Benjamin Preis

Viví en Santagio, Chile durante el segundo semestre de 2013. Aqui, escribí sobre mis experiencias.

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I don’t speak Spanish, so I have to rely on my friend Daniel to tell me the stories reported on the widely praised Radio Ambulante. But this one especially caught my attention: It’s the story of Benjamin Gonzalez, a kid from a working class family in Chile who worked extremely hard to get into the best public high school in the country and eventually graduated its valedictorian.

As Daniel wrote to me, “So, he goes to this school, his only shot at getting into a university, but he bristles at the conformity, the arbitrary discipline, all the baggage that comes from going to one of these very traditional schools, but he’s basically too scared to do anything about it, whether that means complain or push back or anything. The stakes are too high. This is all happening in the context of education reform in chile, where public education is under assault. But he wants to say something. He sees teachers being racist, teachers whitewashing the crimes of the dictatorship, teachers punishing students for no reason. He keeps his mouth shut until graduation: he wins the right to give the valedictory speech, and uses this platform to denounce the school. Imagine — it begins as a classic, conventional graduation speech and turns into a denunciation of traditional conservative values, racism, classism, jingoism… it’s an amazing speech. stunned audience. Cell phone videos of the speech go viral.”

If you speak Spanish, please check the piece out. It’s a fascinating story of the bind working class kids find themselves in—not just in Chile, but around the world, as they seek access to educational opportunities and better lives amid unjust social orders. Radio Ambulante is working to caption and translate more of their work, so hopefully it will be available 

[benjaminstravels]

A really fascinating piece.

[benjaminstravels]

The Final Days in Chile

Thursday, December 12

After returning to Santiago, we returned to our homes, briefly.  I began to unpack, unloaded all of my photos, and said hello to Consuelo.

At 10pm, Joe, Michael, and I met far west of our homes, in Barrio Brasil, to visit Las Vacas Gordas, our favorite restaurant, one last time.  The food was delicious, the atmosphere was pleasant, and the wine was a treat.  The wine, from the vineyard Apaltagua, was part of their “spring” line.  A young wine, we had a 2013 bottle, even though it was still 2013: something you can only do in the Southern Cone of wine making!

Friday, December 13

Today was a long, albeit good, day.  I continued to unpack from Patagonia, before heading into the center to meet up with Michael, and run some errands.  We met up at the office, and after some dillydallying, headed out.  We went to la Feria Santa Lucia to do some last minute shopping.  I mostly walked around looking lost, not sure what I was buying for whom, or for whom I was buying at all.  I realized that this would probably be my last opportunity to do any shopping before leaving Chile, so I did my best to remember everyone on my theoretical list.  After shopping for far too long, we headed into the center to cross one more thing off of our todo list.  

Afterwards, I headed to the Vinoteca while Michael headed off to Estación Central for more shopping.  I needed to bring a few bottles of wine home for presents, and didn’t want to leave that until the last minute.

After successfully finding that wine for which I was looking, I returned home and quickly changed for dinner, before meeting with Joe to go to his cousin’s house for a last Shabbos dinner in Chile.  It was lovely to see them again; they were so hospitable to me this whole semester, and I truly couldn’t thank them enough.  It was a lovely shabbat dinner, and a heartfelt goodbye.

Saturday, December 14

Today was a day that had a plan.  It was a planned day.  And yet, not one part of that plan was completed, except the first.

The first part of the day’s plan involved an interview about my internship with the Tufts-in-Chile supervisor, Peter Winn.  The interview went pretty well, and lasted nearly the full hour allotted, until Michael arrived early and interrupted. Since we met near the mall, I ran over in search of a few last minute presents, though left deciding that I didn’t need what the mall was selling.

Originally, the plan had been to go to Fantasilandia, the largest amusement park in Chile, followed by one last party before heading to Mercado Central for breakfast in the morning, and finally, getting some sleep.  However, Fantasilandia was closed for most of the month, rented out for end-of-the-year parties by various companies.  The first part of our plan was out.

Instead, we headed to Carolyn’s house for a goodbye lunch, which was lovely, before heading over to Joe’s for a goodbye lunch.  Michael, Joe, Evelyn (Joe’s host mom) and I, spent the afternoon hanging out, talking, and laughing.  As the sun set, we headed over to Michael’s house to hang out for a bit, before heading over to Amalya’s for the final party, which was quite a bit of fun.

Originally, we planned on going to Bellavista for a final night out.  However, Sunday was election day, so everything had to close early.  The second part to our plan foiled.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed the rest of the night.  Early in the morning, we didn’t go to Mercado Central, as planned, since we believed it to be closed as well.  Rather, I walked home and slept the morning away.

Sunday, December 15

Today was a long day indeed.  After sleeping in way to late, I began to pack, at least a small amount.  Joe called me and invited me over for lunch with Evelyn and the family, an offer I couldn’t refuse.  After packing a little bit more, I went over to Joe’s house, by way of bicycle.

I had been hoping to sell my bike to Consuelo, but that sadly fell through at the last minute.  Michael had mentioned that his host family had said that they would have purchased his bicycle had he not sold it to someone else, so I asked him to ask them if they would be interested in purchasing my bike.  Sadly, the answer ended up being no, but it was nice to bike to Joe’s house anyway.

Lunch was quite lovely.  Although Joe and I were exhausted – I even accidentally work my shirt inside-out – he made lunch for everyone.  It was a nice lunch, and I can’t thank Joe’s host family enough for taking me in.  They were so kind and welcoming, and always put up with the fact that Joe, Michael, and I preferred to hang out at their house over any other.  It was hard to say goodbye, but in the end, I left after a long and lovely afternoon.

I returned to the apartment to continue packing.  Consuelo returned a short time later; she had spent the day in Rancagua, visiting her family.  I had the dinner that she made me; I think she realized that she was wrong to have made me dinner for one on my last night in Chile, so she sat in the kitchen and we talked for a while, before I returned to packing for the rest of the night.

