We woke up at the hostel and all got ready for our long trip (during the day time) back to Santiago, Chile. After getting ready we sat down to eat breakfast and called our cab. After we got done with breakfast the cab came and we went to the bus terminal.
The bus terminal was quiet (as we all were since this weekend had exhausted us). We waited to get on the bus, got on the bus, and Emma fell asleep. I almost did a couple times as well. We purposely took the day time bus because the trip over the Andes Mountains is supposedly marvelous. I can be honest, it was. Leaving the Argentine highlands and going up and up into the mountains only to reach the border (where the same border crossing procedure as before went down). After the border you descend from the snow covered mountains into different ecosystems until finally reaching the central valley of Chile and Santiago. It really was a beautiful ride. Well worth the time we missed hanging out in either city. I highly recommend the trip to people in the region.
It is really odd how when you are abroad (especially a semester abroad) you really get to feel like there is a place you call home or "home away from home". Smog filled Santiago is that to me. When you can look out and see the apartment buildings, the foothills and Andes in the distance. There is something that every time I return makes me feel like I am at home.
Showing posts with label Chile 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile 2008. Show all posts
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Isla Negra and Valparaiso
Like I have probably said before the program that I am with... Institute for Study Abroad through Butler University, a few times in the semester does little day trips to different areas around Santiago in the hopes of helping us learn more about the culture and the country. On this Saturday in November the IFSA program put together a trip to two towns on the coast of Chile, Isla Negra (Black Island) and Valparaiso. Just to clear up any confusion that might already be starting Isla Negra is not actually an Island and to be totally honest it isn't even close to a real Island. I have no idea how it got its name, but I was a little disappointed when I figured this out, so I didn't want to get your hopes up as well.
In my blog about Valle de Elqui, I talked about Gabriela Mistral, the first Chilean to receive a Nobel Prize (literature - 1945). Well, if Gabriela Mistral was the first and not the only, there must be another Chilean Nobel Laureate huh? You are correct. Pablo Neruda, definitely the most famous Chilean author, was the second and final Chilean to receive a Nobel Prize again in Literature (1971). Neruda's poetry is beloved all around this country. My new host mother loves Neruda and has two books that comprise most of his works. Neruda, like most of the poets in Chile was from the left wing of the political perspective. Besides being a well known poet he also worked as a Chilean diplomat and politician. He was a member of the Chilean Communist party. He died shortly after the Chilean coup in 1973.
Isla Negra is famous because it was host to Neruda's beach home which has now been converted into a museum. Neruda had many odd collections in his life and this house has many of the collections preserved and on display. Photos of Isla Negra should be on Flickr if you look.
My criticism of Pablo Neruda is that he didn't practice what he preached. Most communists/socialists try to live simple lives because they believe that wealth should be shared. Well, Neruda had three homes in Chile... one in Santiago, one in Isla Negra, and one in Valapariso. It seems a little extravagant to me especially for a poet. More over these homes had no real practical purpose. It is not like he had to have a Valapariso home or the Isla Negra home. I feel it is different when people have properties because they spend considerable time at each place. For example if a US Senator has a home in his home state as well as a home in Washington DC, because he/she spends a lot of time working in Washington.
After we visited Isla Negra, we visited Valapariso a port city that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took a tour of the city and learned about its history. The city is quite remarkable really. It is placed on a hill thus everyone lives farther up the hill and works at the lower part of the city. This meant that it was hard to walk up and down the hills every day (especially since Chileans go home for lunch and return to work in the afternoon). Since this was a difficulty Funiculars and Elevators were built around the city. In most places a ride on one of these funiculars costs about 100 pesos or about 25 cents. It is probably one of the main reasons Valapariso was accepted as a world heritage site. They are quite unique.
The city is also very colorful. If you look on the side of the hill, it seems like every house is a different shade of a bright color. This is because historically, the seamen who lived in the city would paint their house a bright color so that when they were out on the boat they could pick it out on the hill side. On the right side of the blog there is a link to the wikipedia site about Valapariso. I hope you check it out because you could see pictures and learn more about the city.
The tour was very nice and that evening we returned to Santiago. I was wore out by all of the traveling, so I ate dinner and went to bed.
