December 31, 2007
Happy New Year!
2008 is going to be the best year EVER. Prepare yourselves 
My life has been total chaos recently. But, I mean that in the best possible way. It’s been nothing but happy shambles and ruckus.
As you already know, we moved into our new apartment a little about two or three weeks ago. We had barely been here a week when my family arrived for their Christmas break. My mom, brother, stepdad, stepbro, and stepsis all came down. Don’t worry, they didn’t all sleep in our one bedroom. My only Chilean friend is amazing, and she got us a ridiculous discount at the Marriott so they stayed at a cuico hotel for flaite prices 
We didn’t spend much time in Santiago, though. After two days here we rented two cars and headed down to Pucon and Valdivia to do the touristy stuff.
I’d already been to Pucon before but I was looking forward to climbing the volcano again. The first time I went up it, my group was full of little wannabe Speedy Gonzalezes. We made it up in a little over 3 hours…my friend and I huffed and puffed the whole way. The pace wasn’t easy. This time with my family, the guide said he was going to take the slowest person’s pace. We started out going at my stepsister’s pace…then my stepdad started falling behind so we slowed down even more. My mom was lagging too. It got to the point where I didn’t think they would all make it to the top. I was up by my stepsister most of the way and I kept telling her that she had to keep going to SEE RED HOT LAVA! She broke down in tears at one point because she didn’t think she could do it. That’s just how she is, she always completely underestimates herself. After tears and eating chocolate and bananas (gotta have your potassium!) at the first break she pushed through, and once she decided that she was going to do it, she was fine.
On about the second to last hill I thought everybody was going to have a breakdown, even S., my brother and stepbrother. None of them complained very much, but you could just see it in their eyes…they were exhausted. My brother was exhausted because for the first half of the trip up he was running way up above the trail, taking pictures, coming back down to show them to me (he was really excited about using my fancy pants camera), and then running back up again. In total he probably climbed twice the distance as the rest of us. Plus, the I think the mental battle was getting to the group as well. You see, for the last 3 or 4 big hills when people were asking, “Are we there yet?” the guide would say, “Yeah, YEAH! THIS is the last hill!” And it never was. Once you got up one hill there was always another one rising up behind it…and each one looked steeper than the last. I knew the guide would do this because the first time around my other guide had done the same thing and it killed me!
For the final two hills we split up into two groups, a group for the snail paced and a group for the slightly less snail paced. S., my brother, stepbrother and I went in the faster group with one guide while my mom, stepdad and stepsis went in the slower group with the other. Our guide asked how fast we wanted to go and since we all must’ve seemed pretty enthusiastic when we answered he took off sprinting at the word go. Yes, that’s right, SPRINTING UP A VOLCANO.
The guides normally take you up a zig zag path, rather than straight up so you’re not walking up as steep of an incline, but when we signed up for the fast group I guess he thought we were like mini Lance Armstrong’s or something because the guy seriously TOOK OFF straight up the damn volcano. We followed him at that pace for what was probably only 10 minutes (ok, I bet I’m exaggerating, it might have been more like 2 minutes, I don’t know). It felt like an eternity, I thought my heart was going to burst. The guide was leading the way, and I was right behind him, followed by my brother, then S., then my stepbrother. As the guide sprinted, and then gradually slowed to a jog I kept RIGHT on his heels. In a group of boys and also in a family where I’ve always been the weakest (and fattest, least athletic) link I really didn’t want to be a wuss. So I didn’t slow down even though I was pretty much gasping for breath. The guide probably thought I was a asthmatic smoker with one lung or something. He kept shouting, “Estan bien, estan bien???” (Are you guys ok, are you ok??? But, he never looked back to check so I just kept wheezing to him, “Si, si, sigue asi!” (Yes, yes, keep going!) I didn’t look back either. I focused on keeping up with him because I didn’t want to be the one holding the fast group up. Eventually he paused and when we stopped and turned around, I saw my brother was about a minute behind, S. about 5 minutes behind and my stepbrother was even further back than that.
After they all caught up, all of a sudden we heard frantic whistles, tweet, tweet, TWEEEEEEEEEET, TWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!! And our guide started shouting, “Out of the way, out of the way NOW, AHORA MISMO!!!!”
There were rocks hurling down the mountain at us. They weren’t huge or anything, but still big enough that one of those to the head could’ve definitely killed a person or possibly knocked someone off the volcano. One stupid tour group had gone up the wrong path and set a whole bunch of big stones loose.
