Monday, February 24

Today I turned 18!!! I woke up around 9 and went for a run. When I got back, there was a huge package waiting for me from my parents.

They sent me a new camera (mine is broken) and some more USA candy. Also, my uncle sent me some giant gumballs. I knew the package was coming because my uncle had sent me an email saying that he had sent it. Also in the email was a long letter about how much my family there in Chicago loves me and wants to become a bigger part of my life. We’re really not a close family, and that had been bothering me a little after seeing how many people love and miss Cristobal and thinking about how few probably miss me. It was really nice to get that letter and I’m excited to go back and start to form a closer relationship with my family. Then I showered, got dressed, and just kind of chilled in my room writing my blog. There was no internet in the house and I don’t have a cell phone, so I was basically prepared for a sucky birthday. Nobody could call me to say happy birthday, and I couldn’t make plans with anyone to do something. We ate lunch together, and then I went with Monse to the Jumbo to print out pictures and buy frames for my family as gifts for when I change host families.

After we got home, we shut ourselves in my room to put the pictures in the frames without anyone finding out what we were doing. Then, I was going to leave the room, but Monse asked me to stay with her there and watch TV on my bed. I knew something was up, but I played along anyway. After a while, Maxi came in and asked me to help him with something outside. I went out into the living room, and Cata was standing there with a gift in her hands and the table was set and there were balloons decorating the lamps.

It was a great birthday surprise. We sat in my room and talked for a while and it was so great to catch up with Cata. Then we went to eat dinner with my family. They made me tacos because I always tell them how much I miss Mexican food. After tacos, they brought out the cake and sang happy birthday. It was in that moment, when everyone was singing the birthday song in a different language, that I realized how amazing this experience was and how weird and sad and cool all at the same time it is to have your birthday in another country. After they sang, they told me to bite a little bit of the cake.  I know it is their tradition to smash the cake in the person’s face while they bite it, but I did it anyway, and Maxi smashed my face in the cake. I was so absolutely covered in cake that I couldn’t breathe through my nostrils because there was cake up there.

When we finished taking pictures and I came back from the bathroom, my family had their present for me to unwrap. It was a pencil case from Frutillar that said “with love from your Chilean family”, and a frame with 4 adorable photos from our trip to the south. It was really hilarious for Monse and me to discover the frame because we had bought the exact same one with some of the same pictures as a gift for the family.

We couldn’t stop laughing and we couldn’t tell anyone why. After dinner, Cata and I talked for a while longer in my room, and then around 10 she had to leave.  Maxi and I hung out for a while comparing the differences between US passports and Chilean passports and just making stupid jokes. Then I watched a little TV with Monse before thanking my whole family so much for a great birthday and going to sleep.

Sunday, February 23

Today we woke up late again, and we immediately had to pack up and get ready to go back to Talca. We ate a quick breakfast, said goodbye to everyone, and left for Talca. I spent the whole ride back to Talca listening to music. When we arrived at the house in Talca, it was a little uncomfortable because Nancy had left for the campo in the middle of a fight with her mom. Her mom didn’t want to come with us to the campo because she feels neglected by the family and like they never invite her or want her in their campo house, and Nancy said that she wouldn’t be limited by what her mom thinks and just left anyway. When we got back to the house, lunch was a little tense.

The sign says "spicy: it bites your mouth and then your ass"

After lunch, Nancy, Eric, and I went to the feria in the center of Talca to buy vegetables for the house in Rancagua. I got to try this cool fruit called a pepino that I’d never heard of before.

After we got home, we had to load up the car with everything we had brought from the south trip. There was so much stuff that we had to collapse the last row of seats in the minivan and ride all 3 kids in one row. The journey to Talca, although it was finally the last car ride for a while, felt really long. I listened to music and read Elegi Vivir the whole time. When we finally got home it was like 8 at night.

We unloaded the whole car and ordered everything in the house. Then I wrote for a little while in my blog, we ate a quick family dinner, and I went to sleep in my nice comfortable bed for the first time in way too long. The only sucky thing was the Eric had forgotten to pay the internet bill, so although I was finally home from a 3 week long vacation without internet, I still couldn’t open facebook or talk to my friends or even let them know I was home because there was no internet in the house and my cell phone has been broken for over a month.