Monday, December 16th

Although today was my last day in Chile, it does not me it was a relaxing day, by any means.  It began with breakfast and coffee at Cafe Wonderful, where I also wrote a few thank-you notes to various people who had impacted my trip this semester.  I then headed over to the post office, where I tried to buy stamps.  However, the only stamps they had in stock were Christmas themed stamps.  Normally, I would have no problem with using stamps such as those, but as I was mailing a letter to a Rabbi, I purchased the stamps, but then lated decided I didn’t want to use them.  I also bought a cardboard box, in which to wrap some of the paintings and posters I had purchased this semester.

I then headed to the office, dropped off the box, and chatted with Loreto for a while.  I ran into some other Tufts students doing some last minute errands, and talked with them as well.  Then, I headed back to Feria Santa Lucia to purchase one last item on my list, and was successful and swift in that action.  I walked across the street and into the Biblioteca Nacional.  Although I had been many times, I realized, after Hannah left Chile, that I had no pictures of the building, and that I should really fix that.  Thus, I spent some time walking around the building and trying to capture the essence of its beautiful architecture.

I headed out the back of the building, and went to a bookstore or two in an attempt to find a map of Santiago that I liked, and was finally successful in that venture as well.  Since I was “nearby” the Plaza de Armas, I decided to go to the central post office.  I had heard that it was beautiful inside, and I also thought they might have some other options for me to purchase stamps.  I arrived, only to discover that, while beautiful, it is also a lot like the DMV, insofar as the line was so long I couldn’t even tell where it began or ended.  Thus, I immediately left, and decided to try my luck elsewhere.

I then walked back towards the office to buy manjar and pisco, gifts for myself.  After putting all of my newly purchased items (except the box) into my backpack, I headed back to the original post office.  I had decided to simply buy international stamps, which were not Christmas themed.

After that, I headed to the calle Nueva York to exchange my final pesos, leaving only enough for lunch, to get to the airport, and for some food at the airport.  I then met up with Joe for lunch at Mercado Central, where I had my last fresh Corvina for an indefinite amount of time.  Lunch began and ended late, and so I had to take the metro to the office to pick up my box, before rushing to the apartment.

I arrived at the apartment at 4pm.  I was to be picked up in an hour.  I quickly realized that I was not nearly as packed as I had thought I was 6 hours before, when I left the house.  That was the bad news, but I tried my best to pack as quickly as I could, and was done by the time I was picked up.  Consuelo came home from work early to say goodbye, and I was office to the airport.

After spending nearly an hour picking people up; we went in a van that held 6 Tufts students, though it felt as if we were in a clown car by the end, we arrived at the airport three hours before takeoff.  It took at hour to check our bags, many people had problems with weight.  One of my bags was 5 pounds over, but my other bag was 5 pounds under, so I was allowed a pass.  We hugged Carmen Gloria, Loreto, and Joe (who was extending his trip) goodbye, and went through passport control and security.

With only ten minutes before boarding, Michael and I ran to a restaurant to order our last beer in Chile, and eight empanadas to share.   We stared at the “departures” screen, first thinking that our boarding had been pushed back 10 minutes, and then realizing it had been pushed up 15, and we were late.  Thus, we quickly finished our food, and ran to our gate.  I got in line, and he purchased us our final Chilean candy bars.

The flight wasn’t bad, and I slept for most of it, except for the meals, sadly, I arrived in Miami on time.

Tuesday, December 17, Back in the USA

Although the flight officially concludes my time on the Tufts in Chile program, I must include my escapades in the airport as they were just too ridiculous to go unmentioned.

We arrived at Miami at 4:30am.  We slowly walked off of the airplane, and were greeted by new automated kiosks to do customs for us, as we were US citizens.  After scanning our passports, answering a few questions, and having our picture taken, we took a printed receipt to an agent, who welcomed us home.

Then, baggage claim.  However, one of my bags didn’t arrive.  This wouldn’t have been that worrisome had it not been the bag that contained all of my presents and paintings and wine.  There was another plane that was set to arrive in an hour from Santiago, and we were told that we could wait, but that there would be no promises it would be on board.

Thus, we headed through customs, and were led to a baggage drop area. However, the tag on my bag that did make it had fallen off.  I had to exit the secure area and recheck my bag.  I did so, though had to go through two different lines to do so.  Afterwards, I went through security.  As I had just arrived after an 8 hour flight, had had my bag lost, and then had to recheck another bag when I typically wouldn’t have to do so, I was understandably tired.  Thus, I thought it was excusable that I had forgotten about my Tufts water bottle that was filled with water.  The TSA agent informed me that I could exit security, dump the water, and reenter security, or I could relinquish the bottle as a whole.  She refused my offer to drink its contents.

Thus, I exited the security line, dumped my water bottle, and got back in line, to go through security again.  The second time was fairly easy, and I headed off towards my gate, D60.

On my way there, I checked the departures screen, and found Michael’s flight, gate D1, at the other end of the terminal.  I continued to D60 such that I could drop my stuff off with Emily, who is also from Pittsburgh, but she wasn’t there.  Thus, I got on the SkyTram, overheard some Chileans (which filled me with great joy) and arrived at gate D1 with 10 minutes to spare.  Michael and I said goodbye, ate our Chilean candy bars, and he boarded.  I headed back to my gate, during which time I spotted a young Modern Orthodox woman sprinting to her flight, two twins in the stroller, and arrived as my flight was boarding.  I got into my seat, and proceeded to relax for the first time in the last 4 hours.  What a weird feeling it was to be going home.

[benjaminstravels]

Magellanic Penguins, from Isla Magdalena, December 11, 2013

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The Final Days of Our Patagonian Adventure

December 10, The Return to Punta Arenas

Today, we tried our best to take it easy.  We slept in, had a delicious breakfast at our hostel – read: something other than oatmeal – and relaxed until long after checkout.  I remembered the starbucks instant coffee I had found in my jacket whilst hiking, and was glad that I resisted the urge to drink it then, and had delicious coffee with my breakfast.  Chess and cards were played, emails were returned, and we just enjoyed not having to do anything.

