Glaciology's Field Trip...

The most amazing field trip that I’ve had while I’ve been studying geography was in the Glaciology class. At first I was not very excited to go, because Glaciology is an elective class in Geography and the most of other students were not of my generation, so I thought that I wouldn't feel in confidence with them. But we have a great trip and we could know better.

We went to “El Tapado” and “Llano las Liebres” glaciers in 4^th region. These are rock glaciers, so before we traveled I thought that we wouldn’t find snow, another reason why I was not excited, but again I was wrong. When we arrived and we began to climb the mountains there was not only snow, also there was many penitents. Really it was a wonderful landscape that I will never forget.

We were there two days, one to do measurements in each glacier and two more days to travel, one of going and the other day to return. We did measurements of the permafrost and active layer in different points of each glacier.  We went with ex-students of geography who were working there and the teacher Ferrando. Personally, I learned a lot, because I helped them to do each measurement.

I would like to return someday, it’s a wonderful place to visit. Well, obviously it won’t be the same without my classmates, but I always remember it like a great experience. It was so cold, we didn’t have shower, but none of that mattered, because we were in full contact with the nature and it is unpayable.

A place to visit in London...

I think London is a very gorgeous city to visit in Europe. One place in this capital city of England that I would like to go someday, ‘cause it’s a very interesting site, is Madame Tussauds. This wax museum is one of the major tourist attractions in London, exhibiting waxworks of historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars, pop stars and infamous murderers. Its quality and innovation have turned it in the most famous wax museum in the world.

There are several of these Madame Tussauds around the world, like in New York, Las Vegas, Berlin, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney and some other cities.

You can get there by tube, by train, by bus, by coach and by car. Personally, I don’t like to travel by tube, ‘cause you get lost the whole beauty of the city. I think I’ll prefer get there by bus, because as tourist you can know better the city and also there are many buses I can take to arrive to the museum, like 13, 30, 74, 139, 205, 274 and others.

All information about this great museum can be found at 

http://www.madametussauds.com/London/Default.aspx.

A song...

To choose a song that I like is so difficult for me because there are many songs that I like so much. But well, I think one song that attracted me from the first time I listened to it is “Lovesong” by Adele.

This song is a cover of The Cure’s track of 1989. It’s almost impossible to stand up to such a classic song, but Adele did it and really well. It’s featured on her album “21”, released in 2011, her most successful album. I like this version, maybe more than the original, because she transforms it into a charming and acoustic ballad with her melodic voice and breathes new life into the song without trying too hard. It’s a version softer than the original.

The first time I listened to it was about one year ago when I was downloading her album. After that, it’s been always in my mp3. I have the two versions, because before I listened to Adele’s cover I liked so much the first version of The Cure, well… I still like it.

Another song I always like it about its lyric is “Imagine” by John Lennon, but at first I thought maybe it was not necessary to speak about it because it is a classic, it is an hymn. As the Rolling Stones magazine published “It is now impossible to imagine a world without "Imagine." And we need it, more than he (John)  ever dreamed.”

Lovesong -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7bTOS71Pt4

Imagine -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgYAHHkPFs&feature=fvwrel

Good friends are hard to find...

This guy called Tomás, I don’t remember when was the first time that I saw him. We met in the nursery school in Arauco, a town near to Concepción a long time ago, when we was 3 or 4 years old. But in the school, we didn’t used to be friends.

In 2003, both of us moved to Valdivia and we began to be friends until now. One of my favourite band, I knew them by him. They are called Sigur Rós, are an Icelandic band. Tomás also listen Cat Power, a northamerican singer that I like so much. We have many tastes in common.

He is a very good friend. He’s been with me in very difficult moments of my life, he’s supported me and well… obviously, we’ve had very entertaining moments, too. A couple of years ago we travel together and with other friends to Camboriú, it was unforgettable!

Tomás still live in Valdivia with his parents, because he’s studying medicine in Austral University, but I live in Santiago now from March to December while I’m studying so we meet up once a month when I visit my parents and my brother in Valdivia. We have other friends in common and we meet up with them, too.

An interesting website...

Everydays I visit the same websites like facebook, hotmail, gmail and the newspaper online. But there is one website that I like so much, because there are many topics you can find on it like politic, culture, society, entertainment, economy, sports, drugs, health, conspiracy theories, media/internet and others. I’m talking about “pijamasurf”, it’s a Mexican site and I always like to read world news and interesting articles. You can find new articles every day.

Pijamasurf was born in 2009, is an independent project that offers a different informative option. It’s an alternative news site that rescues issues marginalized by the media. It considers that the world is by itself an information system, and we all contribute to the information. I agree with what they present, ‘cause I think we all make news the world therefore it’s impossible not to be part of them.

If you want to know about anything, I’d recommend you this site. It’s really interesting even with some articles you will laugh, I assure you.

This is the link: www.pijamasurf.com

I’d like in Chile somebody takes the initiative to do a project like this, because personally I don’t know Chilean sites like this, apart from the news sites.

El Cañi...

I’ve liked to travel since I was a child and I think Chile in particular, has wonderful places to visit with a variety of landscapes. One of the places I’d like to visit again is “El Cañi”, it is an ancient forest located in the proximity of Pucón. My grandmother lived her infancy here and it was very important to me to visit this place. The last time I visited this National park was the last summer with my parents and my brother. It took us about 5 hours to get to the top, that day was cloudy, but when is clear you can see all the region's four major volcanoes: Villarrica, Quetrupillan, Llaima and Lanin, on the border with Argentina from the highest viewpoint. The most amazing thing of this landscape is that it’s a Sanctuary for the giant conifer Araucaria, and there are about seven lagoons and you can camp next to them. The place is really amazing, I think a wonderful place like this is very little known, maybe it is good because the landscape won’t deteriorate.  If you have the opportunity to go there, I recommended it, because if you are a geographer and like the nature it’s the best place to enjoy it.

Paniri Expedition...

I don't know if I have a favorite photo, but without a doubt there are many that I like so much. One of them was a photo in Atacama Desert about two years ago, I was on Paniri volcano to be more exact. I was there on a mountain climbing expedition that we organized in the FAU. The photo was taken by my friend Fabiola, she took it at 5.100 meters high approximately. I like it because I remember a wonderful trip with unforgettable landscapes. It was my first expedition and at the beginning I was afraid but then my friends made me feel so good and comfortable. We met beautiful people that I will never forget.

When I see the photo and I remember the moment when it was taken, with Fabiola we both were coming down because we felt bad for the “puna” (altitude sickness).  But then when we arrived to the base camp we felt better.

I think the desert gives peace and harmony, its colors and immensity are amazing.

It was a great experience, I’d like to do another expedition with the same group or come back someday to these places, but it wouldn’t be the same without my friends and the teacher Quinteros.