Here I am again...let's keep up writing about my journey.
The bus from Puerte Natales took about five hours, so for us really just a stone's throw away, and arrived at 11:30 pm at the bus terminal in El Calafate. Gabriel, the friend of Martha who was able to host us for some days, picked us up and went with us to a hospedaje in the center where he accommodated us. After eating dinner and talking a little bit, Martha and me were really tired and went to our Hospedaje to sleep.
The next day Gabriel went with us to the museum about the history of Calafate and spontaneously to one of the most important "Estancias" (Ranch) of Calafate, where we spent the rest of the day learning about traditional things on a ranch. For dinner we had a real good tasting barbecue with a danceshow inclusive. The sister of Gabriel dances traditional dances of Argentina and often has to dance for tourists etc.
The next morning we got up at 6:30 am to get a bus to the glacier "Perito Moreno". Since Gabriel managed to organize a car, we weren't in a big hurry anymore and slowly made our way to the Nationalpark. The time we won by taking the car, was lost the next hour trying to fix the car (which ran hot) and to pull us out of the road ditch (Straßengraben) Gabriel parked us in :D Since we couldn't fix the car a friend of Gabriel took us to the lookout of the glacier and we stayed there for some hours, watching a listening the Perito Moreno. It was incredible!! That thing is huge! At times you can see parts of ice falling off of the glacier making loud noises while falling into the water. It' so awesome :)
In the afternoon we also took the boat that takes you directly to the glacier and droves right along its side.
After getting back to Calafate (some chilean guys took us with them) we learned a little bit more about glaciers in general in the museum. As a surprise Gabriel also took us to the Glacier bar. A really cool place where everything is made of ice. The walls, the bar, the chairs and even the cups you are drinking out. We got special clothes before we went in but after half an hour we were too cold to stay any longer ;) pretty cool experience though!
In the evening we had dinner at his familys house and about 1am went to our hospedaje to sleep.
The next day Gabriel showed us the city. We went to another Muesum, ate "Calafate"-ice cream, which is made of the Calafate-fruit, which grows everywhere around it, and had a Tango lesson the evening. The Tango here is really different from the one I learned in Germany. It looks so awesome if you are able to dance it :-P
After our Tango lesson two of his friends went with us to one of the birthday parties of the city, where we listened to some traditional music and watched people dancing the traditional dance of Argentinia.
Since we had to wake up early the next morning to check out, we went to our hospedaje after that and slept(it was already 3 or 4 am in the morning, not that late for argentinien standards ;).
That was our stay in Calafate...the next post is going to be about our trip to Ushuaia-el fin del mundo (the end of the world)
See ya :)
Samstag, 31. Dezember 2011
Mittwoch, 14. Dezember 2011
Trip to "Torres del Paine"
We started on wednesday in the morning. We took a bus at 7:30 am which brought us to the Nationalpark entrance, where we had to take a Minibus to our first camping ground.
We had rented camping equipment in Puerte Natales because in the park everything was doubled the price you had to pay in Puerte Natales...
The first thing we did was setting up our tents, leaving our heavy backpacks-and only taking a little one for the day- and making our way to the first big attraction of the Nationalpark--> the "Torres del Paine"
The way there was sometimes pretty hard. The sun was pretty hot, we hadn't been doing any sports in a while and therefore weren't in our best shape and the path was freakin steep!!! With the help of Müsli-bars, Oranges and the cleanest water I drank in a while (out of the river) we made it at the end. The lookout of the Torres del Paine is very beautiful. It's very high up and the vieuw is just stunning.
After we went down in about half the time we needed to go up, we started to cook our awesome first camping dish...rice with eggs and some seasoning ;)
We talked to our camping neighboor a little bit and went to bed . First day 16 km---> done!
The second day started at 7:30 am. After slowly getting packed and ready for the day we walked 12km to the next Refugio/Campsite to have lunch and rest a little bit. We had planed to sleep on the free campsite "Campamento Italiano" 'cause the prices on other campsites where pretty high. For that reason we had to walk 5km more...those 5km were hard but not as hard as we thought they would be. And the landscape distracted us a little bit from the pain in our feet, back, shoulders etc. Walking with a backpack with all your stuff for 4 days is a whole different thing, than just walking without. We did not think it would take that much energy but I guess we know better now ;)
Second day 17km ---> done!
The third day was our longest day. We woke up at 6:30 am to get going as soon as possible. To get to our first station we had to walk 7,5km and from there to the next Refugio/Campsite another 11km. Since we would have to pay for that campsite, we decided after a one hour break that we should walk to the next one, which was about another 3km away. After arriving there at 7pm we were all pretty exhausted and having to deal with thousands of mosquitos we were even more sleepy and went to bed after a fast dinner.
Third day 21,5km---done!
Fourth and last day started for Martha and me at 4:30am, but only to see the sunrise from the outlook 5 minutes from our campsite. From there you looked directly over the whole "Glaciar Grey"! Amazingly beautiful!! Very worth it to get up that early!!
We had our breakfast in the same Refugio, where we had a 1 hour break the day before and walked 11km back to the other Refugio where the ferry left for the bus back to Puerte Natales. Martha and me took it really easy, had some Muesli-bar-breaks with awesome views of the landscape and arrived a lot later than Max (who mostly walked by himself the whole trip). After waiting for about four hours we took the ferry to our bus. Arriving at 10:30 pm in Puerte Natales we had to return all our camp-equipment as fast as possible. So no relaxing yet...Martha and me were even able to get a bus ticket for the next morning to El Calafate the next day. But after having done all that, we just went in the shower (we were pretty gross after not showering and sweating for 3 days, HAHA) and went half-dead into bed.
