A Whirlwind Last Month in Chile

Above: On a rafting trip - one of the best experiences of my life - in the Cajon de Maipo. I rafted for the first time at a level 3 river and jumped off a 15 meter cliff. It was a fantastic adrenaline rush and a day full of laughs in the family!

I have been back in the United States for two weeks! I have spent the time conversing with friends and family, finalizing my college applications, and adjusting to a familiar life with weird details.

Above: One of my absolute favorite spots in Santiago, called Cerro San Cristobal, offers amazing nature walks and a magnificent view of the city.

Let me fill you in first from my mid-December to early January adventures in Chile when I went AWOL on this blog…

Above: The lake area we traveled around. We stayed near Frutillar but took many road trips around Lake Llanquihue.

Above: We went as far as the port city of Puerto Montt, starred above.

I went on vacation after Christmas with my family for a few weeks to the south of Chile. We went specifically to the "Los Lagos" region with (evidently) many lakes. It was gorgeous; we rented a cabin right along the huge lake. It did not require much of my imagination to see the water as the ocean because it stretched so far. It only lacked salty air and big oceanic waves, but I suppose many people would prefer the ocean view without its uncomfortable physicality. Those were pretty relaxing and fattening days.

Above: We ate so much kuchen, a layer of pound cake with a sweet topping!

As this is a region that was colonized by Germans under a Chilean government initiative in the early 1800’s, we were able to eat authentic German food (including sauerkraut and yummy red cabbage) almost everywhere. We even ate kuchen, a type of cake with a sweet crunchy topping on top of a spongy cake, every day for teatime while watching TV (which even featured an all-German channel), before going for a nightly swim together. It was fantastic.

Above: My sister and I pose next to the Petrohue Waterfalls. The water is really a bright celestial blue!

During the day, we took road trips more to the south of Chile. We drove around the huge lake called Lake Llanquihue and visited all the cities around it, including Puerto Octay and Ensenada. On the way, we hiked at various spots and visited a beautiful waterfall area called Petrohue. We even travelled to the port cities of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt. On a rainy day while we were in Puerto Montt, my family and I met a nice elderly Australian couple while we were having lunch in a fish market.

Above: Here I am in a very remote part of Chiloe next to the Pacific Ocean.

On another day, we drove and took a ferry to go to the island of Chiloe, which was gorgeous. Under intense rainy and cloudy weather, I ran out of the car to touch the Pacific Ocean and visit the tiny cultural museum in Ancud.  (‘Welcome to the South,’ Chileans say, when one remarks on the forever cloudy and rainy days.)We shopped at so many cute indoor stores in ‘ferias’ ('markets') that sold cheap tourist merchandise alongside fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood. 

The food was fantastic everywhere we went. In Ancud, Chiloe specifically, we were served humongous bowls of seafood called ‘curanto’ (shellfish, meat, potatoes, mussels, clams, giant barnacles, chicken) and huge fried empanadas. All was delicious.

Above: Yummy curanto!

Above: Fried seafood empanada!

Above: Freshly packed fish right next to the ocean!

Above: We ate at a restaurant each night. This was our best meal: potatoes, salmon, and rice. The potatoes were heavenly and I was officially converted to a potato-lover, the last step to becoming a real Chilean!

Above: My sister and I found goose sculptures surrounding the border of the lake while in the city of Frutillar. The juxtaposition of the sculptures with the lake was majestic.

I even got to see penguins and seals in a spontaneous moment when we had gotten off our car while on the ferry cruising across the Pacific Ocean on our return from Chiloe to the rest of Chile. My sister, mom, and I ran back into the car sopping wet with wind-blown hair, but it was worth it!

With about five days left in Chile, my sisters and I parted ways for an indeterminate amount of time. They needed to go on camping trips with friends and classmates while I decided to spend my final days at my friend’s house in another part of southern Chile. I wanted to see another side of the country because Chile is a country of two extreme faces. It can be modern and new, but also traditional and old. In Santiago, I live in the former part. Spending time with my friend in the rural countryside showed me the latter.

