The Misadventures of Jason

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The decision to head to Vegas was a simple one. My best friend, and long time follow Britney Spears fan, Kate, had finally turned 21 recently (as had Michael), and Britney had just announced the next leg of her Vegas residency. Knowing full well that neither Michael, nor Kate had been to Vegas since they could actually do anything there, and the fact that I'd only spent about a day and a half there previously, I proposed a trip.

So, on January 12 Michael and I hopped on our Frontier flight from Chicago and headed to Vegas to meet Kate, who had flown in from Virginia. We weren't going to waste any time. We arrived at the hotel and promptly mapped the nearest CVS to buy the alcohol for our five-night stay. Being that our flights arrived around 11pm, we actually didn't get to bed until about 4am (6am Michael's & my time, 7am Kate's time). This wasn't the best way to kick off a trip, as we spent the rest of the trip exhausted and didn't accomplish as much as we'd expected we would. Our sleep schedules were damaged beyond repair after staying up that first night.

The following day, January 13, was the big day. We'd booked our big, bad, $110 back row seats to Britney Spears' Piece of Me. This was a big deal to both Kate, and I. She'd pulled back pictures of her six-year-old-self rocking an Oops, I Did It Again... era t-shirt, while I had reflected on the time I called KISS FM repeatedly for days for the Circus Tour tickets that I'd never receive. To prepare for our night, we obviously needed a few drinks, so we dropped by Fat Tuesday for some refillable cups (that would go on to be filled five more times) and started to get ready... or, Michael and I sat around for an hour and a half watching Kate get ready. Unfortunately, the buzz would wear off, thanks to NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR DRINKS and the Vegas famous prices of $13 shots in the venue lobby.

Sadly, Britney did not live up to our wildest dreams. We knew she was a world-famous lip-syncher, but we'd hoped her choreography and theatrics would make up for it. We believe she did not sing a single word of the 90-minute show and she actually did about 40% of the intense choreography that her dancers did. But, what I will say is that, while our seats were last row, there was not a bad seat in the house, and it was still a great time to hear 15 years of fun music being performed with a theatre full of other long-time fans.

So, one childhood dream. Check. Time for the next. Another thing that Kate and I have always loved is the movie Titanic. This is probably one of the biggest roots in our friendship. While I'm not sure of the origins of her love for the movie, mine began probably around age six. I will always remember the look on my mom's face as she sent me to my room while Titanic was on, and I only agreed to go if she called me back out when "the naked part" came on. She didn't. However, Kate and I shared dozens of car rides singing "My Heart Will Go On" on full blast, leaving our vocal cords aching, which was nothing new for me. I would also sing this song at karaoke parties frequently. My mom even got the staff of one bar to let me in for just one song so that I could perform "My Heart" for them. Anyway, learning that the Titanic Artifact Exhibit was in the lobby of the VERY HOTEL WE WERE STAYING AT was really exciting for both the friend that had himself drawn like a French girl wearing the Heart of the Ocean (and only this), and the friend that received it for her 20th birthday (I'm talking about me and Kate).

This museum gave us a glimpse of real artifacts from the ship, such as china, knick-knaks, and even "the Big Piece," a huge piece of one outside wall of the ship. Along the way, we followed the journeys of real passengers that were assigned to us, ultimately finding out if they lived or died in the Titanic's demise. We even got to see an exact replica of the grand staircase, and the opportunity to touch a mock iceberg that was the same temperature as the one from that fateful night.

While we had left the museum, our adventure hadn't stopped there. Kate spotted a Titanic slot machine and said it was fate that we play. I gave myself $100 cash to spend on gambling for the trip, and so far, I was only down $20. So, after spinning twice and quickly winning $4 on this machine, I decided I was satisfied and got up. Kate sat down at the same machine and won $300 in a matter of minutes. I guess I'm not so lucky, after all.

All in all, even though I am now 23, my childhood came out on this trip. Though, there were plenty of adult things, too. Like the topless Cirque du Soleil show, Zumanity, that we saw, or this picture of me and Nicki Minaj at Madame Tussaud's.

By the way, yes, Michael was still there for all of this. He just quietly had fun while Kate and I relived our childhood (which was really only the first two days). And as usual, Vegas was a 10/10 overall, with lots of In-N-Out Burger.

[jasonmisadventures]

Estudiantes de todo el mundo discuten su inmersión en la cultura chilena y PUCV. // Students from all over the world discuss their immersion into Chilean culture at PUCV.

