Living as a Trotamundos

As of today I am saying farewell to Chile, at least for now, I think I will be back again. Five months latter and I am boarding my plane to head off to my next adventure. Now just to give you a heads up this will not be a reflective essay about how studying abroad has opened my eyes and how I have finally found myself. I will admit for many people traveling and studying abroad brings about a grand epiphany and self realization, and I think that is great when it happens. I did not have a grand epiphany, did not find the answer to some deep soul search, I did not find myself while studying abroad. I am perfectly okay with that, honestly I knew I wouldn't have that grand epiphany, I know who I am. *Note: If you are on a journey to 'find yourself' then go and run ramped through the world learning about new cultures until you do. And not as some shameless plug: I would recommend looking to God, from my life I can tell you it works out pretty dang well. I'm not have be...

For the past two weeks I have had a backpack strapped to my back and I LOVED IT! Like new addiction, already planning my next trip, could live out of a backpack for the rest of my life kind of love. So please come along and enjoy all of the highlights from my trip in Northern Patagonia. You read that right, Patagonia! My friend and I started our adventure on the shore of the mountain lake in Puerto Varas. We were exhausted from our long bus ride from Concepcion and the walk to the campsite. We decided to call it a night pretty early and with our packs in the tent and our sleeping bags zipped up tight we went to bed. In the morning though we woke up to a not so great surprise. The hiking boots of my friend were stolen in the dead of the night! Yes that's right...night one...and her hiking shoes were stolen. She was left with only her flip-flops, which don't work the best for backpacking. We were in good spirts though because there is always more good than bad in the w...

Not to long ago I had the wonderful pleasure of taking a trip to the small city of Angol with my friend to visit her family. Angol is just a couple hours south of Concepción and is considered to be in el campo. My friends family was great and their house was wonderful but you could say that the beds were hard as rocks! Just kidding...just in case you didn't catch that. This is the 'rock house' from the national park nearby. Really my friend's house was amazing in their backyard they had one of the most amazing gardens I had ever seen. The had basil, kiwi, apples, almonds, grapes, citrus, and so much more you wouldn't believe it. My friend's family was so wonderful and welcoming, with her cousin and brother we went to the national park Nahuelbuta. On a clear day you are able to see the ocean and the Andes from the highest point of the park, unfortunately for us it was a cold and rainy day. I felt like the wind was going to blow me away but I still loved ...

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and that tonight brings you a wonderful New Year! This Christmas was a tough one for me, I missed my family. Every year there are thousands upon thousands of people who don't get to spend Christmas with their families. And let me tell you...as one of them now....It really stinks. But I was also one of the lucky few and I had an adoptive family that took me in and made me part of their traditions. It is in moments like this when I am reminded that family goes far beyond a blood line. It's a secret I've always known but one that we can all use a reminder of. My host family took me from decorating the house to Christmas day, to New Years, and really everyday since I have arrived. Christmas in Chile is WAY different than back home. Big Diffy Number 1: IT'S SUMMER! That's right it's summer over here on the southern hemisphere which means no white Christmas. Now I haven't had a lot of white Christmases back home ...

To give you a little bit of background information, I have been known to have an old soul. Like go to bed at 9 pm and wake up early, spend my time with my nose in a book and drinking tea kind of old soul. I love my old soul, I've had a good life, with nothing to complain about. Throughout my life there is one thing I have noticed though that seems a little strange. Little old ladies quickly become my friends. It is almost as if they are drawn to me or that I am drawn to them, I'm not sure which. From Arizona, to Colorado, and now to Chile I have become friends with little old ladies without ever meaning to. I'm telling you they find me. I took a bus to a little port town a couple days ago and when I got off the bus so did two little old ladies. They quickly asked me if I was traveling alone or if I was going to be meeting up with a friend. Once I let them know that I was traveling alone, they asked me if I wanted to walk with them along the beach. I said yes, after all ...

I'm sorry it's been a few weeks, life got hectic and there was just a lot going on with little time. So per my mom's request I'm going to do my best to get back on track for my few avid readers. As of yesterday 12/8, I am done with university! All of classes done, finished! Don't ask me what grades I got because I really don't know....I think I passed though. The end of the semester was just as confusing as the start... I didn't really know when my classes ended. I had no finals. And the dates and times of classes would change at the professors whim. I have always known that having English as my primary language it is a privilege but I didn't realize how much until I studied at university in Chile. Academic papers that I would be given to read would be written in English, software programs that I would use operated in English, figures on power points would be detailed in English. It really is a blessing, and I hope to always remember it as such...

This last weekend I went to Pichilemu, the unofficial surf capital of Chile and if you were to ask them the world. It's about five to six hours north of Concepción and their is no direct bus to Pichilemu so if you plan to travel there you´ll have to transfer eventually. Two buses, half day of travel that is all it should take. No big deal right? Well two buses quickly turned into FIVE when my friend and I decided to spend our weekend on the waves. That´s right FIVE BUSES! FIVE! The only place to start this story is at the very beginning and let the story unroll like all of the bus tires rollin' down the road. It started on Friday, we were at the bus station ready to take our first of  "two" buses. We loaded on our bus and were headed to Talca, at which we planned to take our next bus to Pichilemu. It was only about a 3 and a half hour bus ride to Talca and we arrived at about 6:30 pm. *Now it is very important that you understand that there is no way to look at ...