Week 11
- May 22
- 10 min read
Day 78 / May 14, 2026
Thursday Thursday!! Today Katelyn, another Fulbrighter, is coming to Talca. She is currently a PhD student at UC Davis and is doing a research project about local sustainability practices in agriculture (agroecology!). Both today and tomorrow she is having interviews with vineyard owners in the Maule region.
I spent the morning catching up with Amber on the phone (Australia time is going to be here so soon!) and cleaning my apartment (delayed because I ran out of 500 coins to do laundry again and I had to go to the exchange). Then I went to school where I spent a lot of time working on the blog. At around 3:30pm I headed down to the lab to help Nicolas perform the next step in an EPS extraction experiment. I had to centrifuge 1L of media and remove the supernatant. I was left with bright red pellet, comprising bacterial proteins and membrane material, which will be used to study pigmentation properties. We reconstituted the remaining supernatant with Acetone and left the mixture in the freezer over the weekend for EPS extraction the following week.
At 6:00pm I headed out to meet Katelyn. I brought her up to the apartment so she could store her bags. We had apple with peanut butter for a quick snack, then walked to the climbing gym. After many pegues, we ordered pizza from Pizzería Ch-115 (check them out on Instagram @pizzas.ch115) located inside the gym. As is typical for a night at Pared, we got to chatting with some of the others in the gym and before we knew it were on our way over to Hans’ house for post climbing beers. Conversations ranged from what everyone did for work, to common chilean slang, climbing news, and ended with a video from Hans’ final architecture project in school (so cool! He demolished and reconstructed a refugio with recycled materials!)
Francisco kindly drove Katelyn and I home and we tucked in for the night.
Day 79 / May 15, 2026
Katelyn and I woke up bright and early at 8:30am the next morning. We had cereal and coffee and chatted about our projects before heading our separate ways. It sounds like Katelyn will have a number of interviews in the Maule region in the near future so I am sure we will see each other soon!!
School was quite relaxed on Friday as major work was underway to replace the wifi in the offices. At noon, we went out for a group coffee to welcome Albert and Catalina to the team. We shared a vegetarian mushroom chorrillana (loaded french fries) and talked about languages. There are over 40 different tribes in Kenya alone and each has their own distinct language. Albert is from the Luo people settled near Lake Victoria. He can speak English, Swahili, and two other languages used by the Luo tribe. I had no idea there were quite so many languages clustered in such a small area!
This led me to do some googling… as far as diverse linguistic areas go, Papua New Guinea stands alone as the country with the most languages with over 840 spoken languages. Then for density, Vanuatu has over 138 languages condensed in a smaller land mass corresponding to approximately 1 language for every 40 square miles. Incredible! It was quite chilly out even in the sunshine so we headed back to the lab quickly after we finished the food. There was a very cute pup that was shivering near the table and the waiter brought out a t-shirt to try and help warm it up… there are a lot of strays in the area but I continue to see a lot of kindness extended towards them. Here’s to hoping they find some warmth during this cold winter.
Once back in the lab, we chatted about upcoming dates including a graduation celebration for Cynthia, a lab gathering June 2nd and more. I then spent some time admiring this incredibly thorough geological map of Mars and tried to plan the structure for the corresponding section in my paper. At 4:00pm I headed out for the day, bought a churro in the park on my way home, and went to Pared for two hours. Afterwards, I was picked up by Camila and Elias to have a beer and chat with their friend Osvaldo visiting Talca from Coihueco for the weekend. We were later joined by Pachi, Cristobal, Luciano and Karolina. It was a lovely evening! We eventually headed over to Cristobal’s house where we danced to music while rocking some sunglasses and played with shadows. I ubered home at around 3am and hit the hay.
Day 80 / May 16, 2026
Saturday was a very special day indeed! Nayar’s birthday! As some of you may remember, Nayar is the lovely Airbnb owner who first hosted me when I arrived in Talca. She invited me to her birthday asado (BBQ) to celebrate with her family. At 1:30pm her son Max and his partner Consuelo picked me up and we drove over to Nayar’s house. The others were already there when we arrived including her son Victor and partner Sophie, daughter Ignacia with her son Salvador and her partner, and son Benjamin. We sat outside in the sunny garden while Nayar cooked some delicious churascas which she served with a tomato salsa. Meanwhile, Max took charge of barbecuing some cerdo (pork) and longanizas as a crew of neighborhood cats looked on.
