Christy and Ashley's Visit

We got to the airport on time, but this time we came prepared with books and zen micros in hand. It was a good thing we brought them, because we ended up needing them. Christy and Ashley's plane was late, so we simply went back to the car and read and listened to music. Luckily, it wasn't as late as Aunt Sally and Nana's plane, but it still was about an hour. They got in and we had our usual happy reunion. Then we took our drive through the downtown part of the city along with a Roxy/Sarah tour. We got back to the apartment and really spent the whole day resting, Christy had a cold and had had a rough time on the plane. We decided to keep this trip near Santiago, so we wouldn't have to do a whole lot of sitting in the car. The next day we stayed home for the first part of the day, Amelie, John, and Melinda came over and Christy and Ashley were very excited to meet the famous Amelie! (and you too, of course, John!) Christy, Ashley, Sarah, and I had tea parties on the deck of our balcony. Sarah and Ashley were our butlers.


That afternoon we went over to the market and to Cerro Santa Lucia, where we climbed to the top of the hill and got a great view of Santiago. And Christy, Ashley, and Carol, got their first experience of a jam-packed metro ride! The next day we stopped by the Mercado Central, and the main plaza, where we met mom for lunch and got to see a street artist perform.

The next day, we headed for Valparaíso, which is about a 2 hour drive from Santiago. We found our hotel, a totally awesome and modern hotel! Then we went to eat at a restaurant my mom had eaten at when she came to Valpo last July with the other Fulbrighters. It was an awesome place, and you can leave a picture of yourself on the wall. Afterwards, we headed out for ice cream. Then back to the hotel. The following day in beautiful Valpo we went over to Pablo Neruda's house, he was a famous Chilean poet and a collector, his house was full of little trinkets. After introducing the Kmeics to the poetry and eccentricity of Pablo Neruda, we headed down to the docks and had a really good lunch on the water, watching all the boats get unloaded. Our last stop was the beach in Viña del Mar, the neighboring town. It was a little too cold to go into the water for me and Christy, but Ashley and Sarah went in. This is a picture of them after getting out of the water, who made the better choice? When we got back to Santiago, it was dark out and we got to see a lunar eclipse.

Their second to last day in Santiago we went to a different house of Pablo Neruda's, we had already seen it, but it was fun to see it again with them. I'm glad that they got to see the second Pablo Neruda house. The last day we found a palace that we got to go in and see, and there was an exhibit on knights armor, which was fun to see. We had a great time with Christy, Ashley, and Ms. Carol! I was soooo glad that they were able to come and visit us, in our second country!

For more pictures go to:http://picasaweb.google.com/roxrd520

Lucas and Jessie's trip

Just like the two trips of visitors before, we checked the computer to make sure that their plane was on time. Then we were all set to go, everyone was excited about seeing them, and their plane was on time, or so we thought. When we got to the airport,we checked the monitor, to see if they had arrived, but they were far from arriving; flight 983 was delayed, 2 hours! We couldn't go back to the apartment though, because we would never get back to the airport in time, so we were stuck there. We had left so early that morning we didn't eat, because we expected to eat after we had picked them up. So we started to get really hungry and the cafe downstairs was full, the only other restaurant was Gatsby's. We had eaten there once before and we did NOT like what we saw and had the first time, but being the nice (and hungry) people we are, we decided to give it one more chance. It did not go well, and that one chance is up, so hopefully we won't be in that situation again. Finally we saw them on the TV that showed the people walking through, and ran to meet up with them. There was a big reunion with everyone greeting everyone, they had finally made it: Jessie, Lucas, Nana, and Aunt Sally. We then headed back to the apartment and those who just came out from -5°(Fahrenheit)weather took advantage of the weather here, and we all headed down to the pool. After some swimming and laughs we went up to get ready for a visit from our friend Paola, who is an ornithologist. Paola came over and gave us a talk on the different things that we would be seeing on our trip. Paola, along with some others, would be our guides.

The next day we waited until our last group member, Jan, arrived, then we packed up and headed north out of Santiago. Turn up your volume, and you can hear the John Prine song which was our theme song throughout this trip!




We made a little stop in a small town, Los Vilos, and had a picnic lunch, then we were on our way again. We arrived in La Serena around 5, and since we had already picked out where we would be staying, we headed straight to the hotel. The lady at the hotel was very nice and helpful, and we managed to only have one traumatic meat/vegetarian event.