It is a little funny because all of my blogs end with me going to bed. The truth is I don't go out that much in Santiago A.) because it is expensive and I would rather spend my money on other things and B.) I just get tired from the days here. It seems like it is so much more work because unlike UST, you have to take public transportation or walk all over the city to get to your classes or really to do anything. This wears a person out!! =)
In my blog about Valle de Elqui, I talked about Gabriela Mistral, the first Chilean to receive a Nobel Prize (literature - 1945). Well, if Gabriela Mistral was the first and not the only, there must be another Chilean Nobel Laureate huh? You are correct. Pablo Neruda, definitely the most famous Chilean author, was the second and final Chilean to receive a Nobel Prize again in Literature (1971). Neruda's poetry is beloved all around this country. My new host mother loves Neruda and has two books that comprise most of his works. Neruda, like most of the poets in Chile was from the left wing of the political perspective. Besides being a well known poet he also worked as a Chilean diplomat and politician. He was a member of the Chilean Communist party. He died shortly after the Chilean coup in 1973.
Isla Negra is famous because it was host to Neruda's beach home which has now been converted into a museum. Neruda had many odd collections in his life and this house has many of the collections preserved and on display. Photos of Isla Negra should be on Flickr if you look.
My criticism of Pablo Neruda is that he didn't practice what he preached. Most communists/socialists try to live simple lives because they believe that wealth should be shared. Well, Neruda had three homes in Chile... one in Santiago, one in Isla Negra, and one in Valapariso. It seems a little extravagant to me especially for a poet. More over these homes had no real practical purpose. It is not like he had to have a Valapariso home or the Isla Negra home. I feel it is different when people have properties because they spend considerable time at each place. For example if a US Senator has a home in his home state as well as a home in Washington DC, because he/she spends a lot of time working in Washington.
After we visited Isla Negra, we visited Valapariso a port city that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took a tour of the city and learned about its history. The city is quite remarkable really. It is placed on a hill thus everyone lives farther up the hill and works at the lower part of the city. This meant that it was hard to walk up and down the hills every day (especially since Chileans go home for lunch and return to work in the afternoon). Since this was a difficulty Funiculars and Elevators were built around the city. In most places a ride on one of these funiculars costs about 100 pesos or about 25 cents. It is probably one of the main reasons Valapariso was accepted as a world heritage site. They are quite unique.
The city is also very colorful. If you look on the side of the hill, it seems like every house is a different shade of a bright color. This is because historically, the seamen who lived in the city would paint their house a bright color so that when they were out on the boat they could pick it out on the hill side. On the right side of the blog there is a link to the wikipedia site about Valapariso. I hope you check it out because you could see pictures and learn more about the city.
The tour was very nice and that evening we returned to Santiago. I was wore out by all of the traveling, so I ate dinner and went to bed.
It is a little funny because all of my blogs end with me going to bed. The truth is I don't go out that much in Santiago A.) because it is expensive and I would rather spend my money on other things and B.) I just get tired from the days here. It seems like it is so much more work because unlike UST, you have to take public transportation or walk all over the city to get to your classes or really to do anything. This wears a person out!! =)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Jupiter and the Southern Cross
This blog picks up from the Valle de Elqui blog.
After spending the day touring the valley we were left at Vicunia to hang out for the evening. We were suppose to meet the guide at the Mamalluca Observatory offices in Vicunia. We ended up waiting for a pretty long time, when he all of a sudden showed up. We went to the van with the guide and jumped in the van and were off to the races. Literally, the guide drove the van like we were in the Indy 500 through dirt roads. Every turn it seemed as if there was a road block and thus we had to make a quick turn around the corner to miss certain death. The guide informed us that the town always had construction and thus he never knew exactly the correct direction to the observatory since there were detours. It was an interesting ride to say the least. We finally made it to the observatory and we got out of the van in complete darkness. On the grounds of the observatory there were only a few lights where there were steps, but most of the grounds didn't have steps just ramps so that the use of lights was not needed.
Why would there be an observatory in northern Chile for tourists? Why is northern Chile a hub for astronomy? Well, let me tell you. Northern Chile is one of the most clear places in the world in relation to weather patterns and clouds. If you remember from my earlier posts the Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world, thus, as you can imagine there are only one or two days a year with clouds in northern Chile. Also, the desert climate makes human population difficult, thus there are very few lights that cause light pollution in the area. The only other place in the world with these same geographic details is Namibia in Africa. Namibia is not as stable of a government, thus Chile becomes the most desirable place in the world for observatories.
