Great Weekend

My weekend started on Friday. I never have class on Fridays, so the three day weekends are going to be very nice. On top of that, monday was a holiday in Chile, so I had a four day weekend. Awesome. Friday started out early because Ximena invited me to go on a sight seeing trip with some students who are here from Asia. They are studying Spanish through their University, and this was a nice way for them to see some of the country, and I was lucky enough to join. We left at 9am, which meant that I had to leave my place at 8am so I could take a colectivo downtown and then walk to campus. I had no idea where we were going, just that it would be near the Andes, so I was pretty excited. When I got to campus I found out that it would be me, Ximena, another teacher, and four students. Two from the philipines, one from Nepal and one from Bangledesh. What I didn´t know was that they all spoke English, so my brushing up on my Spanish was not necessary. Oh well. We went in a van, which was driven by a man named Aladino. So from the start there were jokes about this trip being magical and the van being our magic carpet. Aladino didn´t speak English, but we were able to talk a bit and joke in Spanish. I was in the passanger seat and everyone else was in the back, so Aladino and I tried to talk some. He was a funny guy, and made the long drive bearable. I also got a chance to talk with Ximena quite a bit. So that was really enjoyable. We talked about our families and work and all that good stuff. It was a long drive to where we were going, but I was very suprised and happy to see how much this part of Chile resembles Washington. If it wasn´t for all of the trees being a bit different, and everything being in Spanish, I could have been driving on a country road in Washington.
Our first stop was a city called Frutillar. It´s a little German influenced city on the shore of Lago Llanquihue, a huge lake about 3 hours drive from Valdivia. It´s a beautiful place, with a bunch of little German houses and restaurants. The Lake is beautiful, but unfortunately it was cloudy that day, because on the far shore is Volcán Osorno, a big, perfectly symetrical volcano. We could only see the base while we were in Frutillar, but it was still very beautiful. We looked at the lake and the waterfront for a bit, then we went to a museum about the town and the German immigrants who founded it. It was pretty cool, but after a bit our hunger got the best of us and we left for our next destination.
The next city we went to was further south, but also on the shore of Lago Llanquihue. This city was called Puerto Varas. When we got there we stopped at a little Italian restaurant for lunch and I had my first pizza since I got here. Anyone who knows me knows that going that long without pizza was somewht trying for me. It was very good and I left quite happy. After we ate we continued around the lake to the Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales. Here we went to see los Saltos del Petrohue. This was also beautiful. I was amazed at how much water was shooting out of the falls. We stayed there for a bit, then we left and went further down to Lagos Todos los Santos. This was really cool because the lake was surounded by mountains. By this time of the day the clouds were breaking up and we could see a lot more. Still couldn´t see the top of Volcán Osorno, but almost. I was also able to see the mountains that make up the border with Argentina. So it was pretty spectacular. We stayed there for a while and then we left to go back to Valdivia. In all I saw two big lakes, a waterfall, and a bunch of mountains... So I was really happy. The drive home was long, rainy, dark and kinda boring. Everyone, except me and Aladino, was asleep. So we talked some, or tried to at least, while everyone else slept. We didn´t get back till 9:45, and I wasn´t back in my cabaña till 10pm. So it was a really long day, but it was also a very good day.

Saturday was fairly uneventful, Estela and I went to the butcher shop and bought some beef, then had lunch, then I found out I had TV and cable in the cabaña. Not only that, but half of the shows on the TV were in English with Spanish subtitles. So I spent most of saturday watching TV. In fact, that evening, I watched Chile beat Columbia in a world cup qualifier. I mention it because this win made it so Chile is gaurenteed a spot in the 2010 world cup. Naturally, the whole country went crazy. People running through the streets screaming and celebrating. I could still hear cars honking their horns at 1am. It was pretty great.

Sunday Estela and I went to la Feria to buy some produce and fish. Then we tried to find somewhere where I could buy an international calling card, but since it was sunday everything was closed. We went back to the house and had lunch, then later in the evening she took me to a couple of parks around Valdivia. It was a pretty cloudy day, so we didn´t stay out long. When we got back I called mom and talked for a bit. It was nice to hear all the news from up north. After that I went back to my Cabaña. Estela let me use her computer so I was finally able to put some pictures up on facebook. I still haven´t figured out how to get them on this blog, but I´m working on it.

Monday was a really cool day. After we had lunch, Estela took me down to the waterfront. Then we got on a boat and took a tour of the rivers around Valdivia. It was really cool to see the city from the water. And it was really cool to see all of the lobos marinos (sealions) up close. There are a ton of them here. The just hang out and wait for the fishers to throw them scraps. They crawl up out of the water and just kind of hang out next to la Feria and along la Costanera, a road the goes all along the bank of the river. The damn things are huge, and there´s almost always a crowd of people around them taking pictures. Valdivia also has a submarine parked along the shore. It´s going to be part of a museum in the future, but now it´s just kinda sitting there. After the tour we went to Lider, the store next to where we live, bought some food for the week, then went back to the house.

That was pretty much my weekend. It was nice and long and I got to see some cool stuff. So I was happy. The more I´m here the more I love this country. It´s beautiful, and the people are great. I´m very happy I´m having this opportunity, and I wouldn´t be suprised if I find myself back here in the future. This week I just have three days of school, so I´m going to continue observing classes and enjoying myself. Hasta luego.