We eventually moved inside to dine on the delicious grilled meat as well as a number of sides including potato gratin, salads, roasted potatoes, and beets. The table was full of chatter and laughter. At some point family friend Dany arrived to join the party as well. Once the lunch food was cleared, Nayar took out the cakes. She had made two cakes herself including a Chilean twist of a tres leches cake with a touch of lemon and one with the same base featuring a peach topping. Then she also had a two cakes with nuez (nuts), meringue, and manjar! Safe to say I was so very full after this. Everyone sat back in their seats while Nayar opened her presents. There was a lot of love in the room!
As the day started wrapping up, Ignacia broke out a guitar. Max quickly gave it a tune, then she went on to play some Chilean classics while Nayar and Dany sang along. We heard La jardinera (the gardener) by Violeta Parra, Gracias a la Vida by Mercedes Sosa, El Ultimo Trago by Chavela Vargas and ended with Me Bebí Tu Recuerdo by Galy Galiano.
At this point it was around 5:00pm and everyone headed onto their own Saturday evening activities. Nayar had received two tickets to a Los Jaivas show for today from Ignacia but everyone was busy so she invited me to go. I was so psyched!! I had heard a number of their songs before and certainly knew about the group. Their music was censored during the Pinochet dictatorship, which put a blanket ban on most forms of artistic expression, so it was amazing that the band stuck together. The original five members included the three Parra brothers, Mario Mutis and Eduardo “Gato” Alquinta. Now in the 60th year since the band’s founding and the 45th year since their iconic performance at Machu Picchu, they are touring again with Mario Mutis, Juanita Parra (daughter of the late drummer Gabriel Parra), Carlos Cabezas, Alan Reale, Francisco Bosco, and Mauricio Valderrama Troncoso.
We headed out at 6:20pm dropping off Dany at her home then drove to the Teatro Municipal de Talca. After an insanely impressive parallel parking job (Nayar knows her stuff) we waited in a short line before entering the lobby. We took a look at the band merchandise and then found our seats. Though the crowd was slow to arrive, the theater eventually filled up and the show began just before 8:00pm. What followed was a beautiful display of visuals and incredibly complex sound. Each of the band members seemed to have a whole array of instrumental abilities and they were swapping between pan flutes and guitars and mapuche trutrucas (a long horn made out of chilean bamboo with a cows horn at the end).
At the end of the show they played some classics which got the whole audience up and dancing. Such an incredible performance and I am so lucky that Nayar brought me along.
We rushed to the car to beat the crowd then drove over to El Rancho a small, unassuming building which hosts weekly cueca dancing nights. The venue was packed with huasos wearing traditional chupallas and chamantos (hats and ponchos) while the women wore trajes de china (traditional dresses). There are of course regional-specific accessories which accompany these outfits though I am still not entirely versed in the details.
I sat at a table to reserve seats while Nayar drove to pick up Victor, Sophie and Salvador as well. When they returned, they ordered empanadas, sopaipillas and coca cola for the table. We enjoyed one dance together before I said my goodbyes and headed out for another musical event that evening.
I ran home, quickly changed, and was then picked up by Cristobal to go to a techno night. This was hosted by No Signal Collective at Warehouse II featuring performances from Nplnsss, Urquiaga, Audiotronics, and Cristobal’s friend Pra:via. The music was quality and the venue was super edgy/industrial. We grooved there for six hours (logging over 35,000 steps!) until close at 5:00am.
Day 81 / May 17, 2026
Tired from a long but incredibly fun Saturday, I slept in until noon on Sunday. When I woke up, I cooked some oatmeal, chatted with Val, and then got dressed for the day. At 4:30pm I met up with Camila and Elias at Gravity to do some climbing. We were later joined by Sheila and Cristobal as well.
Not too long after I headed home, made some gnocchi, showered, and went to bed.