In the afternoon, we took the afternoon bus back to Punta Arenas.  The bus ride didn’t go quite as quickly as it did the first time around, as I didn’t fall asleep before the bus started moving this time.  However, it was a beautiful ride and didn’t feel as if it lasted too long, either.

We arrived in Punta Arenas missing a critical piece of information: the address for our hostel.  I had forwarded the email to Joe, but his iPad hadn’t downloaded the email, and so we were left without an address, and the gentlemen at the bus station hadn’t heard of our hostel.

Thus, we walked to the hostel we stayed in on our first night, logged onto their wifi, and downloaded the email.  The address was found, directions were loaded, and we were off.

However, I had a problem: I had no cash, and needed some.  This wouldn’t be a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that this had been the case for a number of days.  Puerto Natales didn’t have an ATM in sight, and needless to say, nether did Torres del Paine.  On our way to the hostel, I stopped at a bank to withdraw money; it didn’t accept my bank’s card.  I stopped at a second bank; the bank was closed.  For my third attempt, I was greeted by an ATM that didn’t accept international cards.  My forth, and final attempt proved fruitful, and we continued on our way.  This was comical, and utterly inexplicable.  But nonetheless, I enjoyed the comedy.

Arriving at the hostel, we were somewhat concerned.  It appeared as if we weren’t in the best neighborhood.  There were no signs advertising that we were, in fact, in front of a hostel.  This had been the last hostel available in all of Punta Arenas when we booked last night, so its not as if we had had a choice.  We pushed the button in the center of the door, and were welcomed into a beautiful hostel.  Success!  We were welcomed by colorful rooms, beautiful beds, and the promise of breakfast in the morning.

We headed back into Punta Arenas, stopping at the tourist information office, and we purchased tickets to go see penguins on Isla Magdalena the next day.  We also asked the woman for restaurant recommendations, and headed over, to have our first meal out on this entire trip.

On the way,  I noticed a promoción: ten churros, filled with manjar (dulce de leche) for only four dollars.  While I had already had two churos filled with manjar early that day, I couldn’t resist, and Joe and I split the bag.  While the others headed into the restaurant, we stood outside, winds as fast as 50 mph winds blasted against our faces.  We spoke with a waiter, who claimed to know our Spanish Professor, who was born here.

We finally headed in, having successfully eaten 9/10 of the churros (I failed). Dusting off the copious amounts of powdered sugar that caked our jackets, we joined the four others.  We then relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the night, after trying calafate sours, calafate being a fruit native to the region.

After dinner, I broke my promise to myself, and we watched a US movie in English, Dark Shadows.  An incredibly weird movie, it was unclear why we stayed up so late to watch it.

December 11, Penguins!

Oh, penguins.  200,000 penguins, plus many more chicks.  What a day today was.  We awoke early, had a wonderful breakfast, before heading over to the ferry that would take us to Isla Magdalena.  Explicably tired, we slept most of the way to the island, a two-hour-long ferry ride.

Upon arriving, we were greeted by thousands of penguins.  The Magellanic Penguin, a species of penguin native to South America named for Ferdinand Magellan, comes to this island ever year to bread and raise their chicks.  We had come just after egg-hatching, and so were we able to see adorable, coffee-mug-sized, fluffy penguins.

The island had an interesting mark of the penguins: thousands of holes dug into the ground, where the penguins sleep and guard their eggs.  We also were able to observe male penguins howling into the sky, calling their mate, and letting them know where they were.  We only had an hour on the island, but that didn’t stop me from taking upwards of 300 photos.  There was just so much cute!

They weren’t all cute, though.  When Joe got a little to close to one of the penguins, he nearly lost his finger!  

After waving goodbye to the penguins, we fell back asleep on the ride back.  Then, we split up.  Cynthia and Kelly, who hadn’t had time in Punta Arenas, went to shop and see the cemetery.  The four of us left went to walk around, shop a little ourselves, and stopped at a wonderfully chocolate-themed cafe to warm up.

In the evening, Kelly and Cynthia flew home, while the four of us stayed for one last night.  We made dinner in the hostel, each taking on a task.  Joe sautéed the fish, Jess made the squash and onions, Michael made the asparagus, and I sautéed the potatoes.  We had a delicious, delicious meal.  The meal was also accompanied by some cider.  We had purchased some early, when Joe dropped the bottle while in line.  When we opened the bottle in the hostel, the cork flew a solid 30 feet, landing in the property next door!

After dinner, we watched a movie that actually topped the previous movie in terms of how weird a movie can be. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, is the story of a peasant in the France during the 19th century attempting to create the perfect perfume, and murdering beautiful women in the process.  I would not recommend.

December 12

Today was an easy day.  We slept in, and relaxed in the hostel.   We received our grades for our 40 Años del Golpeclass.  Since most students in this 100 person class turned in between 20-40 pages worth of work it was rather amazing that our grades were ready in just over a week!  It became evident that our works hadn’t been graded for content, and rather, format, when we looked at the histogram of the grades: the vast majority of the class received an A+ in the class.

After celebrating our grades, I quickly sent some postcards from this far off place, ran to the post office, and ran back to the hostel, just as the taxis arrived to pick us up for the airport.

[benjaminstravels]

Torres del Paine, A How-to Guide

How to do the “W”

Figuring everything out was not easy, and so I wanted to compile a little how to guide.

Preparations

Figure out if you want to camp (roughly 4500 CLP/night for the campsite if you already have your tent/sleeping bag/sleeping mat) or stay in the refugios (25000 CLP/night/person for a bed, more if you want a bed with sheets and a pillow, and around 45000 CLP/night/person if you want dinner, breakfast, and a packed lunch and a bed).  If you do Torres del Paine East-to-West, the first to refugios are owned by Fantastico Sur, and the second two by Vertice.  You can make reservations for campsites or beds online on their website.

