Yes: Hiking in the Andes and a Visit to Vina del Mar

Alright, so it is now Sunday and I have a whole list of things I have said Yes to, so here it goes!

First, I said yes to having a common breakfast here, which is mashed-up avocados on bread with some tea. Avocados are really cheap here so it makes for an inexpensive and filling breakfast.

Next, I said yes to attending a summer solstice celebration with my host mom. The venue of the celebration was in a huge house that was complete with numerous paintings that were bigger than the walls of my dorm room. There was also a wall that was completely covered in tribal masks. For the celebration, there was an "altar" that had a bucket of nuts, a bowl full of oranges, a bucket of water, and a bucket of trail mix. These buckets were placed on a mat on which candy was scattered. The celebration started with about 35 people sitting in a circle and singing with the accompaniment of two drums and maracas. In the circle, there were four people who kept coals burning in stone cups that they added incense to throughout the ceremony. The leader of the ceremony rolled a big cigar using a corn husk and tobacco. Next, we went around in a circle and said what we were thankful for and what we hoped would happen in the new year. When it was your turn, you were supposed to smoke the cigar and speak. I spoke but I did not smoke the cigar. Surprise Surprise. After our thank yous, we sang more, passed around the buckets of water and food, wished each other happy winter, and walked around in a circle singing, "May you walk peacefully on the Earth, I hope you flourish." It was definitely an experience, to say the least.

Next, I saw yes to going on an excursion to the Andes! Only four of our group went because the others preferred to explore the city. Specifically, we went to el Parque Nacional de Banos Morales. Here are some of the pictures from the trip! P.S. Because I did not have snow shoes, I wore two pairs of socks, covered them with a plastic bag, and then wore my running shoes. Unfortunately, this strategy did not keep my feet any warmer. (I promise I can show clearer pictures when I get home! I know that the quality is not too good for these photos for some reason...)

 Here you can see both of our guides, Jorge and the dog

 This pictures goes out to Ben specifically.

People in Chile really do not like regular water. Therefore, I made the mistake of buying carbonated water, which is much more popular and much less refreshing.

So that was our trip to the Andes!

Today, we went to Vina del Mar, which is this really pretty city where Pablo Neruda, a famous port, diplomat, and politician, had one of his three houses. This area is also known for its vast amount of street art which I will show below. I'm also going to show you guys the ocean view!
This is the whole group that I am here with!

 This was one of Pablo Neruda's houses. It felt like a Chilean Hearst's Castle on the inside.

 
Sorry for all of the random pictures...I just wanted to make sure that everything was basically on the page. Vina del Mar was very beautiful and definitely worth the trip. We ate at an Italian restaurant where I had some delicious lasagna with MEAT! My host family does not typically eat a lot of meat because it is rather expensive so I try to get meat whenever I can. Today, which is now Monday, I went to COANIL, which is a program that helps the mentally handicapped. Their students are encouraged to pursue art and many are trained to maintain jobs in various industries. It's a really great program and I'm really excited to be working with them. I'll most likely have more to say about that next time....Other than that, it's just been a very busy couple of days.

I miss and love you all very much!
Rachel

Yes: A Chakra Manipulation Experience

Hello Everyone!

I guess you may  be wondering why this blog is called Yes...Well, it's because Laura told me to say, "Yes" to everything. So far, I think that I have stuck to it fairly well!

The plane ride was not as bad as I thought it would be. On the way to Mexico City I sat next to a Gastrointestinal physician named Richard. He was really nice and made the first part of the flight more pleasant. Once I got to Mexico City, I had to wait for five hours until my flight for Chile. As we were boarding, I thought that I had lost my passport and was near crying. However, I looked in my backpack, found it almost instantly, and proceeded to feel like a complete idiot. Anyway, after that there were any mishaps and I got to Santiago safe and sound.

This is where I am tying from right now!!!

 This is the living room...

This is the kitchen! Where we drink tea and eat bread 24/7!

Pesos are the currency, although I wish I was as rich as the numeric value implies...

My host family is very nice, but also eccentric. I am living with a single mom and her twenty-one year old daughter. Before I met my host family, I was worried that they might be distant or reserved. This was not the case and is not the case with most Chileans. There are lots of hugs and kisses on the cheeks when you meet them, even if they have no idea of who you are. My host mom is by no means a classic Catholic nor is she conservative. By now I hope that Uncle Bob and Dad aren't panicking! She works in a mall giving massages that "manipulate chakras" and use pressure points that are supposed to  be connected to organs within the body. With all of this being said, I still did not hesitate to say yes when she invited me to a "danza."

The Danza was basically a combination of meditation, dancing, massage, and empowerment for women. We started by rubbing our partners tailbone with our fist which, as you can imagine, was hard not to laugh at out of the sheer awkwardness of the situation. However, no one else was laughing so I kept a straight face.After rubbing the tailbone, we worked out ways up the spines and massaged each others arms, legs, and scalps. Next, we rapidly beat our hands on each others' backs, solar plexus, and feet. This was done to free the "chakra," or energy, that is contained within each of our bodies. We did different exercises to release the four different types of chakras from our bodies. For example, to release our red and masculine chakra, we were told to focus on everything that was frustrating or angering us and then to turn all of those feelings into a ball of energy that we pushed into the circle. To release and balance our purple chakra, which exits our body from our third eye, we just laid on the floor and meditated. I almost feel asleep so I don't think I was doing it right....

Today, I went to my first class at IES which is the program that is providing my classes. To be honest, I was relieved because it meant that I could see my classmates and speak English for a while.We learned about general parts of Chilean culture and then we were sent out on a scavenger hunt within the city. We saw two churches which I'll try to show somewhere on here...
 This is an Orthodox Church...

 A view of the street...

 More of the street....

We also found the International Multicultural Art Museum!
Here's a statue that was outside of it!

International Cultural Museum of Art 

 Oddly enough, what caught my eye the most was all of the stray dogs that were on the streets. They are a ton of them and they all seemed very nice, although I did not pet any of them.
 Here's a cute stray dog that I thought was dead at first...

Now, I am back home and starting on my homework. When I last checked, there was incense burnings, drums beating, and singing in the living room. Home sweet home?

I miss you all!!!