The mini-documentary that I created for my Chilean university's international program!

[jasonmisadventures]

The last piece of my six months in South America (finally)! Galápagos was magical.

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Documenting the first half(ish) of our month in South America! This guy focuses on our time in Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon, Perú!

[jasonmisadventures]

Food & Travel

“Each time you visit a new country, or even a new region, there are so many things to explore and take in. Obviously you’ll want to hit the big landmarks, see all of the unique geography and if you’re like me you’ll want to visit a few smaller scale places off the beaten path. Many people think the most important part of travel is the landmarks, but to many it is the food. Everywhere you go is likely to have a food that is completely, well, foreign to you. Even if it’s something that doesn’t sound great to you, it’s important to be adventurous! Immerse yourself in your new culture, and give it a try. If you don’t like it, that’s okay. You can say you tried it, and you just might end up with a new favorite food item.

Some countries are bigger on food than others, of course. Everyone is familiar with the cultural restaurants in their area, whether it’s a Chinese buffet; a Brazilian or Japanese steak house; an Italian, Mexican or Thai restaurant or an even American grill. Every culture has their own unique foods. In Chile, the most region-associated food item that I could have guessed before arrival was Chilean sea bass, which is sold in seafood restaurants all over the United States. It turns out Chilean sea bass is actually an endangered species and I have not seen it on a single menu here. Even the fish sold in the U.S. is typically a different kind of sea bass that they sell under the name “Chilean sea bass”.

Some of the best typical Chilean food and drink items that I’ve found include:

COMPLETOS: A typical “italiano” style completo is a boiled hot dog in a soft, warm bun. You can either order them “normal” or “gigante,” depending on your level of hunger. The hot dog is then dressed with diced tomatoes and a healthy (or, rather, unhealthy) amount of mayonnaise and avocado. This is one of those items I would have assumed I wouldn’t like if I hadn’t tried it. In the United States, I do not like hot dogs and never eat them. I guess it really comes down to the condiments! The soft, warm bun certainly helps, too!

EMPANADAS: A dough pocket that is filled with cheese, and you can also add any variety meats, vegetables or seafood. Usually found fried from street vendors, you can also sometimes find them oven baked in restaurants. Popular Chilean empanadas include “pino” with ground beef, onions, raisins, black olives and hard-boiled eggs, and “napolitana” with cheese and ham.

LLAMA: Llama meat is common in the north of Chile in the desert region, or places with a higher altitude, as this is where llamas are found in the wild. They are commonly farmed for their meat, as well. The llama I tried was served on a kebab with onions. It’s a dark meat with a taste most comparable to lamb.

CARMÉNÈRE: A red variety of wine produced in Chile. The carménère grape was eradicated from its original home in France due to a plague in 1867. The grape was rediscovered in the 1990’s in Chile among their merlot grapes brought over by French colonists. The grape grew among merlot unnoticed for 150 years due to the similar appearances of the two grapes.”

My (delayed) final blog post for ISEP Voices, Spring 2016, over my stay in Chile!

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A slightly delayed final vlog and refection of my time in Chile!

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Who ever said learning wasn't fun?

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How to Survive the Driest Place on Earth

“Chile’s Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert on Earth. With a landscape so similar to that of Mars, NASA and other space exploration organizations have used Atacama as a testing site for new Mars rovers. This region averages .6 inches of rainfall per year. Though a wildly popular tourist destination, the radical climate and landscape is not an ideal place for those that are used to places with regular humidity and a lower altitude. To survive a visit to a place such as Atacama, you’re going to need to take a few things into consideration.

Sunscreen As with most deserts, the sun is intense. In a place with so little precipitation and moisture in the air, clouds are not typically present to block out the sun. Sunscreen and sunglasses will make your visit a little bit more enjoyable!

Clothes for both warm and cold weather I had a visitor here in Chile, whom I had take a bunch of my clothes and belongings home to avoid lugging it around on my travels afterward. I may have acted slightly too fast on this decision, as you can expect to experience both winter and summer temperatures in one day. While we were there, the temperatures averaged in the high 70s during peak daylight and upper 40s at night. While this in itself is a drastic difference, it becomes more of an issue when you do some of Atacama’s excursions, one of which included leaving at 5 a.m. to ascend a mountain to El Tatio Geyser, 4,320 meters above sea level. Up on top of the mountains when the temperature was in the lower 30s was when I really regretted not bringing a heavy winter coat, hat and gloves.

