Washing feet in the kitchen sink.

..sounds gross I know. But, being in Pucon (the tenth geographical region) in Chile has been one of the most favorite parts of my trip here. We left really early in the morning for an hour flight to Temuco, then drove 1 hour to a town called Villarica. They also call this region the Araucanía, because it´s where the Mapuche indigenous tribe lived. Here we met up with our Mapuche tour guide.

We then drove up to his Mapuche village up a mountain, talked with a lady there, and then played this cool Mapuche game. It´s kinda like field hockey. Later on we hiked up this mountain that was literally completely uphill. I was dying, and realizing that me walking to the bus stop and around downtown Santiago is NOT exercise. We got to see an amazing water fall, and even walked behind it. The water was freezing, but after having disgusting dusty feet and being all sweaty, it was refreshing. Once we reached the top, the Mapuche ladies had prepared a great meal for us. It was sheep meat with potatoes and tomatoes and salad and everything. It wasn´t the most tasty thing I´ve had, but it was really honoring to know how much the ladies had put effort into preparing the meal.

Then, the guide offered to let us go rappelling. Here I thought it would be no big deal, I´m tough right? Then we see that we´re rappelling right next to the giant waterfall. I was scared to death, and was scared to death as I was going down. But we did it! Two girls got stuck in trees, but other than that it was pretty awesome. We hiked back down the mountain and ate dinner in Villarica, which consisted of cheese empanadas and these friend corn things that I love. Mom, you need to find a recipie for these cheese empanadas : )

We got back to the hotel and were in cabins of 6 girls. We all wanted to rush for the shower. However, hot water is a hot commodity down here. So, I sacrificed and showered the next morning. Well all of the sinks were taken up and my feet were GROSS. So...I did what my mom would not approve of and washed my feet in the kitchen sink. As I sat there I thought, what a good tired to be. We were in this beautiful places with mountains, lakes, hot springs, basically anything you could ever want.

The next day we visited a couple of beaches and these hot springs. It was really beautiful. Dr. Cass also brought all the girls red carnations with little bows on them because it was valentine´s day. Alex took me to breakfast, but we had a date the next night.

The next morning we decided to go canopying, but that only took half a day. So, the first part of the day we went bike riding through this beautiful trail around the city. There was the bluest water I have ever seen. Canopying was amazing, I felt like tarzan, because basically all you do is swing through the trees. We also decided to climb a volcano, the active volcano Villarica. This volcano had destroyed the town of Villarica back in the 60s so they had to rebuild it. Later that night alex and I went on a nice sushi date.

Saturday morning....6:45....about to hike for 10 hours. Not the most exciting thought I´ve woken up to. It ended up being one of the hardest but best things I´ve ever done. I was thinking that this hike wouldn´t be that hard...boy was I wrong. It was completely uphill...upmountain should I say. We hiked through volcanic rock, snow and ice. We had crampons, helmets, boots, pants, the whole nine yards. It was scary going up, but once we reached the top it was incredible. We couldn´t see any lava, but we saw smoke and whiffed in some toxic gas. But..the view from the top is amazing. God has created a beautiful world for us to enjoy. I am reminded of this everyday. I love pretty place....but the top of Villarica is one of the most incredible things I´ve seen. The way we got back down was cool too. They had these like snow slide things that we could just ride all the way back down. Kind of how penguins slide around on Happy Feet. I LOVED IT. Go check out Alex´s photos:

www.flickr.com/photos/chileanseabass

Until later, hope all is well! Chau!
Love,Bailey

News from Greenville.

I just got word a couple of days ago that a student at Furman was killed in a car accident on her way to train for a year long mission trip to Spain. Her name is Jessica Pety and she lived on my freshman hall. She was a strong believer and I have no doubt that she is in a better place. Please keep her family and friends in your prayers.

¡Adelante! ¡Adelante!

"Forward, forward!!" our raft guide was screaming as we were rafting down the Cajón del Maipo just an hour outside of Santiago. I think those words echo a sentiment that I´d like to maintain throughout the rest of the trip. Keep moving forward. We only have 5 days of class left. I cannot believe it. We got our first tests back, and it feels like summer down here because we´re about to have exams and papers due. No worries, we have been enjoying everything still.

