Aneya & Lauren: Our Roles.

Aneya: Here we are, on a typical Saturday night! (Lauren: Any night, really). You can see I'm bundled up in my blanket, Lauren has her robe on (and new spiffy socks) and the heater is in front of us. I can't help but smile when a camera is placed in front of me, but I'm reading 'In Cold Blood' which is not a happy book, so really I should be frowning. Lauren at least looks like she's actually reading.

Lauren: Roommates and long-time friends develop roles the way any kind of long-term relationship would. Certain things become the norm, like who will take out the trash, but in such a new environment we've picked up a few extra roles, especially since we're side-by-side every moment of the day (most moments at least).

Aneya: Since moving to Chile, Lauren and I have become a team of sorts. We do just about everything together (co-dependent much?) and to make things easier, we created roles for one another. Actually, we didn't so much create them, as they created themselves, naturally, over time. Here, list of our so called 'roles'.

The Speaker--

Lauren: I talk. In the beginning I talked to everyone, the police officers asking for directions, people asking for directions, mean, sandwich-stealing gypsies. I talked a lot. But now Aneya does a lot of talking too. Since moving here my Castillano has gone from totally non-existent to pretty strong.

Aneya: Well this was a given. Lauren was obviously going to take the role of 'Speaker' since she was the only one who knew the language well enough to get around, at least in the beginning. Of course I've picked up a considerable amount of Spanish in my 4 months here, but I still can't speak with such gusto and confidence as she can. So I leave that role to her.

The Photographer--

Lauren: Aneya instantly became the photographer. I wasn't sure if my camera's battery was going to be able to charge on this weird new wattage, and immediately it became apparent Aneya had a knack for taking good shots. Almost all the photos on the blog are Aneya's, with a few of mine here and there.

Aneya: The role of Photographer became mine, I'd say within the first week of being here. Part of it is because my camera is newer and nicer than Lauren's and I also happen to carry it around with me constantly. Thus, the Photographer was born. I really love taking pictures now, almost all the pics on the blog are ones I've taken, I wouldn't say I'm a camera expert or anything (I just figured out how to set the self timer, like yesterday) but I'm getting the hang of it, slowly but surely. And I'm really starting to love it.

The Cleaner--

Lauren: It's no surprise this honor went to me. I like things clean, really clean. Where some people don't mind a bit of dust or a dirty floor, these things will make me crazy, so I mop, sweep, dust, vaccum, and wash everything. Every day has a corresponding task. Tuesday, bathroom. Periodical sweeping.

Aneya: Well, of course Lauren is the cleaner (just look at her mom, and you'd know why) I wouldn't say I'm 'dirty' per say, but I'm not an obsessive cleaner, whatsoever. I keep things tidy, everything's in it's right place. But Lauren likes things spotless. The other day she busted out the vacuum, which I didn't even realize we owned, and it happen to be hiding under my sink! (My mom would not find this surprising, she knows my aversion to the vacuum) In any case, I leave the obsessive wiping and dusting to her.

The Calmer--

Lauren: This is Aneya. I have what might be considered a frantic personality. Things need to get done, and they need to get done now! I don't want to put things off, or wait for someone to tell me something. I want to make things happen, and am not afraid to ask a lot of questions -- sometimes to the point of pestering. I also can overreact. This recent cold has made me think I was going to die (it was awfully, unexpectedly cold), but Aneya just reminded me that we needed to adjust, and expect cold. No one in our house was going to die from 37 degree weather (although I remain skeptical).

Aneya: Ahh the calmer. That would be me. It all started way in the beginning of the trip, when I noticed Lauren pacing up and down the bus terminal, pestering the poor bus drivers with questions. She was frantic we were going to miss the bus, or we'd be on the wrong one, or we'd be stranded at the station. (Lauren: In my defense, our tickets were for a 10:30 a.m. bus and our bus didn't even arrive at the station until 11 a.m.) And that's when I realized I needed to calm her down. I told her everything would be fine, let's just sit down and breathe deeply and just wait. All we could do was wait. I am a calm person by nature, it's rare to see me angry or visibly upset, and I'm also quite patient. This is the perfect anecdote for Lauren, who, occasionally gets antsy and impatient. I'm the ying to her yang, if you will.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Gypsies.

These women are no joke. I tried finding an appropriate picture of a South American or Chilean gypsy and only found images of seductive, mysterious women with crystal balls, bandanas, and some kind of magical powers or who seem to have a kind of special intuition. Gypsies here look nothing like this. They have leathery faces, wear skirts that go down to their ankles, and look like old grapes.