Lotion All of my friends asked me to use some of my lotion because of how dry the desert had made their skin on this trip of only four days. While my skin is extremely sensitive and my eczema can breakout at any moment, these were people without sensitive skin talking. Nothing could have prepared me for how fast my skin would go downhill here. Within two days, I had several cracks on my hands; I had a red rash all over my neck, chest, shoulders, arms and face; my eyelids crusting over in my sleep and I was forced to carry lotion with me everywhere I went. Let’s just say I was actually eager to get home, where my skin didn’t even have a trace of these things within two days.

Water With the Atacama Desert being at an already high altitude, and many excursions climbing to much higher altitudes, plenty of water is an absolute must, especially in the driest place on Earth. The key to avoiding sickness is making sure you are drinking enough water (coca leaves help, as well). One person from our group was bound to the hostel for two days from altitude sickness. Water is readily available in three-liter jugs in most stores in town. Stay hydrated!

What to Expect The desert has a million diverse and gorgeous landscapes to look at. From looking like you are on Mars, to exploring their lagoons, salt flats, geysers, places void of plant life, to ones littered in shrubbery, Atacama does not disappoint. Any stargazer would dream of visiting Atacama, as it has one of the most unpolluted and clearest night skies in the world! It is also home to the Giant Magellan Telescope, ten times stronger than NASA’s Hubble Telescope.”

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How to Make the Most out of a Visitor Abroad

“When you study abroad in a new and exciting country, oftentimes your loved ones from back home will want to come visit you in your new home. When these times come, the pressure is on! They’re on vacation and you’re not. And unlike times when you’re on vacation and hire a tour guide, when people come to visit you abroad, YOU are the tour guide.

This is how I felt last week when my boyfriend, Michael, came to visit for a week. He was here at exactly the halfway point of my time in Chile, so I already knew my favorite places, attractions, restaurants, viewpoints and more. Additionally, there were things that I knew I wanted to do around here that I had yet to do. Having visitors is a perfect time to do such activities and you can both enjoy a new experience together. For me, these things included a boat tour of Valparaíso’s port, as well as a day trip to Casablanca, one of Chile’s major wine regions, doing tastings, a tour and a fancy lunch.

In addition to showing your guest your favorite places, they have a much shorter amount of time to experience this new culture than you do. There are many ways you can go about giving them the best cultural experience possible, but one thing that I chose to do was buy Chilean (and other foreign) foods and drinks that you cannot find in my home country. Where I have five months to try all of these things, Michael only had six days. This did, however, give me the opportunity to try some of the things that I had not yet tried. The video above features the taste test we did of different fruits and pops.”

My latest post from the ISEP Voices Blog!

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Let’s go on a quick rollercoaster really fast: I left for Atacama last Friday, and the Saturday before, my wallet was stolen from my backpack while in Valpo. So I had six days to recover my, well, everything.

Call card companies and have them shut off my cards.

Ask if they’ll also express ship new ones to my house.

Have my mom take them to FedEx and express ship them across the world to ME ($83 later…..).

Hear they’ve arrived in town the day before you’re supposed to leave, but won’t be delivered until tomorrow.

Show up to the sorting facility that is only open for 30 minutes per day and beg them to give you your package.

Receive my cards and go about life as if nothing ever happened. (Only without a student metro card at a fourth of the price of a normal fare and no IDs other than my passport, which you’re not supposed to carry with you.)

The Atacama Desert Our home base on this trip was the remote and tiny desert city of San Pedro de Atacama. We landed in Calama airport, a tiny building with only three gates and hosts only two airlines. There was not much of anything around the airport. Out the windows, there was only open desert. Along the hour and fifteen minute drive to San Pedro de Atacama, we did pass the city of Calama, which came and went in a matter of three minutes. The rest of the drive, again, was open desert.

We were dropped at our hostel, which was a party hostel on the outskirts of San Pedro, about 25 minutes by foot. San Pedro is known for having one of the clearest and unpolluted night skies around, so the large open field without the light pollution of the city was the best thing about this hostel. We ended up relocating to a different hostel in the center of town for the last two nights, mostly due to the strong odors of sulfur and feces in my bedroom. (”Just leave the window open! It’s just like that because you closed the window!” “But you guys blare music outside until 3am and the desert gets into the 40s at night!”) The second hostel was excellent, hardly more expensive, and close to everything! Which isn’t difficult, as the city is only a few blocks wide and there’s really only one main road that you can walk end-to-end in ten minutes or less and a town square.

