Luggage

... I defiantly over packed then... 

Back in the US

Dear Everyone who reads my blog,

I have successfully made it back to the US. There are a few more blog posts I will put up about the end of my trip because we didn't have internet at the end, but I don't know if I will keep my blog as updated. I think I will try and blog once a week once I have made it back to Utah. However, I can not make any promises that my blog will be interesting any more.

Thank you for reading!

Love Always,

Tenders

Airport Day

Today Nicole and I arrived in Peru at around 9 am. We successfully made it off the plane and into the country. However upon arriving we learned that it would cost us 50 dollars (in US dollars!) just to get to our hostel that we made reservations for. Yes, it would cost 50 dollars to get to our 12 dollar hostel. We also knew that our next flight to Cusco would be leaving at 5 am the next morning and we would need to be at the airport again in less than 24 hours. Costing us of course another 50 dollar. So what did we decided to do?

We decided to spend the entire day in the airport. That's right. Were in Peru, but I haven't actually walked outside. It's kind of like that movie "The Terminal" with Tom Hanks. Except no airport personnel is falling in love with us. Sleeping is just as uncomfortable though. 

Panoramic of Santiago

On our very last day in Chile we spent the day just chillin' and walking around Santiago. One good last look at everything. 

All In One Day

Nicole and I knew that we couldn't leave Chile without visiting Vina del Mar or Valpariso. Everyone always raves about Valpariso and Vina del Mar. However we planned our final week of travel pretty tight and so we thought we would just visit Valpariso. Well it turns out that Vina del Mar and Valpariso are squished together, like Provo and Orem. Where one starts and another one end no one really knows! So we got to visit both! It was an action packed day fitting both in though! We stayed with one of our friends, Sergio, from Valdivia who is going to school in Vina del Mar. He also took us on a tour of the city.

First we started with Vina del Mar. Vina del Mar is the newer city and has the better beaches.

While walking along we spotted a city tour in a horse and carriage. It was expensive, but we figured we only live once! So we hopped in and saw Vina del Mar in style.

We got to see more catholic churches.... as usual. But this Sunday was Palm Sunday so everyone was out and about! It was cool to see everyone in the streets. Many people had palms or palms shaped into objects.

On the way we also got to see a Easter Island Museum. Where we took an awesome picture with the giant rock that looks like a head. Famous of Easter Island.

After our horse ride we decided to visit the FREE museum. It really was a house own by this very rich man that they have turned into an art museum. It was still pretty cool!

Then we all went back to Sergio's place and had lunch. It was a good lazy summer day type lunch. We made Chilean pizza, and had Te-Tere (which is just mate with sprite instead of hot water). After being replenished we continued on with Valpariso! Valpariso is the older city. It is famous for it's colorful houses on the hills. Everyone says (over and over again) Valpariso is "antique", which is really code word for "old lookin'." It was beautiful though. It is probably my favorite place we went to in Chile. We started off the same way as Vina del Mar, we just started walking...

Of course we saw some more catholic churches. These churches really do make the neighborhood beautiful. This spice up the street with fine art and history.

There are also just beautiful buildings for practical use, like this clock tower for instance. The main point is Valpariso is just filled with beautiful old buildings. History is just leaking out everywhere. Valpariso is also the home of many artists. It's an inspirational city.

Valpariso is also where you can find the Chilean congress. Santiago has the president, but Valpariso has congress. On the front of the building are two men how had a major influence on Chile becoming an independent nation. O'Higgins was the first President. The other man (whom I can't remember his name right now... ) was a great general and helped in freeing the Chile from Spain.

Valpariso is also the home of the famous Chilean music festival. This is suppose to be the stage, but it looks kind of small so we're not exactly sure.

Art Thoughts

While in Vina del Mar,  Nicole, Sergio and I went to this house of this really old rich guy they have turned into an art museum. There we saw some pretty cool art. While walking through one of the rooms I stopped at this picture. 

I stood there thinking, that picture is just so un-natural. I mean what girls just sit around half naked with sheets over only the lower half of their bodies? I mean Nicole and I are pretty comfortable with each other and ourselves but we would never do something like that. Then I looked at the picture next to it.

I thought, that's more like it. Nicole and I can be found more naturally like this. Nicole would be the one on the right with the fruit. Mainly because she's always eating fruit and trying to get me to eat some. I would be the one of the left with the water jug because I'm always the one drinking water and trying to get Nicole to drink more. 

Roaring 60's

Well Nicole and I finally made it to Patagonia! Even though our program is the "Patagonia Fields Study Program," Nicole and I have not actually been in Patagonia. Patagonia has many different definitions, but if you go with the strictest one, only the VERY southern tip of South America is considered Patagonia.

We did finally get experience Patagonia before leaving though because Bariloche IS considered Patagonia. Patagonia is known for being very windy.... here's proof. 

Bariloche, Argentina

Nicole and I were not planning to go to Argentina while we were down here. Nothing really tempted us to go there. Some how we did ended up making plans to met the guys, Casey, David, and Richard, in Bariloche for a few days. So we did get to go Argentina and get another stamp in our passport!

We all stayed in the same hostel, but of course by BYU standards, so the boys got one room and Nicole and I got another one. 

The whole time it was raining so it was hard to do stuff. Mostly we ate. Argentina is known for it's meat, and we defiantly experienced it. In fact... I wish I hadn't. After each pile of meat we ate I felt sick. 

On Thursday we lucked out though and did get one day without rain. We took advantage of it and explored town, the cathedral, and the lake.

Bariloche is known for it's outdoor activities, so we went on a cave-hike. (And as many of you know, I love caves, so I was super excited!) Our tour guide was pretty funny, and he made an effort to help us understand. However, Argentina has its own dialect and was way hard to understand after listening to Chilean Spanish for the past three months. 

The cave wasn't that big but it was still fun. There were several small spots we had to get through, and in the cave there was a lake-pond-thing. The view from the top of the mountain was incredible though! Argentina is very brown, but we have just been spoiled in Chile. 

After the caves we had more food and then we rented a movie to watch at the hostel. Since no one was decisive so we ended up watching the lame new Indian Jones movie. It was a good day though and even though the movie has a weird alien plot it was a nice way to end the day. 

Another Stamp in My Passport!

So today Nicole and I left Valdivia early in the morning for Bariloche, Argentina! The bus ride was long and a surreal experience. The bus was full of people from the US! We could ease-drop and completely understand!

However, the cool feeling of being the special "las gringas" was gone. We were just more American tourists on a bus. I also stopped feeling tall, blond and white. It was nice while it lasted I guess.

We did make it safe across the boarder with out getting busted by immigration for the crabs I brought, so all was good. Crossing the Andes was also AMAZING! Sometimes you just need a huge mountain next to you to put the earth in perspective.

Argentina is cool, but I miss Chile! Good thing we'll be back in 2 more days! :D