A little bit of south in the north

Just as you can find Harvey Nichols wine bar in Leeds, you are also able to find a taster of the south of Chile up here in the fourth Region as we discovered this weekend. Not quite as posh or pricey as HN (no champagne in sight, £3.50 entrance), we visited Parque Fray Jorge, a UNESCO world heritage sight and national park by the sea. It´s famous for its impressive array of green plants from the south which flourish here in the north due to the strangely humid micro-climate that exists between the hills and the sea.

After giving the car a good battering down a bumpy dirt road and hiking the final 5km to the top, we were greeted by an enchanted misty green forest. Being unable to see past our fingers, we felt our way past many an odd plant, and began to wonder if we were on another planet. Reaching the lookout spot, we popped out our sarnies, and I had a very familiar feeling of trogging around on one of those unlucky days in the lakes. Jonny was in his element (being from the Sheffield moors) and took himself off for some lonesome pondering, whilst we followed the trail into the deep dark woods.

You may look at these photos and wonder why on earth we bothered (believe me, i did stop to think), but after spending the last 4 months in drought striken landscape it was a breath of misty fresh air for us. I´ve never been that enamoured by plants (just another green thing right?) but I spent a good 5 minutes oggling that funny spikey thing. Oh, and I should mention that the day was just a little bit extra special for the (gushy) fact that Jonny and I have been spending these crazy weekends together for two years now....how time flies!

A Tale of Two Debates

Over the past month or so, we have kissed goodbye to our lazy afternoons off choosing instead to work with some of our finest students to compete in the National English Debate (and by national, remember that Chile is 6,500km long, so we´re probably going to win the lottery before we get anywhere near this trophy!). This years (not so hot) topic - "Rap music is a bad influence on young people".

With Jonny and my schools both competing, there have been many devil eye stares, cagey conversations about the merits of rap, and empty threats of sabotage. So we were both fairly relieved when the time came, and we finally got to see our students fight it out for us over a podeum, a microphone and 3 judges.

And so it was that we heard the topic of rap debated 4 times (3 too many) and an abundance of facts pulled from the most dubious of places....we heard that "actually nobody listens to rap anyway, so we should debate about regatton", that "my hump my hump my hump" will encourage you to go out and have unprotected sex, and that "girls who watch rap videos are 2.5 times more likely to hit a teacher". Given that I have not yet been hit, I´m hoping that this still means my risk is zero!

I would like to finish there, but I should probably inform you all that Jonny managed to school his kids to WIN the competition! (ahem, well done) and so will go on to the next regional round where he can look forward to arguing that "grades encourage students to learn". My school went out in style - a good old fight with the (unfair) judges, and a well earned pat on the back for being superstars in everyone elses eyes!

Sleeping with Saturn

Last week, we were treated to a surprise visit from Ministry of Education to check we weren't teaching the kids bad words and the like. Both of us were incredibly lucky in having a class of angels during the visit and were duly awarded "Excellent". Bravo! And what better way to celebrate than a weekend away into the hills.

After a curvy bus ride, we arrived (a little queezy) at our retreat...an isolated hacienda in Rio Hurtado. Our camping spot was hidden away down by the river, and with only us, the fire and the stars, we pitched up for the night, red wine in hand and a smile on our smug little chops. It wasn't until about 3 hours later that we realised we were not the hardened campers we thought, and after squabbling over blankets and sleeping bags, the freezing high altitude temperatures got the better of us.

Despite the sleepy start to the morning, we set off confidently on a hike to the local village for supplies. Although not 100% sure of the route, we picked our way through stunning pastures, woodland, vineyards and mountains. We'd heard stories of condors, mountain foxes and even the Chilean Lynx, but the only wild guy we ran into was this little sausage....

The weekend was topped with a trip to the private observatory. Lucky enough to arrive at new moon, we were treated to a spectacular view of some of the clearest skies in the world and shown the tricks of the trade by the Hacienda's astro pro. "Everyone has a sweet side" he told us as we learned to focus our eyes on the many wonders of the Milky Way. And sure enough, the sweetest star of the sky was not a star at all, but seeing Saturn for the first time....yes it really does exist, yes it does look like they told you in science class, and if you want to see why we were so flippin amazed, imagine seeing this with your very own eyes.... http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saturn,_through_82%22_telescope,reprocessed.jpg

The Silence of the Goats

May Day bank holiday celebrations in Chile are no different to many other countries - all the shops close, no-one really does any work, friends and family get together to eat and drink more than they should. This year, our head teacher invited us to a party for her uncle's 50th birthday on his goat farm to the north of our little town.