Our biggest activities included a bus tour to Atacama’s salt flat and flamingo reserve, as well as lagoons up in the mountains, another 5am bus tour up to Geisers del Tatio, and a bike ride through Valle de la Luna. The geisers were at the highest altitude that we reached on the trip and it was THE COLDEST. The windows on the bus iced over, I hadn’t exactly packed for winter, etc. This location included a field full of geysers varying in size, and even a hot spring. I remained out of the hot spring (except for up to my knees) because I didn’t have the heart to undress in such cold weather. I was also concerned with the salt content in the water, as my skin was going absolutely ballistic since arriving in the driest place on earth. My skin had recently been flaring up due to my beloved eczema, but nothing could have prepared me for how fast everything would go downhill. I was in the desert for about 4.5 days. Within two, I had several cracks on my hands, a red rash all over my neck, chest, shoulders, arms, and face (”Hey man, you got some sun yesterday!”), my eyelids crusting over in my sleep, and I was forced to carry lotion with me everywhere I went to avoid being able to feel my skin stretch over my face every time I moved it and my having my lips crack. (Let’s just say I was actually eager to get home, where my skin didn’t even have a trace of these things within two days.)

Before arriving in Chile, I had no idea what Atacama was. I had no interest in going. When we stumbled across Sky Airline (who went on strike a month ago and canceled my trip to Patagonia, if anyone remembers THAT…) and I found roundtrip airfare for $60, however, I decided to give it a try. Of the things I read, I found the most interesting to be that it was 1) the driest place on Earth and 2) it has a landscape so similar to Mars that NASA and other space study organizations use the desert to test Mars rovers. For my first three days, I was wondering WHERE MARS WAS, until I landed in Valle de la Luna. We conquered this beast via bike. Just imagine riding uphill through sand. The end. This expanse of land was all different tones of orange and tan, void of plant life, full of dunes, and, well, just like you’d picture (or have seen pictures of) Mars. It was absolutely incredible.

All in all, the desert was very diverse. It had a lot more color and shrubbery than I’d have assumed the driest place on earth would have. It was terrible for my skin, horribly cold during nighttime hours, and breathtaking no matter which direction you chose to go.

May 16, 2016.

[jasonmisadventures]

Michael popped down to Chile last week for a visit! I had a fantastic time showing him around to my favorite viewpoints, restaurants, and bars, as well as forcing him to try every basic Chilean food and drink that I could. (I documented all of these things and split them into three segments to avoid a 13 minute video. The alcohol portion is below. vvv)

Most of our activities were things that I’d done previously and enjoyed, but we did do a few things that I hadn’t yet gotten a chance to do, including a boat tour of Puerto Valparaíso and finally going to Chile’s nearby wine region!

Casablanca This was a daunting and uncertain trip from the start, despite being only 40 minutes outside of Viña. It seemed, from anything that I’d read online, that Casablanca is a very difficult to navigate, which we found to be true. We also read a lot about having to make reservations for a tasting and having to do a tour with each one (false). I gathered as much information online as possible and Michael and I headed to Viña’s bus terminal to start our wine day! ...Just kidding, buses only go there from Valparaíso! (Which we were later told, by the winery, is not true.) We had already woken up a bit later than planned, so we decided to postpone until the following day.

We got up early the next morning to start our day and headed to the VALPO bus terminal and left on a bus within minutes. The weather had been spectacular and summery for the past four days, but today was unfortunately cold and overcast. We decided our plan of action was to start with reservations for a tour and tasting at the very recommended and popular Viña Indomita and feel things out from there. We were dropped off at Casablanca’s main square and had to get a taxi to our winery of choice, which was about a 15 minute ride. There are very few wineries next to one another, so to avoid a 40+ minute walk and the possibility of crossing a main highway, you basically have to have the winery call you another taxi to the next place.

At 12:00 we had our tour and tasting with Indomita, which lasted about an hour. This location is very different in the Casablanca Valley, as it is the only winery and vineyard place on a hill. We learned how this is a unique advantage, as the hill has a warmer climate than the valley below, allowing them to be the only winery in the region to grow red varieties. We then toured their facilities and learned about the winemaking process and ended with a (very small) tasting of three of their most popular wines. We asked our tour guide where she would recommend for lunch and she mentioned two winery restaurants (neither of which were her own winery’s restaurant). We decided to head to Viña Mar winery next door (one of those suggested for lunch), which was still a 20 minute walk through remote vineyards and included a run-in with a flock of wild turkeys.

