Since last time I have been traveling a whole lot more and done a lot of things. Like mentioned in the last post's title, the travel season definitely has begun! I've done a quick trip to Chile to get a new turist visa right before the actual, long-waited trip around the south of Argentina. I spent Christmas with my second host family. For New Year's Eve we decided to do a trip to Chile with my first host family in a city called Pucon, which is a perfect location if you are seeking adventure.

South trip was a pretty darn good experience. I got to see a whole different side of Argentina and on top of that I got to meet almost a hundred Rotary exchange students. I've put an enormous amount of photos on Facebook, so unfortunately you won't be seeing too much of them in here.

The journey started from Puerto Madryn, where I already had to travel though the night for ten hours or so. Me and a bunch of other exchange students, who had come with me, were the first ones to arrive while the rest came throughout the day. It was pretty impressive when we all finally gathered to eat in a rather small dining hall. By accident I bumped into two Finnish girls while getting food. I had no idea they would be there, too, and I had to call their names to be really sure they were them. Last time I saw them was in the airport in Buenos Aires when we had arrived to this country!

Overall there was four out of six of the Finns in Argentina, me being the only one with really dark hair and brown eyes (even though the Argentinians say I'm blonde and my eyes are a mix of green and brown). I don't really fill the stereotype of a blonde and blue-eyed Finn, and throughout the trip, when I introduced myself, the usual answer was either "Really? But you don't look like Finnish!" or "Oh, you're the untypical Finnish girl!"

I can't really blame anyone. Not when I'm half Colombian and inherited the non-Finnish look from my father. On top of that I have Hispanic surname. Now, try explaining that despite my looks, name and ability to speak the language I'm still from the other side of the world.

Showing my passport usually does the trick.

 Next big stop after Puerto Madryn was El Calafate which already a lot more to the south. I remember how the bus stopped near El Chalten to a popular "mirada", a small area right next to the road to stop and have the the perfect view to the rocky mountains of Cerro Fitz Roy. The weather was clear, excellent for taking photos, despite the wind blowing so hard you could lean against it and not fall. On the other side of the valley I saw a pack of wild horses running. Can't get more impressive than that. I felt so small and the world felt so big in that moment.

We also went to a small waterfall hidden in the woods. Even though it wasn't one of the world-known places we visited during the trip, it sure was and still is one of my favourite places. I just felt absolute blissful in that quiet and beautiful place even with all the exchange students.

Next day we went to Glacier National Park and headed to Perito Moreno, one of the few growing glaciers in the world. I had signed up for an additional minitrekking on top of the glacier. The weather was awful, it was windy and raining, but that didn't really stop us. The grande finale of the trekking was great: We enjoyed alfajores and drinks with ice cubes that were taken from the glacier.

After El Calafate we travelled to Ushuaia, the southern city in the world. On our way there we had to cross the borders of Chile and take a ferry in order to get to the Fire Land. When we were sitting in the ferry a group of dolphins joined us. Once again I was surprised to see what I saw. I had thought dolphins were grey, but these ones were black and white and definitely smaller than I had expected. Despite their size they were fast. They easily kept up with the ferry and even went past it.

We went to study the nature around Ushuaia most of the time. I didn't get a lot of time to enjoy Ushuaia, because I got sick on the same day that we arrived. First an exchange student threw up on the side of the road, then another one in front of a national park. When we got to a lake, third one got sick. Later me and my friend started to feel bad and have a headache. I just thought that I had got too much sun since I forgot to wear my sunglasses and the sunlight is really intense here. It wasn't the first time I felt bad due to the sunlight. However my condition got gradually worse and me and my friend ended up not being able to do anything but throw up through out the night like many others. A doctor came to check up on us, and told there was a virus among us. And no wonder, we had spent a lot of time in the two busses full of people and heat. It's practically a germ paradise.

I was feeling like crap the next day, walking was out of question, so I stayed in the hotel. I didn't miss that much I guess, but I had saved up money to buy souvenirs from Ushuaia, walk around the city and get cool stamps in my passport, but ended up not being able to do any of that.

It sucked to go leave next day, when I was still feeling weak, to what just so happened to be the longest trip to another location during the whole south trip. We spent one and a half days in the bus.. But if you look at the bright side, no-one had the guts to sit next to me so I got two seats, which meant fairly good sleep. I was so relieved when we finally arrived to Esquel and I got to take a shower!