Both the European Union and the United States have their main telescopes in this northern region of Chile. They continue to plan to make more and bigger telescopes in the region. These plans though were put to a halt a few years ago because light pollution had become quite a problem in northern Chile. Thus the foreign governments, mainly the EU and the US, told Chile that unless they enacted a law that required special night time lights that decrease light pollution they would not build their telescopes in Chile. The Chilean government thus accordingly enacted a law that says that people will be fined if they have any outdoor lights that are not of the special night time lights required. You know these lights because we have them in the US as well. The difference is between the clear white lights that you sometimes see and the orange lights that are the special night time lights. In most of the world people have switched almost fully to the special night time lights --- especially local and regional governments. (I know this because my dad works on projects such as these.) I have also always wanted to know there makes a difference between lamp posts that have globes (like in New Prague) versus lamp posts that direct the light down towards the road. It would seem more likely that the lamp posts that direct the light down towards the ground would preserve more light and thus cause less light pollution. If you know you should tell me.
Anyways, our tour was very, very good. We went between stations observing the absolutely clear night sky. In the main observatory we saw stars in the telescope that were 2,000 light years away. This idea blew me away. This light year idea is so amazing. What it means is that the light you see in the telescope was given off 2,000 years ago and we are just seeing it now because it is that far away. Thus, if you were on that star and looking in a very powerful telescope at earth you would see a reflection of earth that would be during the time of Christ. Crazy huh? I think so. We also saw Jupiter, which is much closer to earth compared to these stars. Another thing I learned and thought was extremely interesting is that the most powerful telescopes in the world (well all the telescopes in the world) will only show you the pictures of planets and stars in black and white because our eyes cannot comprehend or register the colors. Which is also extremely interesting. Thus any pictures you see of planets and stars are doctored images not direct images. The images are what you would see if our eyes could comprehend the colors in the telescope.
At another station we were taught how to observe the night sky and find our direction in the south. Unlike the northern hemisphere the south doesn't have a star that is always in the south. Thus you have to use the southern cross to determine the center of the sky in the south. It is so beyond my understanding that from these points our entire sky pivots. I feel like once you understand this concept it is much easier to understand the position of the sky. We were also shown the zodiac star patterns. It was interesting to learn that you will never see your zodiac on your birthday because it is always hidden and not visible to viewers anywhere in the world. Since we went in September I could just see part of my zodiac symbol, Libra (October), but if I went back to the observatory today, I would not be able to see it. We also were able to see very clearly the milky way galaxy.
At one of these stations there was a group of students that were talking about what they were seeing. It was interesting to overhear what they were saying. (I must admit that they were a little ditzy, so that already affected my perception of them, but what they said made me think a lot.) They said that they found everything very interesting but that since they were Christian they didn't believe that these stars were really around for millions of years because God created the earth only so many years ago--- blah blah blah. You know the debate. It was just totally beyond my imagination that someone could think that these scientists who are really smart are just lying and that they really don't know anything. Then it made me start to question the importance of this idea (years etc.) in my faith and whether I could believe science and still at the same time believe my Christian faith.
I would love to hear other people's perspectives on this. My conclusion has been this so far: We can't possibly understand the creation of the universe and the process that God went through. The Bible is definitely the world of God, but it is not necessarily to be taken literally (7 days), something I know my Lutheran faith doesn't agree with me on. The most important conclusion that I came to is that the most important thing I have to believe is that Jesus Christ came to die for my sins and that through his Grace and my Faith, I am saved. The details of the creation of the universe or whether communion changes into the body and blood or is symbolic or is something else are mere details in my relationship with Christ. Maybe I am off my rocker, but I really need some other perspectives on this.
In any case, this tour has been one of the highlights of my entire trip. It was so fascinating and seeing the stars in this clear night sky was absolutely fantastic. If you ever get the chance to visit Chile or more specifically La Serena, I highly suggest it. If you can't visit Chile there is the Mamalluca Website that looks quite interesting as well.
After the tour we were driven back to La Serena and to our hostels. We were very tired from the long day of touring, so we hit the sack.
After spending the day touring the valley we were left at Vicunia to hang out for the evening. We were suppose to meet the guide at the Mamalluca Observatory offices in Vicunia. We ended up waiting for a pretty long time, when he all of a sudden showed up. We went to the van with the guide and jumped in the van and were off to the races. Literally, the guide drove the van like we were in the Indy 500 through dirt roads. Every turn it seemed as if there was a road block and thus we had to make a quick turn around the corner to miss certain death. The guide informed us that the town always had construction and thus he never knew exactly the correct direction to the observatory since there were detours. It was an interesting ride to say the least. We finally made it to the observatory and we got out of the van in complete darkness. On the grounds of the observatory there were only a few lights where there were steps, but most of the grounds didn't have steps just ramps so that the use of lights was not needed.