Saturday, February 22

My whole family slept in the same room, and the room stayed dark the whole morning, so we didn’t end up getting out of bed until noon! I got up and dressed, and then chilled for a while with the kids I’d met last night. With Connie, we went outside to pick blackberries (a truck comes by in the afternoon to weigh and buy them, so it’s a good way to make a little money). Then Miguel Esteban invited me to go for a ride on his motorbike. We went pretty for a long ride to his grandmother’s house to get helmets. I met his aunt and grandmother and we talked for a while and they showed me the house. They were super sweet and welcoming and told me about the family and showed me pictures of all my cousins when they were babies. Then we put on the helmets and went speeding down the road and back to the house.

We arrived just in time for lunch. After lunch I talked to Cristobal for a little while over Skype, and then we all got ready to go to this natural pool nearby. I didn’t have a bathing suit or anything, so I just put on shorts and the shirt I had worn to bed the night before. Monse, Josefa, Flo, Fernanda, Octavio, Maxi, Miguel Esteban, Felipe, and Dani all went. We sat in the back of my uncle’s pickup truck and drove a way out in the desert on this barely-there dirt road to get to the lake. It was kind of gross getting into the lake because there was a bunch of moss and it was slippery and disgusting but once we got into the middle of the lake, it was deep and clear and great. We swam over to the other side and had a bunch of fun diving and cannonballing off the rocks into the deep water. We stayed for a few hours, and then rode home in the back of the truck getting our wet clothes covered in dirt. When we got home I ran to get the first shower. Then I ate dinner with the little girls and sat talking with Maxi and Maria Jesus for a long time. Eric and the little girls had brought out the projector and were watching Guerra Mundial Z against the wall of the house. I went and sat on the hood of the car and wrote 3 college scholarship essays in the notepad of my cell phone. I got them done because I had no other choice but the whole time I was just laughing at what a different life I am living now than last year. After I finished, I went to sit with the adults while they made empanadas. After we talked for a while, Miguel Esteban came over to the house to invite Jesus, Maxi and I to the birthday party that the other half of the family was at (it’s kind of awkward because the country house is divided into two sides and each side belongs to one half of the family and although they’re friends, they go to different parties and stuff). He drove us over to his grandma’s house, where we had came earlier, and we greeted all the family. The kids all went into this garage apart from the house where there was a pool table. We didn’t play, but we just sat around and talked. It was the coolest experience ever because I hadn’t seen any of these people since September when we went to that pub, and at that moment I had barely been able to understand anything. Now, instead of making such a huge effort to have fun, I could just relax, tell stories, and talk to them. It was really gratifying to see that my work here is paying off. We stayed over until like 2:30 and then another uncle who lived close to our house drove us home.

Friday, February 21

Today we woke up late in Talca and I went for a run. Then we basically just chilled out and relaxed the whole day, which usually makes me feel antsy and annoyed that I’m wasting time, but it was actually really nice after such a long and draining vacation. Maxi and I watched TV for a while, and then I watched a little bit of Harry Potter 8 with Monse (although after the trip I’d really had it up to here with movies). In the afternoon after lunch, I decided that I wanted something sweet. I introduced my family to cake in a mug.

