I´m so excited, i think i´m going to lay an egg!

OOOOKKAYYY here goes....it is now Wednesday 25th August and we haven´t had internet for over a week, so i´m going to do a quick overview of the highlights of our amazing adventure of fun.

After Iquique, we headed on a lovely flight and overnight coach journey to rainy Valdivia. In Valdi we met some AMAZING Guide leaders, did some trainings in schools and met with some Guides. It was fun all around, with us trying new foods (crudos - raw mince on toast, YUM) and getting reaquainted with a more British weather pattern - rain rain rain.

Just a day later, we moved onto Concepcion - the city of the epicenter of the earthquake a few months ago. The city had definitely changed, many buildings were no longer there, and there were some with very clear damage, and a few tower blocks completely broken in half. I don´t think any of us were quite prepared for the amount of damage there was, but despite everyting the people of Conce were so ready to welcome us into their commuinty. We spent time with Pamela, which was great, and also did another Golondrinas training. We wacked out the promise bracelets for this one, which was a great hit, along with the funky chicken of course!

After concepcion we moved to Los Angeles, (after an eventful journey with a crazy bus conductor, named ´bus boy´ who helpfully reminded us we were going to Los Angeles, Chile not USA. Who knew??!!). Here we had another fab golondrinas day, it was great seeing the differences in styles of units between the north and south. Our translator, Diego, was great. In the evening we were supposed to go to Temuco, but it was raining there, so we stayed in Los Angeles for a much needed celebration at the house of Lesley. We ate the most amazing food and had a lot of fun, bringing some Spanish in!

The next day (Sunday) we headed to Temuco (where it had stopped raining, OOOOH YEAH) which is where we are now. We´ve had a few much needed days off - doing laundry (it was seriously getting desperate), visiting the lake town of Pucon, and going to a local bar! Yesterday we were taken up the mountains by Juan, which was AMAZING: we´d never seen scenery like it. There were vast expanses of lava fields with massive volcanoes, and then further up the road was completely covered in snow. Incredible.

SO yeah, thats it for now. Today we´re heading back to Santiago ready for the final stage of project. We´ve been having a lot of giggles as a team, and have already made some great Chilean friends.

Love to everyone who is reading this - and to the other projects (sorry Egypt, and possibly Malawi) congrats on finishing!!

Rachel xxx

Erm... can anybody remember the middle part to Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes?

Wow, what an amazing couple of days we've had! Iquique is LITERALLY one of the most amazing places ever, sea, sun, desert and mountains - it's got it all! Plus the people were so welcoming!

So, since we've last blogged we have been out on the town Chilean style, experienced Reggaton which is the music craze in Chile which basically involves inappropriate dancing and Pisco Sour and Margaritas!

Unfortunetly we had an early start the morning after but it was totally worth it. We visited 3 different units. They do out scouting and guiding very differently here - they meet all the scouts and guides, cubs and brownie etc. together and there is a lot of shouting and chants. Everything is very very lively with lots of running around songs and games. The first unit we visited involved a drive up the mountains behind Iquique to a small town at the top - we were welcomed like celebrities - like we have been the whole trip! We joined in their meeting and taught a few songs of our own. After an afternoon nap we went to another unit, this time in the centre of town - more shouting and running about! Finally we went to a party at one of the units with...you guessed it... more Reggaton! That evening the guiders took us out for "Onces" which is a late light meal - where we had the best sandwiches ever!

The next day was our first proper training for the Golondrinas which are the equivalent of Brownies. We met on the beach for more singing and running and then in the afternoon we moved to a nearby school to do our rotation of activities about the world and being a Golondrina. The girls and leaders really enjoyed it and we were showered with presents and photographed a lot - we were page 1 in the local newspaper! We also had a lovely show of traditional dancing.

In the evening we invited the leaders to come back to our appartment for pizza and we treasured and trashed with them. They treasured things like finding out that the activities don{t have to be go go go all the time, and that their association is too geared towards the boys and not the girls, they treasured the new link with Santiago - one of the aims of going up there - yey!!! And also the link with us and how friendly we were and that they were scared before that we would be stand-offish but we weren't! So overall a big success!

Off to Valdivia in the south now - got a long bus journey ahead, we have already flown down from Iquique today.. on a rahter interesting airline which kept breadrolls in one of its toilets!!!

Ciao!

Team Chile

It looks like we´re on the moon.....guys, i think we´re on the moon!

Hey Hey Hey!

We´re currently in an internet cafe in sunny (ish) Iquique, north of the Atacama Desert. Our flight from Santiago was LITERALLY the best thing ever, with amaaazing vast expanses of snow capped Andes mountains for the first hour, then the stunning plains of the desert for the next couple of hours (which I thought looked a lot like the moon...) We were all very excited, and were stuck to the windows for the whole flight (except for when the dodgy cheesy aeroplane food came along-yuuuum).

Just to fill you in with what we´ve done over the last couple of days. Tuesday night we met with Pia, the international commissioner. This was a lot of fun - we planned a bit, and ate some crazy chilean deep fried stuff, whilst trying not to fall asleep after our long journey.

On Wednesday we ventured to the Guias y Scouts shop - everyone´s inner Guiding geek was brought out by the selection of badges and mini neckers! We bought fleeces and buffs (cuellos) to combat the cold, then went for a walk around Santiago. People seemed pleased to see us - we even got a little clap from one guy as we walked past!

Thursday was our amazing journey to Iquique...apart from the AMAAAZING flight, Lynne´s highlight was making friends with 8 year old golondrina, Sophia, who chatted to us in English and let us practice our Spanish! WOOP!

Last night we had a meeting with the Guiadoras (Guiders) from Iquique, and planned a bit. We had a transaltor which was great, but we were all really proud of ourselves for managing to carry on with the meeting when she left! GO US! The Guiders were really friendly, and we really felt like project had begun.

Our apartment here is incredible - with a view right over the sea. We´re deffo going paddling later WOOOOP. Tomorrow we start our trainigs properly, with visits to 2 units, then a Golondrinas traning and activity day on Sunday.

Ciao for now!

Rachel and Team Chile

xxx

day 2

hey all!!
we've made it to Santiago without a 6 day stop in Madrid woop woop!!
we have already tried the famous *empanadas* sorry about the spelling... they were delicious.

So a good start to the day! we got into Chile about 8ish this morning by flying over the Andes!

tonight we are meeting with Pia, the international commissioner for Chilean Guides and Scouts then from there on im sure we are going to be busy busy busy.

we will let you know more soon...

adios
x

Day 1

Hey everyone so it's the first day of project and we were up bright and early ready for our tour around girlguiding uk headquarters. Then a very squashed underground journey through London to get to heathrow. Were about to board our flight to Madrid and have already met some Armenian guides and Canadian scouts!!
Anyway adios for now as were getting on the plane, just letting you all know we are all safe and well :)

June 2010

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who is supporting the GOLD project to Chile this year.
So the planning is all under way for the sessions in Chile and we've all almost finished with our fundraising.