the nocturnal life

some more details on my first few weeks of the semester:

- witnessed various "initiations" of the freshman class, aka hazing. lots of poor little newbies drenched in water, covered in paint, and wandering aimlessly due to acidic substances prohibiting them from being able to see properly or running around asking people (myself included) for money

- showering at 6 am and going to bed, rather than waking up

- smelling like smoke - when your bra smells like cigarettes you know you've been up to no good

- midnight snacks at 5 am (the new midnight, since i turned nocturnal)
- truly appreciating how nice it is to not have to wash your clothes or clean your bathroom, thank you house keeper! more time to party.
- sleeping through an epic student protest, which my parents will be glad to hear i missed. here's a few pics that my friend Michael took from his apartment:

and my friend Andrea took these while running from water cannons

i'll get into details about what the student protests in Chile are about in a future post, but for now i'll just point out that this protest was ILLEGAL (the government never approved it) and therefore explains why there was so much violence - tear gas everywhere, water cannons, students attacking armored trucks with paint bombs, etc.

while these photos don't portray the reasoning behind the student movement, i would like to say that i fully support it and think that the University of California student body needs to get their act together and actually put up a fight against the continual tuition fee increases. I truly admire how politically active Chilean citizens are. Again, i'll explain this more later on!

now back to the fun stuff

- attending the welcome back to school concert at la concha acústica ("the acoustic shell") on campus. this concert featured a big time political musician Manuel Garcia, who i ended up loving! this show was awesome and a few things stood out to me: 

1. there were TONS of high schoolers. it was really interesting seeing how high school and university students attended the same concert and were all mixed in one huge group. i don't think this is a common occurrence in California. 

2. at one point the entire crowd was jumping up and down and chanting "él que no salta es Pinochet", which roughly translates to "he who doesn't jump supports Pinochet", who was a dictator in Chile for 17 years from 1973-1990. the effects of his reign are still extremely prevalent in Chilean society and there are a wide range of opinions about him. this instance reminded me of the movie "Machuca". if you really want a realistic idea of how life was like during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, WATCH THIS MOVIE! i've seen it twice now and it is extremely powerful.

3. selling alcohol at school functions is normal.

 

there were people EVERYWHERE 

some 90's rap band

- after this concert i made the mistake best decision ever of cramming onto the metro instead of patiently waiting for the next one. i found myself smashed against a bunch of Chilean students and it was basically a party on the train. everyone was laughing because we were all so close together no one could move an inch and at each metro stop there would be people waiting to get on the train but there was zero space so everyone started chanting "NO CABE! NO CABE!" ("doesn't fit! doesn't fit!"). and when one of the students had to get off the metro at their stop everyone chanted "SE QUEDA! SE QUEDA!" ("stay! stay!"). so i obviously started yelling with everyone. 

- also while on that very metro i was basically on top of this short girl and we both looked at each other and said "disculpa" ("sorry") AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. then we both smiled. 

it was so awesome.

back to reality

now that my two week adventure had ended it was definitely back to "real" life in Santiago, meaning:

1. carretes - parties

2. asados - bbqs

3. dreaming in spanish

4. 4 day weekends

now to explain.

- the first week of school isn't real school, for me it consisted of trying out new classes

- the second week of school proved to also not be real school. for me, it consisted of going out 6 nights in a row. granted i did not miss a single class (but if they started any earlier than 2pm i might have.)
- the third week of school also wasn't real school. i don't consider it real school until i have homework, which has yet to present itself
- as an example of how school isn't real school yet, in my Flora Nativa class my professor said we had a "test", and then these random people passed out three different types of snack food for us to try and rate on different scales like texture, intensity of flavor, shape, etc.

the only way the start of this semester could be any easier is if all my classes gave me free snacks

punta arenas to santiago

our flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago wasn't due to take off until 6 pm, so our plan was to take the 3 hour bus trip from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas at 9 am and have the whole day to explore

what we ended up doing: spontaneously deciding to get off the bus when it made a stop at the Punta Arenas airport so we didn't have to pay money for a bus back and forth between downtown and the airport later that day.

conclusion: we hung out at the airport for 6 full hours. and i was harassed by this child.
everyone knows i'm not a fan of babies. my face says it all:


i spent my time on the plane writing postcards and eating the 2 full airplane meals we were served. so much for hoping to lose weight on this trip, because i felt so food deprived after spending 5 straight days in the mountains that i couldn't stop myself from eating everything in sight for the next week...or three.

some final memorable quotes of the trip:

*in the grocery store* "i had to act out nail clippers to ask where they were because i always mix up uñas with uvas" (uñas = nails; uvas = grapes)
..led to the hypothetical scenario of how to act out asking for toilet paper

"i am not responsible for my actions"

"alligator death roll"

"i'm going to tell people i did the W in one day. i'll just show them my pictures and say "see! i'm wearing the same outfit!'"