The next morning, Paola, and another one of our guides, Rodrigo, came to the hotel in their pickup. We followed them in the van into the desert. We made a stop to get out and look at a species of endangered cactus, and meet up with our two other guides, Andrea and Pablo. We had just a little more to go, except we got stuck in the sand! We had to get out, and the adults had to push the van. We then ended up taking another route. We arrived there, in a very small fishermen's town, Caletas de Chañaral, where only 30 families live all year round. In the picture below, you can see Lucas in the tree right next to the restaurant, all of the kids had a branch to themselves. We made ourselves comfortable in our cabin, then headed down to the beach, where the guides had set up their trailer. While the rest of us headed on, Nana stayed back with Andrea and Pablo. The walk was amazing, and I learned a lot: we got to see crabs, jellyfish, different sea birds, birds' eggs, and some starfish. We kids got to pick up the starfish and play with them and their little tentacles, many of them were named Patrick, I wonder why... We also got to play in the water, and Lucas got stuck in what he calls "an evil kelp field!" which is otherwise known as an area with lots of seaweed that gets caught around your legs, a very uncomfortable feeling! While we went on our walk, Rodrigo went spear fishing and caught fish for our dinner. Andrea, Pablo, Paola, and Rodrigo made a delicious steak, fresh fish, and salad dinner.
The next day we got up bright and early for the exciting day ahead of us. We got ready and then headed down to the dock, where everyone told us that we wouldn't need our jackets, it was going to be warm. So many of us left our jackets back with the guides who wouldn't be going, got our life jackets, and went over by the boat. Everyone was very surprised to see how small the boat was, it was a little fisherman's boat. The look on Aunt Sally's face when she saw the boat was priceless! :) or should I say :0
Well, we all fit on the boat! With Nana in one of our beach chairs, everyone was teasing her that she was the queen of the boat. We set out for the vast ocean! It was the Ranft-Doodys, The Martin-Ranfts (missing one Martin-Ranft), Jan, Nana, Paola, and two local fishermen, whose boat it was. The first animals we saw were some big white sea birds. Then off in the distance we saw what looked like dolphins, but were actually sea lions, leaping out of the water. Next, off the port side of the boat some of the group saw the spout of water from the whale's blowhole! Being the slow turtle that I am, I missed the whale and didn't get to see it! Paola said that it was allright though, because we would be seeing more whales. Then, one of the guys (who owns the boat) pointed out to the island where we were headed. I stared at it for a little while, then I saw it! It was a magnificent and magical feeling that I will never forget. All you saw was a puff of what looked like mist. Just knowing that this mystical breath of water and air came from one of the largest animals on the planet was thrilling. We kept going until we were closer to the whales. Then one of the men turned off the engine, while the other pointed towards where we should look. For only a few seconds, that felt like minutes passsing by, we sat there in pure silence out on the ocean slowly drifting with the waves. Everyone held their breath until about five feet away, a whale emerged from the water and we could watch and hear the whale breathe out, then everyone let out their own releived breath, that was soon replaced by oooohs and aaaaahs. Soon after though, the whale left to go back to its own world underneath us. We stayed there a couple seconds then they started the boat up again and we moved towards the island. Then stopped again and waited for another whale, just like the first time, we all took a deep breath and waited until suddenly a whale, the same distance away came up and everyone went over to the right side of the boat, or should I say the port side - that would make Uncle Gee happy! Then the whale submerged back down. We stayed there for another minute or two, then another whale came! This time right next to the boat, so close that we could have touched it, so close that we could see the blowhole open and look inside!

After our encounters with the large fin and humpback whales, they started the engine back up, and we began moving towards the island again. When we got close to the island, we saw one more whale, this one had a large fishing net around its tail, everyone wanted to go in and help it. It was really a sad sight! It went back under, so we started moving. I watched as waves crashed against the rocks, and started getting scared. I didn't know when the men where gonna start turning, it looked like we were getting quite close to the island, then they turned us and we started our island tour. During the tour, we circled the island in the boat. We saw boobies, a type of bird, pelicans, sea lions, and of course, Lucas's favorite animal, the humbolt penguin! We also saw some dolphins with their babies swimming along side us! It was amazing!

When we got back to the town, we went to the restaurant and had lunch, then after lunch we loaded into the pickups (leaving Nana behind for a nap) and headed out to the beach. There we had a great time, Aunt Sally and Jan and Mom took naps, while Paola, Rodrigo, Andrea, Pablo, and Dad talked. Meanwhile, Lucas, Jessie, Sarah, and I went out by the water, we would go a little deep, then the waves would come and knock us over! The only bad part was that we're used to fresh water, and boy was this salty!! After our outing to the beach we headed back and had another great meal made by Paola, Rodrigo, Andrea, and Pablo!

