Hey I wanted to fill in the gaps of our trip that took place before the earthquake. All the birthday wishes that I received from everyone were great! Andy woke me up at 7am when I was born and gave me sunflowers! Then later that night we celebrated with our roommates. Andy bought 5 [...]

Earthquake
I awoke on Friday morning with mixed feelings, knowing it was my last day of work and wondering how to properly say goodbye to Javier, who I’ve come to know fairly well during my time here. I got ready as usual and walked the 15 blocks or so the institute. Both Javier and I [...]

I’ve been meaning to upload these videos with the blogs, but I guess I forgot.  So here they all are in a separate post.  The first is of a soccer game and their fans that I went to last Friday, then a Tango dance from a show, two funicular rides up the hills of Valparaiso [...]

Two weekends ago, we went on our first camping trip here in Chile. A teacher that I work with gave me directions that were spot on. We had to hike a few miles on a dirt road before arriving at Nido de Condres, which is a piece of land that is owned by the [...]

Everyone has been telling us, “Oh, you have to try the ‘completos’, they’re fabulous.” A completo is one item on Chile’s menu of fast, unhealthy food. The funny thing is that they don’t hide it either, like this particular restaurant was called ‘El Guaton’ which is the title for a fat person. So we [...]

Oye! Our last week was jam packed with an array of experiences I don’t know where to begin. On Friday we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Andy Collins and I have been together for 5 years…. and a day. Hard to believe it has been that much time. I remember when we met I [...]

I don’t know what it is, but young Chileans love mullets. I thought they went out  in the 80’s, but they are fresh down here. Everywhere you look, a person is sporting one, including our Spanish teacher. I wish I could sneak pics of all of them and just make a post about mullets, but [...]

The flight down was uneventful and long. I slept or tried to sleep for most of it. In Toronto we had to go through security again and spent seven hours anxiously waiting for our flight to leave. From Toronto to Chile it was nine hours and we had an open seat next to us. [...]

Rachel and I will be traveling to Chile and Argentina.  We will be there for 3 months, leaving on January 1st, 2010 and returning on April 5th, 2010.
We will be spend the first 2 months in the cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar on the coast of Chile.  We will be studying Spanish and [...]

It’s truly official now.  We have been accepted in to the program and we just purchased our tickets!
Flight reservation
Fri, Jan 1, 2010
Departs 11:20am, Arrives 12:15pm
Air Canada 1038 / 92
Denver, CO to Santiago, Chile
Mon, Apr 5, 2010
Departs 6:45pm, Arrives 10:16am
Air Canada 93 / 1037
Santiago, Chile to Denver, CO