Election Day in Chile.

A week ago on Sunday was election day in Chile, and once again I am learning a valuable lesson from my study abroad experience. One being this... I will never again take my right to vote for granted. Not that it is an issue here; in fact everyone can vote from the age of 18. However, this was the second election in Chile that was non-obligatory (previously there had been a law requiring everyone to vote). They installed this law hoping to make the voting system more simple for people (they can now go to any booth to vote), but it actually has only made it so that a huge amount of the population doesn't go vote. Not only this, but voting is all on paper and some people use the paper to write "AC" instead of voting. "AC" stands for Asamblea Constituyente, which is a movement that wants the government to change the current constitution that is in place, because it's the constitution that was put into place by Pinochet (Chile's dictator that was voted out of government). The process of amending the constitution won't likely happen, but the people used their vote to voice that opinion, which means those votes went to waste.

At least they chose to use their voice for something, whereas a huge amount of voters chose to vote for the little candidates who won't win. They didn't do this because they want the little guys to win, but instead because they wanted it to be a sign of protest. The amount of people that did this was more than the amount of people who voted for the leading candidate. Meaning that more people are "protesting", than legitimately voting.

Speaking of protesting... it's the favorite activity of much of the youth here in Chile. But their generation is also the least likely to show up on election day. The protests usually don't give them the results that they want, and it's because they don't even show that they are serious enough to exercise their right to vote.

Now I do not mean to be so critical of Chile and their people, because I believe that the United States has many of the same problems when it comes to people taking advantage of living in democracy. I am mostly using this to reflect on myself, and the type of citizen that I want to be in the States. I want to be the citizen that votes for what she truly believes in, and I want to be EDUCATED about it. So many people go into the booths not really knowing what they are voting for, where policies or politicians are coming from, and what purpose it will serve. There used to be a time when people actually did research and worked hard to properly exercise their right to vote. Voting wasn't a hassle or nuisance, but instead an opportunity to take part in politics even if you weren't a politician, and a great time to make your voice heard in the country. I want to be serious about sitting down, and taking the time to understand what I am voting for.

This isn't just a civil duty, but it is a Christian one as well. Jesus asked us to stay here and help our brothers and sisters while we wait for his return. We are called to be IN the world, but not OF the world. Many people use this as an excuse to ignore politics. "This isn't my real home anyway, so why do I need to participate?". This is a wrong attitude. While we are in this world we are called to be Christ to others, and that includes making out voices heard in the political realm. Now, you don't have to shout out to the world that you are "Voting for Jesus!", but just use the reasonable mind God gave you to apply the Christian principles you've come to believe and apply them to the political realm. It's practical, yet takes some work to do. But you can expect me to be this kind of citizen from now on.

Now that some of you (Mom) are gagging from the political talk, I will say ciao! :) It's 3 weeks by the way till I'm home.

Nelly's remarkable cooking...

I don't know if I have illustrated this fact enough in my blog so here goes... My host mom, Nelly is probably the best cook I have ever met in my life. Never has one person been able to astound me with every meal she makes. She hardly ever makes two meals twice, and waiting to see what she cooks everyday is the best game on earth! You sit at the table smelling something you've never smelt before and voila! The best meal you've had yet. Then the next day beats the day previous, and so on and so forth.

I know I sound dramatic... but just ask my roommate Carrie if this is all true. We got the best host family on the planet, and we are thoroughly convinced of it. To prove it, I decided to take pictures of all our meals this week to show them off. This is just a typical week in the life of the Anjari household!

This is a pear that was boiled in red wine, then doused in meringue creme frosting!

I don't know what this is called, but it was a raspberry yogurt type pie... SO GOOD!

Pastel de mariscos, which is a dish that I can only describe as a seafood pot pie! Some lemon and cheese on top with a glass of white chilean wine. Nelly made this because my roomie Carrie is out of town, and she doesn't like seafood so Nelly told me that I have to take advantage of the fishy foods while she's gone. Happy Sunday.

One random night Nelly decided to make us chocolate covered strawberry's!