Thats all for now...
Ciaui :))
We had rented camping equipment in Puerte Natales because in the park everything was doubled the price you had to pay in Puerte Natales...
The first thing we did was setting up our tents, leaving our heavy backpacks-and only taking a little one for the day- and making our way to the first big attraction of the Nationalpark--> the "Torres del Paine"
The way there was sometimes pretty hard. The sun was pretty hot, we hadn't been doing any sports in a while and therefore weren't in our best shape and the path was freakin steep!!! With the help of Müsli-bars, Oranges and the cleanest water I drank in a while (out of the river) we made it at the end. The lookout of the Torres del Paine is very beautiful. It's very high up and the vieuw is just stunning.
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| this is the proof: Martha and I in front of the "Torres del Paine" |
After we went down in about half the time we needed to go up, we started to cook our awesome first camping dish...rice with eggs and some seasoning ;)
We talked to our camping neighboor a little bit and went to bed . First day 16 km---> done!
The second day started at 7:30 am. After slowly getting packed and ready for the day we walked 12km to the next Refugio/Campsite to have lunch and rest a little bit. We had planed to sleep on the free campsite "Campamento Italiano" 'cause the prices on other campsites where pretty high. For that reason we had to walk 5km more...those 5km were hard but not as hard as we thought they would be. And the landscape distracted us a little bit from the pain in our feet, back, shoulders etc. Walking with a backpack with all your stuff for 4 days is a whole different thing, than just walking without. We did not think it would take that much energy but I guess we know better now ;)
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| no words for that...only: its a lot better if you see it yourself!! |
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| Martha telling Max how to build up his tent :D |
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| French valley and the path we walked (on the bottom) |
Second day 17km ---> done!
The third day was our longest day. We woke up at 6:30 am to get going as soon as possible. To get to our first station we had to walk 7,5km and from there to the next Refugio/Campsite another 11km. Since we would have to pay for that campsite, we decided after a one hour break that we should walk to the next one, which was about another 3km away. After arriving there at 7pm we were all pretty exhausted and having to deal with thousands of mosquitos we were even more sleepy and went to bed after a fast dinner.
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| first view on "Glacier Grey" |
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| Walking, walking and walking...and still smiling :) |
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| Max taking a picture of "Glacier Grey" |
Third day 21,5km---done!
Fourth and last day started for Martha and me at 4:30am, but only to see the sunrise from the outlook 5 minutes from our campsite. From there you looked directly over the whole "Glaciar Grey"! Amazingly beautiful!! Very worth it to get up that early!!
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| no sun yet...but still not really dark |
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| a new day :) |
We had our breakfast in the same Refugio, where we had a 1 hour break the day before and walked 11km back to the other Refugio where the ferry left for the bus back to Puerte Natales. Martha and me took it really easy, had some Muesli-bar-breaks with awesome views of the landscape and arrived a lot later than Max (who mostly walked by himself the whole trip). After waiting for about four hours we took the ferry to our bus. Arriving at 10:30 pm in Puerte Natales we had to return all our camp-equipment as fast as possible. So no relaxing yet...Martha and me were even able to get a bus ticket for the next morning to El Calafate the next day. But after having done all that, we just went in the shower (we were pretty gross after not showering and sweating for 3 days, HAHA) and went half-dead into bed.
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| Eisberg!!! |
Thats all for now...
Ciaui :))
Donnerstag, 8. Dezember 2011
Pictures from the last few weeks
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| Couchsurfing in Ancud :) |
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| walking to the "Saltos" |
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| this is where we had our lunch ;) |
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| Martha and I at the "Saltos" |
Ciau
Dienstag, 29. November 2011
Puerte Natales - Torres del Paine
Hey everyone,
just a short post about what I'm going to be up to for the next days...
Martha, Max and I will do a trekking tour through the "Torres del Paine"! You should google it if you don't know what it is, its pretty cool ;)
We will do the "W" route in three nights and four days. It will probably be a challange for me because I have a problem with my left foot right now. I don't know where it came from but it hurts when I walk. It will hopefully be okay and if not I will have to take the pain and just keep walking ;)
The other thing is that people we met who just did that tour, got into snowstorms etc. and the wind here is pretty strong. But apart from that its supposed to be very beautiful and a good trekking route. I'm excited!!
You will hear from me later
¡Hasta la vista!
Nina
just a short post about what I'm going to be up to for the next days...
Martha, Max and I will do a trekking tour through the "Torres del Paine"! You should google it if you don't know what it is, its pretty cool ;)
We will do the "W" route in three nights and four days. It will probably be a challange for me because I have a problem with my left foot right now. I don't know where it came from but it hurts when I walk. It will hopefully be okay and if not I will have to take the pain and just keep walking ;)
The other thing is that people we met who just did that tour, got into snowstorms etc. and the wind here is pretty strong. But apart from that its supposed to be very beautiful and a good trekking route. I'm excited!!
You will hear from me later
¡Hasta la vista!