Friday we went to Pablo Neruda´s house in Isla Negra. He had a bunch of collections, and the house itself was amazing. Our guide told us that he also liked to collect women, lovely. It was actually really fun. He had all these crazy African masks, a bunch of boats in bottles, and a huge shell collection. I never throw away anything so I can relate to his pack rat nature. We also spent some time walking along the beach at Isla Negra. It is beautiful, probably one of the best things I´ve seen. Alex says it´s a lot like California, huge rocks and waves. I took some time out to say a prayer praising God for all he´s created. It´s amazing. Alex and I will have pictures up soon.

We also went to this cute little souvenir town called Pomaire. We sat down and ate at a restaurant, and silly me gets all excited because the server brings us ice. (I seriously don´t think ice exists in Chile except for the part that´s Antarctica.) Then Dr. Cass comes to our table and says....um...you might not want to drink that water with ice. Whoops. Luckily I was fine. Pomaire had lots of cool ceramics too. No mom, not as good as the stone ware : )

Saturday was a big day. Alex and I started off the day visiting the Palacio Cousiño in Santiago. It´s like the Biltmore house for Santiago. The Cousiños were a huge mining family and now own vineyards just outside of Santiago. The house was beautiful and ornate. Lots of black marble and hand painted tiles.

Then we hopped on the metro to meet some friends to go white water rafting in the Cajón del Maipo. The Cajón del Maipo is this huge valley kind of thing an hour away from the city. It´s incredible to me that right outside of this huge metropolis lies so much nature. The water was kinda gross looking, but I´m going to assume that it´s the sediment that makes it look gray. The water was also 4 degrees...celcius. We had to wear wetsuits, shorts, jackets, life jackets, and a helmet. I´ve never had to wear so much gear for rafting. It was still really fun. Alex got to be the guy in the front of the boat giving it more weight. Basically he got to float while we all paddled...just kidding.

Then, we dried off, took a taxi back to the metro, and went downtown. Yes I know pretty disgusting. But, it was Dr. Cass´s wife´s birthday, so we all celebrated at this really cool tapas place.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I think that was good for us though. We did some homework, then watched the superbowl at our professor´s apartment. Nothing like some good Coca Cola and doritos. Haha.

This week I have my presentation for class so I´m going to start reading ahead. I also have to start working on my project about psychiatric hospitals in Santiago. Let´s hope they don´t commit me. Saturday we´re going on a wine train, but we have the whole day Friday to do fun stuff so hopefully we´ll think of some cool stuff.

Hasta luego!

Lessons learned.

Somethings just have to be learned the hard way. Very unfortunately, Alex and I learned you can never be too careful. I was robbed of my wallet and camera (only a year old and very nice) in the street in Viña del Mar. We thought we were in a safe place and that we were being very careful. However, you can never be too careful.

Fortunately God was watching out for us and we aren´t physically hurt. However, it has shaken me up a lot. I feel like experiences like these are temptations to be discouraged. So, if you could pray that Alex and I, and another girl who was robbed can get past this. Also, please praise God that everyone is okay. A camera and $30 is nothing compared to what could have happened. We were definitely protected by God. Also, praise God that we all live in very safe neighborhoods in Santiago. Please pray that others can learn from what happened to us, and that the guys who robbed me and the other girl might find Jesus one day. (I have to make myself say the last one.) I am so thankful that God has placed Alex in my life, too. He stopped the guy from taking more from me and from hurting me anymore. However, we are so blessed that neither of the robbers were armed.

Apparently, the theives from Santiago go to Viña del Mar for the summer because that´s where all the other people go.

Please pray for safety for the other members of the group while we travel to other places around Chile. I have the opportunity to see God´s beautiful creation and I´m not going to let some idiots ruin that for me. Also praise God that we have wonderful professors and that the banks have been super accomodating to me and my family as it has been the 2nd time this has happened. My wallet was stolen in Greenville in December. This time though in Chile, the robbers didn´t have the chance to use any of my cards before Mamma and Daddy cancelled them. Also...obviously thank God for my family who is wonderful and supportive through everything.