Arriving late into the evening, Thea stepped out of the car just in time to observe the remains of two freshly slaughtered goats swinging from the rafters of a small hut, whilst the the blood collected into buckets dotted around the party venue, for the patrolling rottweilers to lap up. Yummy. Welcome to May Day bank holiday in the goat slaughterhouse! Straight from carcas to the coals, this was one fresh BBQ. Goat steak is actually pretty tasty, but we both steered clear of the pungent goats cheese which was made the next morning, courtesy of the 200 goats who were standing just yards away watching their compadres being roasted. It goes without saying that everyone we spoke to was one of the kindest and friendliest souls you could imagine. From the newly borns to the much older abuelitas, this was Chilean hospitality at its best.

Feliz Cumpleaños 182!

This week we have been celebrating the random 182nd year anniversary of our town with the lively Ovallinos living here. I thought something was up when my classes were cancelled to make way for 1.5 hours of marching practice....the kids are now able to put one foot in front of the other in time to music, but asking "how old are you?" still remains an issue.

The celebrations began with a regional Cueca dancing competition in the foreground of a live Chileno band. This is the national dance of Chile, and unlike Morris Dancing, it is very popular with people up and down the country, with every region having its own style and children taking it up from schoolage. It begins with a bit of flirting, the man showing off his new hat and spurs, the lady acting all coy, and finishes up with a lot of hanky waving, prancing about, and downing wine from horns. Needless to say (in the words of Jonny´s kids) "I bloody loved it"! If you´d like to get a glimpse of the winning couple, you can take a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p_wIWKGkko

The week was rounded off by parades, a circus in the Plaza, and of course, the staple of every Chilean home, an Asado (BBQ) with enough meat to feed a large army of rancheros. An exciting week for Ovalle....it has a lot to live up to from here on out!

Going native...

This month it dawned upon me that it had been over ten years since I last rode a water slide.

Unacceptable, and a trip to the local pool was scheduled with my family. Upon arrival, surrounded by colourful green gardens, we both thought we had finally found a little piece of paradise in our back end town. The coming months would be full of weekends and afternoons spent sunbathing and relaxing by the pool and picnicing amongst the avocado trees. Sadly, the next day the pool closed for the entire winter and we were left crying over our rapidly ripening avocados. Not before numerous runs on the slides, friction burn wedgies and high speed adrenaline with my new hermanos.

Luckily the next weekend we were taken to my family’s beach house on the coast for another sunny weekend, arriving just in time to see the fishermen bringing in their catch and throwing the scraps to two enormous seals playing in the bay. We bought enough seafood to feed a small army and spent the next 2 days holed up in the beach house, feasting on our haul and being taught dominos over numerous Chilean cervezas. Perfect relaxation after the first few weeks of teaching the increasingly boisterous Chilean 'Joven' and giving our voices a much needed rest!

Eh, Profe...

Well, the teaching has well and truly begun and we have been given free reign with our own classroom, 20 impatient muchachos, and left to our own devises to teach them whatever we deem appropriate. We are speaking so slowly and loudly that we often forget to switch off, and find ourselves chatting to each other over a beer in kiddy chat.





The kids are pretty excited to have us around, as there are literally no other foreigners in Ovalle. Our job here is to get them speaking, so we are coming up with plenty of creative ways to encourage them, and also to teach them interesting things about England and our culture. Even the smallest things are new to them...the material of the houses, the lush greenery, the huge mixture of people and culture, and the history.

We are quickly finding that there is no escape from the cries of "eh Profe" or "Tiiiiiiiaaaa" (they call their teachers "Aunty and Uncle" here!), and we are often spotted around town with our (Pololo/a - Girlfriend/Boyfriend) much to their amusement...We were even recognised at the beach last weekend (An hour´s drive from Ovalle!).