The last day in Caletas de Chanaral, we all went in the two pickups (the van wouldn't have made it) to the dunes. There, we went four-wheeling and running around in the dunes, and we also set up a telescope and got to see whales blowing out their spouts. Nana got a real ride!

We also got to see an araña pollito, which looks a lot like a tarantula, except they're not poisonous.
We had a great time in the desert! It was an awesome experience!

We still had a few days in Santiago, after we got back from the trip, and we got to take them to a few tourist hot spots, like Cerro San Cristobal, and wine tasting. We had a great time and we're glad that they came to see us!

For more pictures go to :

http://picasaweb.google.com/roxrd520

Catherine and Anthony's trip

(Sorry Anth, picture of just the girls)


Catherine, Anthony, and Ms. Kathy were our second visitors, we were supposed to bring them to Mendoza, where my mom and Ms. Kathy were going to ride the wine train and the kids and my dad could go horseback riding in the Andes. Then we heard from some friends that Mendoza was supposed to be humid and HOT and we would bake. Soon after hearing that news we dismissed that idea and started plotting out another one. My dad looked up Cabins in Chile, that's exactly what I was thinking, isn't that quite a wide search, seeing it could be anywhere in Chile. Well, I must say he found a good one. We stayed at a place called Cabañas Los Andes the cabins were very nice and clean, they had a pool and a trampoline, and they were close to the mountains. The cabins were actually an hour out of Chillán and very close to the two volcanoes Chillán Nuevo and Chillán Viejo. Here's how the trip went:



We stayed in Santiago the day that they flew in, and also the day after that. Then we headed south to Santa Cruz, where Ms. Kathy and mom had planned to take the wine train. I was looking at the Lonely Planet and found what I thought was going to be the perfect place to stay, the description was:

" Residencial Plaza is aimed at wine-lovers whose
accommodations can't quite stretch to the luxury giant
next door. The lodging here is more than adequate,
however. It has a courtyard with orange trees and
the simple rooms are in an old colonial building."



Well, I'll tell you, it wasn't anything like that. And that's as far as I wanna go! We had lunch at the "luxury giant next door" and looked at some of the rooms, I'll tell you, they were BEAUTIFUL, and EXPENSIVE. After staying at the residencial plaza we headed out to Chillán.

In Chillán, we went to the market, where we bought groceries, so we would only have to cook at the cabins, and showed the Rovegno-Kadlecs what a traditional Chilean market is like. And off we were to Cabañas Los Andes.

We kids were extremely excited to see the pool, trampoline, and huge swing, it was gonna be a great time! After looking at two cabins we choose the smaller, but newer cabin, and got settled in. The next day we decided to go on a trail ride (horseback). My horse was really great, but we had to cut the day short because Sarah's horse got stung by a bee 3 times, and was sorta acting up. Who wouldn't be, being stung once hurts, three times, I can't imagine. After the trail ride we went back to the cabins and played on the trampoline and in the pool. Day number 3 at the cabañas we split into two groups. One: me, Mom, Catherine, and Ms. Kathy, decided to go on horseback. The rest of the group decided to hike it. This time we all got really good horses and got a beautiful, and scenic ride into the volcanic rock field. Suddenly, I saw a New York Yankees hat flash by on the side of the trail ahead. When we got closer, we saw Anthony, Sarah, and Dad picnicking on the side of the trail. They followed us, and we all stopped at an old, abandoned skiing resort hotel. BOO! Spooky! That night, Pam, another Fulbrighter here,

who lives in Chillán came with vegies from the farm she lives on. Together we all had a nice homeade dinner, using the fresh vegetables, and then Pam headed back to Chillán. On the next day, we went on a hike, up a very steep mountain to the mudbaths!! At the mudbath we sat in a warm pool of muddy water, and there's a tiny cave that's burning hot. With a stick, you dig out nice, warm clay, which you put on your skin and let it dry. Then, after it dries, you wash it off and then your skin is nice and smooth!

We had a really great time at Cabañas Los Andes, and around that area. After the Mud Bath Day, we headed back to Santiago, with one more stop left, a vinyard. When we went to the vinyard, it just so happened that I had run out of clothes, it was a very rainy day, and I didn't know that we were going to make another stop, so I wore my PJs, and therefore ended up doing my first PJ wine tasting at Miguel Torres winery!

for more pictures, click below

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/roxrd520

Our trip to el Sur de Chile (the south of Chile)

Map: This is a map of the southern cone of South America. The yellow area is Chile. We started our trip from Santiago, and went all the way to Isla Grande de Chiloé, Chiloé Island. You can click on the map to see it better.

