Karaoke in the Park, Online Bill Pay, and Counting Down the Days

While people back home are enjoying an usually mild winter, I am in the middle of summer in Santiago.  The summer weather has afforded opportunities for barbeques and parties in the sun, and I went to an event last weekend.

At first it was only for the Spanish/German language exchange, but then the other language groups got in on it too.  It was at a park near the Estacion Central area of Santiago, and I had a great time.  There was plenty of food and drinks, warm weather, plenty of shade sitting under the sun, good company, and karaoke.  I'm not known for having good singing skills, but I sang 99 Luftballoons in German and then Otherside by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  It was great chatting with new people and getting to speak a mix of Spanish, German, and English.

Since I'll be home in 23 days, I've started doing the little things to preapre for the trip.  One of those things is figuring out how I'll pay my bills while I'm gone.  Living on my own no one will be there to get my bills.  I considered leaving a statement with the doormen and finding a friend to pay the bills while I'm gone, but then I found out that I can pay bills online here!

While this certainly doesn't sound like a big deal to most of you, it's something really nice here.  Usually you have to do one of two things to pay your bills here:
1. take your bills to a grocery store, input the information into a computer that then gives you a ticket that verifies the account and amount, and then pay when you check out.
2. take your bills to a bill pay center (here most are called ServiPag) and wait in line from 5 to 25 minutes to pay your bills.

I've gotten used to doing one of the two things listed above, but after poking around on my bank account online I figured out how to pay online.  It's pretty similar to back in the States: create a new payee and indicate the company, account number, etc.  (but here you don't indicate the name on the account or address).  Then verify the amount and pay the bill.

There is one striking difference in regards to security.  In order to pay bills or transfer money out of your account, you need a clave de transferencia or a transfer key.  Here's what it looks like:

For each letter and number combination, there's a 2 digit number in each box.  I've covered up all but the top half for security reasons ;-)  In order to finalize any transfer of money out of your account, the website will ask you for 3 random codes, for example J1 C3 A5.  You then input the matching numbes and your transfer is complete!

From the looks of it, the only bill I can't pay online is my internet, but being able to pay 3 out of 4 isn't bad at all.

Now that it's 2012 and less than a month til I return home, I find that I'm counting down the days.  There's actually 22 days left until I land in the JFK airport in New York.  I just looked at my passport, and I arrived back in Santiago February 4th of last year.  This means that by the time I will arrive back home I will have been outside the United States for a year and 2 days.

That will have been (future perfect for those English teachers out there reading this!) the longest I will have been outside the States.  Prior to this it has been between 7 and 11 months at a time, but never an entire year. 

Each day I find myself looking forward to the visit home: relaxing with my dad watching TV, catching up with my brother and sister in law while their cats wander around and vie for affection, visiting my aunts and uncles, spending time with friends playing video games or Magic.  Then there's the things I miss from home: the one stop shopping and seemingly endless variety of products with cheap prices at Target, having a car to get around, good customer service, clean air, TV with clear reception, Panera Bread, In n Out Burger, Philly pretzels, pizza steaks, good clothing at affordable prices.  I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the idea.

On Wednesday I decided to treat myself since I was hungry and craving a hamburger and free refills.  There's a chain restaurant called Mamut that's very Americanized, with burgers, fries, and free refills.  I've eaten here a few times before. 

And here are a few random pictures I forgot to post earlier:

Christmas gifts from some of my students: Bailey's Irish Cream, chocolates from Valdivia, and tea



Metro Tobalaba.  The blue lights and modern appearance makes me feel like I'm in an episode of StarTrek.

 That's all for now.  I hope everyone's 2012 is off to a good start!

Hot Springs, Rain, Snow, and an Active Volcano

So my time in Pucón was much more of an adventure than I thought it would be.

It turns out the weather wasn´t suitable to climb up Volcan Villarica on Friday, so after waiting for breakfast to be served at my hostel I went around to tour companies to decide on something to do for the day.  It turns out a lot of tours had already left for the day, so from what was left I decided on a tour of the area´s parks that ended at some hot springs.  It was raining and so at least we had some coverage in the parks.

We also got to visit this lake.  Apparently on one side of the former president Michelle Bachalet used to live, and then on the other side Piñera (the current president) used to live.  There were also some signs of the earthquake still here:

After that, it was off to relax in some hot springs.  The ones we visited were actually really nice, in that they were inside a manmade pool and had a roof.  There was a changing area and lockers also.  I got to know 2 women from Santiago, a couple that were English teachers in Concepción, and a girl from Brazil.  We stayed in the hot springs for close to 2 hours just talking and enjoying it.

After that, it was back to the hostel.  I made some barely edible pasta and talked with some other people traveling that were staying at the same place.  Speaking of my hostel, it was a really nice place to stay.  It is called Paradise Pucón, and it is run by a woman named Gloria and her family.  It is very homey, as they live right on the premises and do whatever they can to make you feel at home.  Here are some pictures:

Then Saturday morning started the real adventure: the ascent up Volcan Villarica.  The van came to pick me up at 7:00, and we went to the tour company to get our gear.  I was decked out in snow hiking boots, snow pants, strappy things that went under the hiking boots, a helmet, ice pick, a helmet, and even cool ski goggles.  And this was before we even left the tour company.

It was an amazing sight from the bottom, but it got better and better as we got closer.  I got to take a ski lift for the first time ever.  The view was breathtaking.  I could see the volcano right in front of me, and all of the trees were covered in snow.  The only sound you could hear was the breeze of the wind going by.  I was amazed by the beauty of something so simple as a snow covered mountain.

After we got off the ski lift, we walked a bit and then put the racquets on our shoes.  It was totally like something out of a cartoon, but apparently they help you to walk on top of the snow and not to fall down into it. 

Then the hiking began.  Now I consider myself in good shape, but this was a workout fit for Superman.  In addition to hiking up a regular mountain, you also had to lift your legs up and over the snow as well as carry a large backpack with your food and other supplies.  After about 10 minutes I was sweating so much that I had to stop and take off my sweatshirt (as I was also wearing 2 shirts under it as well as my winter jacket).  I was having trouble keeping up, but luckily I wasn´t the only one.

A guy from Brazil that also looked to be in good shape was also struggling.  After 2 hours of hiking we made it to a rest stop, and we both decided that we were satisfied with having made it that far.  Here is the view from where we got up to:

After we got that far, we unfortunately weren´t able to sled down becuase of the ice patches.  So we walked down, but it was much faster than the ascent was.  Later in the day, we explored downtown Pucón and got some dinner.  Along the way we found this:

That´s right, it´s an alert of volcanic activity.  Each color gives characteristics of volcanic activity, and the sign gives escape routes in case if evacuation is necessary.  Then we got a delicious dinner of brasera (which is like a mini grill of lots of different types of meat).

That same night I headed out to some more hot springs, and the Brazilian guy as well as people from the tour yesterday were on this tour too.  The hot springs at Los Pozones were more natural, but they weren´t as nice as the ones from the day before.  Despite that, it was a nice way to spend my last night in Pucón. 

The trip back to Santiago was uneventful.  I had a nice breakfast at the airport, and it was probably the smallest airport I had ever seen.  There were 4 gates, with three of them literally right next to each other.  When you would board and disembark from your flight, you walked up or down a set of stairs onto the tarmac.  It was kind of like being a famous person walking off of a flight.

It is good to be back in Santiago.