Riding the Bus

This is actually from a while ago when Nicole and I went to the beach with Pia and Nattie. These are the buses that we ride to the beach, town, and to the University. They are different than the cross country buses that we have taken as well. Busing seems to be the most popular transportation in town and across the country. It is also really cheep to ride the buses. It's only about $10 for a six hour bus ride. To ride the bus to the beach is 400 pesos (about 65 cents), and to town or the University it costs 350 pesos (56 cents). 

This one time the bus we were on was super packed and we took this awesome video of us! 

Hmm... What do I need to survive today?

THIS WEEK:

Monday 01/26/09

- Caught 6 hour long bus ride to Castro (the capital of Chiloe island)

-Met with Dr. Nunez and associates for scientific run down of collecting trip

-Several scientists are getting together to write a book about the Chiloe islands: their people, plants and animals. So we needed collecting for the PIRE project and this book project. 

-Slept in another really gross hostel with our sleeping bags over the sheets

Tuesday 01/27/09

-Went to scientific meeting about the book project that was presented to the major of Castro

-Went out to lunch with scientists for some really amazing food

-Caught a bus to Lemuy island where we were to collect this trip (Lemuy island has just over a population of 4,000 people)

-We set up camp at a three room elementary school that was closed for the summer

-Talked with scientists about being "mormons," music, watched them play soccer, and other things

-Played poker and blackjack with Chilean scientists

Wednesday 01/28/09

-Woke up at 6 to go collecting for frogs

-Went hiking in a beautiful forrest for frog, we would flip over logs and try and find the frogs

-Came back and dissected frog's liver for mitocrondral DNA analysis (Nicole's PIRE project)

-Had dinner and went to bed way early

Thursday 01/29/09

-Woke up at 5 to go collecting

-Went on 6 hour hike for frogs!

-Bonded with Dr. Nunez and Nicole (made flower crowns), saw the coast of the island, and a lot of rural country side

-Came back and played a ton of ping pong

-Dissected more frogs 

-Talked with scientists

-Made dinner! and ate it

Friday 01/30/09

-Came back to Castro

-Watched "Old Boy" in Korean with Spanish subtitles 

-Went to handcraft market (bought stuff for family) and LOST NICOLE! but found her and made it to our bus on time still!

-Had 6 hour bus ride back to Valdivia (aka "Chilean Homebase")

-Missed our Chilean protectors (aka the scientists)

Saturday 01/31/09

-Last day as 20 year old

-Work on proofs/homework

-Do needed things in town

It's Been One Week...

WELL guys I haven't be as faithful to this blog as I intended to be. It's been a week since I last wrote. Our internet is not fast enough in the place we're staying to actually load photos, so  sorry it's just boring writing. We've been here chillin' in Valdivia all week... you know be coming locals. We even tanned, got burned, and some one actually pulled us over today to ask for directions. Yes we have gone Chilean and have one again embraced our flower child sense of style. 

This is the overview of our week! : 

MONDAY 01/19/09

-Went to town and got a cell phone (our number: 62149752 llamame!)

-Tried taking the bus in a continuous loop... which it doesn't do, got stuck at the bus terminal in the sticks (luckily caught another bus back)

-Went running! 

TUESDAY 01/20/09

-Went to the beach with 2 girls from local single adult group, Pia and Nattie

-Bought a bunch of stuff from little handcraft booths

-Went to a "high school chill party" with Pia and Nattie (we met the Princess of Valdivia there)

WEDNESDAY 01/21/09

-Went to beach by ourselves

-Visited old spanish fort, complete with cannons, a lighthouse, and a guard that told me I couldn't take pictures in the Museum

-Went to the beach when everyone was on siesta to tan

-Had no money for food just enough for ice cream, so we got these amazing cones called the "black and white"

-Played Volleyball with local single adult group, which really turned out to be this pretty intense training day for this competition they are having in a couple weeks

-Came back and had the worst sunburn I've had since high school water polo.... AHHH!