We started with a quick tasting of four specialty wines (pictured above), which were surprisingly huge, and we were more or less already drunk by the end. We headed upstairs to their very lavish and expensive restaurant for a nice lunch and bottle of wine. We had planned to go to a third winery, but Michael wasn’t feeling well (😉), so we called a taxi back to the square and bussed home. It was a short, but excellent day in Chile’s Casablanca Valley.

Next week, I head up north to the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert!!!

April 29, 2016

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What to Do When Your Travel Plans Are Ruined

“You’ve just finished the last step in planning your trip to trek the famous W Circuit of Torres del Paine National Park. You’ve booked your flights, reserved your hostels and camping spots and bought all of the groceries you will take on your trek with your group. You have one day left before departure and everyone is getting VERY excited. You are pulling out your hiking pack to begin gathering your things. Suddenly, the whole group receives a message with a link to a new article. This article states your airline has canceled all flights for two days only due to an employee strike. Your flight is one of these days.

You all panic. What will you do? Go to the office in the morning and make them put you on another airline. Not possible. Okay, the day after you were supposed to leave! They won’t open flights back up until a week following to be sure the strike is over. You’ve already received permission to miss class. Argentina, just weeks ago, has lifted their reciprocity fee for United States citizens.

Yes, by some instance of horrible luck, this did happen to twelve international students here at PUCV. With Torres del Paine National Park closing soon due to the coming winter, and the weather getting increasingly colder, we decided to give up our dreams of seeing those beautiful jagged mountains and hop on a cross-continent bus to Argentina for a few days. With only an hour or two of planning, we headed to the local bus station and hopped on an overnight bus to Mendoza. We spent one day in Argentina’s biggest wine region. We did a bicycle wine tour and hopped on another overnight to Buenos Aires, where we spent three days adventuring around the broad city’s different neighborhoods and taking in as much culture as we could before returning to Chile.

We were sure to mark everything Argentina is known for off of our list: steak, malbec wine, tango, dulce de leche (a caramel-like spread) and mate (a strong Argentine green tea).

When it comes to travel, anything can happen. We decided to try to make the most out of an unfortunate situation and were able to enjoy seeing and experiencing another country on a budget.

Until next time.”

My third blog post for ISEP Voices. My tumblr posts are usually one step ahead of my ISEP posts, but worth sharing. For more, visit isepstudyabroad.wordpress.com!

[jasonmisadventures]

Picture this: you’ve just finished the last steps in planning your trip to trek the famous W Circuit of Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. Your flights, hostels, and campsites have been booked for weeks and you’ve just returned from the supermarket with all of the groceries you will take on your trek with your group. Things are becoming real, the trip you’ve been planning is only ONE DAY AWAY. You start to gather the things you will take with you. This was where eleven others and myself were at this time last week.

BUT that evening, new articles began to pop up about a strike within the airline we were to take, suspending all flights for two days (the latter, of course, being the day we were to fly out).  We went to the local office and tried our best to get on another airline that same day, or fly out the day following with no luck. They wouldn’t reschedule any flights until a week after the strike’s end.  We could choose to receive a full refund or reschedule after the stated date. With the season ending for backpackers in the near-Antarctic park and the weather worsening by the day, I decided by 11am that morning that I had to give up my dream of seeing the jagged peaks of Torres del Paine for now. But I already had the next few days of class excused… And how could I sit at home all week, knowing I was supposed to be in Patagonia?! So I messaged everyone and asked who’d be interested in busing to Argentina that night. Just a few weeks ago, the American reciprocity fee of USD$160 to enter Argentina was taken away following Obama’s visit. I had two takers, so we spent a few hours texting and were on an overnight bus to Mendoza by 6:15pm. But NOT SO FAST! The bus attendant wouldn’t let us on without our proof of paying the reciprocity fee! He INSISTED it still existed. We thought perhaps we had made a mistake, but we pulled up the Argentine embassy website stating that the fee was no longer in effect, the man would not stop interrupting us or listen to us, however. He took us to the receptionist who also yelled violently at us about needing to pay the fee. When we wouldn’t stand down, he grabbed ANOTHER woman who simply said “correct, they can go into the country for up to 90 days for free”. THANK YOUUUUUU!