But after that we made it to the summit with no more scary incidents. The only problem when we arrived was that there was no lava. I was SO disappointed, mostly for my family who hadn’t seen the lava before. The last time I did it the volcano was having explosions that reached higher than the edge where we were standing watching. Volcan Villarica is one of the most active volcanoes out there. But this time they said they hadn’t been able to see lava for a few days. The only sign of activity was the thick green smoke (sulfur) coming out of the crater, that made it impossible to breath if you got too close. Of course I got too close. I had to. I needed to get the shot Afterwards I felt like someone had stuck a mini blow torch up my nostrils and scorched them.
The whole trip took about 5.5 hours this time. We were the second to last group to make it up, and I’m pretty sure the last group started way after us But I was still proud of everyone for making it. And I was also really proud of myself because I was the first one of my family to get up there…and after we got down I seriously felt like I could’ve done it all over again.
I think since the first time I did it I struggled so much, this time I was way over prepared mentally. I was expecting my mind to have to battle with my muscles and force them to go on, but the two were in perfect harmony this time. And I think my running up the hill helped too. That stupid hill is actually harder to run up than it is to climb the volcano!
So that was part of my vacation with my family. If anybody knows how to make a continue reading link in blogger tell me and then I’ll post pictures of the volcano but I didn’t want to post them all on the main page because it would take forever to load.
December 15, 2007
I’m bored, can you tell? I’m just sitting here waiting for friends to arrive at our apartment so we can go out. S. is napping until they get here so I’m forced to depend on myself (aka the internet) for entertainment.
I got this meme from Clare. The idea is to take the list of places and write about the memories you associate with each of them. Thanks Clare!
Alabama: Alabama is the land of “almost there but first you must sit in this eternal traffic jam.” We used to take a road trip every year to Florida to visit my mom’s parents. Of course my brother and I kept track of our progress according to how many states we had passed through. Alabama was the final frontier before Florida and it was always an eternal drive.
Alaska: I have never been there but I have a friend I love dearly who is from Alaska. She’s totally amazing and gorgeous so in my mind all Alaskans must be beautiful like super models as well as super cool. She’s set a high standard for them.
Arizona: Never been there either…but my Alaska friend went to school there.
Arkansas: Never been there. Bill Clinton. Enough said.
California: Want to go there. All my Flickr friends are from California and they’re all awesome, happy people. Seems like it’s something in the water there.
Colorado: U.S. Olympic Committee is based out of Colorado Springs. I hope that means someday I’ll have to move there for work related purposes
Connecticut: UConn, Diana Taurasi, never been there.
Delaware: Two of the girls I ended up becoming best friends with and living with were from Delaware and they called it Dullaware. Neither of them had a single good thing to say about the place.
District of Columbia: I was on a plane that touched down in D.C. once. I was traveling for my internship with United Soccer Leagues on my way to New Hampshire. I felt so cool that I was in an airplane and somebody else was paying for it.
Florida: Technically I’m from Michigan, but I tell people I’m from Florida. Tampa is the only place in the U.S. that sort of feels like home to me. I went to school there and will always have the best memories of that city. I would love to live there again some day if the U.S. ever gets its shit together enough for me to make me want to move back.
Georgia: I once took a road trip to South Carolina with a suite mate from there who ended up dropping out in the second semester because she hated University of Tampa. She made me try boiled peanuts in Georgia on the way there. I was shocked and disgusting. They are NASTY.
I ran up a big hill yesterday. I’m proud of myself. With running, I usually stick to the safe and easy…long distances. I worked my way up to running between an hour and an hour and a half recently but I decided I couldn’t just keep adding time to my jogs because soon I’ll be running for like three hours a day. That’s just not a very efficient workout. I needed a way to challenge myself, burn more calories, and still be running because that’s what I like, it’s what I do.
To see the hill I ran up, click here (I didn’t take that picture, I just it on Flickr). There is a road that winds up around the hill in circles. It was full of bikers and a few other runners. I’m proud to say that every runner I saw, I passed on the way up and the way down. I also passed a lot of people on bikes too, but according to S. that’s not fair because “biking uphill is WAY harder than running uphill.” Anyways, I thought I was cool passing people with wheels. I think I’m going to go again. A good challenge is something I’ve always loved. Today there’s sure to be more people, hopefully some who are faster than me so I can struggle to keep up.
I know nothing about running. I don’t even try to learn. I just put on my tennis shoes, and my ipod and hit the pavement. I keep no even pace, I slow down or speed up with every song that comes on. I don’t have proper shoes and I don’t ever stretch before or after (and I’ve never had a running related injury either). The one piece of running advice that someone once gave me and I actually remember is the following:
The best way to keep up with someone is to watch their butt. You latch on and go with their rhythm. Keep your eye on the ass and you’ll never fall behind.