THURSDAY 01/22/09

-Hurting very much from sunburns still

-Met with Nicole's professor here, and got invited to go camping in Chiloe next week

-Bought more Chile things

-Worked on homework for Cultural Class we're taking as well

-Pia came by with another friend and brought us Chile like doughnuts 

-Went out to cool cafe/bar/hang out place with Pia and friend for this great food that I have no idea what it is called 

FRIDAY 01/23/09

-Went local outdoor market and bought dried mussels and raspberries (found out later that the dried mussels are actually used for a Chilean soup)

-Went to the University Botanic Gardens for our cultural class, felt like an Easter egg hunt trying to find the trees with plaques

-Came home and had a very boring evening

SATURDAY 01/24/09

-Went to park for missionary bbq, never found missionaries or said fiesta

-Instead found a handcraft booth that I bought mittens at

-Also found a rodeo at the park, we watch "cowboys" chase a bull around and turn him at different spots for points

-Had lunch in town

-Looked for pants for Nicole, never bought anything....

-Played Speed and Egyptian Rat Slap at night

SUNDAY 01/25/09

-Went to Church

-Ate lunch and took three hour nap

-Went on walk to cemetery

-Packed for camping trip

-Freaked out about not having a guide for when we go to Cusco

That's all for now... we're leaving tomorrow morning for Chiloe so it'll be another week before I post anything! And this time its for a legit reason!

Valdivia, Chile

Well we are now in Valdivia. Things here aren't what we thought they would be. First of all when we were in the US they told us that we would be staying with a family and that it would be close to the University. It's not either of those. We are like a 45 min walk to the University one way. It costs 350 pesos one way, so I don't know if we want to pay everyday. We are staying with a family, but it's more of a Pension set up. Right now it's just the family living here but there are 2 more empty rooms. Today we walked to the church, and there is like no one that speaks english; when we were in Santiago there were some people we could talk with. I think it's actually a branch we are part of, and there are very few single adults. But we have made friends. We went to a fireside tonight that was a CES broadcast at BYU. Seeing BYU made me really miss it. Plus it was in english and I'm like desperate to hear english, or words that I understand. I feel for missionaries now! This really is a good "pre-mission" test. We have plans to hang out with some of the single adults on Tuesday and Wednesday. I also saw a missionary here that was from my ward freshman year at BYU! It was crazy! He must be going home soon. I think we really to just get use to being here. Santiago and Conception were a lot of fun, but this is where we need to get to work and do the things we need to do. 

Conception, Chile

Nicole and I finally made it to Valdivia! We arrived at 6 am on a bus from Conception. We were pretty tired from our over night bus, but we are happy to have made it to Valdivia.

We have now been in Chile for a week. We have already had some wonderful experiences with the people here already. The first night we stayed in a hostel that was pretty nice (but also expensive) in Santiago. We didn't really know where to go, but we got a map and walked around the city ourselves for a couple hours. The next day was Sunday and we called the mission office and found the local building. It was actually right next to the temple! You could see the temple through the windows in Sacrament! Plus there were 2 members of the seventy in this particular ward! One of them gave a talk, but we didn't understand of course. One of the sister missionaries would translate for us everyone once and a while, and it sounded like a really amazing talk, just wish I understood it. Then we asked if any members could help us out, and these 2 ladies that live together and were in charge of the young adults let us stay the next 2 nights in their house. Then Monday some of the young adults that spoke english took us on a tour of Santiago. The next day we took a 9 hour bus trip to Conception. Here we stayed in a really cheep hostel the first night. It was horrible! There was mold everywhere. We were so grossed out we slept on our sleeping bags on top of the sheets. So we called the mission home in Conception and the missionaries helped us find someone we could stay with. We stayed with this older couple, named Fernando and Patrica. They were so kind to us. We stayed with them 2 1/2 days. In the mornings we would go exploring the city on our own with a map, and in the afternoon when Fernando came home from work they took us to places father away that were fun to see. We saw 2 beaches, and they introduced us to a lot of new food. I love duche de leche now! We have been practicing spanish when ever we can. Not many people speak english, but we have survival spanish that keeps us afloat. We were very sad to leave both places (Santiago, and Conception) because we grew close to the  people there in such a short time. 

