Day 1 of weekend super-awesomeness-fun-fest 2009

On wednesday I got an e-mail from my adventure friend, Mac (McKenzi) it was in regards to getting out of the city for the weekend. Our 2 options were these:

South: http://www.suizandina.com/en/
Beach: http://www.ananucas.cl/punta%20de%20choros.htm


For those of you that don't know me (why are you reading this?) I am kind of into outdoors things, and mountains, you know just stuff like that. So, my choice was 'south', but I told Mac that I would do either. South it was, all I had to do was convince Lia that school wasn't important, and that it would be worth missing class to come on the adventure. As many of you know I am fairly convincing when it comes to not going to school, so it wasn't that hard. Our crew this time consisted of: Jake, Mac, Francis, Lia, and myself.

First thing was first, finish my day at school. (we're on Thursday now) I then ran home, threw my frisbee stuff in my bag, and it was on the bike again to some disc. I got about an hour of play time in, then I ran 'home' grabbed dinner, put my stuff for the weekend together, and ran out the door.

The plan was to be at the bus station at 10:20pm, Lia and I showed up at 10:45, which meant one thing, we had just enough time to go grab some wine. We got on the bus just in time, and it left at 11:00pm on Thursday.


Now I know what you are all thinking, ;Why does Wayne always grab wine before a bus ride?' The answer is simple, I'm 6'6" tall (2m) and we were going to be on that bus for 9 hours that night. They also don't frown upon it here.


And then the sign at the front of the bus said this:
good place to stop

Disclamer

So, I've never been too hot at spelling, I have just noticed that I've also been spelling people's names wrong. If you're into it shoot me an e-mail with wrong stuff, and I'll fix it. If you're not into it, don't, and enjoy the fun.

I also hope to switch to spanish at some point, so don't be alarmed if all of a sudden you can't read what's going on, what will have happened is you're not reading English any more.

The spanish thing also may just not happen, pending on how lazy I get.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment whenever you want, I also opened the comments to EVERYONE!!!!!

BTW

Adventure-fest 2009 begins

It's not so much a culture shock as it is a population shock. This is a BIG city, so when McKenzie (she works for USAC) asked if I wanted to do a weekend adventure I was in. We wanted it to be removed, but not too far away for the first weekend adventure. The chosen location was Talca. We took the train (thinking of you on this one Drea) which rocked, and was cheap, about $18 us round trip, for 2.5 hours. (This is group #1 from left to right, Mac, Francis, and Kristal, I'm behind the camera, on the train.)

The whole ride, all I could think, was that the scenery was exactly the same as central california.you know, like below Sacramento and stuff. It was amazing the similarities. Mac (McKenzie) had gotten in contact with a young man by the name of Jorge, through her 'couch surfing' community.

This is Jorge Mac, and myself hitting up the buses of Talca.

Jorge made the trip to Talca worth while. With out him, it would have been like attempting to vacation in a place like Merced (no offense Danie Griffo, it's just not a typical tourist magnet)

This is how awesome Jorge is: He was appologetic that there wasn't enough room for us to stay at his house, so he used his saturday to go out and find us a reasonable hostel where we could all stay (all the gringos).

He met us at the train station, and took us to said hostel, which was only one and a half blocks from his house. He tollerated our north American antics, showing us around the down town area, and also in the grocery store.

I couldn't help when I saw this man out in front, I wonder how his sales are:


He took us to have 'Mote', which is a drink/food that consists of a glass filled with wheat, then 2 boiled peaches, then the sugary juice of those peaches poured on top.
It was delicious!!

Group #2 arrived, this is group #2 (all the boys that is, Francis is in the background, she was part of group #1):
From left to right: Jason (yellow shirt), Drew (blue shirt), Franklin (beard), Gill (furthest to the right).
After group #2, and the two kids that were staying with Jorge from Norway arrived, we went to get Jorge's favorite food... Completos. It was a 20 or so min bus ride to this place:
(and it's not raining or anything, that's just shit on my lens) This also the location where Jorge kicked me ass at a completo speed eating competition. There is video of this, but I haven't exactly figured out how to do that kind of stuff yet.
Thanks again Jorge!!

After completos, we went back, had some wine, and hit the beds. Big day Tomorrow.

The plan was 'Las Siete Tazas', translation means 'the 7 cups' it's a series of waterfalls up outside of Talca. It looked a lot closer on the map. At 9:00am we caught the first bus to Curico'. Then it was an hour to mess around, and we caught this bus for 2.5 hours to 'Las Siete Tazas'. (The one on the right)

This was my seat, and no the stain it left on my shorts did not come out, and no it wasn't fully bolted to the floor.

Often people have to stand on buses here, and often times there are bars for them to hold on to. The bars that can be seen in this next photo are not for that function.They were put there to hold up the roof. True story, they're not even bolted to the floor or roof, just sort of wedged in there.

