ahh yes, a tank top, sunshine, and good company. what more could a girl want?! first of all i want to give a huge shout out to ryan and i's good friend becksters for coming out to visit during our winter break. overall, a stellar trip with some marked highlights: please note there is a pro and a con to each of these highlights.
1. beach in la serena... named perfectly for its beautiful beaches and serene atmosphere...
pro: superb views of a mountain range from the beach which appeared to
have been painted into the distance. frisbee playin, ocean jumping at 12:30am, oceanside condo. the pros could go on forever.
con: i spent 2/3 days here in my fleece. we did have one amazing day which leads me to our next highlight:
2. bike ride to coquimbo
pro: fun little bike path/boardwalk ru
nning from la serena to coquimbo, a small fishermens town just south of la serena. goregous
sunny day, almost empty boardwalk, and fun company
con: we rented some old squeeky rusted over bikes. ryan's chain broke on the way home... he hitched a ride from becky the remaining bit of our ride
3. cruz del tercer milenio
pros: awesome huuuuuge concrete cross finished in may of 2001 which has many symbolic meanings behind its structure (including 10 columns to represent the ten commandments amongst others). this huge structure is 103 meters high and considered the tallest monument in south america. we were able to view the church below as well as walk out onto the arms of the cross. awesome panoramic views of the bay!
cons: we dragged our bikes up lord knows how many stairs to
get to the cross. but definitely had fun riding down after... especially with breaks which failed to work in the most important moments!
4. Vicuña, valle del elqui
pros: oh so many. first our hostel. so beautiful. run by an old fat argentian man named ricardo. he thought ryan was to die for handsome and one morning, after ryan rose and shone quite late as usual, ricardo insisted i bring him breakfast on the patio. he even went to the effort of picking a rose from his garden to place on his tray... explaining "love isnt simply a word, we must show our love through actions my dear." great advice.
mamalluca observatory. aka space. the northern part of chile is known for having some of the
most amazing places to view the stars, and boy were we blown away. i rode windowside in the van on the way up to this observatory (at about 1030pm) and you could see them multiply by
the minute. once we arrive, our heads were looking up until we left. the milky way was at our fingertips and we all saw countless shooting stars. our tourguide had a "star pointer" which is a laser pointer that is able to point damn far, and he could show us individual stars from the sky. some of us were more amused with this fancy tool than the stars themselves! we were also able to enter the "dome" and use the huge expensive telescope to see other galaxies, jupiter, and other phenomenal natural wonders. by far one of the best adventures of this trip.
cons: hard to think of any really. people were wonderful here, and overall had a really amazing experience.
5. pisco elqui
pros: beautiful pueblo located in the heart of the valley... everywhere you looked you saw
snowcapped mountains. the weather was gloriously warm. our hostel was more of a retreat. we laid out by the pool and soaked up the sun. the chapel here was also very beautiful.
cons: we had to share our cabin with a little creature called an arana de rincoln (aka a very common deadly spider here in chile). ryan was less than thrilled and i woke up to him twitching throughout the night. these deadly spiders are known to hang out in corners, so almost every chilean bed is pulled out from the corner about a foot. fun! also, we enjoyed a delicious spaghetti dinner one night at the hostel which subsequently came right out of me in its true form the next morning. luckily it was out and we were back on track quite soon after.
6. santiago (yea yea, whats so great about santiago? you've been there!)
pros: yeah i know we've been here, but we headed to some new attractions we had yet to hit. numero uno: santa lucia (a hill located in the center of santiago which boasts a
mazing castle like buildings and a great path for walking any time of day). at the top of this hill we were delighted to watch some metallic loving men play with swords as if they were in medivial times. gave us a laugh.
our main reason for coming back to santiago was to introduce ourselves to the new group of volunteers that will be here with us until december. we held a forum for them and ryan, jake, and i answered any questions they had regarding the program they were entering... including the good bad and ugly. we were instructed to be "positive but realistic." job well
done team. we amped em up for volunteering and re-energized ourselves for the second semester. these 22 new volunteers will be dispersed within the 8th region (same region i'm placed), but in smaller pueblos (towns). bring on the english!
for our second week of vacation, ryan and i headed east for some snowboarding in the andes, at a resort called termas de chillan. ryan had a fabulous time floating over fresh powder and i had a blast falling in it! we completed the longest run in south america, called "tres marias" which measures 13 kilometers or almost 8 1/2 miles!! super bakan. we stayed at a hostel placed in an a-frame cabin... it was very family oriented, but every day ate home cooked meals and if we were lucky, a hot shower after skiing all day. last day of chillan we went to the natural hot springs (termas) which were smelly but toasty!
overall grade for winter vaca: A++ hope your guys' summer vaca is the same!
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