I read these verses in Exodus 15 this morning and they reminded me of the God that we serve.

11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD ?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand
and the earth swallowed them.
13 "In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.

I am so blessed. Thanks for all of your prayers and support!

Love,
Bailey

Ant Bears?

We went to Mendoza, Argentina this weekend! It was amazing, and yes, I´m happy to report that I did bring my passport. The busride was extremely long, but it was through the Andes. The mountains were stunning! Alex has some great pictures up on the website. So he was finally done with his pictures, and I forgot my memory card. So no photos of mine yet.

We stayed at a hostel at Argentina. Everyone there was really nice. There were people from Brazil, the U.S., Madrid, Australia, Germany...basically everywhere. Staying in a hostel was not my favorite idea, but it was cheap and rather fun. I didn´t like the idea of staying with people I didn´t know, but it was all okay. Although, my friend Jessica and I got eaten alive by mysterious bugs. I have no idea what they were, not mosquitos, but not fleas, but still disgusting. I showed my Chilean mom and she wasn´t too concerned. Jessica showed her Chilean mom, and her mom called our resident director and our professor and said we have the plague, or smallpox. Luckily it wasn´t either of those. A funny souvenir from Argentina.

We went to the Zoo in Mendoza, the largest in South America. It was definitely huge, but all the animals were in small cages, so it was depressing as well. Alex´s chilean mom told him he HAD to go the zoo because they have "osohormigueras." These are anteaters, but literally translated that means ANT BEARS. Haha. His mom said they had heads like ants and bodies like bears and were about his size. Stop for a minute and make a mental picture of it and you can´t stop laughing. Unfortunately we didn´t see any ant bears or anteaters. But, we did hear a story from someone about how the giraffes fell into the lion´s cage and were eaten. That also made us laugh.

After that we ate lots of great, cheap food. The people there are so nice, and Mendoza is a big city, but not nearly as big as Santiago. It was just really relaxed and fun. We came back on sunday night to the longest customs stop ever!! It was because I left my passport in Argentina.

hahaha just kidding. Well, hopefully soon I´ll have pictures up! We´re starting to make travel plans for Spring break! I really want to go to Patagonia!

Miss everyone! We are going to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar (a beach) this weekend. It´s going to be amazing!!!

Ciao until later!

98 degrees

...And no I don´t mean the 90´s boy band. It´s 98 degrees in Chile! While you all are getting to miss work and school we´re having perfect weather and have absolutely no chance of missing classes. Well, I have finally found myself in the computer lab. I think Alex may have just cried because he´s so happy. Hahaha. He´s uploading photos which are really large, so I probably won´t have the patience to wait till he´s done to go upload mine. For the record, if you see a really awesome photo of the inside of the church at San Pedro through the eye of the door, that was my idea : )

If you´d like to see them:
www.flickr.com/photos/chileanseabass

We´re going out with our tutoras (tutors) tonight to experience the nightlife. Should be interesting. They are girls about our age who are supposed to show us what it´s like to be a Chilean at our age. We´re also going to some other cool neighborhoods where we can find cheap clothes and stuff. (Not tonight, but in the next few weeks)

Argentina tomorrow!! A group of 6 of us are hopping on a bus to go to Mendoza for the weekend! Tomorrow we´re also making a stop at the Chilean form of UN, called CEPAL. Should also be interesting.

School is going well, although there is a lot more reading than I expected. Dr. Cass just told us to try and do as much as you can but to make it a cultural experience too. This is kind of hard because we have a lot of work each night, about a 2 hour dinner, then waking up for class at like 6:45. It´s basically a Chilean furman haha. The other day we went to this theater in a park and watched a play, it was really fun. They had popcorn there, but I wasn´t sure how to say it in Spanish....so I didn´t ask for any.

Everything else is good! On my t.v. at night I get to watch Friends, Desperate Housewives, Seinfeld, and Scrubs.

More about Argentina probably on Sunday!

First day of class!!