Although there were parts that I did not like as much, like constant cat-calls from drivers and men in the streets, as well as, the multiple bug bites I sustained while there, I relished in the tranquility of being surrounded my nature and down-to-earth, happy, and accepting people. I ate my first Chilean ‘completo’ (a hot dog with the requisite threesome: mayonnaise, tomatoes, and avocado), spent an entire day tanning and swimming in the big river while eating manjar and freshly-baked bread, met Chilean soap opera stars who I recently became obsessed with in a restaurant in Temuco to which we had taken a public bus, learned how to make bread (which tastes so much better than store-brought bread), hung out in the town’s two plazas because it was one of the interesting parts of the small town, raced shared bikes in the main Plaza with all my exchange student friends there, talked to my friend until 3 or 4 morning in the each night about everything under the sun, and watched anime with my friend and her host sister on the last night until the morning (after being elated that I had met someone who loved anime with the same passion). I cannot think of a better way to have ended my time in Chile.

Above: I met the two actors from my favorite soap opera at an Italian restaurant in a big town I visited with Izy and our Danish exchange friend Maya!

Above: I went to Emporio La Rosa, the ice cream shop, and ate there with my mom.

After a sad and prolonged farewell with my friend and her family, I returned to Santiago even more aware of the little time I had with my parents. That evening, I watched Modern Family by myself and later with my parents, packed so many clothes and souvenirs into two large suitcases (a feat, let me tell you! It was the epitome of 'packed to capacity'!), and got semi-okay with being without my host sisters' presence. It was a bittersweet evening. I ate an empanada (napolitana, which is the same empanada flour but with mozzarella, oregano, and tomato sauce) at one of my two favorite stores called Ingenio (next to ‘Tomas Moro,’ it is constantly voted the best in the city) and even ate rosa-flavored (chrysanthemum-flavored) ice cream at Emporio La Rosa, my favorite artesanal ice cream shop with my mom. Returning home, my mom and dad helped me pack as we followed our tradition of watching Modern Family episodes together. How ironic that it took me going to Chile to discover an American show!

We later went to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant (remember how I told you that Peruvian food is better than Chilean?) where we were served by the nicest waiter with a fantastic Columbian accent who was really interested in my background story. Once we returned home, my parents and I spent the night just talking... about universities, travel (like in the Torres del Paine, one of the places in Chile I plan to return to visit), etc. At this point, I do not even remember. I just remember the feelings of joy, comfort, and sense of being at home watching them talk as I twirled on the black office chair in the middle of the living room. At one point, my dad went to bed, but my mom and I ended up talking for more than four hours - until 4am - without even realizing it. We spoke about politics, psychology, current news events, possible career choices for me, Chilean and American university school systems, how and I why I ended up in Chile… It must have been one of my most memorable and beautiful interactions I have ever had. God bless her, it was a Monday night and she had to work the next day!

Above: My mom was so sweet! Among the million reasons why I love her, she took the time to visit interesting places in Santiago with me each weekend and made sure that I knew how to navigate the city. Here we are in Cerro Santa Lucia.

I spent the next day - my last day in Chile and my last full day in Santiago (for probably a long while) - swimming in our pool soaking in the sun appreciating the 34 degrees Celsius weather, aware that returning to the US meant immersing myself yet again to a drastic and frigid temperature change. It was a lazy day where I watched more Modern Family and tried to memorize the house and its people.

My parents took a few hours off at the end of their day to drive me to the airport. Sitting in the backseat of the car listening to them plan the rest of the year with the the family and remind each other about all the weekends we had spent visiting so many places was the embodiment of being home. I was reminded of the beginning process finding and getting to know my second family and felt we had gone so far in such a small span of time. They were simply my parents in the front of the car talking like any other day.