You’ll arrive to Puerto Natales at 9 or 9:30pm after finishing the trek if you take the 6:30pm catamaran, so you’ll want to stay there for the night.  Book a hostel before you go!!  You can also take a 12:30pm catamaran, leaving you time to get out of Puerto Natales the day you finish the trek.

Equipment

You need: tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, stove, gas, food, cooking instruments and eating instruments.  I rented a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, a stove, and a mess kit (bowl/cup/spoon) and it cost me $23,000 CLP for the 4 nights, though we were given a discount of 3000 CLP each, for being students, I believe.  The tents are for two people.  You can rent larger tents, but it’s not recommended due to strong winds.  That is a somewhat legitimate concerns.  You cannot fit more than 2 people into these tents.

Here are the prices we received from Erratic Rock, as of 12/2013

Sleeping bag (-9C) 3.000 CLP/night

Mess kit (up to 3 people) 4.000 (complete)

     -stove 1.500

     -bowls 500

     -cups 500

     -water bottle 1.000

     -pot 500

     -spoons 500

Sleeping pad 1.000

2 person tents 3.500

A note on the mess kit: the websites for Fantastico Sur and Vertice make it sound like there are areas for you to cook that have stoves.  That is not the case.  You will need to bring your own stove and gas, though you can buy gas at some of the refugios.  The refugios also sell food (pasta, sauce, tuna, etc.) but it is EXPENSIVE.

Getting to the Park

Most flights go to Punta Arenas, but you need to be in Puerto Natales to go to the park.  From Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales is 3 hours or so.  Thus, you can take a flight that arrives to Punta Arenas before 7am, or you can give yourself a day or two to explore the pretty impressive town of Punta Arenas.

In Puerto Natales, rent whatever equipment you don’t have.  We went to Erratic Rock, and they had pretty reasonable prices, helpful staff, and good equipment.  If you haven’t yet made reservations for the refugios or campsites, go to Fantastico Sur and Vertice to do that.  You can rent a tent and sleeping bag with them, thus meaning that you don’t have to carry your equipment with you, but it’s more expensive.  When we rented equipment, Erratic Rock rented tents at 3500 CLP/night for a two person tent, while Fantastico Sur charged 7000 CLP/night.  It’s up to you whether you want comfort or price.

Take the 2:30 bus to Torres del Paine.  If you stayed the night before in Puerto Natales, you can also take a bus to Torres del Paine in the morning, at 7:30am, I believe.Pay the entrance fee when you arrive.  If you’re studying abroad, take you Chilean Cedula (Carné), you pay a significantly reduced price (5000 CLP vs 18000 CLP, for 2013).

Day 0

Take a transfer to refugio Las Torres. Hike from their to your first campsite, El Chileno.

Day 1

Wake up 2 hours before sunrise, which will be EARLY, ask the front desk.  Hike to Mirador Base Las Torres to see the towers at sunrise.  Leave your bags at camp, bring water and a camera.

Go back to camp, have breakfast, pack up, and head to Los Cuernos.  You can also continue on to El Italiano.  The benefits of doing so: it’s free, and it will make your second day shorter.  The drawbacks: fewer amenities, and it will make your first day longer.

Day 2

Hike to El Italiano if you didn’t stay there the night before, drop your stuff off, except for your camera and water.  Hike into Valle Frances, one hour to the first mirador, and another hour or hour and a half to the second.  The second vista gives you a great view of the valley, and I would recommend it, but it isn’t necessary.  Hike out of the valley, pick your stuff up at Italiano, and head to Lodge Paine Grande, which is definitely the most flat, and easiest, part of the trek.

Day 3

Hike from Paine Grande to Refugio Grey, take your time, it’s only 4 hours.  If you arrive early enough, set up camp and hike to the mirador 1.5 hours farther north for a great (and highly recommended) view of the glacier.  Go back to Refugio Grey.

Day 4

Hike back to Paine Grande so that you can catamaran out of the park.  You can either take the 12:30pm or 6:30pm catamaran out.  It’s a 4 hour hike, so choose if you want to leave early or later.  We chose later.  You buy your tickets on the boat (12000 CLP CASH, December 2013).  Buses leave from Pudeto, which is where the catamaran will drop you off.  Congratulations! You finished the trek.

You’ll arrive to Puerto Natales at 9 or 9:30, if you take the late catamaran, so you’ll want to stay there for the night.  Book a hostel before you go!

The next day, bus back to Punta Arenas, or bus on to your next Patagonian adventure!

Minimum days in which you can do this trek (unless I’m missing information):

Day 1: Arrive in Punta Arenas early, bus to Puerto Natales, rent equipment, bus to Torres del Paine at 2:30, and hike to El Chileno.

Day 2: El Chileno to Mirador Base Los Torres and back (without packs).  El Chileno to Los Cuernos.

Day 3: Los Cuernos to Italiano. Italiano into Valley Frances, and back (without packs).  Italiano to Paine Grande

Day 4: Paine Grande to Refugio Gray.  Regufio Gray to mirador and back (without packs).

Day 5: Refugio Gray to Paine Grande to catamaran that takes you to Pudeto.  From Pudeto, but back to Puerto Natales.  If you chose the early catamaran, you should be able to bus back to Punta Arenas (though double check the bus times, as I didn’t do this, I’m not sure on that).  If you chose the late boat, stay in Puerto Natales.

Day 6:  Off you go!  Congratulations.

So there you have it.  I wouldn’t recommend doing the minimum number of days.  Give yourself some time.  Punta Arenas is a town with a rich history and beautiful buildings from old wealth.  You can go to Isla Magdalena and see 200,000 penguins if you’re there during the high-season.  There is plenty to do, and no need to rush.

An interesting idea: another group from my program bought round trip Santiago-Punta Arenas tickets, but purchased a flight that stopped down in Puerto Montt on the way back, disembarked, and instead explored Puerto Montt/Chiloé as well.  They then took the 12 hour bus ride back to Santiago.  An interesting idea!

