Trekking, Music, Gameday

A list of events in Viña for just October. Too little time here!

Sorry I haven't updated my blog recently. It isn't that I haven't done anything, but that I have done too much! Life in Chile is always busy. It seems to be something completely different every day. Last weekend I went trekking 11km in the mountains of Olmué, Wednesday my first Chilean concert of Nano Stern in Valpariaso, Thursday I watched my Chilean friend perform in a rock bar, Friday we watched the Chile vs. Argentina game (VIVA CHILE!!!!), Today carnival in Valpairiso where people paint their bodies and go dance in the streets. SOO MUCH!!!! I could do something everyday here for 10 years and never be able to be satisfied. I've started really getting into Chilean music too. I enjoy the relaxed rock feel of it. Everybody should look up Nano Stern. He is a phenomenal vocalist.

Gamedays here were phenomenal! The first one was Friday Argentina-Chile in a qualification match for the World Cup. I met up with a bunch of friends at a local bar to watch the big match. My friend, Sven, taught me a normal German drink, Sprite and beer. A very strange mix, wasn't bad, but I really couldn't figure it out. It covered up the taste of the cheap beer, so I might have to stick with it. The game turned into quite a dud, very quickly. Argentina won 4-1. We stayed until the end mainly for the sideline commentary in the bar. Chileans act like the stereotypical Italian during soccer. They screamed things I can't say on here and busted out the CHI LE chant after the only Chile goal. Hopefully the next two games this week are a bit better to watch. We've got Mexico-Brazil and Chile-Peru which I'll be watching with natives from every country except for Peru. After the game, we all went to Club Ovo. It's a club located in the nicest casino in Chile. We managed to get on the list before hand so we didn't have to pay the usual $20 cover. The club easily could have been featured in a Jersey Shore episode. It was huge and stacked with filthy rich people. I managed to get home by 6:30 a.m. It sounds so late when I'm typing it, but it's just normal here. I went home after the club, but some people even went to an After party. I don't understand how these people are alive...

My Spanish has started to shift from the Intermediate to fluent level. I now only speak Spanish, even with the gringos! I'm able to talk all day and not come home with a massive headache! I still don't understand TV or songs very well, but hopefully in time. If there are subtitles, I'm able to understand almost everything.

Here are some photos from Olmué

On the way down we fell a lot

We climbed to the top of there