On Friday October 9th I don't think I did anything exciting. On the 10th however, I watched the Chile game and witnessed them qualify for the world cup for the first time in 12 years and only the second time in 26! It was sooo funny, my host brother Vlado and my host dad were SCREAMING at the television the whole time! "CONCHA TU MADRE!!!", "CHUUUUCHA!" It was so funny I was laughing so hard. The whole time they were standing and shouting, little mamá Sarita was running around saying "Sshhh callense! Catie no le gusta escucharles! Callense Callense por favor!" God I love my host family.
After Chile won the game, we headed over to a church near downtown Conce for the service of a wedding I was going to with my family. It was my dad's cousin, Javier and his novia, Sylvia. I had met them before so it was even more exciting. On the way to the service and during the service, people were constantly shouting and blowing thier horns. Soccer celebrations here are HUGE. Obviously, soccers a huge deal here in general. I can't imagine what the wedding would've been like if Chile would have lost. They even mentioned it at the recepcion: thank god Chile won tonight! hahaha.
After the church we went to El Dorado hotel in el centro for the recepcion. It was so beautiful! I wish I had taken more pictures, but my camera was freaking out a little that night. So we ate and ate and drank and drank and danced and danced. They played so much music! Lots of dancy music in Spanish and English and I loved every minute of it.
A funny moment was when the food came. It was in three cylindrical shapes and I had no idea what it could've been without trying it. Vlado sees my skeptical facial expression, leans into my ear and says "what the fuck is that" in English and I laughed so hard the table looked at me.
At midnight that night we changed the clocks and lost an hour. I went home at 4am with my family, finished packing for Cobquecura, slept for about 2 hours or so, and then awoke to head to my profs place to gather to go to la playa by Cobquecura.
We arrived at our cabins. There were 3 cabins for us with 5 beds in each. First thing we did was head out to go see a traditional chilean celebration with large fires cooking meat and ponche. Some of us rode horses, lots of us made friends with the local country people. After that we returned to our small stay city and either hit up a restaurant or bought food from a supermercado for almuerzo. After that and being lazy, we started preparing the barbeque for dinner. We ate, drank, ran around the city, and eventually hit up the beach where we built a fire on the sand. There might have been a time where I was hanging out the back of a pick up truck but I wont go into detail. At the beach there were a bunch from our group, a bunch of chileans, blankets, a guitar, and the sea. I had such a good time! At one point a group of us ran down to the water and just screamed at the ocean. It was so exhilerating. Too bad half of us got soaked. Poor Alison lost her camera and flip flops to the ocean that night. OH did I mention the stars?! The stars were incredible! I have NEVER seen so many and so bright. If only my stupid camera could capture pictures at night!
The next morning most of us were dead to the world, but we got up around 10 and just started cooking and feasting. Our breakfast consisted of eggs, noodles, apples, manjar, and garlic bread: yummy.
Later that day we hit up another nearby beach and climbed many a hills. Once again, see facebook pictures! At this beach, Triana bought two live crabs to cook and eat later and they cost her ONE American dollar, for BOTH! That bay was famous for the seafood they bring in. Om nom nom.
The picture I posted on top of this post is from the second beach, isn't it neat?
At the end of this trip I was so behind on sleep, I slept every single time we sat on the bus.
Between Cobquecura and the trip to the north, we only had two days of class.
They went by so quick and nothing important happened! I hung out and packed for the north and soon I was gone again!
Viaje al norte= Trip to the north
By far the best week long vacation I've ever had!
We squeezed the money and hours out of every single day. The week felt more like a month to me. I think the part I loved the most was getting closer to everyone in our group, I feel so much more connected now.
IN GENERAL I'M SO HAPPY AND ITS FANTASTIC!
Pics are up on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=332439&id=660420332&l=372b622504
Day One: 15th of October:
We flew from Conce to Santiago and took a tour bus to Valparaiso, a coastal city almost directly west of Santiago where we got a small city tour and walked around some. That city is SO beautiful! If only there was more sun! There we saw one of Pablo Neruda's houses built in the 1960s or so, La Sebastiana. It had the best view of the city and ocean.
Returned to Santiago to stay in hotel/apartment things. They were super nice and we were stoked to be there. We went to the Unimarc nearby, a supermarket, and bought a bunch of food and wine for the night. I ended up staying up all night for no reason with Karl!
16th of October:
I got my stuff together and met everyone downstairs at 5am to get to the airport for our flight to Catama. We went straight over to the worlds largest still functioning copper mine called Chuquicamate. Después we had a descanso and returned to San Pedro de Atacama. We had the afternoon free so most of us ran around the downtown and touristy part of the city. Bought souvineers, watched the sunset, went to bed.
I have spent so much time blogging, I must go for now! I'll finish this another time. Thanks for reading!
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