I hope this helped!

[benjaminstravels]

#tuftsinchile did Torres del Paine.  Day 3, December 8, 2013

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#tuftsinchile did Torres del Paine. Day 3, December 8, 2013

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#tuftsinchile did Torres del Paine, December 7, Day 2

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#tuftsinchile Torres del Paine photos, trekking day 1. December 6, 2013.

[benjaminstravels]

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

Day 0, December 5

After being dropped off by the transfer, we had a short, 2 hour hike to our first campsite.  For the most part, the hike wasn’t so bad.  We were hiking the first part of the W, or the right-most part of the letter, into the park towards the Torres.  Behind us were two lakes of the most beautiful turquoise color.  We hiked past some people staying at one of the high-end lodges in the Park.

This is an interesting result of Chile’s neoliberal economy.  The park is a nacional park, owned by the state.  However, all of the lodges, refugios, and cabins are owned and operated by for profit companies on private land just outside park limits.  There is almost no competition – two companies own the 4 refugios most people use – but there facilities are significantly better.  Thus, even camping comes with a cost, since unless you stay at the less-well-equipped public campsites, you’ll have to pay the refugios, even just to set up a tent.  Furthermore, there are the lodges.  The most famous one, The Explora, will set you back $2000 USD for 4 days, all things included, per person.  It’s absurd.

We arrived at camp El Chileno, walked past a little wind turbine for energy, and were told that platforms for our tents – so that in the case of rain, we wouldn’t get wet – were not available, since they didn’t know we were coming.  Though we were annoyed, there was nothing we could about it, so we moved on.  The three people who had rented equipment set up the tents, while the other three began cooking dinner.  We sat next to some Israelis, which made Joe and I very happy. They wanted to climb up to see the Torres the next day, and we agreed to meet at 3am.

At 10:30, as the sun was setting, we went to bed, alarms set for 2:45 the next morning.

Day 1, December 6

We woke up a little late, and weren’t able to meet the Isralies.  At 3:40, we headed off to the base of the Torres, to watch them at sunrise.  It’s about a 1.5 hour long hike, though we were able to leave out bags at the refugio, meaning that we only had cameras and water bottles, which made it easy.  Unfortunately, my headlamp had run out of batteries, so I had to stumble closely behind my companions.

The hike was not as easy as one would like when they’re hiking at 4am without sleep.  The sun began rising as we got closer, making the headlamps less necessary.  Eventually, we reached a huge hill covered in thousands of boulders, stones, and rocks, atop of which we had to climb over.  Climb, climb, and climb we did.  We ran into some of the Israelis who had stopped for a break; they quipped “this is 3 in the morning?”  I love Israelis.

We continued climbing, and as the sun was just beginning to peek out, we stopped to take pictures, not sure how far we were from our final destination.  Comically, all we needed to do was turn the corner around a boulder.

The sight was breathtaking.  Three towers, reaching 2300 meters into the heavens, clouds whisking around them, of beautiful deep blue and pink hues.  At the base of the towers was a lake of an exquisite turquoise color.  All of the water in the park is fresh from melting glaciers, and is all completely potable, without bleach or iodine.  Yes, it goes against everything any hiker has ever learned, but it’s completely true, and absolutely amazing.  Nobody ever talks about the lake at the base of the towers, but it makes their beauty that much more astounding.  The three towers, if I recall correctly, have their distinctive shape from glaciers carving the rest of the mountain away millions of years ago.  We stood, took pictures, laughed, and enjoyed this incredible sight.  As the sun grew higher, the air colder, and the sky cloudier, we headed back to camp at around 7am.

At camp, we made breakfast, packed up, and headed out.  We had about 4 hours more of hiking ahead of us for the day.  We wound our way back from whence we came the day before, encountering a sign that said “Shortcut to Los Cuernos.”  After double checking with some people nearby, we headed in that direction.

Hiking with 40 pounds on your back is not easy, I must say.  It was a struggle to put the pack on, and always a relief to take it off.

We arrived to camp Los Cuernos around 3 or 4pm, and just hung out for a little bit.  The benefit of paid-for campsites is showers; a wonderful benefit of which I did take advantage.  There was a lake at the edge of the campsite, and I headed down to just sit and relax for a little bit.  Dinner was made, goodnights were said, and we were in bed before the sun set.

Day 2, December 7

Today was a long day, with upwards of 20 kilometers to go.  After breakfast, It began by hiking 2 hours or so to the public campsite El Italiano to drop off our big bags, and head into the middle park of the W, up to see Glacier Frances.  The hike, though very uphill, was not so bad.  Hiking is much easier when you have 8 pounds on your back, instead of 40.  We arrived at the first lookout point, being pushed by the 80 km/h winds, with gusts surely higher.  To our left sat the Glacier Frances, molded around a mountain.  I’d never seen a glacier before!  The ice was a deep blue hue where other pieces had broken off, though the top was covered in snow dirty enough to compete with snow in Pittsburgh 3 days after a large storm.

We decided to continue for another hour or so to the next lookout, and headed on.  We continued up, up, and up.  At one point, we were in a large clearings, and to our right sat the Cuernos de Paine,  or the Horns of Paine, 5 towers very similar to the Torres.  We kept going, eventually reaching the lookout.  It sat above all the trees, and gave us a beautiful view of the entire valley, the glacier, and the lake at the very edge of the valley.  We ate a well-deserved lunch, and may have fallen asleep for a few minutes.

Then, we headed back down through the valley, and reached El Italiano, where we picked up our bags.  We still had another 8 kilometers to hike, but luckily this was the only part in the entire park considered to be “easy.”  We hiked, and finally, finally, arrived at Refugio Paine Grande.   Tents were setup, dinner was made, and we headed to bed at 11pm or so.  Tomorrow was a much easier day, so we decided to sleep in until 8am.