Sarah, Dad, Mom, my mom's friend Judy, and Joe, Melinda, John, Amelie, and I, started our trip from Santiago the afternoon we drove to the town of Chillán, where we stayed in our friends Catherine and Dan's house. The next day we got up and going bright and early, 11 o'clock! We went to a market, where we stayed and shopped for a while. We bought a lot of cool little trinkets and things from the market. While some of us stayed back and ate empanaditas, the others went and bought veggies and meat in the market, then went back to the house and Melinda, John and Dad made una comida deliciosa. The next day, we went and first visited a mural at the Escuela México. The school was donated to Chillán from the people of Mexico, after a huge earthquake killed many people there. Inside of the school is a beautiful mural, painted by David Alfaro Siqueiros, a very famous Mexican muralist. After seeing the mural, we went and saw a famous church in Chillán, next to which was a giant cross, in memory of the people who died in the 1939 earthquake. The cross is 30 meters tall, each meter stands for 1,000 people who died. We also went into the church, it really reminded me of the St. Louis arch, because the church had a series of arches. Some photos are at the end of this post.

After Chillán we went to an area with cabins, near Parque Conquillío. After the extremely long journey on a bumpy road we got to "La Baita". It is an ecological resort out in the woods with nice cabins. We first went and saw a Mapuche dance, then went on a little hike, where we found a beautiful waterfall and drank delicious water right out of the river. After going on the hike we went and played in the lava field which was from the last eruption in 1994. That night we had a wonderful meal. After dinner we saw the beautiful stars, and I saw my first shooting star!! We were only supposed to stay one night in Conguillío, but we liked it so much that we decided to stay one extra night. The next day a lady took us on a trail hike in Parque Conguillío, it was really beautiful. The picture to the right is from inside the park. The tall and spiny-like trees are called Araucaria, a tree native to Chile, You can't see it here, but the male trees have orange flowers and the female usually have big round balls. The trees take a very long time to grow, the oldest in Parque Conguillío is around 2,500 years old!

After La Baita we went to a beautiful house between Pucón and Villarrica. They also had a dog there, which Sarah was deathly afraid of, and some baby kittens!!!! The next day we went to Pucón, and there was a triathlon going on. We figured out that someone we knew was in the triathlon. It was lots of fun cheering him on, and Pucón was a really pretty town. When you look at the pictures at the end of this post, you will see some flowers, they are made out of wood. It is amazing how they make them!!

After Pucón John, Melinda, and Amelie left to go back up to Santiago, we went to Ensenada, where we stayed in a great cabin that was on a lake and had a swimming pool. We ate at an awesome German restaurant. I highly suggest their lomo (steak) and honeydew juice. The next day we went to a town called Frutillar, where we visited a really cool German Museum and did a little shopping, then came back and went swimming!! We also looked around one of my favorite cities, Puerto Varas. The day we left Ensenada we got to visit Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales, where we went on a boat ride across the lake, before we headed to our next destination.

Our next stop was the island of Chiloé. We boarded the ferry and when we were about five minutes away we spotted hundreds of pelicans, it was an awesome site. We got there and finally found the town that we were going to stay in for the night. When we arrived at the hotel, it was not at all like we expected, so we went to a different hotel, it was sooo beautiful. It was a very old house with lots of antiques, it was gorgeous! That night we had a horrible meal at El Trebol, everyone except my mom and dad who ordered fish. So we all learned, when in a fishing village, order fish! Then we went to an internet cafe until 12 in the morning.

The next day we went to the end of the Pan American Highway!! In Quellón, Chiloé! After visiting the end of the highway we went to the beach, and then up to a town called Castro where we went shopping and exploring the city. Next we went up to Ancud, where we stayed at a nice hotel right on the bay. That night the owner of the hotel said to my dad, "I've been seeing a comet in the sky lately", so we got our binoculars and got to see the brightest comet in over 40 years, Comet McNaught. The next day we went to a museum and then explored Ancud, looking for Granny, which we did end up finding. By the way, Granny is my dear, sweet Granny doll, she's a granny in a rocking chair, knitting, made in Ancud. The next day we got on the ferry, this time we saw sea lions, swimming near the ferry, coming up for breath and say hi!!!

We then went to Valdivia (back on the mainland) to meet John, Melinda, Amelie, Melinda's parents, and their friends. We got to the hotel where we were all staying, and they had already left for the annual German beer fest. So we hopped in a taxi and headed over there. Sadly, the taxi drivers took us to the wrong place, a very low-key brewery and restaurant. The food there was the worst. Then we went back to the hotel, we found out then that we had gone to the wrong place and were very disappointed. We decided to take our van to the right place and see if we could catch them. We ended up getting there just in time, they were just coming out and had a great time! The next day we all headed over to the market in Valdivia, there were lots of vegetables and fruits and also there was a lot of fish. At one section you could watch the people cut the fish, then they would throw the heads and guts into the water and birds and sea lions would go after them. There was a mom and baby, and a huge sea lion laying on the stones! Then with everyone we went on a boat ride around the lake.