Nina
Donnerstag, 24. November 2011
Puerte Montt-Ancud-Osorno-Punta Arenas
hey guys, here I am again...
I`m sitting in a hostel in Punta Arenas right now...uploading pictures doesn´t work somehow but I will keep trying!
Lets start with my first couch-surf experience in Puerte Montt. Martha and I arrived there on Friday afternoon and had to wait to get the exact adress from our couchsurfer. It was raining so we sat in a cafe and waited...after we talked to Hugo (the couchsurfer) and got the address we went there and left all our stuff. We talked a little bit and went to bed. He lived in an apartment in the 11th floor with an awesome view over the city and the port. We had a room for ourselves with two huge beds!! In the morning we said goodbye to him and had a nice breakfast with coffee ect. It´t amazing how fast and how much trust he had in us. We were complete strangers and stayed in his apartment without his attendence. But I guess that´s how Couchsurfing works...
Well, the next day we went to Ancud, a city on island "Chiloe". It takes you about two and half hours with bus and ferry and its a beautiful ride. There were just a few people in Chiloe doing Couchsurfing and we had the luck to have found Romina, who lives in Ancud and had room for two people. She was really nice. She picked us up from the bus terminal, took us to some real nice places in Chilo and invited us to have our first real chilean barbecue with her family. On the way back from one of the places she showed us we got stuck with the car...haha...we didn´t have any signal and the next neighboor was one hour walk away. Since the car just wouldn´t move, Romina walked to the next neighboor, who pulled us out of there one hour later. Adventures day there ;)
We stayed one more night with Romina and left for Osorno at lunch time. Since our bus to Punta Arenas left the next day from Osorno we had to stay there for one night. The city isn´t actually worth to see and the host in the place we stayed was not very hospitable either. It was just for one night so we didn´t care that much.
At 12 am the next day our bus to Punta Arenas left...30 hours in the bus!! I would say : "Record for now"
It wasn´t as bad as I expected it to be, but still pretty long. It´s the cheapest way to get from one place to the other so we accepted it ;)
We found a pretty nice hostal with nice people in Punta Arenas. Lots of Israels...apparently there are tons of them at this time around Southamerica, because its "the" big thing to do after returning from the army.
We are waiting for Max, a friend from Santiago, to arrive here and then we will do all the things you can do around here--> like see Penguins and maybe whales!!
That´s all again
I will keep tryin to upload those pictures for you
Saludos,
Nina
I`m sitting in a hostel in Punta Arenas right now...uploading pictures doesn´t work somehow but I will keep trying!
Lets start with my first couch-surf experience in Puerte Montt. Martha and I arrived there on Friday afternoon and had to wait to get the exact adress from our couchsurfer. It was raining so we sat in a cafe and waited...after we talked to Hugo (the couchsurfer) and got the address we went there and left all our stuff. We talked a little bit and went to bed. He lived in an apartment in the 11th floor with an awesome view over the city and the port. We had a room for ourselves with two huge beds!! In the morning we said goodbye to him and had a nice breakfast with coffee ect. It´t amazing how fast and how much trust he had in us. We were complete strangers and stayed in his apartment without his attendence. But I guess that´s how Couchsurfing works...
Well, the next day we went to Ancud, a city on island "Chiloe". It takes you about two and half hours with bus and ferry and its a beautiful ride. There were just a few people in Chiloe doing Couchsurfing and we had the luck to have found Romina, who lives in Ancud and had room for two people. She was really nice. She picked us up from the bus terminal, took us to some real nice places in Chilo and invited us to have our first real chilean barbecue with her family. On the way back from one of the places she showed us we got stuck with the car...haha...we didn´t have any signal and the next neighboor was one hour walk away. Since the car just wouldn´t move, Romina walked to the next neighboor, who pulled us out of there one hour later. Adventures day there ;)
We stayed one more night with Romina and left for Osorno at lunch time. Since our bus to Punta Arenas left the next day from Osorno we had to stay there for one night. The city isn´t actually worth to see and the host in the place we stayed was not very hospitable either. It was just for one night so we didn´t care that much.
At 12 am the next day our bus to Punta Arenas left...30 hours in the bus!! I would say : "Record for now"
It wasn´t as bad as I expected it to be, but still pretty long. It´s the cheapest way to get from one place to the other so we accepted it ;)
We found a pretty nice hostal with nice people in Punta Arenas. Lots of Israels...apparently there are tons of them at this time around Southamerica, because its "the" big thing to do after returning from the army.
We are waiting for Max, a friend from Santiago, to arrive here and then we will do all the things you can do around here--> like see Penguins and maybe whales!!
That´s all again
I will keep tryin to upload those pictures for you
Saludos,
Nina
Donnerstag, 17. November 2011
Traveling in the south of Chile
Hello everyone,
Yes its actually me, andbeen has only been a few days since I wrote in here ;)
I'm in "ugly" Puerte Montt right now, sitting in a cafe with Wifi. Martha and me started our trip from Santiago Tuesday night and arrived the next morning at 10 o'clock in Valdivia. Valdivia is very quiet and not too big. After we hadn't heard back from our Couch surfer we walked around to find a place to stay the night. We got lucky and found a small "cabana" with a small bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms for a very good price. Since we already saw everything from Valdivia, we booked the next bus to Puerte Varas at 6:10 am...we got there at 9:30 am and had some breakfast right on the big Lake Lago Llanquihue with a good view on "Vulcane Osorno", which is one of the most beautiful vulcanos in Chile :)
After we had a good exercise walking up on one of the hills we took a bus to Frutillar. Not much going on there. We walked a lot and had a nice lunch/tea in the cafe "Lavanda", which Marisol and Ralf (with whom I stayed in Santiago) recommended to us. Thanks for that! It was really nice!