Day 3, December 8

Today was a much easier day.  We headed out at 10am or so, and made our way to Refugio Gray, located next to Glacier Gray.  It was only 4 hours worth of trekking, and we arrived in no time.  After eating a huge lunch, we set up camp.

Given that it was so early, we decided to walk the extra 1.5 hours to the next viewpoint of the glacier.  We headed out, and saw the first mirador, only 15 minutes from camp.  The glacier seemed to go on forever.  We couldn’t see the end.  Continuing on we got a little lost, and ended up walking next to the edge of the water, on a clearly incorrect path.  However, we got a beautiful view of the glacier the whole way until we ended up back on the main path, thus making it very worth it.  We continued on at a brisk pace, eventually making it to the next mirador.  Here we were, only 9 days left in Chile, sitting next to a glacier of unimaginable size.  We took pictures, hung out, and marveled at the beauty of the sight, before heading back to camp.

We made dinner, and decided to let ourselves sleep in the next day.  We didn’t have to be back at Paine Grande until 6pm to catch the 6:30 catamaran back to the bus and out of camp, and we were only doing the reverse of what we did today.

Day 4, December 9

Thus, we woke up at 10:30, and left camp at 1pm.  It was an easy hike.  We stopped often to take pictures, and to wave goodbye to the glacier.  When we arrived to camp at 4pm, made lunch, and waited for the catamaran.  Upon the catamaran, we waved goodbye to the park and took some final pictures.  We disembarked, and headed to our bus back to Puerto Natales, thus ending our 4 + .5 day hike.

[benjaminstravels]

Welcome to Punta Arenas!

Patagonia

The much-talked-about Patagonia was the last travel destination for me this semester.  Encompassing much of the southern cone, Patagonia is a large area of land known for its glaciers, greenery, and beautiful natural history.  I had 8 days in the region of Patagonia, 4.5 of which would be spent backpacking through Parque Nacional Torres del Paine.  This park, recently named to hold the 8th Natural Wonder of the World, has two well known backpacking routes, one lasting 4-5 days, the other 8-10.  We would be doing the shorter trek, named the “W” for its shape.

December 4, Wednesday

Asleep before take off and only waking up at touch down, the 3 hour flight to Punta Arenas was easy.  Michael, Joe, Jess, and I arrived to the hostel, and were told that check-in wouldn’t be for another few hours.  We headed to the cafe that was attached, sat down, and came up with a  plan of action.  This was the least-prepared trip I had ever gone on.  We didn’t have a hostal beyond night one, we didn’t have camping equipment, nor did we know how many days it would take us to trek. However, we did know we would make it happen!

After breakfast at the cafe, we headed to the local tourism office to ask questions about all of the above, and received some helpful answers.  We also weren’t sure if we wanted to go to the famed Tierra del Fuego, which contains the southernmost cities in the world.  For context on just how south we were: Pittsburgh is located 41º longitude north, Punta Arenas is 54º south. Sunset?  10pm, although it was light out until 11pm.

After receiving some answers, and deciding that Tierra del Fuego was too much money for just to say: “we were there!”, we went to the grocery store to buy some last minute foodstuffs, and lunch.  Michael assured us there was a kitchen at the hostel, and so Joe and I bought a pizza to split.  Spoiler alert: there was no kitchen, though the cafe was very nice and cooked it for us.

We then headed up to our room and napped for a while.  There was  horrible TV show on in the background, but for some reason we were mesmerized.  Post-nap, we headed out, purchased bus tickets to Puerto Natales, and stopped at the cemetery, as we had been told to visit.  The cemetery had tombs of incredible extravagance, standing in memory of the wealthy who had lived in Punta Arenas.  There were also gigantic shrubs, towering 20 feet into the air.  They were quite fun to bounce on, their perfectly trimmed branches gently pushing back against our weight.  

Afterwards, we headed back to cook dinner in our kitchen-less hostel.  Dinner consisted of tuna and mayonnaise, mixed in a bowl, placed on some bread.  We weren’t camping yet, but we had already purchased that for lunch, and we didn’t want it to go to waist!  After this rather interesting dinner, we repacked our bags, booked a hostel for the night after we expected to get back from the trek, and went to sleep just as the sun set.

Thursday, December 5

Today was another early day, as we had to be at the bus station at 7am.  We met up with our Cynthia and Kelly, the last two companions on this trip, who flew in at 5am this morning.  After heading onto the bus and having a lovely breakfast of avocado and bread, I was asleep before we started moving.

Upon arriving in Puerto Natales, we had a plan.  We purchased bus tickets to Torres del Paine for that afternoon, leaving at 2:30.  That gave us 3 hours and 30 minutes to get every ready.  We split up for efficiency.  Three people went to the companies that run the camp sites in the park, to reserve space for us.  The other three went to a hostel known for its daily pre-trek advice sessions.  We didn’t have time to go to that, but we instead asked them for advice, and rented equipment.

Although we went trekking in Peru, there were two major differences here.  In Peru, the trail is not always well marked, and it’s a generally bad idea to do that trek on your own.  Hence, you go with a guide and cook.  Here, the trek is very well marked, and you need no guide. Thus, you carry with you your own food, sleeping bag, tents, etc.  My backpack was perhaps 20 pounds heavier this time around.

After getting everything in order, we headed back to the bus terminal, and repacked our bags, this time with all of our new equipment.  Sleeping bag, stove, food, and clothes all needed to fit, and fit it did, eventually.

We then took the 2 hour bus to Torres del Paine.  We disembarked, paid the fee to enter the park (only $10 since we had Chilean ID!), and took a transfer to the first refugio.

[benjaminstravels]

Preparing for the Trip

December 1

After Hannah left, I got to work.  I returned to the apartment, packed up, and went back to Consuelo’s.  I arrived 10 minutes before a scheduled Skype date, to talk about edits that a tutor had made to my final project, edits which I had yet to read.  After a short Skype session, I began editing my paper, occasionally working on my blog as well.

Monday, December 2

The morning began with me working on my paper, which would take up most of the rest of the day.  At 12, I had a Skype session with Raechel, to start talking about India, which was very exciting.