Day 82 / May 18, 2026
Monday started with a heinous, unrecognized error on my part. Nayar invited me to her Zumba class near Estadio Bicentenareo Ivan Azocar Bernales which is conveniently located right next to school. However, I mistakenly thought it was an evening class starting at 8:00pm when instead it started bright and early at 8:00am. She sent me a video and I immediately knew I messed up. We are planning on going together next Wednesday morning and I can’t wait!
Adding to my error, my weekend shenanigans and sleep debt caught up to me. I had a sore throat and veryyyy low energy. Nonetheless I bundled up for the 35F weather and dragged myself to school. I continued looking at the Mars geology study from the week prior and then headed down to the lab to make some media in preparation for next week. As there is a vacation on Thursday and likely less people around on Friday as well, there will be minimal work in the lab this week. Instead our focus is on preparing all materials to allow for a smooth start the following Monday.
At around 3:30pm, I headed home, had a quick nap, then began Week 3 of English tutoring with Brisa. She had prepared a paper about herself in the style of Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton and did a great job! This week her homework will be to write a poem “Where I am from” in the style of George Ella Lyon. Next up I had Week 2 class with Francisca who had made a brochure about the history of basketball. She also told me about an app-building competition she was a part of in the last week, hopefully she will hear the good news about advancing to finals very soon!
I enjoyed several cups of tea and attempted to make fried rice (though it turned out more gloopy than it was crispy) before showering and tucking in for an early night.
Day 83 / May 19, 2026
The extra TLC seemed to work and I woke up feeling refreshed. The throat pain had subsided into a dull ache which I treated with more tea and some smooth nutella yogurt for breakfast. Today was exam day in my Cell Biology and Histology class covering all of the content from Mitosis to Meiosis and Gametogenesis. I watched a few YouTube videos at home to cram, and then reviewed my notes as I walked to school. Damn. There are so many, too many, different transcription proteins to remember.
Once we arrived in the classroom, Dr. Charles had us organize the desks into four, spaced-out rows. He handed each of us an exam paper, checked that we weren’t wearing smartwatches etc., then we got to work. This time around, the 20 multiple choice questions felt slightly harder than last time. The essay questions were easier to understand though I realized I did not memorize the right proteins beforehand so was stumped on one of them. Time will tell!
I spent the rest of the day working on this blog post, briefly on my paper, and otherwise filling out a guide for Global Scholarships. I received a DM through LinkedIn last week asking if I would be willing to share about my experience, any application strategies I used, and any advice to future applicants. These kinds of resources can be so useful to reference before committing to such a lengthy application. I agreed in hopes this may offer some more insights to those individuals on the fence about applying.
Tuesday night ended with a quick trip to the climbing gym. I was chatting more with Davide and his upcoming plans to hike Volcan Descabesado with his dad. As something I have also set my sights on, I was psyched to hear all about their plans.
On the way home I did a quick trip to get some groceries and cooked some buffalo chicken dip.
Day 84 / May 20, 2026
Today I had the other exam as part of my course featuring 15 multiple choice questions and 3 short response questions. I spent most of the morning studying and reviewing old lab guides before heading to the testing room for 2:00pm. I think it went well?! At least I left that exam feeling more confident than any others previously.
Unfortunately there had been some mechanical issues with the incubator and spectrophotometer in the lab. These are two critical pieces of equipment that are used daily to support bacterial culture experiments. Though there are a number of specialized mechanics to service the equipment, most of them reside in Santiago so it can be a process to get them to come to Talca. This certainly caused some stress for the team and to ensure no further damage happened, everyone was dismissed early for the day.
I used the extra time to pick up the house and bake a carrot cake before going to Pared. At the climbing gym, Cristobal and I split a honey, chicken, and pepperoni pizza which hit the spot. I got home from climbing at around 8:30pm then changed for another discoteca night. There was a show in the historic 1868 Club Talca building starting at 11pm. Conveniently just a two minute walk from my house!
Cristobal came over at 11:30pm, we split a bottle of pisco sour and were out the door by 12:30am. We met some of the other climbers inside, Diego, Rumi, Consu, and Kathy and boogied until close at 6:00am.
Chau for now! Thank you for coming along! :)
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