Susie Blue

It is amazing the power of music, I don't understand how it has the power to move mountains and shake the sky! What is your favorite song? That is too hard of a question, what is the song that you most enjoy in this exact moment? I will leave a list of the songs I'm moved by today.

1. Freddie Freeloader - Miles Davis
2. Stars Shine Quietly - Mason Jennings
3 . Day Dreaming - Aretha Franklin
4. Susie Blue - Ben harper
5. Love and Happiness - Al Green
6. I know - Meghan Smith
7. Cowgirl Lovesong - Lake Street Dive
8. Back up this train - Al green
9. Rock Me Baby - B.B King
10. Un Amor - Gypsy Kings

Go to the itunes store and listen to them, if you're anything like me your bones will even wiggle with these tunes.

Today is a beautiful sunday and I am about to spend the day at my host mom's aunts home which is really close to the beach and has a pool, and there is also raquetball and paddle ball to play! It should be a fun day :) I ran this morning, down to the beach! Any day I see the beach I am happy, and so far I have seen the beach EVERY day since I've been here haha, maybe that explains the smiling.

It has been a amazing weekend here, I went to the 'farmers market" full of fruits and vegetables yesterday with my host family. It was a ton of fun.. so full of color! I swear the fair itself was a work of art! Here are some pics from it...




In other exciting news, it has now been exactly 4 weeks since I've been here! It is hard to believe that a month has already passed, although it doesn't quite feel that long because I've only been with my host family for 2.5 weeks, which I feel like was the real start of my experience here. I have read a lot of studying abroad materials and almost every resource says that for the first while you are in the "honeymoon" stage where you are so in love with the country! It says that after awhile things kind of slow down and you start missing home for a little, and then after that you mellow out and are sort of in between that honeymoon and the homesick stage. I would love to stay in this honeymoon stage, haha!

Other exciting news, I am going on my first excursion here next week!
Thursday the 19th of March: Overnight bus to Pucon, Chile (9 hrs south of here)
Friday 20th: Indigenous Village (learning about their customs and participating in a lot of traditions with them!)
Saturday 21st: Choice between hang gliding, climbing the volcano, white water rafting or taking horses up the volcano. I'm not sure which of the options i want to do!
Sunday 22nd: Visiting hot springs!

From there, I have planned a week long trip down even further south. Not quite to the "end of the world" in Tierra Del Fuego, but almost the southern tip. This is the southernmost place in the world, besides Antarctica of course! We (me and 6 other girls on my program) are going to explore, do hiking and see the world. Here is our plan

Sunday 22nd: Take a bus from Pucon to Puerto Montt (6 hr bus ride)
Monday 23rd: Fly from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas
Take an immediate bus to Puerto Natales
Explore Puerto Natales, settle into Hostel
Tuesday 24th: Visit Torres Del Paine national park
Do an all-day hike to the Torres del Paine lookout spot
Wednesday 25th: Take a boat to the other side of Torres Del Paine
Climb the Lago Grey Trail
Thursday 26th: Rent Kayaks and kayak through the glacial water!
Take bus back to Punta Arenas and stay the night there
Friday 27th: Go to the Island of Penguins!!
Saturday 28th: Fly home to Santiago
Take bus to Viña del Mar and sleep in own bed!

It has been so fun researching these plans, plus it has been a lot of spanish practice since I had to go to the travels agency and call around to different hostels and everything. It has been fun. So I don't usually talk about money too much, but we already purchased all of the plane trips and bus trips through our Travel Agency.. and guess how much it is? In total!! For all of the traveling, it is $200 US Dollars. The Hostel we are staying in is $10 a night... So we're being pretty thrifty and getting an awesome deal!

here are some pics i stole from google of Torres Del Paine




Feeling really lucky for all of this natural beauty and all of these opportunities.. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for letting me come here, and thanks everyone else too so giving me the courage to do all of this adventuring!

Besos from Chile!!!!

*Vanessa*