Why would there be an observatory in northern Chile for tourists? Why is northern Chile a hub for astronomy? Well, let me tell you. Northern Chile is one of the most clear places in the world in relation to weather patterns and clouds. If you remember from my earlier posts the Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world, thus, as you can imagine there are only one or two days a year with clouds in northern Chile. Also, the desert climate makes human population difficult, thus there are very few lights that cause light pollution in the area. The only other place in the world with these same geographic details is Namibia in Africa. Namibia is not as stable of a government, thus Chile becomes the most desirable place in the world for observatories.
Both the European Union and the United States have their main telescopes in this northern region of Chile. They continue to plan to make more and bigger telescopes in the region. These plans though were put to a halt a few years ago because light pollution had become quite a problem in northern Chile. Thus the foreign governments, mainly the EU and the US, told Chile that unless they enacted a law that required special night time lights that decrease light pollution they would not build their telescopes in Chile. The Chilean government thus accordingly enacted a law that says that people will be fined if they have any outdoor lights that are not of the special night time lights required. You know these lights because we have them in the US as well. The difference is between the clear white lights that you sometimes see and the orange lights that are the special night time lights. In most of the world people have switched almost fully to the special night time lights --- especially local and regional governments. (I know this because my dad works on projects such as these.) I have also always wanted to know there makes a difference between lamp posts that have globes (like in New Prague) versus lamp posts that direct the light down towards the road. It would seem more likely that the lamp posts that direct the light down towards the ground would preserve more light and thus cause less light pollution. If you know you should tell me.
Anyways, our tour was very, very good. We went between stations observing the absolutely clear night sky. In the main observatory we saw stars in the telescope that were 2,000 light years away. This idea blew me away. This light year idea is so amazing. What it means is that the light you see in the telescope was given off 2,000 years ago and we are just seeing it now because it is that far away. Thus, if you were on that star and looking in a very powerful telescope at earth you would see a reflection of earth that would be during the time of Christ. Crazy huh? I think so. We also saw Jupiter, which is much closer to earth compared to these stars. Another thing I learned and thought was extremely interesting is that the most powerful telescopes in the world (well all the telescopes in the world) will only show you the pictures of planets and stars in black and white because our eyes cannot comprehend or register the colors. Which is also extremely interesting. Thus any pictures you see of planets and stars are doctored images not direct images. The images are what you would see if our eyes could comprehend the colors in the telescope.
At another station we were taught how to observe the night sky and find our direction in the south. Unlike the northern hemisphere the south doesn't have a star that is always in the south. Thus you have to use the southern cross to determine the center of the sky in the south. It is so beyond my understanding that from these points our entire sky pivots. I feel like once you understand this concept it is much easier to understand the position of the sky. We were also shown the zodiac star patterns. It was interesting to learn that you will never see your zodiac on your birthday because it is always hidden and not visible to viewers anywhere in the world. Since we went in September I could just see part of my zodiac symbol, Libra (October), but if I went back to the observatory today, I would not be able to see it. We also were able to see very clearly the milky way galaxy.
At one of these stations there was a group of students that were talking about what they were seeing. It was interesting to overhear what they were saying. (I must admit that they were a little ditzy, so that already affected my perception of them, but what they said made me think a lot.) They said that they found everything very interesting but that since they were Christian they didn't believe that these stars were really around for millions of years because God created the earth only so many years ago--- blah blah blah. You know the debate. It was just totally beyond my imagination that someone could think that these scientists who are really smart are just lying and that they really don't know anything. Then it made me start to question the importance of this idea (years etc.) in my faith and whether I could believe science and still at the same time believe my Christian faith.
I would love to hear other people's perspectives on this. My conclusion has been this so far: We can't possibly understand the creation of the universe and the process that God went through. The Bible is definitely the world of God, but it is not necessarily to be taken literally (7 days), something I know my Lutheran faith doesn't agree with me on. The most important conclusion that I came to is that the most important thing I have to believe is that Jesus Christ came to die for my sins and that through his Grace and my Faith, I am saved. The details of the creation of the universe or whether communion changes into the body and blood or is symbolic or is something else are mere details in my relationship with Christ. Maybe I am off my rocker, but I really need some other perspectives on this.
In any case, this tour has been one of the highlights of my entire trip. It was so fascinating and seeing the stars in this clear night sky was absolutely fantastic. If you ever get the chance to visit Chile or more specifically La Serena, I highly suggest it. If you can't visit Chile there is the Mamalluca Website that looks quite interesting as well.
After the tour we were driven back to La Serena and to our hostels. We were very tired from the long day of touring, so we hit the sack.
Valle de Elqui
La Serena is a historical city in Chile, but most people go to La Serena because it is the front door to the Valle de Elqui a absolutely beautiful valley formed by the Elqui River. This valley is a prime place for growing grapes because of the winds and perfect light conditions.