I have to say that I've been warned about gypsies my entire life. My parents come from the Midwest where gypsies can be quite prevalent. My parents would say that they steal your children and chickens while trying to sell you patio furniture. Pishaw. I've rarely seen them in Southern California, but they've always looked like fine people to me. Eccentric maybe, but tricky no.

Well, I now have a far more intimate knowledge of the gypsy lady than I really have ever wanted to know. This sounds like Borat, but they are really some tricky ladies.

The other day Aneya and I decided it would be nice to read our books in the park, so I packed us a lunch. One peanut butter and honey sandwich to share (still on the doctor's diet), some cookies, and a bottle of water one quarter full with a nice big blanket to spread out so we could sit in the grass comfortably.

As soon as we spread out our blanket and had a seat an odd woman came over, telling us how pretty we were. I saw her coming, and because she looked old I figured she had some innocent question, or wanted to ask who knows what. I certainly did not expect her to start complimenting us, saying how pretty we are. Then, she said she was thirsty, and asked us to fill her bottle of water with some from out of our one liter bottle. I said sure, and poured her some. I've always been a bit of a "soft touch," and a woman asking for some water didn't seem like a big deal at the time.

Then she started asking for more. A bit of my sandwich, perhaps? For the baby she was with, of course. She was leaning over our blanket and gesturing a lot and at this point I just wanted to get her away from my blanket. So I gave her a quarter of my sandwich -- a small price to pay for silence.

Then she asked what else I had in my picnic bag. She was pretty audacious, and large and kind of intimidating. I gave her two cookies, and told her to get going. I had totally forgotten about these women until retelling the account to Daniela who told me that she may be a gypsy.

Which reminded me about gypsies. I thought this might have been a fluke. I hadn't seen gypsies before or since, but this Sunday, while everyone in Santiago was resting, I walked through a group of about five to eight gypsies. They all had long skirts and leathery faces and started telling me how pretty I was and getting closer to where I was walking. Sounded very familiar.

I just turned up the iPod and walked a bit faster. I would hate for one of those gypsy women to bully me out of the nuts I keep in my purse for emergency snack situations.

-- Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Picture Post!

Aneya: So this is cable car/tram like thing that takes you up the steep hill of San Cristobal. It goes really slowly, but still, coming back down was kind of scary!

Lauren: It was so scary! This is one steep hill. It's actually a tiny part of the Andes, so very sharp incline.
Aneya: The amazing view from the top of the hill. The city looked so massive from up there, going all the way to the Andes.

Lauren: There is so much to Santiago. I mean, it is a huge city. Beautiful view from the top of the mountain. We think we saw our apartment.
Aneya: Mary (or as they say here Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepcion), at the very top of San Cristobal, protecting the city since 1908. It's no joke getting up to see her, there's lots of stairs, but it's worth it once you get to the top.
Aneya: Look at all the candles people have burned already, in name of their loved ones. The wax was everywhere, it was a sight to see.

Lauren: It was a very spiritual place. It seemed like candles are burning here 24/7. There was also very soothing spiritual music playing.
Aneya: People wrote thank you letters to Mary, mostly for protecting them and their family. This really showed just how religious people are here.

Lauren: This was actually really moving. A lot of people would write, "Thank you for letting me know so-and-so," with the years people lived. Very touching. People are really Catholic here. The country is about 90 percent Catholic! Divorce was just legalized in 2004!
Aneya: Ok, this is a great shot (if I do say so myself) of the huge Andes! Look how tiny the buildings look!

Lauren: And some of those are high rises. The Andes are big, no doubt about it.
Aneya: Here you can clearly see the River Mapocho running through the city. Whoever said it was blue was lying, that water is brown and filthy!

Aneya: European architecture in Santiago.
Aneya: I forced Lauren to put this on, so she did the same to me! Pictures ensued.

Aneya: Lauren, with her favorite quail eggs! She was really quite fascinated with them!

Lauren: It is just so crazy. You can go to the store and buy 24 quail eggs. How weird! They are so tiny, I can't imagine cracking them.
Aneya: Here we are, having margaritas in this really nice Mexican restaurant.

Lauren: This place was amazing! Named after the excellent novelette "Como Agua Para Chocolate".
Aneya: Ahhh earrings! Santiago is filled with people selling earrings, and this entire store was dedicated to them. They're all so cheap too, it's hard to resist, really.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Temuco Pictures

Aneya: Street art in Temuco of a Mapuche woman.

Lauren: The detail here is incredible. It's right near the town square in Temuco.
Lauren: This statue was at the center of town. In the south, all the cities started with a square and a nearby church. At the top of the statue is a Machi, a female shaman of the Mapuche.
Aneya: Ah, the market. This place was huge and had everything you could imagine: fruit, nuts, vegetables, blue eggs, spices, just everything! Lauren was in heaven, of course.