After the Skype session, I returned to work.  I was lucky enough to have another paper to work on – a reflection on my internship – so I was able to switch back and forth between writing the two for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, December 3

Today was an incredibly long day.  It began at the Museo de la Memoria where there was a despedida lunch for myself and the other intern with some of the coworkers from the office.  The lunch wasn’t until 1:30, and I got in at 10:00, so I spent the morning working on the paper about my internship for the Tufts credit.  It felt a bit weird to be writing about and criticizing my internship while sitting in their office, but sometimes work just needs to get done.

We went to a great Peruvian restaurant; they really know good food.  The lunch was nice.  I spoke with a woman who works at the museum with whom I haven’t spent much time, and she was very complimentary of my Spanish: “When you came, I could barely understand you, you’ve improved a lot.”  After lunch, we bid our farewells, and I left the museum for probably the last time.

I then headed to the office, to finish the formatting of my now 40 page, single-spaced, paper.  Granted, that includes the transcription of two interviews, but nonetheless.  It is the longest paper I’ve ever produced.  After finishing the formatting, I headed out to have it printed and bound, just as the professor requested.

At 6, I headed over for my 6:30 class, where we received a lecture about the days before the coup, and the coup itself, before turning in our huge papers.

I then headed home, and began finishing my internship paper, which took me until midnight, at which point I began packing for my 5am flight to Punta Arenas.  After that, I continued to work on my blog, until I was picked up at the lovely hour of 3:30 in the morning.

[benjaminstravels]

#tuftsinchile does Vineyards and Cerro San Cristobal

[benjaminstravels]

Hannah's Visit, Part III

Day 6 - November 29

Today was a long, but lovely day.  We began by taking the metro for nearly an hour, from end to end, to go to Viña Concha y Toro, the vineyard that makes the famous Casillero del Diablo.  We arrived a few minutes late, joining our retired companions in front of the estate of Don Melchor, the founder of the vineyard.  We learned various really interesting things on this tour:  1) Carménère is a type of grape that can only be found in Chile.  Although it was from France, there was a plauge that killed all of the grapes in Europe.  Until 1994, the grape was thought to be lost, when a oenologist realized that Chilean vineyards had been mixing Carménère with Merlot for the past century, and the new grape was rediscovered.  2)  One can use egg-white as an adhesive agent in mortar.  3)  Just because you attend a tour at the largest vineyard in the 8th largest wine producing country in the world, that doesn’t mean that the tour is necessarily conducted well.  Nonetheless, it was enjoyable and beautiful.  After the tour, we ate on the onsite restaurant, before heading off to our second vineyard for the day.

Viña Aquitania was a completely different, and better experience.  We arrived to the vineyard by metro, going back north, towards our apartment, for 40 minutes.  The vineyard is now located in a very new residential neighborhood, though when it was founded in 1990, these 44 acres were in a completely rural atmosphere.  We arrived, and found ourselves to be the only ones who had reserved a tour for the day.  The woman who was working the small administrative offices told us it would be just a minute, at which point she stood up, locked the door, and began the tour.  We were able to see where the process of de-stemming, pressing, and fermenting happen.  Their organization system was my favorite: using chalk, they write the name of the grape, and arrows on the front of the barrel, to indicate which other barrels in the vicinity are the same grape.  Moving on, we went to where they age and hand bottle the wine, which was incredible to see.  When we arrived at the tasting portion of the tour, we found ourselves seated at the edge of the vines, underneath a blossoming tree.  As it was Friday, and we were the last tour, we were told that we could finish whichever bottle of wine we would like, which was great, since we had just had some of the best cabernet sauvignon we had ever tried.

After the tour, we headed back to the apartment, by way of the supermarket and the Parque de Escultura.  We quickly made a salad, before heading over to Ruaj Ami for candle-lighting, services, and a Hanukkah dinner – for which we brought the salad.  The dinner was really quite lovely, though I had to say goodbye to Rabbi Jaim, and I’m not sure the next time I’ll see him; presumably, not until I return to Chile.

Day 7 - November 30

Valparaiso!  After taking the 9am bus to Valparaiso, we arrived to the city to find an unfortunately gray sky.  We began by going to the port Muelle Prat so that Hannah could by some touristy present, before going to the Plaza Sotamayor. We walked past the Palacio de Justicia, where I was able to quote my previous tour guide about the statue of the Lady Justice, blindfold off and balance folded; a statue made to criticize the system of justice in Chile, that ended up in front of the Palacio de Justicia.  We took the funicular up Cerro Alegre.  Fun fact: prior to coming to Chile, I was unaware that cable cars that take people up an incline are called funiculars, as last I checked, it was the Duquesne Incline, not the Duquesne Funicular.

We explored the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valparaiso, walked down Paseo Yugoslav, and made our way to lunch at Cafe Turri, where Hannah could finally have fresh raspberry juice.

After lunch, we walked down some alleys to see some of Valparaiso’s famous street-art, before heading up to Pablo Neruda’s second house, La Sebastiana.  Tired, and visiting here for the 4th time, Hannah and I decided to allow me to give a tour, rather than using the audio guides.  There were many more sarcastic remarks that the audio guide, for some reason, but I think we enjoyed ourselves.

After Pablo Neruda’s house, we headed to Viña del Mar, and hung out at the beach for a while, even though it was overcast and a tad chilly.  We also walked along the rocky coast, and Hannah bought me an elephant to add to my collection.  After that, we purchased the next bus ticket home, waited for an hour while sipping some hot chocolate, and made our way back to Santiago.

After spending a little time in the apartment to eat dinner and whatnot, we headed out for our last night together in Santiago, to meet up with some friends at Galpón 9.