We signed up for a Valle tour our first day in La Serena because we knew that is was a must on our visit list. We were picked up by our tour guide in a large van early in the morning from our hostel. After a short introduction to the tour and the local area we were off to the valley. During the tour we stopped a number of different places including a farm for the fruit chirimoya. If you click on the link it will take you to the wikipedia site for the fruit so you can see a picture and learn more about it. It is a very popular fruit in Chile, and I don't believe that there is an equivalent in the United States.
After the chirimoya farm we went to quite a few little towns in the valley which were all quite quaint. Most of them had a church that was very nice looking and of course good views of the Elqui River.
We also visited a dam that was built on the river. it regulates the water in times of floods and provides and excellent source of electricity. At the dam there was a very neat sculpture that had been designed as a gift to the Chilean people. It was a sculpture that had strings tied across it and as the wind blew through the valley and over the dam, the wind would vibrate the strings which were tuned to make a very harmonious sound. It was a really unique item. The dam had a side section that served as an emergency route when high water approached the top of the dam. In this section you could see very large fish swimming. Many people find dams like this to be horrible for the environment and I am sure that they are in some cases, however this dam and a debate on dams in Patagonia for my Spanish class forced me to research dams. The truth is you can actually build dams that do not hinder the ability of fish to spawn and you can create dams that are less envasive on the environment. I am not sure if this dam was built in this fashion, but I hope those fish survive.
After the dam we went to an artisan pisco factory. Pisco is kind of like a whisky however it is made from fermented grapes instead of fermented grain. The factory sells pisco which is artisan, meaning that it is made in small quantities and only sold in special places.. or it could also just be a tourist snag. Either way, I fell for it and bought some of the artisan pisco so that I can bring it home and share it with people. They also produced a special line of mango sour a drink where mango juice and pisco are mixed. I also bought some of this to bring home as well. I tried it and it was very, very good. The mango is a fruit which is grown all over the Elqui valley and thus, mango sour is a nice touch to remember the valley.
Our lunch was included and we went to this little hostel/restaurant that seemed like it was in a little crevice of the valley where no one could find it. The food was very good and after lunch we had the opportunity to chill in their lush green backyard. The people were especially friendly and I had a long conversation with one of the waitresses after lunch.
Pisco Elqui is a town that is named because of the abundance of pisco plants and factories in the valley. It is a famous town for the region which hosts many tourists throughout the tourist season. Rumor has it that the Chilean Government changed the town's name by law to Pisco Elqui in an effort to show that pisco is actually a Chilean invention. This fight between Peru and Chile continues today. Many people on both sides believe that Pisco was originally their drink. Thus there are "pisco" cities, valleys, rivers, roads, etc. to try and make that clear. I will not take a position on this on going fight, I will just say that I very much enjoy a fresh pisco sour now and then. In Pisco Elqui our tour group got about a half hour to enjoy the little town and visit the church and other historical sights.
After Pisco Elqui normally the tour would go the birth place of Gabriel Mistral, however, because our group wanted to visit the Elqui river our guide drove us to the river instead. We all got our feet wet in the river, but it was extremely cold because the water is straight from the snow melt. While it was bone chillingly cold, it was refreshing. After the river most of us fell asleep on our ride to Vicunia one of the larger cities in the valley.
Vicunia is the birth town of Gabriel Mistral, and author and winner of the first Chilean Nobel Prize in Literature. In the town there is a museum dedicated to her as well as just a nice little pueblito (little town). Our group was let off here for a few hours because we had reservations for a Observatory Tour that evening in Vicunia, thus we were allowed to hang out in the city while the others returned to La Serena and the tour guide brought a new group of tourists into the valley. During our few hours of freedom we got dinner and ice cream. It was a fun time just hanging out and the ice cream was delicious. Rumor has it that in Vicunia you can find Avacado flavored ice cream. We looked but didn't end up finding it.
We signed up for a Valle tour our first day in La Serena because we knew that is was a must on our visit list. We were picked up by our tour guide in a large van early in the morning from our hostel. After a short introduction to the tour and the local area we were off to the valley. During the tour we stopped a number of different places including a farm for the fruit chirimoya. If you click on the link it will take you to the wikipedia site for the fruit so you can see a picture and learn more about it. It is a very popular fruit in Chile, and I don't believe that there is an equivalent in the United States.
After the chirimoya farm we went to quite a few little towns in the valley which were all quite quaint. Most of them had a church that was very nice looking and of course good views of the Elqui River.