Lauren: I bought all this stuff I couldn't eat, at least not right away. Dried lentils, these weird red and white beans called senoritas, white pepper, smoked merken (which I latter used on the lentils and was amazing!), and a wedge of merken mantequeso, an arsenal cheese. We needed some groceries, and this was fresh, it supported small farmers, and was just so cheap.

Blue eggs! And milk straight from the cow. Both intriguing and questionable after my stomach problems. There is also an abundance of quail eggs around here. You can go to the store (even in Santiago) and buy 24 quail eggs! It's crazy.

Aneya: Merken is like our new pepper here, we put it on everything.

Lauren: It's served instead of pepper at restaurants. It's really spicy and flavorful, so we've been all over it.
Lauren: The senorita.
Lauren: Daniela took us hiking on a hill right near the monastery. Pumas live in another nearby hill!
Aneya: Look at all that moss! So many huge, beautiful trees.

Lauren: Because it's so wet here, it was lichen, fungi heaven! There was some really cool fungi action going on here.
Aneya: Photographic evidence of me hiking. It's never been seen before.

Lauren: It happened! There are two witnesses.
Aneya: Daniela, our tour guide.
Aneya: Lauren, glowing in the sun.

Lauren: I was so happy to be able to comfortably walk again.
Aneya: Look how small Daniela is compared to the huge tree that's fallen down next to her!
Aneya: The view of Temuco, from the top of the hill.


-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Villarica.

Aneya: How cute is this?



Aneya: You can see the German influence here, with these strange triangle houses.
Aneya: This almost reminds me of Marseille, or Nice, even, with the cafe and cute little boardwalk next to the lake. There's even a beach down there, although the sand is volcanic (ie hot) and black.




Aneya: We decided to take a boat out on to the lake, which was way bigger than I imagined. I felt like I was in another world, people jet-skiing and swimming all around us, million dollar mansions with docks perched on every corner, beautiful people sunbathing. Where are we again? St. Tropez? Nope, that'd be Southern Chile!

Aneya: The little building in the distance is actually a 5 star hotel! Next time I'm in Villarica, I'm staying there!

Lauren: While in Temuco, Daniela told us about a small resort town that was closeby. It was a short bus ride from where we were staying, and it was on a clear blue lake near a smoking volcano. Sure. Why not? We had no idea how beautiful this place would be.

Aneya: This was a day after Lauren's trip to the hospital, so I wasn't so sure it was a good idea. We'd had a day of rest in Temuco, and then Daniela suggested Villarica. I had really wanted to see one of the famous volcanoes, and so did Lauren, so we decided to go ahead and do it.

Lauren: Driving down to Villarica was like visiting another country. So many rivers and lakes, tons of gorgeous trees, not to mention several black snow-covered volcanoes. These images were so similar to ones of Japan, Europe, and Hawaii.

Aneya: Ya, it was a beautiful, scenic drive, as is typical for the Lake District. We couldn't believe our eyes when the first snow covered volcano popped into view, monumental and enormous, following us around every corner. We were pretty giddy by this point.

Lauren: When we got to the small town, it was just gorgeous. Small wooden shops, A-frame houses, and an interesting blend of Germans and Mapuche. Unlike the Spanish, Germans did not marry or have children with Mapuche. How German of them. So alongside little German arsenal chocolate places, were indigenous shops with woodwork, bread made from squash. All these handmade, interesting foods and I could try nothing! Not on the doctor's diet. I couldn't even have Ginger Ale. Only flat mineral water and tea.

Aneya: I couldn't get over how quant and lovely this town was! It reminded me of this lake town in Austria I once visited, so beautiful and serene. The German influence was obvious, what with all the little wooden houses and cute bakeries. We were in heaven, basically.

Lauren: And if things were cheap(ish) in Santiago, a bit cheaper in Temuco, things were incredibly cheap in Villarica. It was both disheartening and exciting. Things that in the states would sell for $40-$50, sold for less than $10 here, often for a few dollars. Really skillfully made, beautiful woodwork sold for a pittance. I'll take two. To go.

Aneya: Everything was so inexpensive, and there was so much to buy! You turn a corner, there's an antique fair here, a Mapuche festival there, and handcrafted woodwork everywhere! And of course, earrings galore, of every shape and color. For less than 50 cents! It was hard not to buy everything in sight.

Lauren: We got to go to a Mapuche ruka that was in this Mapuche arts and crafts fair. There was an exhibit in the ruka, describing Mapuche culture. We also spent a lot of time around the lake which was indescribably beautiful.

Aneya: I just wanted to jump right into that lake! It was a deep, deep blue, and the lush green around it was just breathtaking. There were two other volcanoes in the distance, and the area reminded me of so many places I'd visited in the past. Hawaii, Western Europe, even Japan, in a way, one place I haven't been, but am dying to go.