Where you put all the cake ingredients in a mug and put it in the microwave for 3 minutes and you have your cake. They loved it and went crazy over how simple the recipe was. Then Nancy and Abelita decided to return the favor and teach me a recipe too. We made the cheese filling for cheese empanadas, and then I helped Abelita make and roll out the dough into flat circles for the empanadas. Then I decided I wanted to go for another run. As I was tying my shoes, Nancy came up to me and told me to pack a change of clothes into my backpack because we were leaving for the campo (where we went for September 18) to stay the night. It was 8 at night, but she decided we were leaving in 15 minutes and there could be no other questions asked. Nobody else wanted to go, everyone complained about the short notice, and Nancy knew that I needed to get home to Rancagua the next day to finish an important scholarship essay and turn it in. None of that mattered and we went anyway. That’s when I finally put my finger on what is weird about this family. The parents have a lack of respect for their kids. I know that they’re just kids or whatever, but even when  I was young my parents always listened to me, took my opinion into consideration, treated me like I mattered, and explained situations to me in advance instead of springing things on me and giving the only explanation of “because I said so and I’m your parent”. With their kids, sometimes we’ll be in the car and the kids will ask a question like “when are we stopping” or “turn up the volume” and the parents won’t even acknowledge that the question was asked. I just feel like it’s a lack of respect and consideration is all. This really made me realize how amazing the parents that  I have are, and I immediately asked Nancy to share internet with me so  I could send my mom a message telling her how much  I love her. Having that mutual respect with my parents is something I miss a lot. We got to the campo and I was in a pretty bad mood, but then all the people greeted me, and I decided to have fun anyway and make the best of it. There were new cousins there that I hadn’t met before—Felipe (13), Fernanda (16), and Connie (19). Miguel Esteban, Octavio, and Maria Jesus were also all there. I had fun hanging out with them and getting to know my other cousins. We talked for a while, I taught them how to play ERS, and Fernanda taught me how to do the waterfall braid. Then we went out to the kitchen with the adults and I showed everyone how to make s’mores.

They all loved them, and I felt really awesome to be able to share a part of my life in the US with the people here. We stayed up talking until like 3, and then we all went to sleep.

Thursday, February 20

Today we rolled out of bed around 10 and went to eat breakfast at this bread store and breakfast restaurant in town. Then we drove a little further to the center of Villarica, where we found a huge feria artesenal and a Mapuche cultural center.

While Nancy entertained herself shopping in the feria (the rest of us really couldn’t handle any more ferias at that point), we went to tour the Mapuche hut. Inside was a translation of some of their language and a bunch of their weapons and tools on display. There were people dressed in traditional clothing and jewelry (all silver) and booths set up all around the giant hut selling Mapuche artwork and remedies.

There was also a lot of woodwork, including giant statues of Mapuches. We even found the famous flores de madera, which are flowers made out of wood and painted to look real, which they really do. I thought it was just a normal patch of flowers until Eric told me to touch one. After we finished in the cultural center, we met up with Nancy in the feria, and Nancy, Monse, and I all had braids put in our hair decorated with little shells.

Then we piled back into the car and rove about 30 minutes to Pucon. I remembered that right at the beginning of my exchange my friend Pelao had sent me a gorgeous picture of a volcano while he was on vacation in Pucon.

When we got there, the first thing I did was take that same awesome picture that he had sent me. It was cool to think that the volcano had gone from something I could only dream of seeing in pictures to something tangible and right before my eyes. I felt really lucky to have such an awesome family to take my sightseeing all through the south.

Pucon was a really pretty and really touristy town. We stopped in an artisan chocolate shop to have snacks while we walked along main street toward the marina (there are lakes in basically every town in the south). After a nice long walk, we returned to the car and drove back to Villarica. On the way, we stopped at a garden so Nancy could buy 3 giant hortencia plants because apparently they don’t sell them in the north on Chile. We all yelled that we absolutely could not buy any more after that because the car was so full that the tires would deflate with any extra added weight. We then drove back to Villarica and had a late lunch in the same restaurant we had eaten in the night before (I actually had the exact same food too). Then we said goodbye to our vacation and drove the 6 hours back to Talca to our grandparents’ house. During the ride, I read a lot of my book Elegi Vivir, and then Maxi and I watched movies on his computer. We got to Talca at like 12:30 at night, greeted the tatas and had a quick once, and then I crashed into bed.

Wednesday, February 19

Today we got up early, ate breakfast, and spent about 2 hours packing everything up. We drove for a few hours up to Parque Nacional Puyehue, where there is a river with water flowing straight from under the volcano.

The water is as hot as a Jacuzzi in the pools around it, so a hotel built this manmade giant pool with water flowing directly from the river next to it for people to relax in.

We had to wait in line to get in, so while Nancy waited, the rest of us went down to walk by the river. There were a lot of people lying in the river relaxing in the hot water there too. They were all covered in mud from the river to relax their skin.

After a while, Nancy called to tell us she was in the front of the line and we went back and got into the pool immediately. We first had to go to the tiny bathroom to change into our bathing suits. Then we got into the pool and it was really impressively hot (also impressively filled with people and the water was impressively filled with hair and other disgustingly human filth). We sat around basking in the luxurious heat for about 10 minutes before it got uncomfortably hot. Then I stood up on one of the ledges to cool off for a while.