In the late afternoon we took the bus to Puerte Montt where we found a Couch to surf :) the first time we will do that, but not our last time. We already have a couch for the next night on "Isla Chiloe".
Our bus to Punta Arenas leaves on Tuesday. It takes about 30-36 hours!!!
It's gonna be worth it though, 'cause Punta Arenas is supposed to be really beautiful. It's the biggest southernmost city on earth and offers lots of interesting things to do. You can go and see penguins or whales and lots more :) I'm gonna let you know and take tons of pictures.
Okay, that's all for now.
Muchos saludos y besitos
Yes its actually me, andbeen has only been a few days since I wrote in here ;)
I'm in "ugly" Puerte Montt right now, sitting in a cafe with Wifi. Martha and me started our trip from Santiago Tuesday night and arrived the next morning at 10 o'clock in Valdivia. Valdivia is very quiet and not too big. After we hadn't heard back from our Couch surfer we walked around to find a place to stay the night. We got lucky and found a small "cabana" with a small bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms for a very good price. Since we already saw everything from Valdivia, we booked the next bus to Puerte Varas at 6:10 am...we got there at 9:30 am and had some breakfast right on the big Lake Lago Llanquihue with a good view on "Vulcane Osorno", which is one of the most beautiful vulcanos in Chile :)
After we had a good exercise walking up on one of the hills we took a bus to Frutillar. Not much going on there. We walked a lot and had a nice lunch/tea in the cafe "Lavanda", which Marisol and Ralf (with whom I stayed in Santiago) recommended to us. Thanks for that! It was really nice!
In the late afternoon we took the bus to Puerte Montt where we found a Couch to surf :) the first time we will do that, but not our last time. We already have a couch for the next night on "Isla Chiloe".
Our bus to Punta Arenas leaves on Tuesday. It takes about 30-36 hours!!!
It's gonna be worth it though, 'cause Punta Arenas is supposed to be really beautiful. It's the biggest southernmost city on earth and offers lots of interesting things to do. You can go and see penguins or whales and lots more :) I'm gonna let you know and take tons of pictures.
Okay, that's all for now.
Muchos saludos y besitos
Montag, 14. November 2011
Last week in Santiago...for now ;)
And now what I'm doing right now...
The last week without school started pretty relaxing and became from Wednesday on really busy. I sort of lived in "El Punto", which is a students residence in the city of Santiago, where some of my friends live. There is always something going and it's really fun to hang around there. Since the metro stops at 11 pm and all the parties etc. haven't even started by then I always sleep at my friends place. On Friday Martha and me bought our bus ticket to Valdivia, which is about 8-10 hours in the south of Santiago. We are planning to travel in the south of chile together and meet up with another friend in Punta Arenas, which is the biggest southernmost city of Chile. From there we will continue to Argentina to meet a friend of Martha in El Calafate. I heard a lot about this place and am really excited to see it. We don't what we are going to do after that but I really want to go to Buenos Aires, visit a friend (Justo ;))in Rosario (only 2-3 hours from Buenos Aires) and go to Brazil. I have friends there, who all said that I could come and visit them when I'm in Brazil ;)
That is another good thing I got out of my school. I made friends with people from all over the world. I probably even have someone to stay with in Melbourne next year...
Well, I don't know when I'm going to be able to write again. Some of the places in the south of Chile don't have Internet connection, so it might take a while. But you guys are probably already used to it now :D Sorry, for always letting you wait that long.
See you later :)
The last week without school started pretty relaxing and became from Wednesday on really busy. I sort of lived in "El Punto", which is a students residence in the city of Santiago, where some of my friends live. There is always something going and it's really fun to hang around there. Since the metro stops at 11 pm and all the parties etc. haven't even started by then I always sleep at my friends place. On Friday Martha and me bought our bus ticket to Valdivia, which is about 8-10 hours in the south of Santiago. We are planning to travel in the south of chile together and meet up with another friend in Punta Arenas, which is the biggest southernmost city of Chile. From there we will continue to Argentina to meet a friend of Martha in El Calafate. I heard a lot about this place and am really excited to see it. We don't what we are going to do after that but I really want to go to Buenos Aires, visit a friend (Justo ;))in Rosario (only 2-3 hours from Buenos Aires) and go to Brazil. I have friends there, who all said that I could come and visit them when I'm in Brazil ;)
That is another good thing I got out of my school. I made friends with people from all over the world. I probably even have someone to stay with in Melbourne next year...
Well, I don't know when I'm going to be able to write again. Some of the places in the south of Chile don't have Internet connection, so it might take a while. But you guys are probably already used to it now :D Sorry, for always letting you wait that long.
See you later :)
Mendoza, Argentina
Hey Guys,
since I don't have school anymore I finally have time to write about my trip to Mendoza...