We arrived the next morning, disheveled from a relatively uncomfortable bus ride. We talked to the tourism desk and got the wine routes and buses. We arrived near the wineries and rented bikes for the day to follow the wine route. There were vineyards all along the way, very cheap malbecs (pretty much exclusively), and even a neat little off-the-beaten-path beer garden. Before we knew it, we were on another overnight bus to Buenos Aires that we didn’t even book until that morning. We arrived with a few recommended hostels and no reservations, so we had the tourism desk tell us how to get to them. And the first one had a room! This was located in the political and governmental center of the city, just down the road from the Obelisco monument and Casa Rosada, the house of the president (literally a pink palace).

We checked in, took showers, and marked up a map with suggestions of things to see from a friend of Riley and Megan’s. This helped a lot, as we had no time to look up attractions or things to do on such a last minute trip. We visited the cobblestoned, antique shop and café inhabited neighborhood of San Telmo; the historic and lavish neighborhood of Recoleta (featuring the hugest, coolest, eeriest, and most fascinating cemetery you could ever imagine. No headstones, only tombs!); the artsy, modern neighborhood of Palermo Soho (where I had the pleasure of eating a burger voted into the world’s top 29 burgers at a place called “Burger Joint”. We also had steak at the very lavish Don Julio); and the tourist trap of brightly colored buildings, the neighborhood of La Boca. We were sure to pack in all of the Argentina must-dos, including, but not limited to: steak, malbec wine, tango, dulce de leche (a caramel-like spread), and mate (a strong Argentine green tea).

I wish we’d had a bit longer to explore, but our time in Argentina was certainly short and sweet. We grabbed another overnight bus back to Mendoza and another back to Chile just a half-hour after. We had the pleasure of crossing the Andes Mountains during the day, this time, which was an absolutely incredible experience.

BUT I’m back in Viña to relax for a few weeks before I hit the Atacama desert in early May! I’m trying to relax for now and save money before that and before MICHAEL GETS HERE ON SUNDAY! I’m gonna have to spend a whole bunch showing him all of my favorite places and things.

Argentine Fun Facts: -The Spanish double-L sound (typically pronounced as a “Y”) is pronounced as an “SH” here. -Hardly anywhere takes debit or credit cards. Including in the metropolitan capital city of Buenos Aires. Not even McDonald’s.

April 14, 2016.

[jasonmisadventures]

“I’m finally in Chile! I arrived on February 21 and have been settling in, meeting friends, learning as much Spanish as I can, adventuring and more. This video was taken March 14, 2016 from the summit of Cerro La Campana in Parque Nacional La Campana at an elevation of 6,170 feet (1,880 meters). I do apologize for some of the loud wind, but it wasn’t so avoidable at the top of a mountain with limited equipment!

The hike was actually very difficult. We started up the mountain around 9 a.m. and I didn’t arrive at the top until 1:10 p.m. Half of the hike was pretty steep inclines, but nothing out of the ordinary for a hike. Around the halfway point, however, there was a park ranger taking the names of everyone who was continuing on to the summit so that they could ensure everyone got down safely. This was out of the ordinary compared to any other hike that I’ve done. Once I proceeded past this point, I found that most of the second half of the hike was climbing up rocks (some being loose rocks that had tumbled down the mountain) on a poorly marked path. This was very physically challenging and I had to take many breaks. The view at the top, from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes Mountains, was incredible, despite the terrible climb.

Having a host family is an adjustment, as someone who is typically very independent. Back in the United States, I live with my mom, but I always cook and buy all of my meals, do all of my own laundry and cleaning. Here, I get every meal cooked for me (I was once even told to tell my brother when I wanted to eat lunch while my mom wasn’t home. I assumed he was going to eat with me, but he heated up soup from the fridge and then left… I could have heated that soup!), a packed lunch on school days, my bed made every day, my room picked up every day and my laundry done twice per week.

The waves last week had a main avenue shut down due to waves crashing over the ocean barrier and flooding the street. I was also told a truck was washed into the ocean and had to be lifted out.

I also experienced my first earthquake last night, despite having about five since being here!

Until next time.”

My second blog post for ISEP Voices. It’s outdated compared to what I put on this blog, but worth sharing. For more, visit isepstudyabroad.wordpress.com!

