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What’s Been Going On??

For the last month or so I have been on a consistent schedule of teaching, working after school with a couple different activities, training and playing soccer, and traveling on the weekends. There has been a plethora of events that have taken place here in Arica and close by. I am going to bullet point these events to share with you:

Un Techo Para Chile

  • The last week of April I began volunteering with another program called Un Techo Para Chile. It was a light commitment, so I was able to participate without it conflicting with my other commitments here in Arica. My friend Mauricio has been a volunteer for the last couple of years and invited me to check it out. Little did I know, I went to an orientation where they assumed I was “all in.” Luckily, I really did like their mission and felt able to commit my next 10 weeks to teaching English in a small town called San Miguel. Part of the mission of this organization is to reach out to the poor community in Chile and empower the people in different ways in hopes to enable them to overcome the poverty; our role is through educating the youth.
  • Mauricio and I teach every Monday evening. We teach in a blue little building that was built by the organization, specifically designed for classes and meetings in the community. It is filled with a table, desks, and chairs. There is one pizara (white board) that we use to teach with. Each week we focus on things to teach: numbers, colors, food, body parts, seasons, transportation, etc. The age range is from 4-14, so that makes it a little difficult to keep everyone engaged, but we never have more than 10 students come, so it is definitely do-able. We usually only teach for no more than 5 minutes, and then we play a game or pintar (which is drawing/coloring and labeling things in English). It is a lot of fun and the kids have lots of positive energy. It is crazy that we only have three sessions left! Time flies here.

Check out their website at: http://www.untechoparachile.cl/

Valle de Codpa

  • Each year there is a wine festival that is held in a little village called Valle de Codpa. It is a two hour bus ride away from Arica through straight desert. Laura, Eryn, and I went and later met up with two of the other volunteers, Andy and Leah. We had a great time! We got there around 11:00am and spent the whole day walking around the pueblo enjoying the various activities, cuisine, and entertainment. It was extremely small (in about 15 minutes, we could circle the whole town, and climb up a hill with the view of everything).
  • We found a restaurant to eat at, and enjoyed traditional Chilean food. We got picante, pescado frito, and pollo frito (There are various types of picante- this one was a dish with pig intestines and other chewy things. The other dishes were fried fish and chicken). Then we ventured out and tried some natural juice, wine, and various fruits. There was also a museum that displayed the traditional lifestyle of the people, which many of the traditional practices are still used today. For example, at this festival they perform the wine making process with a ritualistic grape-stomping to make their famous Pintatani (wine).
  • Saw the most elaborate costumes worn by teenage boys and girls who performed traditional and cultural dances.

Tacna

  • I have now been to Tacna a total of three times, and I will be going again this next weekend. It is a really fun and easy day-trip. The closest comparison would be going into Mexico from San Diego…but since I have only done that once in my life (and only to get churros), I can not really say that it is the exact same, but it’s what I imagine it would be like.
  • The people of Arica go into Tacna for a couple of reasons: one, is to stalk up on a variety of household items, personal hygiene products, etc. because you can get things in Tanca for a lot cheaper. Second, supposedly there is really good night-life in Tacna. I have yet to experience that there, so I cannot agree based on personal experience…
  • What I do know:
    – Food in Tacna is delicious, and cheap!!!
    – You can buy fresh fruit (tuna- which is cactus fruit, and other various fruits) on the street from these little ladies for the equivalent of about 40 cents
    – The juice here is amazing! Well, the fruit in general is some of the best fruit I have EVER had. I don’t like mangos too much…but I became a huge fan in Tacna! And since you definitely cannot take fruit back across the border, I just end up consuming a ton of it during the day (and then it is safe in your belly!).
    – Everything I like to go to is within walking distance. There are beautiful places around the town: the cathedral, statues, an old train station, a couple of museums, cool houses, etc..
    – I realize now, I actually don’t know that much about Tacna…but I enjoy it every time I go!

2012 Stealth Arica Chilean Challenge and Arica World Star Tour 2012

  • These two national competitions were held in Arica at the Isla (island…well Ex-Isla now because it has a road built out to it) this year. A month or so ago was the bodyboarding competition, and this last week just ended the Arica World Star Tour 2012, which is a big surf competition.
  • Over the course of a week, bodyboarders and surfers from around the world come and compete for a cash prize and champion title. They are organized into heats and given a time limit to show the judges what they got. Based on their scores, they either move on or get eliminated from the competition.
  • I made it down for a couple of days for each of the competitions. I was not too knowledgeable about what exactly was going on, but I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and opportunity to watch these guys who had come from around the world to surf El Gringo!

more to come…

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