Last Friday (28th October) four of my friends and me took a Bus to Mendoza, which is a town in Argentina close to the border to Chile. We left at 1:30 pm and got there at about 10:30 pm. The border was really busy because it was a holiday weekend in Chile...so we had to wait there about three hours. When we finally got to our hostel, we just left our stuff in our room and went out to get some food. Although it was already 1 am we easily found a restaurant that would serve us food. There were still so many people on the street and so much going on that we didn't realize how late it was. We finished our late dinner at 3 am and went back to the hostel and in our bads. This is one thing I really like about South America...you would never find a restaurant that would serve food until 3 o'clock in the morning in Germany; well, except for McDonalds but you can't qualify this as a restaurant ;)
The next day we spent a relaxing day in the center of Mendoza. We went to the antique Market, the park, restaurants and my favorite --> the market with hand-made jewelry, bags, shoes and other things.
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| waiting at the border |
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| the park, only 3 minutes from our hostel |
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| the market with handmade things |
On Sunday we attended the Rafting tour of the hostel. It was fun but the rafting tour could have been a little bit more crazy and exciting ;) When we came home we planned on going out and meet some hot argentinian guys ;) but somehow we all ended up sleeping until the next morning. Hahaha!
On Monday our little group split up. Yannick, Martha and I went to the huge park of Mendoza, which is also the biggest in whole South America. We almost got lost while we were trying to find the University :D but since Yannick and I have a good sense of orientation we managed to get back on track.
One weird thing happened that day: Martha, Yannick and I were just taking pictures of the beautiful fountain in the park when a guy asked if we could take a picture. We thought he wanted us to take a picture of him in front of the fountain but unfortunatly what he really wanted was a picture with the two blond girls standing next to it--> Martha and I :D and that wasn't the last time that would happen to us...last week in a Club some guys asked the same thing. I hope this isn't getting normal.
The last day I went shopping with Kimberly and Nevena and enjoyed our last day in the park of Mendoza. Our bus left at 10:30 pm and arrived at about 5 am in Santiago.
With two hours of sleep Martha and me went to school the next morning. After finishing class at 5 pm I went home and slept ;)
That was all about my 4-day weekend in Mendoza. A very good little relaxing break from the busy life in Santiago.
Cementerio visit
Cementerio means cemetery (Friedhof). Wednesday two weeks ago I went with my classmates to the biggest one in Santiago and also in whole South America. It was huge!! It's built up as a city with Streets and Plazas. The mausoleums look like little cute houses and really make it appear like a city. People even drive around with Taxis to get to their family grave because it's THAT huge. Famous people like Allende (former president of Chile), Erich Honecker (yes, the german Honecker!) and others are buried in this cemetery...
Here are some pictures:
Here are some pictures:
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| Street "Baquedano" |
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| small version of Norte Dam |
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| Adam und Eva |
Mittwoch, 19. Oktober 2011
It has already been six weeks in Santiago and time just keeps flying by...I've been so busy the last few weeks that I didn't take good care of my blog. Sorry. I hope I'll do better in the future ;) since school only lasts until 1pm and not like the first four weeks until 4pm, I have a lot extra time to get stuff done. Hopefully I'm not too lazy and one of this "stuff" is my blog.Haha!
Okay, now you probably want to know what kept me so busy?! Well, first thing is obviously school. The first four weeks I came home about 5:00-5:30pm, depending how crowded the metro and bus was...I live kind of far from the center of Santiago, so it always takes me about one hour to get there. But living with Ralf and Marie in this nice and quiet neigbourhood is worth it ;) Sometimes after school I attend on one of the activities the school offers. One Wednesday we went to a winery one hour from Santiago. The guide showed us around, talked about family tradition and did a wine tasting with us. We learned how to taste a wine in the proper way. Here is a picture:
We also went to the "Museo de memoria y los derechos de humanos". It informs about the time between 1973-1989, when there was a dictatorship in Chile. It was shocking how many people died, the way they treated people those days and the worst that it's only 20 years ago. Before that visit I never heard anything about the chilean history. Do you guys know that there actually are a whole bunch of german immigrants in Chile, mostly in the south?! The word "Kuchen" exists only because it was used so often by the Germans and later by the chileans as well. The funny thing is that the plural form isn't "Kuchen" but "Kuchenes" :D sounds pretty funny to me!
On Friday nights we always go to a free salsa course for one hour. It's really fun. I will continue going there and hopefully learn lots of salsa figures ;)
On wednesdays we usually go to the "Miercoles Po" Party. That party is especially for foreigners, changes its location every time and has different themes. Last time the theme was "Oktoberfest" :-P Germans got free bear until 10:30, but since I didn't know and came one hour too late I didn't get any...whatever! I doesn't really matter to me cause until now I never had to buy myself a drink. That's the good thing of having REAL blond hair in Chile. Haha! On the other hand you get a lot of attention, for me way too much!!
The other days I just hang out with friends. One day we made crepes at the place of a friend from Australia. We also had tons of tea...I don't remember how many cups I had but it must have been a lot cause that night I only slept until 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep ;)
Okay I guess that is enough for one post.
Hope you enjoyed reading it?!
Haste luego amigos!