Now we are in Valdivia. I'm not exactly sure how everything is working here. We were met by Dr. Jara and his wife at the bus station and they took us to Carmen's house. (Dr. Jara is going to leave on Monday to go somewhere with another BYU student apparently. I don't really know anything about it.) I think Carmen's house is actually a pension. We have met Carmen, her granddaughter, grandson, her mother, her husband, her ex-husband, and I think her bother. There are a lot family here!  The church is only a couple blocks away but the University is not close. We're going to have to learn how to use the bus system here. 

My mom has been worried several times already, like days I don't have internet and can't e-mail her. 

Made It Alive!

Well today I woke up in Chile! I left LAX around 3 and arrived in Dallas, Texas around 8. Then we left Dallas around 9 pm and arrived in Chile around 10 am. The latter of the two flights was miserable. I didn't sleep very well. Well does anyone sleep well on an airplane? We arrived in the morning which was really good because we were able to get our selves situated. We bought bus tickets to go to our next destination: Concception, Chile. We leave on Tuesday, and it's a 10 hour bus ride. Not to excited about that. At least we'll be able to see the country side as we drive by. Then we our hostel that we had made reservations at. It's a nice place and feels safe. Then we looked our room and went exploring downtown Santiago. Some places were "shadier" than others, but we got to see a lot of the cities. We saw so many cool buildings and people. There are actually quite a few parks in the city too. A lot people were in them too. And we did notice that people are more open with their affections with their people the opposite sex. We walked for 5 hours today. It was quite intense. It's also really hot here. As soon as we got off the plane we had to change out of our pants and into shorts. After walking for so long we stopped in a Catholic church to get out of the sun. I know I'm not Catholic or anything, but I've stopped in their Churches for rest more than once. They are at least places of refuge. Later we called the mission home in the area and learned that our hostel is only a couple blocks from the Temple in the other direction that we went! We were going to go see it but when we got back from our forever walk, the walking and lack of sleep kicked in and I crashed for several hours. And now I am awake. Should have waited to go to be later. OH! And I bought 2 things in a market today. I got a thick headband, and a motorcycle license plate. I love license plates- for those that don't know I have a collection of many of the California license plates. For a full sized license plate it was too expensive so I got the motorcycle one!

The Rose Parade

OH! I also forgot to put up pictures of the Rose Parade! New Year's day my dad and I always to go to the Rose Parade. I look forward to it every year! We started the tradition a few years back when we learned that we can wake up at 8 and get to Pasadena (about an hour away) and still get there in time for the beginning of the parade! The trick is that you go to the end of the parade route. It's five miles long. and it takes a long time for it to go all the way to the end. I think it's the best way to celebrate the new year! Happy New Year Everyone! 

San Juan Capistrano

Today my family and I went to San Juan Capistrano. San Juan is one of the 21 missions there are in California. These missions were built in the 1800's to convert the Native Americans in the area to Catholicism.  I'm especially partial to San Juan because in 5th grade I had to make a model of it, and I'm not trying to brag or anything... but my mission was AWESOME! It even had real concrete on it. Anyways my sister Rachel had to visit one for her Spanish class so we went. It was a pretty cold day though, and that really made the experience less fun than San Juan usually is. 

Natania and Brady's Wedding!

So here are some pictures of my adventure in Seattle this past week. My friends Natania and Brady got married! And I got to be a Brides Maid for the second time. Only 2X a Brides Maids so I may still have a chance! (J/K) I have fallen in love with Seattle and "Natania's Island". It's so beautiful there. We stayed at Natania's house for a few nights and then went into Seattle. The Hotel we stayed at was amazing, and the Wedding (and everything) was wonderful too! It was very much "Natania." Congrats again to Brady and Natan!

Christmas

I know Christmas was a while ago... but I thought I would still post some of this stuff up. Before Christmas we took a family picture (which really just means it was of my sisters and I) by the beach. You can probably tell by the pictures, but it was an extremely windy day.