Holi Colour Festival

We went to the Holi colour festival the day after my birthday party, so we were all a little bit tired.. and it took us more than 5 hours from when we actually wanted to go, till we got to the festival area..

It was also the only rainy day since 2 months, but once we got there, we forgot all about the rain, the tiredness and just enjoyed our last day all together!

Cerro Manquehue

Hiking up Cerro Manquehue was much harder than expected, but once we got on the top, we had the best view over Santiago.

It's the tallest mountain in Santiago, with its 1800m above ground, and it took us 2 hours to get to the top. (But I think we started at 800m or 1000m). The first part was the easier part, walking up very steep hills. Then came to the second part where we got lost, and had to climb up using our hands, and stones and whatever we could find to get upwards.  It was a rough terrain with loose stones and sand, but eventually we made it back to the main pathway and we were so happy! We took a small eating break, and started on the last part to get up. It was still a little bit of mountain climbing, but much less dangerous than what we encountered in the second part. At the top we got welcomed by a Chilean flag and the most amazing view. 

It took us 1.5 hours to go down the mountain, where we were going super slowly and taking it step by step, sliding down in some parts, and jumping from stone to stone.

When we got down, we were so tired, but had already forgotten about the hard parts, and only thought about the fun and adventurous parts!

Cerro Manquehue in the background

Climbing up.. and we didn't dare to look down because of the steepness!

At the top!

Cerro San Cristobal to the far right, and Costanera (the tallest building in South America)

Miercolespo

Before coming to Chile, I did not know much about Santiago. Nothing about the food, the culture, the poeple, nightlife, etc. The only thing I heard I had to check out, was "Miercolespo".

I thought it was a bar called Miercolespo, which was open on Wednesdays. 

But I was wrong. 

It's a party for exchange students every Wednesday, with different themes and different location every time. Girls get in for free all night, while boys need to pay after midnight. And Chilean guys have to be on a list to get in... (or pay 12000 pesos!! =120DKK)

But somehow, there are always a lot of Chilean guys there, so I guess they all pay, in order to get in and get to know some foreign chick.. (but usually failing to do so).

It's a fun night and a perfect break from studying, and since most students are off on Thursdays, they all go to Miercolespo :)

And what do they all drink? Pisco!

Earthquake, Drug Bust and Fire

Last weekend I went to the coast of Chile, specifically " Playa el Tabo". It's a "rustur" arranged only for 3rd year students, but they were so kindly to invite us exchange students as well! So off we went, over 200 Chileans and only 30 exchange students. Living in small cabins was really fun, and just as the Danish Rustur, we went also partying from cabin to cabin and ending up at the main area where we could dance all night long:)

One of the cabins!

On Saturday, around 18.30, a strong earthquake of magnitude 6.6 on the Richter scale struck central Chile with the epicenter cloose to Valparaiso. (We were about 2 hours away from it). At that moment, me and my friends were outside at the terrace mingling with Chileans. First it was only a small shake, but as it grew bigger we could feel the earth shaking and see how much the cabin were shaking as well!! It was all over in 40 seconds and afterwards all the Chileans were on their phones trying to figure out how big it was, where the epicenter were at, if people got injured etc. (Nothing was damaged, and no one got injured either). The staff were warning us to stay away from the main area in case of a Tsunami.. and to stay high up were all the cabins were. But nothing happened and we continued the night with good food and drinks!

Sunday night some of my roommates were on a bus from La Serena to Santiago (5 hours trip), and about half an hour from Santiago, the police stopped the bus. Sniffer dogs came in and they arrested 3 people carrying 8 bags of cocaine! 3 of my roommates were sitting next to them, and they could have easily put the some drugs inside their pockets or in their bags as well.. but luckily that didn't happen.

And Monday morning at 4am, two of my friends woke up because someone was screaming fire. Their neighbor house had gotten on fire, and they had to get out quickly. One of them woke up earlier because he had heard some weird noises coming from the neighboring house, but he couldn't understand what it was, so he continued sleeping. His room was right next to the burning house. 