We also visited a dam that was built on the river. it regulates the water in times of floods and provides and excellent source of electricity. At the dam there was a very neat sculpture that had been designed as a gift to the Chilean people. It was a sculpture that had strings tied across it and as the wind blew through the valley and over the dam, the wind would vibrate the strings which were tuned to make a very harmonious sound. It was a really unique item. The dam had a side section that served as an emergency route when high water approached the top of the dam. In this section you could see very large fish swimming. Many people find dams like this to be horrible for the environment and I am sure that they are in some cases, however this dam and a debate on dams in Patagonia for my Spanish class forced me to research dams. The truth is you can actually build dams that do not hinder the ability of fish to spawn and you can create dams that are less envasive on the environment. I am not sure if this dam was built in this fashion, but I hope those fish survive.
After the dam we went to an artisan pisco factory. Pisco is kind of like a whisky however it is made from fermented grapes instead of fermented grain. The factory sells pisco which is artisan, meaning that it is made in small quantities and only sold in special places.. or it could also just be a tourist snag. Either way, I fell for it and bought some of the artisan pisco so that I can bring it home and share it with people. They also produced a special line of mango sour a drink where mango juice and pisco are mixed. I also bought some of this to bring home as well. I tried it and it was very, very good. The mango is a fruit which is grown all over the Elqui valley and thus, mango sour is a nice touch to remember the valley.
Our lunch was included and we went to this little hostel/restaurant that seemed like it was in a little crevice of the valley where no one could find it. The food was very good and after lunch we had the opportunity to chill in their lush green backyard. The people were especially friendly and I had a long conversation with one of the waitresses after lunch.
Pisco Elqui is a town that is named because of the abundance of pisco plants and factories in the valley. It is a famous town for the region which hosts many tourists throughout the tourist season. Rumor has it that the Chilean Government changed the town's name by law to Pisco Elqui in an effort to show that pisco is actually a Chilean invention. This fight between Peru and Chile continues today. Many people on both sides believe that Pisco was originally their drink. Thus there are "pisco" cities, valleys, rivers, roads, etc. to try and make that clear. I will not take a position on this on going fight, I will just say that I very much enjoy a fresh pisco sour now and then. In Pisco Elqui our tour group got about a half hour to enjoy the little town and visit the church and other historical sights.
After Pisco Elqui normally the tour would go the birth place of Gabriel Mistral, however, because our group wanted to visit the Elqui river our guide drove us to the river instead. We all got our feet wet in the river, but it was extremely cold because the water is straight from the snow melt. While it was bone chillingly cold, it was refreshing. After the river most of us fell asleep on our ride to Vicunia one of the larger cities in the valley.
Vicunia is the birth town of Gabriel Mistral, and author and winner of the first Chilean Nobel Prize in Literature. In the town there is a museum dedicated to her as well as just a nice little pueblito (little town). Our group was let off here for a few hours because we had reservations for a Observatory Tour that evening in Vicunia, thus we were allowed to hang out in the city while the others returned to La Serena and the tour guide brought a new group of tourists into the valley. During our few hours of freedom we got dinner and ice cream. It was a fun time just hanging out and the ice cream was delicious. Rumor has it that in Vicunia you can find Avacado flavored ice cream. We looked but didn't end up finding it.
Chilean Indpendence Day
We woke up around 1:30pm. It was really hard to do, but we knew that we didn't want to waste any time sleeping when we could be exploring the city and most importantly the beach. We took showers and got ready for the day and then we were off to fill our empty stomachs.
EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. It was their Indpendence Day, I know, however everything was closed. We had all been told that La Serena was the 'place to be' for the 18th of September and the entire town looked like sleepy hollow. We finally found a place that was open for lunch and we ate there. I had a meal that consisted of 3 plates for 5 bucks. It was very good, however the desert was really strange. It was a peach that was in some suguary sauce with little nuts. It tried it and wasn't that thrilled, so I shared it with everyone and got some ice cream instead. The waiter said that this desert was a typical Chilean dessert. I wasn't impressed.
After lunch we went to the beach and the famous La Serena lighthouse. It was so much fun and we just chilled on the beach for quite awhile taking pictures of the sea, the lighthouse, and each other. We had a great time and the best part was that we sat and watched a fantastic sunset over the sea. It was absolutely fantastic seeing both the sunset and sunrise within a 24 hour period.
After the sunset we walked back to the hostel to change clothes and get ready for the Independence Day Fonda (party)! The Fonda was in Coquimbo and we took a very expensive taxi to get there. We first went to a place to eat and I had the best pizza I have had in Chile. It was fantastic. It was in a little restaurant close to where we went out the night before.