Rice with veggies, and homemade meatballs!

Manzana Asada. An apple stuffed with marmalade and sugar, then baked in an oven and covered with a sweet creme. Served cold... and usually served after a good ole' barbecue. 

I don't really know how to describe this because I haven't had anything like it before. Its a salad with crab meat, mushrooms, sesame seeds, and other good stuff. 

I came home one day and was telling Nelly how hot it was outside, and she came to my room 5 minutes later with a café helado (coffee with ice cream). She's so good to me!

Homemade queque de platanos (banana bread).

It looks funny I know, but this is another fishy meal I got to enjoy since Carrie is gone. On the right is a tuna salad type thing, and it surprisingly wasn't too fishy tasting, which is usually the bad thing about tuna. It was really good! Then of course on the left is the famous quinoa mix that Nelly makes. It's quinoa with salt, lemon, fresh cut tomatoes, and avocado!

That's an oven full of empanadas. That's a recipe for an afternoon nap. 

Raspberry pie, no big deal.

Crepe with chocolate ice cream in the middle. Again... no big deal. 

Fried fish with a fresh salad!

Remember that this is just a weeks worth of food! So after all the ooooing and awwwwing at the food, I can hear everybody (the women at least) thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of calories..." 

Yeah I know, I'm enjoying every bit of the food, but I am also working out more this semester than I ever have ha. 

I am trying to keep up with it, but let's just say... Nelly is too good of a cook sometimes ;) You can stop drooling now, ciao!

It happened!

I feel SO accomplished right now, and I didn't even technically do anything except sleep! When you're studying a new language, a huge milestone is when you start to dream in the language you're studying. It means that you're brain is thinking in that new language and that you're really starting to integrate it into your life.

Well last night, I had a dream that was partly in Spanish! WOO! Now let's be clear, it wasn't great spanish, but I don't care. It was in Spanish. I was walking down the hallway of my house here in Chile, and suddenly Jorge ran out of his room to greet me. I greeted him in Spanish (just like I always do), but the kicker was that he greeted me back in English. Perfect English. Which is completely absurd because the kid can't even say a proper Spanish word. After he greeted me, my friends and I just started laughing and talking about how cute he was, but it was a mix of Spanish and English the whole dream. Not much. But definitely a milestone for me and I am thrilled!

This may be my shortest blog ever. But I had to give that little update! Ciao!

When things start to click.

There's a certain amount of time that one needs in life to adjust to new situations. I have found that mine is about three months, and things start to go smoothly. I always seem to be getting a hold of my professors and classes three months into the semester. My summer job as a CNA became fun and a piece of cake by the end of July. Chile is starting to completely click after a little over three months...

And there's only one month to go.

That's the bitter-sweet part. I feel as if I have lived in Chile for years! I can make plans without needing to ask Nelly and Enrique about the little details. I have a regular workout schedule. My body can process all of the unhealthy (but so good) food that Nelly cooks me. I clean my room regularly every morning (so Nelly doesn't do it for me). And life feels strangely normal and unexciting.

This isn't a disappointment! In fact I enjoy the normalcy of it! I had missed the feeling of waking up to " just another day." Sometimes you get sick of having the mentality that time is running out, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you must take advantage of everyday, every hour, minute, and second! It's tiring after 3 months! It's nice to wake up and walk downstairs, say hi to my Chilean mom, feeling totally bored without any idea what you're going to do today. Maybe I will go to Valpo for some shopping, maybe I will knit and be lazy, or maybe I will just go sit on the beach and read a book. I may sound crazy (and a bit lazy) but when life starts to feel normal in a place that's not your normal, it becomes exciting. This is my life. This is my chilean family. I am sitting at home just as clueless about what to do today as I would be on a Saturday morning in Fort Collins.