Okay, now you probably want to know what kept me so busy?! Well, first thing is obviously school. The first four weeks I came home about 5:00-5:30pm, depending how crowded the metro and bus was...I live kind of far from the center of Santiago, so it always takes me about one hour to get there. But living with Ralf and Marie in this nice and quiet neigbourhood is worth it ;) Sometimes after school I attend on one of the activities the school offers. One Wednesday we went to a winery one hour from Santiago. The guide showed us around, talked about family tradition and did a wine tasting with us. We learned how to taste a wine in the proper way. Here is a picture:
We also went to the "Museo de memoria y los derechos de humanos". It informs about the time between 1973-1989, when there was a dictatorship in Chile. It was shocking how many people died, the way they treated people those days and the worst that it's only 20 years ago. Before that visit I never heard anything about the chilean history. Do you guys know that there actually are a whole bunch of german immigrants in Chile, mostly in the south?! The word "Kuchen" exists only because it was used so often by the Germans and later by the chileans as well. The funny thing is that the plural form isn't "Kuchen" but "Kuchenes" :D sounds pretty funny to me!
On Friday nights we always go to a free salsa course for one hour. It's really fun. I will continue going there and hopefully learn lots of salsa figures ;)
On wednesdays we usually go to the "Miercoles Po" Party. That party is especially for foreigners, changes its location every time and has different themes. Last time the theme was "Oktoberfest" :-P Germans got free bear until 10:30, but since I didn't know and came one hour too late I didn't get any...whatever! I doesn't really matter to me cause until now I never had to buy myself a drink. That's the good thing of having REAL blond hair in Chile. Haha! On the other hand you get a lot of attention, for me way too much!!
The other days I just hang out with friends. One day we made crepes at the place of a friend from Australia. We also had tons of tea...I don't remember how many cups I had but it must have been a lot cause that night I only slept until 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep ;)
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| Goodbyeparty from Johannes (guy on the left) |
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| making yummy crepes :) |
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| Escuela "Tandem" with Siswa, Martha and James |
Okay I guess that is enough for one post.
Hope you enjoyed reading it?!
Haste luego amigos!
Sonntag, 16. Oktober 2011
more pictures from Valparaiso...
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| one of my favorite wallpaintings |
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| also a good one in my opinion... |
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| busy plaza in Valparaiso |
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| Marie and I in Quintay, a small town near Valparaiso |
Mittwoch, 12. Oktober 2011
Hola chicas y chicos
I havn't written in here for ages, so I don't really know where to start ;)
I guess I'm just gonna start with "Valparaiso", a City on the coast of Chile. It's only 1 1/2 hours from Santiago and very unique. I have been there two times now and still haven't seen much of it. Even Ralf, who lived there once, says that he always discovers something new when he goes there. The city is built on lots of hills. Nearly every hill has some kind of cool elevator to take you up.
The most I liked about Valparaiso was the Graffiti-Art and Wallpaintings everywhere...Walking pathes are running contorted (verwinkelt)everywhere you wouldn't think it's possible, the houses are painted in all kinds of different colors and you find the cutest cafes with amazing views over the city everywhere.
It's totally different from Santiago and the perfect place to escape from the big city for a day :)
Different stories will be in here later...
Besos, Nina
I guess I'm just gonna start with "Valparaiso", a City on the coast of Chile. It's only 1 1/2 hours from Santiago and very unique. I have been there two times now and still haven't seen much of it. Even Ralf, who lived there once, says that he always discovers something new when he goes there. The city is built on lots of hills. Nearly every hill has some kind of cool elevator to take you up.
The most I liked about Valparaiso was the Graffiti-Art and Wallpaintings everywhere...Walking pathes are running contorted (verwinkelt)everywhere you wouldn't think it's possible, the houses are painted in all kinds of different colors and you find the cutest cafes with amazing views over the city everywhere.
It's totally different from Santiago and the perfect place to escape from the big city for a day :)
Different stories will be in here later...
Besos, Nina
Dienstag, 20. September 2011
All right, lets get you guys up to date!
The first few days in Santiago were pretty relaxing...the biggest news from those days were that I got a cell phone, so Ralf wouldn't have to start a search action again ;), and I found a language school. I will be doing a "Super Intensive" course for four weeks and probably add another month depending on how good my spanish is after my first month. I talked to a lot of students, who started with no spanish knowledge like me, and they said a second month would do me good...so it's quite sure that I will be doing a second month.
The weekend I got here Ralf, Marie, Luna and I went to friends who live in Los Andes, right next to a plot of land Marie and Ralf owe. We talked,ate, played "Kniffel" and went for a walk. After having three Kniffels in one game, my second name is "Kniffel-queen" from now on :-P
I uploaded some pictures of the landscape around their house...it's amazingly beautiful!
Monday was the first day of school. It took me about one hour to get there by bus and metro (Ralf's and Marie's house is on the edge of Santiago). The public transportation is surprisingly pretty good. The metro is very clean but also really crowded in the morning. I always have to wait a few metros until I get in. So, snuggel time every morning! Don't have a problem with that, but they are all starring like I'm from a different planet!! And every one who knows me, knows I don't like getting all the attention or be the center of interest...I guess I will (have to) get used to that.
In school I met my classmates, James and Nevena, and my teacher Pia. They are all really nice. James is from London and Nevena from Switzerland/Bosnia/Serbia...I still don't get how this works, being from three diferent countries...but whatever ;)
Lunch time was from 1pm till 2.30pm. As a welcome all new students got Empanadas and wine. We introduced ourselves and the headmaster of the school told us everything important about the school and Santiago. There is a lot pickpocketing going on around here and if you look like a foreigner the taxi drivers normally try to mess with you and charge more than usual. But I will try to stick with the metro...