So hopefully if someone faster than me is heading up the hill in front of me he/she has a nice ass so I can enjoy the scenery of my one running technique.
December 14, 2007
Sometimes life is just way too good to blog about. When I know there’s no possible way to put into words all the awesomeness that is happening I tend to think that one day I’ll write a huge giant post and explain everything…but then I sit down to write and I feel like I just can’t describe it all.
The new apartment is AMAZING. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life. To be honest, it has changed everything. S. and I both feel so much more free here. Being in the heart of Santiago is really nice too. We walk out the door and we’re surrounded by bars and restaurants, and transportation.
Our move has really highlighted the differences between lower and (upper) middle class for me. Middle class doesn’t really exist here, so I guess that would make us upper class even though I don’t feel like we’re rich or anything. Anyways, for instance, near where we live there are bus stations but there are never any huge long lines of people waiting. Back in my old neighborhood people would have to wait for hours to get on their bus. Just walking down the street is different. I have yet to see a stray dog in the week since I’ve been here. Before, while running, I felt like I playing dodge the dogcrap every time I stepped out the door. Strays and the souvenirs they left behind were all over the place. Streets in Providencia are so much cleaner! And, let’s not even get started on how much better (and not full of dangerous chasm like holes) the sidewalks are.
I used to live three blocks from a supermarket called Lider. When I first moved in with S. I thought that I would do all my grocery shopping there. WRONG. All the vegetables and fruits in their produce section were putrid. And the few times I managed to find ones that didn’t look rotten, low and behold when I’d get the red pepper home and cut into it a few hours later, it would be slimy inside. At my new Lider all the produce is shiny and ripe and perfect. I still don’t shop there, though. I’m scarred for life. But now that I’m not in a poor neighborhood…I have options…GASP. There are two other supermarkets within walking distance, and several fresh fruits and veggie stands nearby as well.
Speaking of options. Twice, when we lived back in Estacion Central we ordered pizza and our order was delivered wrong (and incredibly late). Each time we called back to have them fix it and the phone operator was a total bitch and acted like it was our fault that they made the wrong kind of pizza. We were never offered any kind of discount or even an apology for having waited over an hour for our food. I wonder why. Could it be because they know that not one single other pizza company exists within delivery range from our old house so if we wanted pizza we had one option and one option only???
After moving into our new apartment, we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. We thought it was prepared wrong.
And if you’re wonder why we have all these pizza dilemmas, it’s because I eat my pizza without cheese. People just can’t wrap their minds around that.
Anyways, we called back, the manager apologized profusely, told us to keep the original pizzas and said he would have both remade (even though one was correct already) and would have them sent as a delivery (even though we had went to go pick it up and paid takeout, not delivery price). Could this be because in my new rich people neighborhood there are at least five pizza places within walking distance from us (yes, not even within delivery distance, within walking distance)? Yeah, I think so.
Oh, and in the end it turned out there wasn’t cheese on my pizza, the dough was just really mushy and white and looked like cheese. I’m an idiot. We called back and the manager said we could still have the remade pizzas if we wanted to come get them. Holy customer service batman!
It’s not just the pizza and the grocery store. It’s everything. On a grander scale, if we had kids their options for schools around here would be so much better. If we were thinking about actually buying a house we would have tons of places to choose from. The differences in neighborhoods is just unreal.
I never had any illusions about where I lived before. I was one hundred percent clear that where we lived (not the actual house, the casa itself was quite nice, I mean the neighborhood alone), was crap. And I also actually spent a semester living in Providencia as an exchange student, so it’s not like this is my first time being here. But, in that first semester, your vision of everything isn’t the same. You don’t truly understand what real life in Chile is like if you’re an exchange student.
Now that I’m here as an adult and a semi-permanent resident in Chile, it feels a lot different. And I LOVE it.
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- @dregonzrob, hahaha, eating wall paper, that's a new one. Dog whisperer dato coming your way :)
- @lanapuckett, when we get back I'll have to introduce you to @gabrielrodriguez, @sebamilla and @sebastiankaulen!
- @dregonzrob, you need the dog whisperer!!!
- Brian McBride is announcing his retirement from the game today. He will go down in history for me as my favorite U.S. player ever. LOVE him.
- Caroline and Tommy should probably stop being this hot or somebody's going to catch on fire. http://tinyurl.com/2feozcy
- Writing w/ @imnotobsessed tomorrow early! Love catching people up on their daily dose of gossip and I <3 @inosherry, my online co-worker :)
