Chilling in Chile: A Week in Santiago!

Hola!

I did not leave the Santiago area this week, but I have a LOT of talk about! Our profesoras wanted us to explore Santiago during the second half of the trip, and I can definitely say that I am well on my way!

On Monday, half of the group (including me!) had cooking class! First we learned about some typical Chilean foods, then we learned how to cook some!! We cooked the following:

Ensalada Chilena- a salad of tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, and some herbs
Pebre- a salsa-like dip with tomatoes, onions, herbs, lemon juice, and some hot pepper that you dip bread in
Empanadas de pino- empanadas with beef, onions (they love their onions here!), olives, and egg
Charquican- a stew-like dish with beef, vegetables, and potatoes
Macedonia- a delicious fruit salad!

It was all really delicious! When I get home, I am going to have to make a Chilean meal for sure! We were all so full after that lunch! After we got back to the university, however, we learned that we were going to go make more food with our tour company! We went to a soup kitchen that is run by the mother of the two sisters that are our tour guides in Chile and she showed us how to make:

Pastel de Choclo- Ground corn, meat, and onions baked with egg
And some kind of dessert with a potato crust, apples, and meringue

Again, the meal was delicious, but after eating it I felt like I was going to explode!!! But what great day for food :-)

After class on Tuesday, I went shopping! Some friends and I walked up and down the streets near our houses and learned a lot about the different sizes and pricing in Chile. We also discovered that the McDonald's here have Snickers McFlurries and Oreo cones! It was a pretty chill day, but a nice one!

Wednesday, after our two regular classes we had dance class!! We split into 4 different groups and were each taught a dance from a different area of the country. I learned a traditional dance from the South. I got to wear a skirt and shawl and danced with the short man who was leading the program! After we all watched each other's dances, we all learned a dance that apparently people did in the 1970s! It was definitely weird because at the end of the dance, we all sang "Let the sun shine" from the musical Hair! What a weird experience to have in Chile.

Thursday I had a midterm exam in my Chilean literature class. It was so weird having to study for a test in another country, but it wasn't bad. To celebrate after the test, my friends and I walked to a nearby neighborhood called Bella Vista. This neighborhood basically consists of little shops and cafes, and we spent a long time exploring and eating frozen yogurt! It was a nice afternoon. That evening we celebrated my friend's birthday, too, which was really fun!

On Friday, my friends and I climbed up a nearby cerro (small mountain) that overlooks the city. It was actually pretty steep and we spent a few hours climbing it and looking around. The view was incredible! You could see the whole city. I could even find my apartment building! The cerro is topped with a huge statue of Mary. I always see her from the streets of Santiago, so it was really cool to see her up close!

On Saturday, our entire group went to visit a Mapuche community on the outskirts of the city. The Mapuches are a native group to Chile. When the Spaniards came and conquered Chile, they took the Mapuches' land and they suffered for years. Even now, the Mapuches have little space to practice their religion and traditions, but they still seemed to be happy! They welcomed us into their community with a special ceremony in which they sprinkled us all with water and gave us branches from a sacred bush. It was pretty cool. We also got to eat some traditional food! There was a lot of fruit and bread, as well as some dish made with plantains and another made with grains. For lunch we had steak on a stick and some sort of bean stew thing. I really liked it all! OH! We also had a really delicious strawberry juice that tasted just like real strawberries! It was the best. We learned all about the Mapuche history, culture, medicine, and their traditional dress. We also learned how to play one of their traditional sports! It was sort of like field hockey. For those of you who know me, you know I do not play sports, so you can guess that I was just a spectator. It was a really good day! I went out to dinner in the evening with some friends and had a really good wrap and even better ice cream!! Hooray for tres leches!

Sunday was a free day for us, but my friends and I organized a trip to hike the Andes Mountains! It was so so great!! The hike was pretty long and so steep, but we got to take a break at a beautiful steam (where we got to swim!). The water was so cold, but so clear and refreshing! We also got to see a farm on top of a mountain! That was pretty cool to see all the animals so high up! I would hate to be the farmer that had to feed them every day! I got to eat a peach right off of a tree! That was cool. After our long hike, we got to eat at a gorgeous restaurant! I had SO MUCH FOOD. Salad and bread and chicken and a lot of rice and fruit and ice cream. It was a SERIOUS meal. A great end to a seriously awesome day, though; I was so so dirty when I finally got back to Santiago. Seriously. I thought that I had tan lines, but they turned out to be dirt lines! The mountain was so so dusty. Santiago is so dry this time of year.

Now I am in my room avoiding homework and talking to our new house-mate, a girl from Brazil! I hope everyone is having a lovely time in the cold and snow! I am thinking of you when I am sweating in the sun and getting tan!