All in all we were in there for about half an hour before none of us could take the heat anymore and we got out. Then we went back to the tiny and crowded bathroom, and Monse and I showered together in our bathing suits in a shower without a door. I changed my clothes in the bathroom, and although it was a whole lot of trouble to change clothes and shower and everything just to go in a Jacuzzi for a few minutes, I did feel a lot better after getting clean. From there, we went to a museum nearby to look around at the typical plant and animal life of the national park and the volcanic activity there. After the museum, we piled back into the car and drove about 4 hours (I should really be measuring time in kid movies that we watch with Monse instead of hours so 3 movies) before arriving in Villarica at like 9:30. We hadn’t eaten lunch yet (we had bread and hard boiled eggs on the road), so we stopped at a restaurant in town and I had a “lunch” of grilled chicken and a nice big salad. It was our last night of the trip, and it was late and nobody had the energy to find a camping and pitch a tent, so we went to a little hospedaje down the street (it's like a house that rents out rooms to travelers and then everyone shares the same bathroom) and got a room. Monse, Nancy, and I put on our pajamas and laid down together in the queen bed (Maxi and Eric were in the bunk bed on the other side of the room) and used the internet from Nancy’s iphone (I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before that here you can “share” internet from a phone, meaning that it becomes a wifi hotspot for devices around it that know the wifi password) to watch a movie on the ipad. Recuerdame was really good, but I was also really tired and I fell asleep halfway through the movie.

Tuesday, February 18

We woke up this morning and I got ready to go for a run along the beach. I had my clothes on and everything when it started to rain. We had to run to put everything away, and then I went to take a shower. The showers were gross and there was mud on the floor and everything about the shower was just very difficult and messy and not fun, but I finally got it done. I ran from the showers to the car in the pouring rain. Then we drove like 100 meters over to a covered area overlooking the beach where we set up a table and had breakfast.

We finished, packed up all the stuff, and drove to Puerto Octay. It was raining, but I still wanted to see a little of the tiny town, so while Nancy and Eric were looking at cheese (what the town is famous for), Monse and I crossed the street and walked around the little plaza through the rain.

We then went back to Frutillar to see the city, and by the time we got there it had stopped raining and turned into a nice day. We went to a meat shop and bought meat to have a barbecue tonight. Then we went to a feria artesenal and walked around for a while. If you haven’t noticed yet, Nancy is an absolute fanatic for ferias atresenales, and although they all basically have the same trinkets and woolen clothes, I still really like looking at all the crafts and stuff. After the feria, we were all starving, but we wanted to save room for the barbecue in the night, so we ordered some French fries from a roadside stand and ate them all together (they put mayonnaise on their fries here). Then Monse, Maxi, and I went over to a playground nearby and took turns pushing each other on this giant swing.

Then we all walked over to the Teatro del Lago. It’s this giant building literally built over the lake made out of a bunch of different colors of wood. Frutillar is famous for the music festival that is held in the theater there.

After touring Frutillar, we went back to the camping to have our asado. We all went back behind the camping where there were trees to gather branches for fire wood. Monse also picked blackberries from the bushes. The whole family had fun making fun of Eric because he had so much trouble getting the fire started. When he finally did, they all cooked their meat and my chicken on the side.

After we ate dinner, Monse, Eric, and I played escoba for a while and then we all were ready for a dessert of s’mores. Later, Maxi and I took turns cutting up a big branch we found with an axe. We were worried that the splinters would scratch our eyes, so we put on the goggles that Monse had brought to go swimming in. We looked ridiculous, but at least we were protected. Using the axe would be a really good way to get all of my frustration out when I’m angry about something. After we got the fire burning really bright, Nancy, Maxi, and I sat around it and talked for a while. Then Maxi and I walked down to the beach, sat in the lifeguard tower overlooking the water, and listened to music for a while. We sang along and even though we’re both terrible singers and didn’t really know the lyrics (we sang songs in both Spanish and English), we had a great time. After a while it got so cold that we couldn’t take it anymore, and we went back to the tents to go to sleep.