The treacherous road to the Torrealbas' house ends with an overwhelmingly beautiful view of the town they live in, Curico. Sean tells me to go get Jose while he hooks up the trailer with the kayaks. As I walk down the steep, pale driveway I notice a group of people, seemingly a family, taking a photo. One boy had 2 large packs on, one on each shoulder, and seemed to be the center of the pictures. He, like most Chileans, has black hair, hazel eyes, tan-but-not-overly-tan skin, and a general laid back attitude surrounding him. As I approached the group, several small (7-10y/o) children charge at me and proudly shout "Hi!" (as I discovered later, Chileans who know a little English LOVE to show off their abilities, so be ready for a fun Spanglish conversation or 2!). As the mother approaches, I manage to spit out an incomprehensible jumble of almost Spanish words. She cocks her head to the side and tells me with a slight accent, but very quickly, that the whole family speaks some level of English. Sean walks up and after brief greetings and extended goodbyes, Jose and I crawl into the cramped back seat and awkwardly say our proper “hellos”.
2 hours later:
As we approach the rest of the group, Jose and I jump out of the car without waiting for it to stop.
After the first shock of seeing a Chilean teen male, the girls in the Alzar School group saunter up to him and shake his hand nervously. (when in Chile, handshakes are replaced by a kiss on the cheek between men and women or between 2 women. For 2 men meeting, the handshake is still appropriate).
We all walked a few minutes down the road to a place the teachers called Los Keñes. Turnes out, it is a hostel about 2.5 hours from Santiago with some "interesting" rooms... And by interesting, I mean DO NOT sleep downstairs... or expect to take a shower in privacy. Trust me.
Lunch
Leaders of the day prepping for their day
Unpacking Kayaks.
After we arrived at Los Keñes, it was off to work, unloading the kayaks to make a place to eat while the actual dining room/kitchen was being "cleaned" (there were a few birds that liked to use the tables as a restroom). Over the night, my room mates and I discovered that instead of a glass window there was a trashbag, and the light stopped working (Another BIG shocker is that Chile does not use the same outlet as the US, rather the UK version with 2 circular prongs, trying to plug in will fry electronics and converters start at $20 USD in Chile). In the morning, our bags were delivered to us relatively unscathed, much to our delight. We didn't stay long though, after the one night, and a quick session of card games with Jose to take our minds off the intense heat, we packed our bags (and the kayaks, of course) and hit the road (although not before taking a few more pics).
Taking a short lesson by the river. On the other bank is a massive mountain with astoundingrock climbing
Ordering Empenadas!
Another lunch
Walking around town, causing trouble.
¡Amigos!
Note of the day, I have looked and looked for a proper analogy of the Chilean version of Spanish and I have found no better than Chileans are the Australians of the Spanish speaking world. They talk really fast and use slang (Chilenismos) that aren't in any dictionaries! For an idea of the sheer number, check out my Chilenismos! blog at
http://patricksadventuresinlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/chilenismos-common-chilean-slang.html
After we arrived at Los Keñes, it was off to work, unloading the kayaks to make a place to eat while the actual dining room/kitchen was being "cleaned" (there were a few birds that liked to use the tables as a restroom). Over the night, my room mates and I discovered that instead of a glass window there was a trashbag, and the light stopped working (Another BIG shocker is that Chile does not use the same outlet as the US, rather the UK version with 2 circular prongs, trying to plug in will fry electronics and converters start at $20 USD in Chile). In the morning, our bags were delivered to us relatively unscathed, much to our delight. We didn't stay long though, after the one night, and a quick session of card games with Jose to take our minds off the intense heat, we packed our bags (and the kayaks, of course) and hit the road (although not before taking a few more pics).
Note of the day, I have looked and looked for a proper analogy of the Chilean version of Spanish and I have found no better than Chileans are the Australians of the Spanish speaking world. They talk really fast and use slang (Chilenismos) that aren't in any dictionaries! For an idea of the sheer number, check out my Chilenismos! blog at
http://patricksadventuresinlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/chilenismos-common-chilean-slang.html
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