Even though we spent just one night in Esquel, we did find the time to see the old paintings made by the aboriginals, and then climbed on a hill to have a great view on Lake Futalaufken, forest and mountains. Next day we continued to Bariloche, which is the first place that I know and recognize already. On the first night a bunch of exchange students went to the center with a guitar, and we sang and even got (extremely) small money out of it. The following day we just circled around with the busses, me babbling about the places I had already been to the last time. We got a lot of free time and liberty to wander around the city, which was a nice change after having to get up at six almost every morning and doing stuff all the way until we had to go to sleep.

Last day we spent at Tom Weasley outdoor park, where the first thing we did was a small walk horseback riding. It was bit different (shorter and bad) compared to the one I did with my host sister Fer in Chile, which was three hours between gorgeous valleys in blowing wind and rain.

The food was served traditionally with Argentinian music playing in the background. We got asado, chorizo, salad, rise with cream on top - alle eaten from a wooden "plank" that served as a plate. A few of our coordinators even started dancing between the tables.

After the meal we started to play games. Not the typical kind of competitions like running, tag, jumping with a bag over your legs, throwing something as far a possible. No, we had some REAL competitions, proper complex  tracks where literally everyone was involved. We split into two groups according to the two busses we had travelled in. No-one really kept score of the points, so lets just say #TeamJuan (my team, obvio) was the winner, shall we ;) Some people did get hurt during the process, we really did take it fairly seriously (you could hear it from the loud screaming and noises) but everyone still had fun. I have never witnessed such high spirit when we've had competition. Everyone was enjoying their time, smiling, encouraging, working for the team rather than themselves. Later in the evening we ended up playing football, which is a rather Argentine thing to do. When I saw myself the next time I almost didn't recognize myself, because not only had I tanned a lot under the sun but also my face was covered in dust.

We ended up the day full of adventure by everyone gathering around a big bonfire. We had this special stick that people handed to each other to get your turn to give a speech of your own and share whatever thought you had regarding their experiences. Even I opened my mouth a few times. People were laughing, crying, thanking and we all agreed on the fact that Rotary is one hell of a organization for giving us this opportunity. When I was listening others speak, I realized that what I was witnessing was essentially what exchange year is all about.I remember when I was talking with the people around me in the bus about the stereotypes and thoughts of each others home countries. During those two weeks that we were all together we learned to break those stereotypes and expectations, we learned a lot about this world, about each other and about ourselves. We taught things about our countries and cultures. We opened each others eyes. I saw how people from different countries and continents made friendships that I know will last for the rest of their lives. We all got a home everywhere we want to go thanks to these people. You can't learn these thing in you own living room. I know all of us are going to go back home full of experiences that made us more open and wiser. To me that is what this is all about, what Rotary Youth Exchange Program is all about.

After those two intensive weeks on the road going back to my normal life felt dull, especially when I got sick again and couldn't do much. Even though Christmas was getting closer, I really wasn't in the need for it. Unlike in Finland we didn't have any Christmas decoration, the radio didn't play Michael Buble or Mariah Carey and candles were nowhere to be found. When the temperature was spiking at 35 degrees, it was easy to forget Christmas was just behind the corner. I know a lot of exchange students miss home during the Christmas time, but I didn't even feel like Christmas so I had it easy. On Christmas Eve we finally put up the Christmas tree (instead of cutting it down from the backyard in Finland). Christmas itself I spent with my second host family at my host mum's brother's house in Villa Regina. Christmas food here is cold here, and you can forget the turkey. Didn't really seem Christmas food, but it was good either way. Though, we did put Santa hats on! When the midnight was only 10 minutes away, we got out the champagne glasses, popped the bottle and opened the TV to follow the countdown. When it was finally midnight we had a toast, hugged each other, wishes everyone merry Christmas and went out to take photos and listen to fireworks because we didn't see them anywhere. Later we opened the gifts, but in the end none of it felt like Christmas. More like it was just a random celebration we happened to have.

The funny thing is that two days later my dad lit a candle. The smell of burned matchsticks and seeing the candle got me instantly on a Christmas mood. That was all it required, so small and simple and I didn't even realize it earlier.