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Would you believe me if I told you that there are wild cows living in the mountains of Chile? Okay, I’ve been on a good number of hikes in a few different countries, and this was only the trial hike for my time in Chile, but I can honestly say that this was the worst hike that I’ve ever been on. I’m accustomed to going on spectacular hikes that are nothing more than nature with a beautifully kept trail to accompany the beautiful landscape. And what’s even better is that they are typically free! Cerro La Campana, once climbed by Charles Darwin (he has a very inconveniently placed plaque commemorating his visit that I climbed to go see), was not free. Which wouldn’t have even been a huge deal! But it was also not well kept and it lacked a lot of safety. What was perhaps most surprising was a park ranger parked at the halfway point of the mountain whose sole purpose was to collect the names of those advancing to the 6,170 foot summit and check them off as they came back down to assure that everyone made it safely... that and the cow I discovered in the woods. I was trippin’ for a second until I saw six more right where the park ranger was and realized they were very docile.

To start, the first half of the mountain was at steep-ish incline on a clear walking path, probably mild to medium difficulty. Along the way, the view was excellent wherever there was a lookout. You reach the halfway point and continue on a similar path and a while later, the final checkpoint “Placa Darwin” (right by his plaque). Immediately after passing this sign, you come upon a warning sign about loose rocks. I was told by friends that completed this trail that “you will have to climb rocks and it’s hard”. What would a hike be without climbing a few rocks? What they should have said, perhaps, was “half of the trail is loose rocks that fell from the top of the mountain at some point. You have to climb these on a trail that is neither clear, nor marked well for about two hours and try not to step in the wrong place and fall down the entire mountain.” While this is a little dramatic... It’s not that dramatic. The view from the top, from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes Mountains, was spectacular. Was it worth the climb?

Moving on I don’t usually complain or write about bad things, but this is a part of travel, too. And hopefully this is the only time I’ll address this. I tell you about the amazing experiences and show you the beautiful pictures. You know, the things that make you jealous of where I am and what I’m doing. Moving to somewhere different for six moths will have challenges. Obviously my biggest challenge here is not knowing the language. I knew this would be challenging, I knew this would be frustrating. What I did not consider was that people from here would tell me how quiet I am. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I am not quiet. The issue at hand is that I don’t know what to say in a conversation that I don’t understand, and in the parts that I do pick up on, I don’t know how to form the sentence that I would want to say. So then you beat yourself up for making people think that you are one way when you typically wouldn’t be. My brain is constantly working to try to communicate to the point that it is confusing. I had a girl ask, in English, if she could use my phone. I told her “no hablo español” and walked away. I later realized that I had just mistaken my own language for Spanish and gave up too quickly. I also have a reputation around the house of saying “buenos noches” (good night) in the morning and “buenos dias” (good morning) before bed. Baby steps.

(but replace “Spanish” with “English”)

I’ve traveled a lot, including to other places that have foreign languages, but it’s never been a huge issue, as I know that in a week I will pick up and leave. Here, in a week, I’ll have another 13 weeks. Before, if I didn’t understand, I’d whip out my phone and translate to what I have to say and hold it out for them to read. Here, I know five students that have had their phones stolen for making it known that they have them! I always considered Africa and Asia to be the places that weren’t the “western world” and everywhere I’ve gone had fit that classification. Perhaps I was naïve to think that Latin America had a “western” way of living. Things are different here!

And then comes not knowing where you are at certain times. Typically you’re supposed to travel in packs, but one night on my way home, I was alone after a party at 3am. I got off the bus in the wrong place, but said it was fine and started off on-foot to my destination with the help of my trusty iPhone. Until it died at 17% and dumped me at the top of a hill I didn’t recognize around houses and buildings that looked more or less abandoned or run-down. Luckily, a collectivo picked me up and drove me off-route to my home, which he also could not find. He pulled over other collectivos to ask where the hell I should be. I arrived home at 5:30am in a drunken stupor.

As much as study abroad and travel is fun and games, it is not ALL fun and games. And that is part of the experience! I wouldn’t trade where I am for another place, because that is the loss of an experience. To be worldly you have to see all of it. I am happy here. It’s been just over a month and it just takes some time to adjust.

Chilean fun fact of the day I was asked why I only have one last name. “Why would I have more than one last name?” Well, everyone here has two last names. That of their father comes first, and that of their mother comes second. When women get married, they never take their husbands name. Everyone’s name remains the same from birth until death.

March 28, 2016

[jasonmisadventures]

"I’m still wrapping up my time at home before heading abroad, but I only have a week. I’m basically trying to gather all of my things and mentally prepare myself for the trip, all while seeing everyone that I can before I go. Here’s a little video blog I put together about some of my preparations and plans!" My first blog post for ISEP Voices. It's outdated compared to what I put on this blog, but worth sharing. For more, visit isepstudyabroad.wordpress.com!