Afternoon classes went until 4pm and I got home at about 5.30pm, did my homework and relaxed ;)
Second day of school was "Tandem Lunch", which takes place at a restaurant near the school. I met students from all over the world...from Brasil, America, Australia, Netherlands, Switzerland etc. It was pretty interersting to hear all their stories...like what their plan is for the next month, how long they will stay in Santiago and so on.
The next two days went fast. I came home in the late afternoon, did my homework, ate, read, skyped with my family and went to bed.
That was my first week of school^^
Here are some pictures from Los Andes:
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| View from their plot of land (Grundstück) |
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| Their friends house |
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| Nina pic |
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| surrounded by mountains |
!Hasta luego!
Sonntag, 18. September 2011
Chile/ Santiago: First impression
It's colder than I thought...
When I got here tuesday morning, the first thing I did was getting all my "winter clothes" (if you can call them that) out of the depth of my suitcase. As soon as the sun rose it became clear that I wouldn't need them that bad. It's the beginning of spring and that means the temperature can reach between 20°C and 27°C. The summer is gonna be really hot though...40°C is common! I hope its not too bad and I get used to it fast.
All right, first day in Santiago and I already have a funny/embarrassing (whatever you want to call it!) story to tell. Ralf and I went to the Mall to get some groceries. I looked around the mall and he got the groceries. We were supposed to meet one hour later, at 17:30 o'clock, in front of a store. Since I didn't have a clock with me and my cell phone just died, I checked the time on a clock in some store. I got to the meeting place at 17:30 pm and waited for 20 minutes, but Ralf didn't show up. So, I went to an apple store next to it and checked the time on one of the iPads...there it was only 16:30 pm. Well now I thought I had one more hour to look around, so I did;) When I checked a different iPad one hour later it was already 18:30 pm!! I kinda freaked out after that, cause Ralf and me were supposed to meet one hour earlier, I didn't have his phone number AND I was surrounded by spanish speaking people. I hurried down to the parking lot and -thank god- found the car with Luna (Ralf's dog) in it. After waiting there a few minutes, a security guy came by and tried to tell me that they were looking for me and I should stay by the car. He got Ralf then and everything was fine again ;) Ralf told me they started a search action and even paged me (ausrufen) two times! Hihi, obviously didn't hear that! Pretty embarrassing but another good story to put in my travel diary...
After all this stress again I just fell into my bed and slept about 12 hours!! I have never slept that long...there was probably a little too much going on the last four days.
Hasta luego amigos :)
Flashback: last week in LA
Rewind, rewind, rewind...
It's Friday and as Steve and I were running some errands he gets a phone call from Tamara. One hour later Tamara and I were already sitting in the car on our way to the Sierra Nevada Mountains...
We had planned to see the Sequoia National Park and its giant trees and drive back the next day, so I would have enough time to pack my stuff (since I was leaving Monday morning)and it was already dark when we got there and we didn't have a place to sleep yet. While drinking wine and some fruit juice at the bar of a lodge, we decided to find a camping site and just sleep in the car. Did I say "sleep"? Well, wrong word...I would rather say "being freaking cold and awake the whole night"!! We didn't plan on sleeping in the car and therefore didn't bring any blankets or other camping equipment ;) So that was a pretty terrible night...
Oh, forgot one good thing: we were able to see the sky pretty clear while laying in the car. I saw three shooting stars and the Milky Way :)
After this awesome night we had a very yummy breakfast -with HOT coffee- in the lodge we had our drinks the night before. After a couple cups of coffee I slowly woke up and we hit the road again to see "Mr. Sherman" and his pans "the general grant trees". The Sherman tree is by its volume the largest living tree on earth, is about 2,300-2,700 years old and has a circumference (Umfang) of 31 meters! It's unbelievable when you stand right next to it.
Here is a picture:
The following hours I saw deers standing right next to me, chipmunks and a baby bear. The bear was sooo close to all of us and ran right over the walking path. I was really glad that I didn't see his mom ;)
Because Tamara and I are very spontaneous and always down for another adventure, we decided to drive up to Lake Tahoe and stay another night in the Mountains. The drive took us longer then we thought, so we got there at night and didn't have a place to sleep again. Since it was a Holiday weekend (Labour day), the lake was crowded and we finally gave up trying to find a place to sleep after we saw a lot of cars already pulling over and sleep in their car. We found a hotel, which had guests, who didn't show up. But we had to wait until two in the morning and still pay $160. The hotel was really nice though...
This is the hotel we stayed...
Well, at least we stayed by the hotel in its parking lot :D
The second night in the car wasn't too bad. This time I slept on the back seats instead of the trunk and put more clothes on^^ We even had coffee in the morning when we went to the hotels restrooms to change and brush our teeth. We just pretended to be hotel guests and helped ourselves at the breakfast buffet. Haha! Tamara did better than me...she also got an apple at the hotel reception ;)
New awesome advice--> If you are on the road and can't find a place to sleep: The best place to sleep in a car is the parking lot of nice hotel. Quote of Tamara: " The people there are just too polite to say anything!" :D
Okay, back to Lake Tahoe: It's the third deepest alpine lake in the US. It's really beautiful...the water is very clear and the little town around it is very cute. Unfortunatly we couldn't stay that long and spent just a few hours driving around it and take some nice pictures.