...those exclamation points are so insincere. Hahaha, now the fun is over. Actually not really. Our professors are wonderful! One´s name is Roberto Hozven. He´s hilarious and said he talks loud and slow because he is how the americans say "hard of hearing." Really entertaining. Dr. Tapia (our Chilean professor) said he really puts on a show for the "gringos." That´s what they call Americans in basically any latin american country.

My other professor is named Mabel. She also wrote our grammar books, how intimidating. She´s super nice and we learned some phrases native to Chile that are called "Chilenismos." Some are kind of scandalous so I won´t share them, but she had us laughing. Something about potatoes...anyway.

Talked to Grandmommy today : )

One funny story, it´s my favorite and I annoy alex because I tell it everwhere I go. We were driniking some juice in San Pedro (way overpriced juice at that), and we started talking about how watermelons (they´re amazing here) are negative calories. As in, it requires more calories to eat them than there are in the the fruit. Then I piped up with my favorite piece of trivia which is that celery is also negative calories (humor me, I´m aware everyone knows that) Then Dr. Tapia turns to Dr. Cass and said HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! And all three of us, except Dr. Tapia were like....ummm ¿Cómo? (what) Even Dr. Cass was like...um I´m going to need you to explain.

Dr. Tapia said again: Happy Birthday! Still confused, Dr. Tapia says...you know Apio (celery) Verde (green)

So what sounded like HAPPY BIRTHDAY was actually GREEN CELERY. Man I love corny wordplays. Haha.

Pictures soon? We tried to find a computer lab today and were unsuccessful....
¡Ciao!

Nos perdimos.

This is the Salt Lake where all the flamingos were at sunset, it´s so beautiful!

"We lost ourselves." Okay, in the middle of a blistering desert with no water in sight, this might sound really bad. But...it was actually kind of fun.

We arrived in San Pedro at a way too early noon-ish. I mean, we did leave at 6:00 a.m. and we road an extremely rocky bus to our hotel. I also had an encounter with a not-so-nice air line lady who wasn´t going to let me on the plane without my passport. She was not very nice. I tried my driver´s liscence, apparently not as effective as in the U.S. Luckily, Dr. Cass, our Furman professor, brought photocopies.

Disclaimer to my mother:
Our Chilean professor told us we didn´t need them and we were flying national.

...Back to San Pedro. So the actual town wasn´t that great. Kind of like a desert town, but they had a really old church and some cool buildings. So..Alex being the architecture buff that he is and me just trying to take cool pictures, we have lots of cool pictures. We went to this place called Valle de la Muerte. There was lots of cool mountains and rock formations. However, we endured a little bit of a sand/rock/windstorm. Alex almost lost his hat that I gave him for Christmas (for the 2nd time). Everything else was wonderful though. We then went to Valle de la Luna and watched the sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL!! I thought a lot about God and how big and powerful He is to have created everything with a purpose. Then I thought about how if we don´t praise God, the rocks will do it for us. Then I thought, "These rocks are so awesome, I´d probably prefer them to me." Then I just kept thinking about the lilies and birds and how Jesus says that we are way more important than they are to Him. I thought about how God loves us so much more than anything in creation. Hard to swallow and challenging to the lifestyle.

Then we also saw some cool caves. That afternoon we went to a dried up salt lake that´s now a reserve for flamingos. How random. I never knew they actually flew until I saw about 5 billion of them. I took this really funny picture with me and my friend standing on one leg in front of them. We didn´t get to get so close to them. We got to see the sunset there and it was incredible! The salt looks like ice, and the sunset is unforgettable. I also stepped in flamingo poop by accident. Oh the clumsiness will never leave me.

On the same day we saw this ancient fort called Púkara. Really cool with an awesome view. We then went to some archaelogical museum where we thought would be mummies...no mummies. Kinda boring, but still fun. Later we went to a place were there was supposed to be like a river or lake to swim in. We then realized it was like a small piece of a river of freezing cold water, but we swam in it anyway.