After dinner we took a collectivo (a cheaper ride) up the hill to the Fonda. I did´t know waht to expect at the fonda and was really surprised when I got there. It was more like a state fair or city celebration then a party. There were places to buy EVERYTHING from cowboy hats, to shoes, to other items. There were places to play bingo, drink alcohol, eat empanadas, and ride rides etc. It was fun to walk around and enjoy the sights but it wasn´t exactly what I expected it to be. We stayed for an hour or so soaking in the 'traditional' fonda, but we all were tired from our party the night before and new we had our tour of the Elqui Valley the next day. So we decided that returning to the hostel, via bus, was a better idea. We did that and called it an 'early' night.
EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. It was their Indpendence Day, I know, however everything was closed. We had all been told that La Serena was the 'place to be' for the 18th of September and the entire town looked like sleepy hollow. We finally found a place that was open for lunch and we ate there. I had a meal that consisted of 3 plates for 5 bucks. It was very good, however the desert was really strange. It was a peach that was in some suguary sauce with little nuts. It tried it and wasn't that thrilled, so I shared it with everyone and got some ice cream instead. The waiter said that this desert was a typical Chilean dessert. I wasn't impressed.
After lunch we went to the beach and the famous La Serena lighthouse. It was so much fun and we just chilled on the beach for quite awhile taking pictures of the sea, the lighthouse, and each other. We had a great time and the best part was that we sat and watched a fantastic sunset over the sea. It was absolutely fantastic seeing both the sunset and sunrise within a 24 hour period.
After the sunset we walked back to the hostel to change clothes and get ready for the Independence Day Fonda (party)! The Fonda was in Coquimbo and we took a very expensive taxi to get there. We first went to a place to eat and I had the best pizza I have had in Chile. It was fantastic. It was in a little restaurant close to where we went out the night before.
After dinner we took a collectivo (a cheaper ride) up the hill to the Fonda. I did´t know waht to expect at the fonda and was really surprised when I got there. It was more like a state fair or city celebration then a party. There were places to buy EVERYTHING from cowboy hats, to shoes, to other items. There were places to play bingo, drink alcohol, eat empanadas, and ride rides etc. It was fun to walk around and enjoy the sights but it wasn´t exactly what I expected it to be. We stayed for an hour or so soaking in the 'traditional' fonda, but we all were tired from our party the night before and new we had our tour of the Elqui Valley the next day. So we decided that returning to the hostel, via bus, was a better idea. We did that and called it an 'early' night.
Weekend in La Serena
For the weekend of September 18th (Chilean Indpendence Day) a group of COPA students, including me, went to La Serena, Chile. La Serena is the third oldest city in Chile after Santiago and Arica. I had class on Wednesday, September 17th, unlike most of my fellow students, so I went to my geography class at 8:30am and then I went straight to the bus terminal after class to meet Sarah Reingold, a COPA student who was riding on the same bus as me.
The bus ride was long, but definitely not the longest bus ride I have ever been on. It was 7 hours to La Serena and supposedly by personal car it was suppose to be about 4, so that was irritating, but the ride was beautiful. Especially when the panamerican highway went along the coast and you could see the beautiful Pacific Ocean and the amazing waves crashing along side the coast. It was absolutely gorgeous.
We arrived in La Serena and grabbed a taxi to our hostel. The hostel was very nice and in a part of town that seemed very safe, which was good. After we got to the hostel we called our other friends who were going to meet us in La Serena. We met Carla, Dorien, Amy, and Ruth at the Plaza de Armas after we grabbed some dinner at a little restaurant in town.
La Serena reminded me a lot of the center part of Lublin, Poland or Vilinus, Lithuania. Especially since in these cities like in La Serena the center was extremely developed and European looking, however the outskirts of the town were a little more sketchy/non-developed. Overall, it has been interesting to see the extreme influence of Europe in many of the places I have traveled to in Chile.
We met up with the group and went out to a bar to hang out for a little while because it was pretty early (by Chilean standards). Carla and Dorien knew a Chilean, who was taking a Law classes on Human Rights with them, and lived in La Serena. He got into contact with some of his friends in La Serena and we arranged to go out with them that night. Which was interesting, especially since I didn´t know them (and neither did the girls), but we got together with them and they took us to one of their friends house. It was a good time as we got to know Chileans and such.
We left their house later and went to meet Carla and Dorien´s Law school friend at the bus station since his bus got in around midnight (yeah midnight--- I don´t know how I survive all these Chilean shinanigans.) After that we went to a town nearby called Coquimbo which had a lot of bars, etc. We went to one that was very special because it had dancing.
