2/3 of the Lucenos do Chile

Charlie, our fearless chauffeur. Passes curve 39.

Our first prom picture in the Andes

No lift lines, GP. Ticket, gear, and classes 18$.

A surprise sighting of Michele Pachelet, presidenta of Chile. The blonde. Almost shook her hand, Dad will be beating himself up about that for the rest of the trip!

Ricardo, head of security at the presidential palace gives us a private tour. Launch 5 cards came in handy, thinks dads a rescue swimmer.

Couldnt pass up a shot of dad in his new coat, next to the president's orange tree.

As the sun sets, we found the southern cross. At the top of Cerro San Cristobal, looking out on Santiago. Photo taken by Cameron, moms new best Australian friend.

Chilean and New York family.

Look at all the pisco! Not another one!

An eventful trip to the Pacific. Stories to come. Couldnt find a sea lion or horses on the beach.

Now we are off to Buenos Aires, pictures and tales of the Tonto rubio to come. Miss you all and thinking of you. Adios, chau. SHAAA!

Through the lens

Sunset at Copacabana. A trout meal for less than 3$.


Donkeys and llamas carry goods up and down the vertical hills and terraces of the Isla.



You dont need to be 21. Ha! Isla del Sol is run by families who open their houses and yards to be hostels or little restaurants where their 8 year old daughter might be your waitress.









A house that stood alone on the pass from the South and to the North end.





Isla del Sol

The Sacred Stone. Here on the island, they honor the creation story of the Inkas. The sun´s son and the moon´s daughter were born out of Lake Titicaca. They walked north from the icy lake until their golden staff would stick in the ground. They crossed the dry and brittle altiplano until they arrived in Cuzco, where their staff easily slid into the ground. For this, Cuzco is known as the ¨Navel of the World¨.

One of the motor boats that bring you around Isla del sol. They are usually blessed, with painted wood and a tiny smoking motor. Legend has it that if you were to fall overboard, the fishermen wouldnt rescue you. Instead, you would be given to Pachamama (Mother Earth) as an offering. Our captain, Felix assured us they rescue the tourists.

Main square and catedral in Cuzco. All around it are bars, discotecas, and balconies where you can get a coffee and a sandwich. Beware of the plaza at night where you can be bombarded by people shoving cards in your face and trying with all their power to have you come to their bar, restaurant, dance club! When in doubt, run.

Famous rock of 12 angles found in Cuzco´s wall. It says that this rock is holding the wall together, its 2 meters deep and the angles are supposed to help if their was ever to be seismic activity.

Festival in Cuzco, we are here right at the beginning of their solstice festivals. They say that Cuzco is always celebrating.. each morning we were woken up by voices on microphones and music from the main plaza.

Wheres my marker?

Chileans have this joke. It gets them every time.

Tell any Chilean you are headed on a long bus journey, and before you even vocalize your destination... theyre laughing and telling you, you better bring a marker. At first I didnt get it.

In the last 5 days Ive taken 3 journeys on buses.
Santiago-San Pedro de Atacama, 25 hours.
San Pedro de Atacama- Arica, 11 hours.
Arica-La Paz, Bolivia, 9 hours.

Now I get it. Its to draw that line that runs down the seat of your pants. You lose it on these bus rides. And now Im wondering, wheres my marker!?

After the program ended we headed to San Pedro de Atacama, in the north north north of Chile. Its the driest place in the world. Its a small town full of hostels, artesania, family food restaurants, and adventure excursions. After a fuerte program, it was nice to be on vacation and see incredible places. Im with 3 incredible friends, we are working our way around South America. Already its been too much to put in words but Ill try.

