Falta one month and twenty-two days

I have one month and twenty-two days left here in Chile. If you break that down, that's 4 weeks left of work with a two  week holiday in between, then a week and half left to explore the places we have yet to see in Santiago, visit friends and say our goodbyes.  Before I came to Chile a month seemed like a long time but having lived here for over ten has made me realise just how little one month actually is. 

I'm really going to miss my life out here. 

Here's a quick update of what I've been up to since my last blog.

March/April: My family came to Chile 

 Having spent eight months without them I had become accustomed to not having my family in my life everyday.  However the minute I saw them walk through the arrivals gate in the airport it hit me just how much I had missed them. Lets just say there were a lot of tears and hugging. 

In the three weeks they were here we managed to squeeze in: 

The sights of Santiago

A visit to the school 

'Onces' with my host family

and

a trip to the driest desert in the word...

I had such an amazing time while my family were here and I really enjoyed sharing my life here with them.

May/ June: Vina del Mar, World Environment Day and Fútbol 

When my family left I thought it would be a good idea to spend a weekend away to keep my mind off missing them. So I headed to Vina del Mar (a city on the coast about 2 hours away from Santiago) with Kelly and Kirsty. 

From ice cream, walks on the beach and  spontaneously taking part in a Zumbathon to raise awareness of the Valpo fire I had an awesome weekend away!

As many of you know the World Cup is being held in Brazil this year. As you can imagine the atmosphere here in Chile was pretty crazy when we won 2-0 to the world champions Spain. My Project Trust partner was actually in the center of the city at the time and said that people were going crazy jumping on bus shelters etc. Here's a picture of a defaced street sign that I found pretty funny.

 Although I'm not the biggest football fan, the love and enthusiasm towards football here is pretty contagious. I'm looking forward to watching Chile's next game tomorrow against the Netherlands. We'll be watching the game at school with the students which should be fun. I've also heard rumors  that there's going to be BBQ food. I'm not complaining. #VAMOSCHILE

Apart from watching football and going on trips to the beach, I've also been working lots. A few weeks ago we celebrated World Environment Day with the kids. We played games and the students made posters using recycled materials. I was fun to teach the kids English through a different topic and  I think they also enjoyed having a break from their usual classes. 

I hope you enjoyed my update. I'm going to be spending my last few months out here trying to make the most of every minute. Although I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone there is definitely a part of me that doesn't want to leave. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer. Its winter here so its starting to get colder. 

See you all soon. 

Daz x

  

Llama jumpers and nike trainers...

While I was travelling throughout South America I couldn't help but notice that pretty much every single back packer I met along the way had a pair of  Nike trainers and an llama jumper. I swear it' s like there's some secret dress code for all travellers... 

After 60 days, 5 countries, 1 back pack and god knows how many hours spent on a bus, my two month holiday travelling South America has come to an end. Having been back at work for three weeks now I thought it was about time that I shared some of my travelling experiences with everyone back home. 

During the two months I spent travelling I kept a journal in order to document all of my experiences. Here are a few extracts featuring my most memorable experiences... ENJOY. 


 January 1st 2014

Not only is it the beginning of a new year but it's the start of Caroline and I's two month travelling adventure. First stop Pucon. I'm currently on a night bus on the way there with 11 hours to go until we arrive and i'm feeling pretty exhausted from last nights antics...

Yesterday, Hogmany, all of the Chile volunteers met up in Valparaiso for South Americas biggest street party. It was awesome. From watching fireworks in the main plaza to dancing 'til 6 am, the night was filled with just as much fun as pisco sour... 

Valpo at New Year(From left to right: Kelly, me, Caroline and Callum)

January 8th 2014 

We arrived in Pucon in the morning of the 2nd of January. Our first day was spent getting to know the area. We went to the supermarket (something that both Caroline and I like to do in all the new places we visit) and bought some food for lunch. As we still had the tin of baked beans that our desk officer Felicity had brought over we decided to make BAKED BEAN NACHOS. This consisted of baked beans layered with nachos and cheese and was probably the most "studenty" meal I have ever eaten.

On the Saturday we were woken by our alarms at 5.30 am as we had booked a tour of Volcan Villarica for 6.30. YES, we were going to climb an active volcano! We headed to the centre of town (with our packed lunches) to the tour office where we met up with the rest of the group and collected our back packs containing all the equipment we would need. After a half an hour drive in a slightly cramped minibus we arrived at the foot of the volcano. As we didn't want to pay the $8000 CP needed to get the ski lift to the snowy part, Caroline and I decided to walk. One hour of pretty tough climbing later we arrived at the snowy part of the mountain. Here we had a short break and got geared up for climbing the volcano. We had to wear crampons on our walking boots to grip the snow and ice pics to support us walking. At this point I was beginning to wonder what I had got myself in for... 

Around 4 breaks and four hours of climbing later we finally reached the smoky crater. I think that this was probably one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life. Not only was it physically exhausting but due to the fact that I have a fear of heights and walking up steep hills (not joking I used to be scared of Arthur Seat) I had to overcome my fears to get to the top. Due to the gases coming out of the Volcano's crater (told you it was live) we couldn't stay at the top for long. As everyone in the group was exhausted from the climb we were all pleased to here that we would be sliding down to the bottom on our bums! After losing control a few times I eventually made it down to the bottom- feeling proud, tired and hungry. 

Looking cool in my shades half way up the volcano...

Everyone getting geared up to climb the volcano.

 

18th February 2014

So I'm currently lying on a bottom bunk in a lodge in the middle of the Peruvian jungle- while eating Oreos- Life couldn't get much better could it? Well, maybe if I had some milk... 


At five fifteen this morning I stumbled out of bed to the sound of Mumford and Sons. I quickly threw on some clothes and crammed the remaining few items into the 40L hiking bag that I would be taking with me on the four day Inka Jungle trek that lay ahead...

... Our bus was due to arrive at 6 am but as it hadn't arrived yet we ran to the bar and grabbed some breakfast. We made it just in time as when we got back (banana and coffee in hand) our guide was there and everyone was ready to go. If it wasn't for the two Chilean girls holding everyone back then we would have been away on time...typical. haha.

Sitting in the 'cool kid' seats at the back of the bus, we set off to our first activity: two hours of down hill biking...

...Although it kind of sucked that it was raining the entire time, I still thoroughly enjoyed the bike ride. Also, not being able to see more than 2m in front of me (due to fog) while cycling full speed through streams is definitely an experience I will never forget. By the time we reached the bottom I was completely drenched. I could even pour water out of my walking boots. (and I remember thinking the guy that put plastic bags on his feet looked stupid when we started...) 

I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my travels and that maybe it's inspired you to do the same! 

In other news my family are arriving from Scotland tomorrow night and I can't even put into words how excited I am so see them all. Before I left I hadn't spend more than a week away from home never mind six months! I'll let you all know what we get up to when they're here! 

Chao! 

X