The Chileans have a national dance named the Cueca. The bar that we went to had people dancing cueca which was fun to watch, however very, very difficult to learn (especially since you all probably know that I am the worst dancer in the world). You can see the cueca in this youtube video. It is quite the sultury dance if I say so myself. The man and woman are not suppose to stop looking into each other´s eyes unless they are turning, creating some very 'hot' moments.
At the bar we also tried Chica a very sweet drink that is taken during the Chilean Independence Day weekend. I definitely tried it, but at the same time was scared to beacuse many people had told me that it was dangerous!! Supposedly, the reason it is so dangerous is because you think that it is just a sweet drink and it is actually a very potent drink. Thus, you end up getting tan barracho muy rapido (very durnk very fast). I had one drink glass and thought I would die (due to the warnings), so I didn't have anymore. Other people just kept drinking it and never did get sick... so I guess its just another thing Chileans get really scared about, but really don't know what they are talking about.
We closed the bar (something I didn't think I would ever do in my life and something I will probably never do again) but it was fun. We then went to the beach and hung out there and watched the sunrise over the mountains on the 18th of September (the Chilean Independence Day). I can now say that I have gone 24 hours without sleeping, which again, I thought I never could do. After we saw the sun rise, we returned to the hostel and promptly went to bed althogh I wasn´t really that tired at the moment. It was good to get some sleep though for the next day.
The bus ride was long, but definitely not the longest bus ride I have ever been on. It was 7 hours to La Serena and supposedly by personal car it was suppose to be about 4, so that was irritating, but the ride was beautiful. Especially when the panamerican highway went along the coast and you could see the beautiful Pacific Ocean and the amazing waves crashing along side the coast. It was absolutely gorgeous.
We arrived in La Serena and grabbed a taxi to our hostel. The hostel was very nice and in a part of town that seemed very safe, which was good. After we got to the hostel we called our other friends who were going to meet us in La Serena. We met Carla, Dorien, Amy, and Ruth at the Plaza de Armas after we grabbed some dinner at a little restaurant in town.
La Serena reminded me a lot of the center part of Lublin, Poland or Vilinus, Lithuania. Especially since in these cities like in La Serena the center was extremely developed and European looking, however the outskirts of the town were a little more sketchy/non-developed. Overall, it has been interesting to see the extreme influence of Europe in many of the places I have traveled to in Chile.
We met up with the group and went out to a bar to hang out for a little while because it was pretty early (by Chilean standards). Carla and Dorien knew a Chilean, who was taking a Law classes on Human Rights with them, and lived in La Serena. He got into contact with some of his friends in La Serena and we arranged to go out with them that night. Which was interesting, especially since I didn´t know them (and neither did the girls), but we got together with them and they took us to one of their friends house. It was a good time as we got to know Chileans and such.
We left their house later and went to meet Carla and Dorien´s Law school friend at the bus station since his bus got in around midnight (yeah midnight--- I don´t know how I survive all these Chilean shinanigans.) After that we went to a town nearby called Coquimbo which had a lot of bars, etc. We went to one that was very special because it had dancing.
The Chileans have a national dance named the Cueca. The bar that we went to had people dancing cueca which was fun to watch, however very, very difficult to learn (especially since you all probably know that I am the worst dancer in the world). You can see the cueca in this youtube video. It is quite the sultury dance if I say so myself. The man and woman are not suppose to stop looking into each other´s eyes unless they are turning, creating some very 'hot' moments.
At the bar we also tried Chica a very sweet drink that is taken during the Chilean Independence Day weekend. I definitely tried it, but at the same time was scared to beacuse many people had told me that it was dangerous!! Supposedly, the reason it is so dangerous is because you think that it is just a sweet drink and it is actually a very potent drink. Thus, you end up getting tan barracho muy rapido (very durnk very fast). I had one drink glass and thought I would die (due to the warnings), so I didn't have anymore. Other people just kept drinking it and never did get sick... so I guess its just another thing Chileans get really scared about, but really don't know what they are talking about.
We closed the bar (something I didn't think I would ever do in my life and something I will probably never do again) but it was fun. We then went to the beach and hung out there and watched the sunrise over the mountains on the 18th of September (the Chilean Independence Day). I can now say that I have gone 24 hours without sleeping, which again, I thought I never could do. After we saw the sun rise, we returned to the hostel and promptly went to bed althogh I wasn´t really that tired at the moment. It was good to get some sleep though for the next day.
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