"no way. you totally just quadrapopped"

stepping off the plane in Santiago!

and we were welcomed home by the typical street performers that act for money at red lights! this guy was awesome because he had flame throwers

el calafate - glaciar perito moreno

what better way to spend the day after a 5 day extreme hiking adventure than to sit in a tiny van with no leg room for 6 hours? this was the final stop on my two week trip through Patagonia - the Perito Moreno Glacier in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in El Calafate, Argentina

after being picked up by this van at 6:45 am, i was in daze as i rested my eyes on the journey across the border into the Argentine side of Patagonia. this is when my uncontrollable sneezing fits began, leading me to believe that i am allergic to Argentina. i'll be heading back in a few weeks to go wine tasting in Mendoza, so i'll make sure to let you know if there is more reason to believe in this self-diagnosis 

first stop along the way: la frontera ("the border"), where i exchanged too few chilean pesos into argentine pesos. because Chile and Argentina do not get along (and of course due to other political reasons), they don't accept each others currency. not knowing when i would be in Argentina next, i was reluctant to exchange a large amount of cash. luckily i got by with only the equivalent of $40 USD, but barely.

photos from our pit stop at border control:

at the entry into Argentina i received my FIRST EVER passport stamp from a country other than Chile!

this was also a good stop because i got to buy a toursity tshirt proving that i had completed the W trek in Torres del Paine. this was a crucial find because i had pasta sauce and dirt on every other item of clothing and really preferred to have a clean outfit for the day.

keelin and i pretending we were half in Chile/half in Argentina. we weren't though.

what was the first thing i saw in Argentina?
lots of fat ovejas (sheep). and a bunny. but our bus was driving too fast for me to capture any decent photos

once we entered the town of El Calafate, we picked up our tour guide on the side of the road. his name was Alejandro and looked exactly like Peter Pan. i don't have a picture of him, but here's Peter Pan actor Jeremy Sumpter because they are practically the same person: 

as Peter Pan explained, the name for the color of Lago Argentino is leche glaciaria, or "glacier milk". i found this an EXTREMELY odd name for a color and it kind of makes me cringe.. but this just might have to do with my strong dislike for milk in general



the limited time we had to spend at the Perito Moreno Glacier was spent walking around the lookout points and on a boat that took us right up close and personal

views from the lookouts:

rockin my new shirt

now on the boat:

lots of glacier milk ...

Argentine flag

Perito Moreno Glacier 

while on the boat you could hear the loud grinding sound of the ice/glacier moving. apparently the Perito Moreno glacier is one of the only glaciers in Patagonia that is growing, rather than receding

"glacier cave"

we were fortunate to see some small pieces of the glacier break off and crash into the water, which everyone gets really excited about. i captured the biggest piece of our time there on video!

once we were back on the van to make the journey back into Chile we made a quick stop to buy some food in El Calafate. i went to a grocery store and bought lots of croissants, sandwiches, and candy to occupy myself for the next 6 hours...

...except it only took 4 hours? i'm not quite sure how our driver managed to make up 2 FULL hours on the drive back, but i did notice he was hauling ass considering we hit a bunny in the middle of the road.

*side note - i had a panic attack in the grocery store trying to get the ace bandage off of my knee, which was a struggle considering it was wrapped under my skinny jeans. my leg felt like a balloon and i honestly thought i was going to have to cut my pants off to get this bandage off ASAP or my leg would have to be amputated. i was so close to asking the meat guy at the counter for a knife when i finally was able to loosen the wrap and pull it off from under my pant leg*

sneezing count: at least 90. i generally enjoy sneezing but once you hit 20 in one hour it really starts to wear you out. i swear i am allergic to something in the Argentine air because the next day in Chile i only sneezed 3 times the entire day.

road sign from la frontera. we were heading back to Puerto Natales

once we made it back to our hostel for the night i got the first good look at how bad my knee and leg really were ... my left knee, calf, and ankle were all at least twice the size of my right leg.

my ankles - where the swelling was most noticeable. i was the most upset about having formed a kankle.

it's a bit harder to see the swelling of my calves here, but when i flexed my left calf you couldn't see any muscle definition because my leg was so inflamed

my swollen left knee - much larger than the right.

i was the opposite of thrilled to have realized how swollen my leg had become, but i should have expected this considering i had not given my leg a rest (and had definitely been over using it) for 7 days after i first injured it. i'll spare you the suspense and point out that my knee is almost back to normal now, after i saw a doctor in Santiago who prescribed me two different types of anti inflammatory pills and advised me to avoid strenuous activity for 2 weeks. i sort of followed his advice, but after about a week of doing my best to rest it (not an easy feat when my legs are my only method of transportation around the city) i could finally bend my leg when going down stairs and walk fairly normally. i still haven't attempted any high-impact knee activity but when that time comes hopefully i won't have any problem (capoeira class, here i come!)