Oh what a weekend it has been. I realized I haven’t updated this guy in a while and that’s basically because life has been rather routine for a while here in Viña, but this past weekend me and all of the IFSA Butler students got the treat of spending a weekend in the beach town of La Serena on the programs tab. Always a good start.
So we were excused from classes on Thursday and instead took the 6 hour bus ride north. With a stop over for lunch we arrived in La Serena around 7. After going to the grocery store we moved into our cabanas and then went for a walk on the beach. That night, Ned and I went to meet up with some Germans and Chileans for a great meal and then went to a club. I realized the next day not only did I have a ton of fun but we also didn’t wake up wreaking of cigarettes. Win Win situation. Ned and I made it home around 3:00 and weren’t ready to go to bed so we decided to wake up Anna so she could enjoy our stories. After a late night taco we went to bed.
The next morning we slept in and then me and Ned decided to venture into town. We asked the bus driver if he could take us there and after he said yes we decided to go with him. Too bad he lied and actually took us to another city, but its an adventure right? The bus driver then forgot to tell us when we got to the plaza and continued to drive around. Finally when he realized we were the only ones on the bus he felt bad so he drove us to this awesome monument called the cross of the third millennium. It is a giant church, that you can go to the top and look out over the bay and the entire city. What a view. From there we could see into the world cup stadium from the 1950s and also we could see where we originally wanted to go. We decided it’s a lot easier to map ones journey from a birds eye view. We headed back down and into town passing through a vegetable market that was also selling baby ducklings for 2 dollars. We almost bought one. I made the interesting observation that at all the little vendor stands people sell the weirdest things. For example one person was selling kitchen knives, socks and door handles. If anyone can tell me the common thread between those three I will be very impressed. After the market we went to the beach for the first time, The sun was shining the water was warm and it ws a perfect beach day. There is something euphoric about floating in the ocean with the waves crashing all around you. We then decided to play some soccer on the beach and after our warm up game with Ned Anna and Jeff we were challenged by a couple of Chileans. It was so much fun to play an international soccer game on the beach. To cap off the beach day me and Ned surprised Anna with her favorite animal shell, a crap, on her back.
We ate dinner early that day so we could be ready to go to Valle De Elqui and see one of the biggest observatories in the world. It was a clear night and the stars were amazing. I have never really looked at the stars through a microscope and it was an awesome first experience. A cool fact we learned is that all the constellations in south America are inverted so everything down here is upside down. We finally made it home around 2:00 and everyone immediately passed out.
Saturday we went back to Valle de Elqui and ate lunch at a restaurant where everything is cooked with solar energy, either in solar ovens or using solar panels to cook the food. Needless to say it was rather hot and sunny. After lunch we went to a pisco distillery, which is the national drink of Chile. The next stop was the museum of Gabriella Mistral, the first nobel prize winner in South America. We made it home around 7:00 just in time for a quick evening swim. Perfect.
The night got going around 8:00 and it felt good to have a good old fashioned gringo fun night, filled with all our fun gringo activities. This morning we woke up and headed into town (the actual town this time) It was cool because we practically woke up the town. Never the less it was cool to check out the big market in town before getting back on the bus to head home. What a weekend, definitely one of the most exciting and relaxing weekends I have had in Chile. Gracias a Vivi y Pame y todo IFSA no puedo solicitar algo mas. Creaste el viaje perfecto este fin de semana y este semestre en total.
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