For the New Year's Eve we decided to go to Pucon, Chile for a week with my first host family. In front of our hotel was a big lake and a beach. We rented kayaks and strolled around near the hotel. We swam in the hotel's pools, took sun, played football with strangers for five hours straight, went to some hot pools in the other side of the city and did a tour around Pucon in what I would call a carriage, two tandem bikes put next to each other, stick a wheel in front and a roof on top. The best experience was when we went zip lining in a forest and over a river. I admit I was nervous at first, kind of scared of either crashing against a tree or not reaching the landing and staying in the middle, since we had to take care of slowing down ourselves. Soon enough I got the hang of it and absolutely got addicted to it. I was supposed to do canyoning with the others, but ended up being sick yet again and so bad that I had to skip it.

On the last night of year 2014 we ate a gourmet meal at the hotel  and later joined the rest of the city to the beach right in front of us for the countdown and fireworks. Many parts of Argentina and Chile have prohibited personal use of fireworks, leaving the light show for the cities to arrange. You can't believe the noise people made when the year had changed; they all sang songs and wished happy new year to each other, shouted and shouted a little more because why not? I took a few photos and videos of the 30-minute fireworks, but just focused on enjoying the show for the rest of the time. I had already sent messages to my friends and family already when the year changed in Finland, so I could just concentrate on the moment there in Chile.

I really liked the trip to Chile, because I got to do a lot and also just relax under the sun. Sure, the flu was limiting me, but I'm sick of letting it hold me back. During the last first for five months I've been sick seven times - more time sick than healthy. At first I thought the dust and sand made me sick, because I usually got sick after really dry and windy days when my nose was full of dust by the end of the day when I played football. But in Chile the air was humid and fresh, and I got even sicker than normally. Even after the next two weeks I was still sneezing and had a runny nose, but it has become the default state of health to me almost. My host dad mentioned I might be stressing without relizing it, and that's what makes me sick all the time. That might very well be the case. I usually don't realice (or admit it even to myself) that I'm stressed, but considering I'm in a foreign country surroudned by foreign people and a foreign language and new situations and difficulties - who wouldn't have stress.

I changed my host family 11th of January. Previously I lived with my host dad Francis and his older daughter Fer, while the younger sister Cami stayed with her mom Emiliana (the parents are divorced). Now me and Cami changed the houses, so I live with my host sisters' mother and her boyfriend Dante. I have spent a lot of time with my host mother when I was still living with my host dad, so her home is not a new place to me and neither is her boyfriend. I still keep spending time and doing trips with my host sisters and sometimes go to my host dad's home, so not much has changed except the house where I sleep. I feel like I get away easily with this, since I don't have to start from a clean table again. I've already build a relationship with my second hst family, but now I get to improve them. Even though my previous house changed into an apartment and my sisters stay in the other house, I've noticed that I speak and converse in Spanish a lot from the very beginning. My host mom sells and delivers coffee and tea products to clients when they've agreed on it, but most of the time she's at home, so even though I live further away frome the cnter it's easier to get a ride to somewhere or just have someone to spend time with and discuss compared to earlier, because my host dad is working almost all the time. Mom also always tells me where she's going and if I want to join her, even if it's only a trip to the grocery store - something that rarely happened in the first host family (I usually had no idea where people were).

Since this year started I've started to exercise a bit, use more Spanish and meet friends more often. I try to get more things done and get rid of my worst habit which you already know is procrastination. I've seen my Argentine friends at the river to have tereré, cold mate that you enjoy during the summer with juice. I've met some AFS exchange students that made a stop in Neuquen before their own south trip. I even met three Finnish people and new lovely local people.

It was kind of weird at first to hear the AFS exchange students speak Spanish with each other, since Rotary exchange students usually speak English, but after half an hour I relaxed and started to talk with other people. I was actually surprised I could communicate with both exchange students and locals in Spanish with success, and that gave me a whole new set of confidence.

I'm gonna add a few more pictures to this post later when I have access to them, so feel free to check my blog again a few days later. I didn't want to wait publishing any longer... I have a lot more to tell you, but I think I'm gonna save that for the next post that I hopefully write faster than this one. The day I start posting to my blog regularly is the day I've finally defeated procrastination. I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are!

Until next time!