called school. I shouldn’t complain though. I have never liked anything being too easy, and if I know one thing about my self, I know that I love a challenge. Taking classes at my university is just that. I just need to do more readings and participate more and I know I will be fine.

Two weeks ago, there was a huge party sponsored by my university called “la semana mechona.” It was basically freshman orientation, but the whole school attends. The university suspended classes at noon and drove everybody out on buses to this really huge country club surrounded by mountains. And then they gave us free food, drinks, and live music. It was a great time during which I discovered the perks of attending a private university in Chile.  At 8, the buses then escorted all of us to a really great dance club called ‘El Huevo’ (egg) in nearby Valparaiso. Huevo was the bomb cause it had four heaving dance floors. One each for reggaeton, 80s, electronic, and salsa. I spent most of my time on the salsa floor and learned some sweet moves. Then some estupido took my jacket, which contained my cell phone, key, and some money. That same night, two of my other friends got robbed- one at knife point. Valparaiso is not the safest place to be at night for sure, but that is not gonna stop me from returning to El Huevo!

This past weekend, there was the Summit of Progressive Leaders right here in Vina del Mar. In attendance were the heads of state of Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Uruguay, UK, Chile (duh), and even Joe Biden! I think that the media consensus is that there was not too much progress made at this ‘progressive’ summit. Oh well…we will just have to wait for this week’s G20.

So to the highlight of this post…while our world leaders were busy aimlessly chatting, I packed up with some amigos and went to Pucon! Pucon is a very touristy adventure town, located a good 11 hour bus ride away from Vina. It was completely worth it, although there was some drama before we even got there. On the last of the three different buses we took on the  way over, some estupido robbed my Canadian friend Chris, taking a backpack which contained the poor guy’s passport, debit card, iPod, homework, and wine. The passport was pretty serious business so some extremely nice men on the bus called the Carabineros (po-po). Lemme tell you..the Chilean police are the nicest I have ever encountered- they were so helpful in helping Chris fill out a report, and they even gave us a ride back to the bus station in a cop car. Yay! Chris said he wanted to go on to Pucon instead of going back to Santiago to apply for a new passport, so off we went. We really didn't have much hope of ever seeing that passport, but wouldn’t you know that the next day, Chris gets a call from the Carabineros saying that they found his passport and debit card!! Craziness…I have no idea how they did that, but they are so damn efficient. I think that Baltimore County po-po could learn something from the Carabineros. Hmm-hmm.

So anyway, our main mission in Pucon was to climb the smoking and rumbling Villarica Volcano, but alas we did not get to because it was raining and cloudy all weekend. But whateva because we found other stuff to do. On our first night, we went on a very long bike ride all around Pucon. It was absolutely great cause I love riding bikes. We even rode out to the beach and saw a lovely Chilean sunset. 

The next day, it was raining, so we met up with my Kelsey boo and went rafting on some level IV and V rapids. Now lemme remind you that my greatest fear is probably drowning, and that I can’t swim. Nevertheless, I was really excited because it was my first time rafting. Our guide, Gio, was crazy but so funny. I didn’t get real nervous until they told us all to get out of the raft because there was a level VI rapid that the guides alone would be able to maneuver. So we had to get out of the raft, and walk through some forest until we game upon this cliff which was very very high above the water. And they told us to jump off this crazy cliff into the water and then swim against the current to the raft. And I was thinking, ‘Fuck no!,’ but there was no way to get around it. So I just held on to my lifejacket, made Chris count to 3 for me, and then I jumped in and made it to the raft somehow. I don’t think I will ever forget that and it was definitely my favorite part of the trip. 

I ate very well in Pucon because we cooked some excellent pasta, found some decent falafel, and made some tasty fruit-filled crepes! On Sunday, we decided to just chill, so we went to the Termas Las Pozones (natural hot springs). It was sooo nice to just sit in the steaming hot water for a couple of hours surrounded by beautiful scenery. It was even better because the cold rain drops cooled us off while we were in the water…heaven! Overall, it was an excelente weekend.

Ok. I think that’s all for now. Oh except that there have been at least 1500 mysterious penguin deaths in Southern Chile. That is too sad to end this post with, so I will also report some good news: I just successfully made some of the spiciest vegetable curry ever. I ate it two hours ago, and my stomach is still burning. My mother would be so proud : )

Hasta luego amigos!!