It was all worth it though. The creek was beautiful, and the bottom pool opened up enough for us to do some swimming.
Gill, Cristal, and myself.



Drew, and myself enjoying the underwaterness of my bitchin' camera.

Gill enjoying the foodness that we brought down with us. I thought I was hot shit for bring avocados, tomatoes, and bread. Gill stepped it up with some wine and cheese, everything was shared, and we had a feast. And yes, that bag under his right arm is filled with Chilean wine.

This is the crew (minus me, I'm behind the camera)


After some water action, and a short hike back to the road, we caught a slightly nicer bus back to Curico. This is the nicer bus, notice they decided to carry the same roof stabilization techniques to another bus.

2.5 hours on a dusty bumpy chicken bus can only result in one thing...
Off Road Bus Surfing Competition, and yes it was VERY difficult.
In Curico we had enough time to buy some boxes of wine, and catch our bus back to Talca.



After showers we were invited to Jorge's house for a traditional dish from Talca, 'Chancho en Piedra'. Basically a tomato, garlic, and chile mixture that you dip home made bread in, it was delicious, thanks again Jorge, and your family for all the hospitality.

Jorge is in school to become a chef, and I believe it's an excelent choice, the food was amazing, even if we did our best to screw it up by helping,


It bed time after the good times at Jorge's house. The next morning it was to the train station, back to Santiago, and the happenings of the big city, and school.

Let me show you my house.

As per usual I ran a bit late to class, got a bit lost, bike + 6,000,000 people makes things a bit different than the good old Biggest Little City. After my first class all the 'gringos' were hanging out in front of one of the buildings. This girl walked up (also a 'gringo' with the USAC program, can't remember her name). She missed her first class because someone jumped in front of the metro she was on. BUMMER. Such a waste. I asked my family about it, there response was, "Again?" I guess in a city of 6 million that's not a rare thing, I'm just not too used to hearing about that kind of shit.
(P.S. look at the last line of my last post, I tried to tie them together.)

On a lighter note, if you don't think this shirt is funny maybe you shouldn't read my blog any more.


I picked it up at a Chilean thrift story and yes, that is heat press lettering.

Let me show you my house:
Livingroom: and I know what you're wondering, and... yes, those are 11 inch thick concrete walls. Bryan, your bomb shelter has nothing on this place. That's my Timbuk2 bag on the couch, the computer on the table, and some of my clothing.
Kitchen/Hallway: This could be seen at the far end of the last photo. You wouldn't believe the delicious food that comes out from this place. Ana Maria is an AWESOME cook. Those are in fact phone booth doors at the far end. It leads to this bridge, and then my room. It's fun, but not quite this fun:



It's a bit more simple.
I love that fan.

I joined the photography class, we took our first "field trip" it was a playground about 2 blocks from the school. AWESOME!!! the mission was still life photos, the result was fun:


This is Gill, He weighs about 100lbs less than I do, so the teater-totter wasn't that thrilling
Max and Will taking their photography very seriously.
Thanks for the lift man.

(and some photos):


These were first attempts, and a first day in class, with a point and shoot camera. I don't even know if they would be considered still life photos, but I'm fairly certain my mom (real mom, like Mrs. H) will fill me in.

But you could have that waxed

Our field trip was to the art museum. This museum is located underneath the capital building. it's like the equivilent to the White House in the US, but the head honcho here doesn't live there, that's just her office, with an art museum built under it. (that's right 'she', Chile has a woman president)

That's the building to the right, oh, and this guy was hanging around out in front.


In the US, the CIA, or whoever watches the happenings in front of the white house would have not tolerated this guy, but the kids sure love him.

I also don't know how many North American parents would let their kids be taken around an art museum by 'Heroman'.

The exhibit was Frida y Diego. Frida Kaloh, and Diego Rivera.

Frida was pretty much the strangest person ever, often times labeled a 'freak', and her husband Diego, while a bit less of a freak, was still not your outstanding citizen, but they both managed to make a name painting.
This is a picture of them, I know they both sort of look like men, but the one with the unibrow is Frida. The one with the huge smile that says something like, "I'm going to cheat on you" that's diego

And he did cheat on her. This is a weird painting that Frida did. Her stuff is all sort of strange, and freaks me out a bit, or maybe it's her unibrow.
This is one of Diego's most famous paintings, it was at the museum. There is nothing freaky or unibrow about most of his paintings, so I tended to enjoy them a bit more.
Of the pieces I saw that day, this was my favorite, it's Diego Rivera's 'The Architect'


All in all it was a good trip to the art museum, it helped me decide once and for all that I don't plan to grow a unibrow, or be in a train crash. Funny I should mention that...