[jasonmisadventures]

Three Weeks Down!

My iPhone was nearly stolen by the ocean On the first day of a strange cycle of dangerous waves last Tuesday to Saturday, myself and many others decided to spend our last official day of “summer” at a beach called Reñaca. Being the morning of the first day, we hadn’t heard anything about these waves prior to going. I set up my towel about 15 feet from the shoreline and was laying out in the sun for about 20 minutes when I suddenly heard water nearby. I looked up and saw a wave quickly approaching us. I was able to scoop up everything except for my phone, which I had to dig out of the wet sand after frantically crawling around on my hands and knees trying to find it. My speaker and earpiece immediately weren’t working, but everything else seemed okay. Later, my screen dimmed to black on one side. All of these things repaired themselves in the coming days, but my volume and lock buttons no longer work and neither does my flash. Thankfully, it is still usable, so I can tough it out until August and then get it repaired. It was going to be about $50 to send home, where I’d then have to pay another $79 for repairs with Apple.

Later in the week, as the waves got bigger, a main avenue was closed as the waves splashed over the barriers and flooded the street. Apparently a large truck was washed into the ocean at some point in the week, as well. One of these mornings I was awoken at 5am by a tsunami alarm on my phone, but apparently it was just a test. -_-

Speaking of dangerous waves, tsunamis, and all things regarding tectonic plates in the earths core, there is a specialty Chilean "cocktail” that is popular around their independence day in November called a terremoto (Spanish for earthquake). I heard from many Chileans about how I MUST try this drink because it is so strong that when you stand, you feel like the ground is shaking, as with a terremoto. I looked far and wide for one of these, awaiting the challenge, “knowing” that one drink could not make me feel THAT drunk. I went to a bar called Ston that had them for roughly USD$4. The four of us that went all ordered one and they were served in a one liter jug. It’s a type of wine flavored with curaçao and pineapple ice cream. The reason they make you feel this way is because it is ONE LITRE OF WINE and added liquor. Let’s just say I was wrong.

I survived my first two weeks of Spanish classes It’s not really stress-free. Two of the three teachers refuse to speak any English... in the classes designed for people with 0-2 semesters of Spanish experience. So when I don’t catch something, they look at me and ask a question in Spanish which I also don’t understand, so it’s ultimately a stare-off between myself and the professor. It’s not so bad, though. I think I will learn a lot and it’s only two days per week for 4.5 hours straight. It gets a little exhausting by the time the last class rolls around, as the last teacher is also the least interesting. I also have a Latin American films class taught in English. We watch Spanish movies with subtitles. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

I’ve fallen victim to the metric system again I finally got around to signing up for a gym here a few days back. I went to three different ones with Edith and they were all pretty terrible, to be honest. By my American standards, anyway. I picked the nicest (and conveniently cheapest) of the three. The equipment is all old and worn. Most of the weights don’t have their weight written on them because they’ve been rubbed off, which is particularly inconvenient when I already have to figure out how many pounds that x amount of kilograms is for the ones that ARE marked. What can I say, the United States set me up for failure once again, but at least I saw that one coming. The gym also allows men to workout with their shirts off, it is very cramped (despite being the most spacious of the three), there’s only one of everything so it is hard to come by the equipment you want when you want it. They merely wrote my name on a piece of paper upon registration, but the best of all of these differences is that they sell brownies and cookies at the front counter and they also have a cat living inside the gym that is free to roam.

Last thoughts I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned the giant hill that I have to climb to come home. It’s about 20 minutes total of steep inclines, the latter half of it being stairs. I’m usually DRIPPING by the time I arrive home. Many people keep asking me where I live and I don’t know the specific neighborhood, so I just tell them at the top of a hill. The common response is “everyone lives at the top of a hill!” No, everyone lives ON a hill, I live at the top of one. Anyone that has visited me can attest to that and say that it really is much higher than they thought. And then I have to wrestle with three locks and two keys to get into the condo. I don’t know what it is about the locks here, but I cannot handle them. I stood at the door for five minutes one day trying to get the lock to turn.

Also, I’m making dog friends everywhere I go. I met a dog in town yesterday and he literally followed me for a half hour up the hill and only stopped following me because I had to close the gate on him. :(

LASTLY, I just found out that if you search for flights in Spanish that they are WAY cheaper. I just booked a flight to Patagonia in the VERY south of Chile for USD$102, when before it was looking like $230-400+.

March 11, 2016