Arrived in Chile!

Well it’s been a while so I thought I’d post a bit of an update now that I’ve settled down in my new home in the Southern Hemisphere. (special shout out to all you guys enjoying summer back up in the north!)

Anyway it’s great to finally be here after the crazy amount of paperwork and preparation. Chile, and especially Valdivia, is not at all like the stereotype of Latin America. Thinking about Latin America might conjure up images of a picturesque beach with a lot of sun, or some sort of warm, tropical paradise. Not Valdivia. It is cold. It is rainy (locals call it Val-lluvia—Val-rain in Spanish). Sometimes it is pretty freakin’ miserable. But there’s a reason they also call the city the Pearl of the South. As I'll try to explain below, this place truly is a treasure.

One of the main pedestrian paths with the city cathedral in background

There are about 140,000 people living in Valdivia. Although it is not all that big, it’s really not that small either, with plenty of good food, entertainment, and historic sights to see. There are few cities in Latin America that can match Valdivia’s unique style. Sweet German-influenced architecture, a lively main avenue, parks and plazas on nearly every street, a busy river market with lots of great seafood, and hungry lobos del mar (sea lions) mooching for scraps.

River market complete with lobos del mar and assorted birds

But more than anything else, Valdivia has some of the best natural beauty in the world. The city is basically surrounded by rivers and mountains. There is a great botanical garden on campus which has thousands of types of trees and plants from all over the world.

Botanical Garden

Skiing, hot springs, hikes, beaches (maybe when it’s a bit warmer) are all super close. There’s a lot to look forward to this semester.

I’m living with a great Chilean family a five-minute drive/25 minute walk from downtown. It is a nice middle-class neighborhood, reminiscent of suburban neighborhoods in the U.S (although generally, houses are much smaller here). Although I definitely regret being a bit removed from the center of Valdivia, I couldn’t ask for a better host family. I’ll wait to talk more about the home life until later…

(Avenida Picarte/main street)

So what am I doing now? Well I’m not all that sure really. The first days here have been a bit crazy, figuring out class options, internships, registering with the police and civil registry, trying to get credit card issues resolved… But thankfully, classes don’t start for another three weeks (a two-month strike by students last semester forced the university to compress this coming semester. So I have a lot of time to finish getting everything sorted out. One thing I have started is my internship with a local environmental group (more on that some other day).

Well, I should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day. I work at my internship in the morning and in the afternoon I’m going shopping with my host mother to get a bike (fast, cheap, ideal transportation for Valdivia).

Feel free to check out my photos on my facebook page. I’ll add more as the semester goes on.

I’d love to hear from you- shoot me an e-mail!