Yet home and Fort Collins feel like a totally different world. Though technology can span the distance between my family and friends, there's something unnatural about skyping and skyping and skyping. Where we don't even make eye contact because the webcams are angled away. I can't give them a hug goodbye, or punch my brother when he's being annoying. My dog doesn't recognize my voice over skype. I've met Marc (Swedish study abroad student at my parents) but haven't really met him. They feel like stories that I have read in a newspaper. I get updates on day to day things, but I am completely removed and uninvolved. My roommate got into PA school and I wasn't there to celebrate! My other friend is finishing up her last semester of college... and I'm sitting here in Chile.

I'm not complaining. Not in the slightest! Have you seen my pictures? I am so lucky and blessed to be here. Chile is heaven for a gal like me. It's just a strange feeling when your home in Chile becomes more familiar and normal than your real home in the States. When I know more about what's going on at work with Enrique than my own Dad. It's simply strange. Yet comfortable. Because this is my home. And in a little over a month, I will be saying goodbye to my home. Just like I did when I came to Chile, I will hug my parents goodbye but this goodbye will most likely be forever. Bitter-sweet. That's the only way to describe what my "one month to go" mark feels like.

So here's prayers and hopes to a good month to come with many memories, laughs, and empanadas! Salud!

Atacama again.

Finally getting to the last day of Atacama! We had to wake up early to catch a tour of the Salt lakes with flamingos, and the Lagunas Altiplanicas in the morning. The bus came to our hostel, picked us up, and we left for a 40 minute drive to what looked like absolutely nothing...

Except that when you arrive you see a flat landscape full of white chunky rocks, which actually turns out to be a bunch of salt! We learned that areas of this valley/plain used to be a huge lake, and when it dried up all of the salt was left behind. There were some areas with water left, and the mini ecosystems that live there were very strange. There are flamingos, some kind of shrimp, and a lot of microorganisms. It's a strange environment to live in, and they obviously have to be able to handle a lot of minerals, especially salt. 

Many of us in the group kept saying that this is a place that should not be pretty, but it surprisingly is!

So much salt...

From afar we can see Volcano Lascar. It's still active, and was smoking all day! Very cool.   

After the salt lakes we started driving up into the hills, towards the mountains to reach a second set of lakes (Las Lagunas Altiplanicas). The views were stunning!

The surroundings were so strange to me. The ground wasn't the dirt we'd been seeing all weekend because plants were actually able to grow, but it still was desert. The mountains looked like ones I was more used to, but still lacked vegetation, so it was just a different world to me. I've never seen anything like it. 

We drove by a fox!

The lake colors were very cool! (Look close below). 

On the way back to San Pedro, we stopped in a little town to get ice cream and look around. They had a cute plaza and church, and that's about all that made up the town.

By the time we got back into town it was about 2pm, and it was very hot in San Pedro. We took a break for a bit at the hostel. Most of us had some sunburn despite the fact that we had all put on sunscreen multiple times. The desert is going to win that battle. We never got to feel clean or cool. There's always dirt, sweat, and sunscreen. I guess that's the nature of the Atacama. Kaylin and I decided to go rent bikes again and go back to the area we had gone the day previous, and see if we could make it to the church we had seen from afar. We ended up finding out from the rental service that there was another canyon area we hadn't explored, so we were pumped to try some new routes!

These red canyons were gorgeous, and so fun to ride bikes through! There were a lot of natural tunnels and caves around, and I hardly could keep my eyes on the path because I just wanted to look around. It reminded me a lot of Red Rocks. 

Funny enough after about 2 hours of biking we ended up at top of one of these huge rock walls, and looked around... we were not anywhere near where we had meant to be. We hiked around a little to see if we could find a way out, but there were a lot a different ways, and we didn't want to risk getting lost in a random canyon. So we went back, and connected with the main road to try and make it to the church. It took all of 15 minutes to get to the church, which was tiny and sitting on a hill. 

Kaylin and I went back to San Pedro and returned the bikes after about 4 hours of biking. It was such a good end to a great weekend in the Atacama desert. This place surprised me so much! I loved the desert, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! I really enjoyed getting away from the big city and getting outside for a whole weekend. Though I could never live or stay long in a place like this, the Norte Grande of Chile sure made it's mark on my semester abroad.

Ciao!