When we got to the airport and finally checked in my bags (after a fun conversation with the counter guy who talked about his love for Breaking Bad after reading that my bags would be sent to Albuquerque), we began to part ways. We hugged a lot. There we were, the three of us right in front of the class wall separating departing international passengers from family and friends who would stay in Chile. We stayed in our circle trying to memorize each other’s faces. My parents looked at me the whole time with love and adoration in their eyes and, in that point, I felt that it was real that I would leave them for a while. We all cried together and hugged repeatedly. With promises to see each other again very soon (and with a strong personal resolve that I will return to my family as soon as I am able), I stood in the long Customs line for probably 15 minutes, constantly glancing past the glass window to my family. The sweetest thing was that every time I would glance up, I would say my dad smiling or waving. 

Above; The first Chilean town I lived in called Olmue.

Finally, after waiting at the gate and messaging both my families, I boarded the plane to the United States. I wrote my last journal entry as we were flying out of Santiago. This was the same journal that I had begun writing every day while in Chile. Although I have never been able to keep a constant journal, notebook, or diary in my life, I am grateful and proud I was able to do a daily task during my Chilean adventure. One day when I am less emotional about not being in Chile, I will read the journal again and hopefully it will remind me about how each day felt, with its ups, downs, and normals. 

I was lucky to discover that my seatmate was a world-traveler and articulate liberal arts graduate student from Arkansas who reminded me so much of a beloved teacher. I adored my conversations with her and she has shown me to be unafraid to learn new languages and travel to unknown places. She travelled to Chile without knowing a word of Spanish but still sustained herself and became fluent. I hope to maintain that sense of optimism, courage, and adventure that she embodied. Moreover, I am continuing to strive to keep that joy within me as I readjust here.

After a brief layover at Dallas where I had a delightful conversation with the exchange organization volunteer who, incidentally, was the same woman who met me there when I was preparing to go to Chile, I finally landed in Albuquerque near noon on Wednesday. It was odd to see my American family again; my dad is skinnier, my brother is a head taller, and my mom is emotionally stronger. It has been weird being back. Gas being around $1 honestly scares me; I feel as if the world is ending. (I had stopped looking at Chilean gas prices because they are in liters and Chilean pesos; in addition, gas is really expensive there because it is not subsidized and is also imported.) Yet, I appreciate not having to convert prices anymore and that drug store and clothing products are about half the Chilean price.

Above: My sisters and I were at the top of my favorite hill in Santiago, Cerro San Cristobal, eating mote con huesillo, a traditional drink made of dried peach and wheat.

Sometimes I feel a bit trapped and less independent without a fantastic public transportation system. I understand it takes time, but waiting is always one of the most difficult aspects of change. I am still readjusting to every minute of life here, what with it being with my weight (due to a month of travelling and vacationing, I ate much and exercised little), bouts of sadness (from feeling that I may be back where I started and have not changed or learned from my experience abroad), and nervousness (I never was nervous in Chile entering into new situations, but being back in my house and entering school again is nerve-wracking). I have spent these past weeks catching up on my favorite shows, doing the final steps to my college process, catching up with friends, family, professors, and mentors, and returning to attend my American high school.

Above: My sister and I after during a visit to a vineyard where we successfully crossing a rickety bridge.

There are moments that are overwhelming and, as every day passes, Chile seems like a dream, a memory I am grasping towards. I hope I don't lose the person I have become. I hope I don’t lose the love I feel for my other family. I truly hope Chile has made an impact on my life and that I am better because of it. And really, I know that Chile has changed me and that my Chilean family and I will continue to keep our connection.

I would never trade these past six months, and I feel incredibly blessed that all the stars aligned for me to have experienced this largely indescribable and amazing adventure. I am excited for that one day where I can look upon this experience a bit more objectively to see just all the lessons I have taken from it.

Thank you all who made this happen! Most of all, I will use my actions and a happy, open, and courageous mindset to continue living this adventure and to create many more!

Hasta luego, mi Chile! (Until later, my Chile!) J