Day 8 - December 1

Hannah’s last day in Chile began with quite the hike.  We had yet to see Cerro San Cristobal, something necessary for every tourist to see.  I was under the impression that it was still on strike, but that people could walk up with no problem.  We arrived at the entrance to see that they were not on strike, but already at the walking entrance, rather than the funicular entrance, we decided to climb anyway.  And climb and climb and climb we did, nearly a 1.5 hour hike up nearly 1000 feet.  Although it was a lot of time spent, I’m so glad we did it, the walk up has significantly better views than the summit.  Eventually, we reached the top, and I gave Hannah a tour of Santiago from the air, pointing out where we had been in the last week.

We then headed down the hill, and ran over to the Biblioteca Nacional, though it was sadly closed.  We also walked past the beginnings of a parade, with hundreds of children, mostly girls, dressed as princesses.

Heading back west, we went to Los Dominicos for some more shopping.  Los Dominicoswas a large haciende that has since been turned into an artist’s colony, with more than 170 individual stores, mostly selling artwork and handmade crafts.  I had originally planned to spend all afternoon there, but we had slept in and walked up the cerro, so sadly I had to rush Hannah through the shopping.

Finally, we returned to the apartment, grabbed our things, and I accompanied Hannah to the bus to take to the airport, thus ending a wonderful week.

Thoughts on the Visit

When recounting visits, it’s so difficult to not do what I just did in the post, which is recount what I did rather than what I thought or felt.  In reality, that’s probably too personal for me to feel comfortable putting online for all to see.  However, I must say that our time together was absolutely lovely.  We got to explore the city together, laugh, eat good food, and catch up after months of having not seen each other.  It was incredibly lucky that Hannah was able to visit, and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to do all that we did!

[benjaminstravels]

I'm on my way home!

My blogs have been written, and I'm on the plane home right now. However, the last few posts will continue to go up in the next few days, as I recount the rest of Hannah's visit, my trip to Patagonia, and the last few, difficult, days in Santiago.

[benjaminstravels]

Hannah's Visit, Part II

Day 4 - November 27th

Today began at the Museo de la Memoria, for a tour.  Afterwards, we crossed the street to go to Parque Quinta Normal, a beautiful park right in the center of the city, where we spent some time on the paddle boats.  We tried to go to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, but it was closed, so we instead went to the Museo Artequin, a weird museum notable for its very weird look, and less so for the reproductions of masterpieces.  We ate sopaipillas, a traditional friend

We walked to Estación Central, so that Hannah could see some more beautiful architecture, though there wasn’t much more to see there.  We headed west, and, quite hungry, stopped at a restaurant called Pita y Co.  Although falafel and schwarma isn’t Chilean, it was something I hadn’t had in months, so it was great.  Afterwards, we went to the Museo de Artes Visuales, somewhere that had been on my Santiago bucket list, and also somehow wandered into the Museo de Arqueología.

After my Spanish class, we went to my favorite café in all of Santiago, Pastelería Delice, before heading to Consuelo’s apartment to say hello!

Day 5 - November 28

Happy Thanksgivikkah!  Today was another long day.  Hannah and I left separately, as I had my photography class at the horrible hour of 8:30am.  I went to class, while Hannah tried to go to the Biblioteca Nacional, which ended up still being closed due to the paro nacional, though she did run into Joe’s family.  After class, we met up, attempted to go to Cerro San Cristobal (also still on strike), and thus had to change plans.  We went to Emporio La Rosa for some of the best ice cream in the world – according to people who rate ice cream shops.  After having some flavors that one can only find in Chile,  we headed over to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, somewhere I had yet to go!  The other side of the same building, the Museo de Bellas Artes was still on strike, but no worries.  We were asked to wait 10 or 15 minutes, as the museo was ending an event.  I took this opportunity to walk and show Hannah and old plaza nearby, notable for the old building attached to the old building, but not much else.  Literally all I know about the plaza is that it is old, but no matter.

After exploring the museum, we headed to a restaurant called The Clinic for lunch, where we both got Pisco Sours.  After that, we went back to the Plaza de Armas, where we were able to knock out the Casa Colorada and the Palacio Alhambra.  It turns out that we had walked past the palacio on Tuesday, but it is currently closed for reconstruction post-2010 earthquake, and we just didn’t notice it.

We then took the subway to see the Palacio Cousiño, an exceedingly decadent palace located in the historical Barrio Brasil.  It would have been another new place for me!  Sadly, this palace was also closed for reconstruction, though we were able to stroll the gardens.  Sitting on a bench, we relaxed for a little bit and tried to decide what to do.

There was a museum, the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, which I had yet to visit, but we were also both tired, and considered going home, or, we could always do some touristy shopping.  We checked, and when Hannah noticed that the museo had a piece by Victor Vasarely, we just had to go.  The museum was really cool;  many artists from around the world, such as Vasarely, Alexander Caulder, and Picasso donated many works to Allende as a show of solidarity.  This museo was great for two reasons: 1)  I got to see some of the few international works that there are in Chile, and 2) Alexander Caulder.  Fun story to follow.  When I was in 4th grade, my mom and I went to Paris for Thanksgiving, to visit our cousins.  At the time, I was learning about Alexander Caulder in my art class at school, and I wanted to go see some of his works in Paris.  In every museum, we went to see if they had a piece of his, to no avail.  Finally, we found a museum that had many mobiles hanging in its grand hall – which was closed for renovation.  Finally, 10 years later, I got to see my Caulder!

After the museum, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.  My program was hosting Thanksgiving dinner for us, and, because Carmen Gloria is so incredibly nice and accommodating, allowed Hannah to come as well.  It was really nice, but Hannah and I both realized that Thanksgiving just isn’t the holiday for us as it is for so many others; Passover has the same family feeling for both of us as Thanksgiving seemed to have for many of my friends on the program.

After that, we went home, took a nap, and then rallied to go to Bar Constitución.  It was the second time I had been to the Trip-Advisor-Top-Rated bar in Santiago, and I realized that, between $8 cover fees, $9 drinks, and unimpressive DJs, it just isn’t deserving of that rating.

[benjaminstravels]

#tuftsinchile Self portrait, November 27, 2013