After that we headed back toward Santiago, stopping for lunch at a beautiful Spanish restaurant where three university guys (known as a tuna) came around singing and dancing.

The whole trip was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some facts on the Pan American Highway:

The Pan American highway is 25,750 km (16,000 mi) long. It starts in Fairbanks, Alaska, and goes to Quellón, Chile. The highway passes through Canada, US, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. There is one big gap between the Panama Canal, in Panama, and the Columbian border, called the Darien Gap. It is a stretch of rainforest with some very rough conditions making it impossible to continue by land. The best part of all of this, is that we went to the very end and saw the anchor

at el Hito Cero (the zero milestone)! Someday I would like to go to Alaska and see where the road starts. I'd even like to travel the entire highway someday.

Links to photos of my trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/roxrd520

English Summer Town

On January 7th we went to English Summer Town. We met in Santiago with all the other Fulbright Teachers and the Chilean teachers of English. We boarded the buses and went to Las Colinas de Cuncumen. My mom, along with all the other Fulbrighters, was teaching Chilean teachers from all the different regions in Chile. Each Fulbrighter had a subject and the teachers rotated to each presentation. Overall the week was full of English fun, and singing, dancing and swimming. We had nice cabins and some great food!! Each night we had a special event. The first night we had a dance-athon, the next we watched the movie Mad Hot Ballroom, then they showed an Australian movie (I didn't see it, that night the Fulbrighters came over to our cabin and we had music and lots of fun), the last night we had karaoke night, it wasn't that great though 'cuz they had very few songs. The teachers were really nice and we got to meet some Fulbrighters who we hadn't yet met because of their location, like Annie, who is teaching this year on Robinson Crusoe Island. Also on Thursday Sarah, my dad, my mom, and I taught a dance workshop, it went great and the everyone had an awesome time. Also a fun thing was that we got to see the President of Chile!! Not really, it was a lady who looked a ton like the President. The other teachers had a great time with her, they would say things like " Make way for the President" and everyone wanted pictures with her. Here's her picture:
She sure looks a lot like Michelle Bachelet.

Overall we had a really, really great time!!! Everyone was very friendly and it was a perfect week!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year, it's 2007!!! My family had an awesome New Years. We started the night with a fun game of Clue. After Clue dad turned on the TV only to find out that the Bears vs. Packers game was on. Finally we got out of the house, we caught a cab and headed downtown. I finally gave in to wearing a silly hat, our whole family had them. Sarah and I also got some confetti to throw at midnight. We found a spot where we had plenty of elbow room and were still pretty close to where the fireworks would be. When it was 11:59 we started the count-down, except in Spanish! At 12:00 we all shouted "Feliz Año Nuevo!" And people sprayed champagne and Sarah and I tossed up our confetti. Then we watched some spectacular fireworks! They were really good!!! At the end of the show the tower, where the fireworks were being blown off from, looked like a volcano erupting with a shower of lights. It was amazing! We walked home with many others and slowly one by one people started drifting their own ways til we were the last ones going in our direction.

Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!! I had my very first Chilean/American Christmas!!! First my family and I went over to the orphanage to visit our friend Rosalia, then we headed over to our friends John, Melinda and Amelie's house. The suegros, their exchange partner's in-laws, picked us up at John and Melinda's and we went to mass with them. After mass we went with the family back to their house, where we had a great meal and lots of fun and Christmas cookies. We left their house at 4:30 a.m. and went back to John and Melinda's where we spent the night, getting to bed after 5:00 in the morning, my record. The next day we woke up and stayed around John and Melinda's all morning in our PJs, played with Amelie, and had leftover Christmas cookies for breakfast! Then we opened presents. After a very spicy, but good lunch which Melinda made we all went out to the pool where Dad, Sarah, Amelie and I spent our first Christmas swimming in an outdoor pool. Too bad the others missed out on the fun. Later we hopped in a taxi and went home. When we arrived Sarah and I were sooooo suprised to see all kinds of Christmas presents under the tree. We were just expecting gifts from each other and there were gifts from mom and dad, Auntie Marge and Nana. We opened gifts, dad talked to Grandma and Aunt Linda in Texas, then we went straight to bed, we were sooooo tired!!! Even though we really missed everyone, we ended up having a really fun Christmas!!