Next day...we lost ourselves. We went on a super long trek to these hot springs. Literally, the guide said, let´s go, and I saw no trail. For you Dora fans...he said, VAMOS. Anyway there were no bathrooms, so you just had to wait for the group to go ahead and catch up with them later. So...in perfect timing...i really had to pee. So, Alex and Dr. Cass waited out of sight until I was done. (yes embarassing) Then, the group was way gone. So we caught up with one of the girls who was having a hard time keeping up. We´re walking by a river, then didn´t see a path, then just walked straight. We walked for so long and so high. Yep, Alex and Dr. Cass found the highway. Unfortunately, the group was way the opposite direction. So we climbed a mountain for nothing. But, when we caught up with everyone we realized we only missed like 5 minutes of swimming. The hot springs were great!!

Last story I promise: The next day 6 of us diverted from the group to go do our own thing. We wanted to go to what we thought was a desert oasis with no tourists. It was the guide´s favorite thing. So we rented bikes, rode out there, and saw it....A COMMUNITY POOL. Hahaha, what a ripoff, but still so funny.


First day of school tomorrow!! No more vacation, just kidding, a lot more vacation! I hope to be able to upload some pictures at school. I tried at home and i didn´t work.


Until later! ¡Ciao! Love everyone!

This is the inside of the 400 year old church in San Pedro.

This is the Sunset at Valle de la Luna!

This is Jessica and me trying to be flamingos. Haha.

Alex and me at the salt lake : )

La plata complica la vida.

"Money complicates life." My Chilean mom and I were talking about a nice man at a fruit store. She said that he is always so generous despite not having much. We agreed that money complicates everything. My mom´s name is Silvana. She´s really nice, and she´s a wonderful paitner. She said she doesn´t sell her paintings because it turns into a business and isn´t fun anymore. My 13-year-old brother´s name is Tomy. He is FULL of energy and talks really fast, but he´s still funny and reminds me of Grayson.

The picture to the left is my house! It´s really cute.

Santiago is wonderful so far. Alex and I explored the Plaza closest to our house, Plaza Nuñoa. Lots of restaurants and bars. There is also 2 big parks that people hang out in. Last night they had a free movie showing. I think it was facing the giants which makes me laugh.

This picture is of Cerro San Lucia in Santiago.

The nights before we met our family were very fun. I didn´t get to sleep much on the plane, I sat in the very middle. But when we got settled into our hotel rooms, I slept very soundly. We had an amazing dinner at this place called El Meson Nerudiano. (Neruda´s Table). We had great appitizers, one was salmon in an oyster shell. It was incredible. The food and the environment were both wonderful. We also got to see one of Neruda´s (very very famous chilean poet) 3 houses. This one´s name was ¨messy hair". I forget the Spanish translation. I thought perhaps I should live there. One of his girlfriends had messy hair, so he named his house after her. My mama said that under the government of Pinochet (dictator in the 70s), most of his books in that house were burned. We have the chance to see his other houses, one in Isla Negra and one in Valparaiso. After our amazing dinner, we had a ridiculously dangerous taxi ride, in which the radio was playing "Pump up the jam". Alex being the techno lover that he is asked the taxi driver to turn it up despite riding through Santiago at 70 miles an hour. (it at least felt that way)

Afterwards, all of the seniors, professor tapia and dr. cass went out with us. We had a couple of other classmates with us. It was also a lot of fun.

Today, I´ve had time to journal, talk to my family, and eat 2 meals with my mom. So far we get along great. And mom, yes I have showered too. Alex and I are going to the Museum of Fine Arts today because they don´t charge on Sunday. I also get to meet my younger sister, Javiera, tonight. We unfortunatley have to leave by 4:45 a.m. tomorrow but we also get to go to the desert. So excited!!

¡Ciao!

Leaving today!

Today our group leaves at 9:10 p.m. from Atlanta. I have lots of things to do today, but am instead choosing to laze around until my parents fuss at me to get moving. Hopefully I'll do a good job of updating the blog so you won't have to read long boring mass emails. Pray for safe travel and for our group to learn a lot. I'm meeting my Chilean family on Saturday, and I'm a little nervous to speak Spanish 24/7, so prayers for that would be amazing! I hope to have amazing stories to come, knowing me and air travel, stories will be inevitable.

Ciao!