-Visited salt flat, 3rd largest in the world. Full of shrimp, flamingos, and coral reef looking salt.
-Walked around deep blue lakes, rimmed with white potassium sand and golden grasses. Tricks you into thinking youve stumbled upon the alps.
-Went mountainbiking into the Valle de la Muerte... incredibly dry desert with sand dunes, rocky walls, and sandboarding tracks. Tried my luck with the sandboard... Hiking back up a massive dune in the middle of the driest place in the world, at 4,300 meters gives you a whole new appreciation for chair lifts.
-Watched the sunset in Valle de la Luna, one of the best places to see stars. Hiked across dunes and a walled crater.
-Watched the sunrise among the Geyesers de Tatio. Geysers which spew vapor from large nest looking holes or tiny snake looking holes in the ground. The background was volcanos.
-Took a thermal "bath" near the largest geyser... a hot spring strategically placed where the Chilean tour guides line up to watch the tourists, an experience!
-Ate llama. Quite tasty, salty, 0 cholesterol.
-Made some new friends in the hostel, at one point there was 5 languages going on in the same conversation. A striking contrast between the North Face travellers lugging mineral water and packs and the Northern Chileans, mostly watching....

We got to La Paz, Bolivia, the highest capital city! We are enjoying the Bolivian life for a day here, finding good food, helpful people excited to share their culture, and we are taking all safety precautions, I promise! Ive never been so responsible in my life, Mom and Dad!
-Found the best coffee in La Paz.
-Had 2 La Paz old ladies create a COA for us, to ceremonially burn when we travel to bring us good luck and have our wishes come true. It has herbs, confetti, a llama statue, candy, a silver paper, a golden paper. We have to each put 12 coca leaves on it, make a wish to Panchamama.
Our friend Freddy, a city tour guide, said we were the first tourists he met who made their own Coa, he certainly got a kick out of that one. Ill let you know how it goes!
-Visited cobbled streets filled with silver jewelry, wool crafts, al paca hats and gloves, seed necklaces.
-Went to the witches market, where you can buy any spell potions, llama fetuses to ceremoniously burn, animal fur, and lots of other things we didnt ask about...
-Went to the Museo de Coca, to unlock the mystery of this plant!
-Ate breakfast, dinner, lunch for $1 each.
-Had our fortunes read by a guide, who reads them with coca leaves...

A lot. I know. Pictures, I promise. News, I promise. Its been a wonderful few days and there is lots more to come.
Tomorrow we leave for Copacabana at 8 am.
Lake Titicaca to follow.
Staying on an island with families (hopefully) for a night or 2.
Crossing into Peru to Cuzco.
Macchu Picchu and Aguas Calientes.
Lima for flight to Chile.

disclamer: stolen from Abi:

Salt flat in Chile.

Lake trip.

Mountain biking through the Valle de la Muerte.

Sandboarding, heading down... a slow process.

Sunset at Valle de la Luna.

beginnings and endings

Our program ended last Wednesday. No sooner was I back from Buenos Aires; typing up my thesis & changing from Argentinean spanish to Chilean spanish that we were back where we started this whole journey... Hotel Pacifico in Algorrobo. For what seemed like only moments our group was back together... I couldnt help but notice how different we all are. Not only the physical; ubiquitous fanny packs, high top converse, checkered chilean scarves and cool knit bags...the change went deeper. Looking back on these last 3.5 months, this program was more than I could have ever expected. More than study abroad. My biggest fear coming here, more than the language, the culture shock, the academics... was the group. Who were they? 11 out of 12 girls? What would we be like together?

And now I know, the group was everything. I think I had an idea of studying abroad and facing all the challenges of being independent... but what I found instead was the comfort of good friends, an amazing director, and the undeniably feeling of true relationships. I think more than anything these last months I have been amazed by the human capacity to share. Ive had 4 host families who opened their doors to me, shared who they are (however they care to define themselves) and who have affected me in their own unique ways.

Personally, Ive met people who I could never forget, people who have inspired me and surprised me. People who I feel as though Ive known for longer than 104 days. To be able to share something so strong, so complex, eye-opening... how could we ever pretend to be the same 12 people who landed here a few months ago?

Going to the airport, half of us stayed and half left. Airports are always marking beginnings and endings. As much as it seemed like the ending of something, watching our friends walk away... these strong, intelligent, and passionate people... we were all smiling. Because this program was the beginning of something. I'm trying to hold on to that feeling. After all, we have more control of our beginnings and endings than we think.

Not all programs are like this, not even all SIT programs. Our director whose been doing this for 9 years, said that no one wants this program to end, there was something different about this one...