When they got out of the house, this was what they saw: 

My friend's house is the bigger one

So it must have been burning a lot while they were inside as well!!

I remember I woke up that day and saw that Universidad Mayor's facebook page had written about a fire in a house on the same street, but I had no idea which one, and I never imagined it could be my friend's place. Later a friend texted me saying that two of our friend's house was the one fire! Then I really panicked. Luckily it was wrong info, and it was not their house that got burned down, but two rooms are totally wrecked (out of 18).

They are all fine now, and can move back into the house in one month. But it must have been such a scary experience.. I was so nervous for them even though I knew they were already safe somewhere else. And I'm so happy that they all got out quickly and that the firemen managed to stop the fire from spreading.

Its been quite a dramatic weekend. But still, I really enjoy being in Santiago... and I can't wait for the next earthquake.. (and Emil better be with me then!) 

Parque Aguas de Ramon

Friday was a national holiday, so we spent the day hiking in this beautiful national park.
(30min. from Santiago)
 We saw mountains, trees, cactuses, snow, cows, waterfalls, rivers and more! 

And we also saw how polluted Santiago is, with the layer of smog lying all over the city. 

There were 3 different routes of different difficulties of hiking terrain, and we took the middle one, taking 4 hours. It was only difficult in the beginning since it was very steep, but the rest was fine, and I think everyone really enjoyed the day:)

Zoologico Nacional Cerro San Cristobal

On Saturday we wanted to go on a hiking trip to Cerro San Cristobal, but because of the smog, we wouldn't have seen much of the city anways, so we changed our plans and instead went to the zoo at Cerro San Cristobal! 

It only costs 3000 pesos (35NOK) for adults, and 1500 (16NOK) pesos for students! (only during the weekdays). I still can't believe that it was so cheap. If you go to the zoo in Norway (Dyreparken i Kristiansand), you will have to pay 399NOK which is 35752 Chilean pesos (65USD).. 

Even though we were not on the top of Cerro San Cristobal, we still had an amazing view!

Lucky lamas having this view everyday!

legalize Chilean visa and obtain Chilean ID card

Dear future students going to Chile:

To legalize(register) the Chilean visa and to obtain the Chilean ID card is a mess!!!!

If you don't have all documents, or have an error in your name on your visa (in your passport), or if the immigration police at the airport did a poor job stamping the date you arrived- you won't be able to get the Chilean ID card unless you fix the problems. 

To legalize your Chilean visa (in my case-student visa) you will have to go to the International Police department. There you have to show 3 documents: pass, visa, and the paper which you get on the airplane. You will get a document by the police, but make sure that your name is stated correctly and is the same as the one in your passport. (If your name has æ,ø,å or letters with accents etc. it also need to be in your name on the document) 

Be sure to be there early: the later you go, the longer the lines and the more you have to wait.. 

After obtaining the document from the police, the next stop is to go the the Civil Registration place (to get Chilean ID). 

Here you need copies of all the documents from above, and be sure to not have these errors, or you need to go back to the police station.. 

- Incorrect names on the document from the International Police

- Date poorly stamped by the immigration police at the airport, so they can't see what day you arrived (If this is the case, ask for a certificate of travel when you are at the police station) 

- Incorrect names on your visa (in your passport)

In total it took 5 hours at the internation police and civil registration place. In the end I could not get a Chilean ID because the date in my passport was poorly stamped so they could not see which date I arrived to Santiago. So the next day I had to go back to the international police station, and then go again to the civil registration place. 

We were a group of 10 people doing this together, and it took so long time. In the end of July, 250 exchange students are going to do this, in two days.. 

Good luck to you all 

Pisco and pubcrawl

After Chile lost the game, we decided to drink our sorrows away with some Pisco sours: 

Pisco sour in the making!

Pisco sour: pisco, lemon, syrup and (eggwhite)

Listen to great music: 

Loved their LP records

Viva Chile!

"Oso"- the cat

Dance all night:

Dancing to Chilean and Brazilian songs

And meet the rest of the people going to the pub crawl:

Pub crawl with my amigos Chilenos and people from Spanish classes! 

What a night!