Our way home was about 8 hours long but we took the road on the Nevada side of the Mountains, so one more state of the US I can cross off ;) We drove through lots of indian reservations and cute little towns. We saw a wildfire in the Mountains, which had been going since three days...the whole sky was full of smoke and when the sun set it looked really awesome. I didn't take a picture though. Sorry!
We arrived home at 10pm. The first thing I did was taking a shower...I never felt so gross after three days without a real bad or bathroom. After that I packed all my stuff and went to bed.
My flight to Santiago the next morning was at 1pm. After a 4 hour flight to Mexico city, I had three hours waiting time until my next flight to Santiago. At least I thought I had three hours;) In reality I only had two and ended up being paged (ausgerufen) by the flight crew and almost missing my flight :D After all that stress the 7 hour flight to Santiago was relaxing and not bad at all.
Everything went surprisingly good...my suitcase was there and Ralf, with whom I'm staying with, picked me up right in time.
That's all for now...
It's Friday and as Steve and I were running some errands he gets a phone call from Tamara. One hour later Tamara and I were already sitting in the car on our way to the Sierra Nevada Mountains...
We had planned to see the Sequoia National Park and its giant trees and drive back the next day, so I would have enough time to pack my stuff (since I was leaving Monday morning)and it was already dark when we got there and we didn't have a place to sleep yet. While drinking wine and some fruit juice at the bar of a lodge, we decided to find a camping site and just sleep in the car. Did I say "sleep"? Well, wrong word...I would rather say "being freaking cold and awake the whole night"!! We didn't plan on sleeping in the car and therefore didn't bring any blankets or other camping equipment ;) So that was a pretty terrible night...
Oh, forgot one good thing: we were able to see the sky pretty clear while laying in the car. I saw three shooting stars and the Milky Way :)
After this awesome night we had a very yummy breakfast -with HOT coffee- in the lodge we had our drinks the night before. After a couple cups of coffee I slowly woke up and we hit the road again to see "Mr. Sherman" and his pans "the general grant trees". The Sherman tree is by its volume the largest living tree on earth, is about 2,300-2,700 years old and has a circumference (Umfang) of 31 meters! It's unbelievable when you stand right next to it.
Here is a picture:
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| May I introduce: "General Sherman" |
The following hours I saw deers standing right next to me, chipmunks and a baby bear. The bear was sooo close to all of us and ran right over the walking path. I was really glad that I didn't see his mom ;)
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| little baby bear right in the middle |
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| Definitely not very shy...deer right next to the car |
Because Tamara and I are very spontaneous and always down for another adventure, we decided to drive up to Lake Tahoe and stay another night in the Mountains. The drive took us longer then we thought, so we got there at night and didn't have a place to sleep again. Since it was a Holiday weekend (Labour day), the lake was crowded and we finally gave up trying to find a place to sleep after we saw a lot of cars already pulling over and sleep in their car. We found a hotel, which had guests, who didn't show up. But we had to wait until two in the morning and still pay $160. The hotel was really nice though...
This is the hotel we stayed...
Well, at least we stayed by the hotel in its parking lot :D
The second night in the car wasn't too bad. This time I slept on the back seats instead of the trunk and put more clothes on^^ We even had coffee in the morning when we went to the hotels restrooms to change and brush our teeth. We just pretended to be hotel guests and helped ourselves at the breakfast buffet. Haha! Tamara did better than me...she also got an apple at the hotel reception ;)
New awesome advice--> If you are on the road and can't find a place to sleep: The best place to sleep in a car is the parking lot of nice hotel. Quote of Tamara: " The people there are just too polite to say anything!" :D
Okay, back to Lake Tahoe: It's the third deepest alpine lake in the US. It's really beautiful...the water is very clear and the little town around it is very cute. Unfortunatly we couldn't stay that long and spent just a few hours driving around it and take some nice pictures.
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| this is how clear the water was |
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| Lake Tahoe again |
We arrived home at 10pm. The first thing I did was taking a shower...I never felt so gross after three days without a real bad or bathroom. After that I packed all my stuff and went to bed.
My flight to Santiago the next morning was at 1pm. After a 4 hour flight to Mexico city, I had three hours waiting time until my next flight to Santiago. At least I thought I had three hours;) In reality I only had two and ended up being paged (ausgerufen) by the flight crew and almost missing my flight :D After all that stress the 7 hour flight to Santiago was relaxing and not bad at all.
Everything went surprisingly good...my suitcase was there and Ralf, with whom I'm staying with, picked me up right in time.
That's all for now...
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| Bye bye :) |
Mittwoch, 14. September 2011
Working on it...
Sorry guys, I am still working on my post about my weekend with the big trees...I can not figure out how to upload the pictures. But I hopefully will soon. I am in school right know. My class starts like now...so gotta go.
Bis bald
Bis bald
Freitag, 2. September 2011
Donnerstag, 1. September 2011
As I promised...pictures
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| the "dead place"- Monterey |
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| The new cathedrale of Los Angeles |
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| Union Station |
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| Chinatown |
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| Walt Disney Concert Hall |
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| Me, walking down the stairs... |
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| Venice and its Skateboarders |
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| walking down the beach... |
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| ...letting the water float through my feet :) |
Oh, what a wonderful world...
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