Lauren: The water was so blue. There were so many trees. And the volcano was huge, clearly visible and smoking. Little puffs every few minutes. It was just amazing. (Aneya: Or, as Daniela's grandma would say "it was breathing")

Aneya: My favorite place by far in the South. Yay for Villarica!

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: The Monastery.

Lauren: So we stayed in a little monastery that Daniela's tio Jorge found for us in Temuco. It was very small, quite and nice, the first night was a little creepy. We were used to our noisy city apartment. But every morning the nuns served juice, hot coffee and tea, bread with homemade jams and butter on nice white china.

Aneya: A typical room at the monastery.
Aneya: Ahhh the devil chair! I swear it looked even scarier in person.

Lauren: I had to take this picture! Aneya wouldn't go in the room with the chair. It really spooked her out.
Lauren: Mapuche rug. There's a huge Mapuche population here so tons of stuff from the town have been made by Mapuche.
Lauren: The garden outside.
Aneya: I don't know why I look like a robot in this picture, but I do.

Lauren: It must have been the harsh overnight bus ride. The seats were pretty luxurious, but it was definitely a fitful eight hours.
Aneya: Here I am, giving my first sermon.

Aneya: Lauren and I set off to the South, eager and ready for the adventures to come. Although the trip didn't pan out exactly as planned, it was still an amazing experience, and it definitely left me wanting more! What can I say? I was born with the travel bug.

Lauren: This was all so different from hot Santiago. We're in the center of the city here, tons of bustle, people everywhere, and it's hot! Down in Temuco it was overcast, rainy, and definitely more rural. A national forest was right near our monastery.

Aneya: It all started at the now familiar, completely chaotic terminal de buses in Santiago. The trip started off on a rough note, as on the day of our departure all the buses going to Temuco were completely booked. We decided to take a night bus (leaving at 11 Lauren: Or 2300 as they use here) since it really was our only option. Lauren had been at the station three times that day, and even at 11 o'clock at night, the place was swarming with people, families, young kids falling asleep on their parents shoulders, couples carrying box after box, backpackers hitting people with their huge bags. It was intense.

Lauren: On any day on the weekend the streets of Santiago are eerily empty. Where did all the people from the week go, we constantly ask ourselves. They are at the bus station. The entire city of Santiago is going somewhere. I can see why. Those buses are first class. They are like business class airplane seats.

Aneya: Our bus was awesome. Double decker, with these huge leather seats that reclined to become a bed. Now that's luxury! And we had the ever so elusive bulkhead, double decker style, baby! That had to be the best 8 hour ride of my life. I just listened to my ipod and slept, and then we were woken up, with a lovely little breakfast of vanilla cookies and peach juice. Que rica!

Lauren: I do love the bulkhead. It was so nice. If we were awake we would have had the best seats in town. We had so much space to spread out. It was definitely classy.

Aneya: As mentioned, we were staying at a monastery that Daniela's Uncle (or as we now affectionately call him, Tio Jorge) got us in touch with. It was actually quite big, three stories (one for girls, one for boys and one for couples. Married couples, only, of course). There was the church, a large dining room, a tv room. The rooms were sparse, just two beds, a table and a crucifix, what else do you need, really? The place was empty when we got there, and the creaky old halls had an eery feeling to them. I always get a little freaked out in churches, I get a sense of doom, a foreboding feeling, like Christ himself is going to come down and have a word with me, and it's not gonna be pretty.

Lauren: I know! I was more contentious of my behavior. It was a bit spooky, especially since it was so empty.

Aneya: While exploring, Lauren and I found a room with the scariest looking chair I've ever seen (pictured above). I swear, the devil himself made that chair. I told Lauren I wouldn't go in the room, the negative energy was just too much for me. I think that freaked her out, cause that night she couldn't sleep and neither could I. The place was even creepier at night. Pitch black, and silent, we used to run from the communal bathroom back to our bedroom, so afraid we were of evil spirits catching us on the way out. I almost felt like I was in an insane asylum. After that first night we got a little more comfortable with it all, but still, I was happy to leave when we did.

Lauren: The chair thing was hilarious. Really. Aneya seriously hated that chair. I thought it was kind of cute and quirky, but we didn't visit it again. That first night was the worst. The place was just so silent. Where were all the buses and people? And, like Santiago, there is a thriving street dog population so there were dogs howling our first night! That just was the icing on the cake. We would later find out that Temuco totally shuts down at 2200 hours. So we were well rested when we got back to Santiago. No late nights for us, whether we liked it or not.

-- Aneya & Lauren