Gringo Perspective

There are, as I write, nearly forty eight volunteers spread throughout Chile from my "class"of eight month volunteers (one month down, woo!) which is in addition to a number of year long volunteers who were already in action when we all arrived. The program (Programa Ingles Abre Puertas) took those fifty some-odd folks and sprinkled them all over the length and breadth of the country, and more are on their way in June.

I am in the Grande Norte, the region of Antofagasta, which is not quite at the top of the country; that would Arica. Please refer to the following helpful graphic (click to enlarge, as always):

As it stands currently, I am highest up (so to speak) in the country, the voice crying out in the wilderness of the Atacama desert. However, things are completely different in the bottom of the country where it is below freezing and snowing, or int the rainy middle section for that matter. Thankfully, some other intrepid volunteers are keeping blogs themselves and I figured I would clue you in on the tapestry of perspective that is being woven on the internet concerning Chile and it's education system.

Starting at the top there is of course myself, your humble narrator. Moving south we have fellow Antofagasta region volunteer, New York Surfer Mike Conway. He is in the coastal desert hamlet of Taltal.
Mike's Blog.

In the middle, the Valparaiso region, we find Heather Tang who prior to coming to Chile had experience teaching in Japan for over a year. She updates regularly and has plenty of good stuff in her archive.
Heather's Blog.

In El Sur, in the rainy forest lands of Los Rios, we have what will be the husband and wife team of Jason and Kori. Right now it is just Jason, but he keeps a fabulous blog filled with photos and videos he records himself.
Jason's Blog.

Unfortunately I don't know of anyone blogging in the Patagonia Norte region, even though there are volunteers there. However, to compensate, there are two blogs covering the Patagonia Sur: Marie's and Greg's. Greg is in Puento Arenas, which is the southernmost city in Chile, and one of the farthest south in the world. Almost the bottom you might say.
Marie's Blog
Greg's Blog

I'm sure there are probably a few others keeping an online record of their experiences, but these at least give you an opportunity to begin to expand you understanding of Chile via the perspective of a bunch of Gringos trying to be teachers in the schools from the North to the very far South.

For future reference, I have added links to these blogs in the sidebar to the right of the page.