La Serena

In summary, La Serena = much better than Santiago.

We got to La Serena around 2ish on Friday and had to find a hostel to stay in. The first one we found was "Maria's Casa." There were so many different people staying there - people from Switzerland, France, England, and the US. The place def had its personality (I had Homer and Marge Simpson on my bed sheets), but we had already made reservations at a different hostel for the rest of our stay. Sorry Maria.
The next morning we walked to the beach and the whole walk there we walked down the street through palm trees. Seriously, it was like being in a movie. The La Serena beach was absolutely amazing. We're planning on going back in November when it's summer and actually warm out. (It's only around 50-60 degrees there now.)




My friend Catherine and I rode horses on the beach! It was so neat riding along the beach with the Pacific on one side and the mountains on the other. Really, you guys should try it.






That night we went to Mamalluca Observatory, one of the view amateur astronomical observatories in Chile. The sky was super clear, so we could see pretty much everything. You could see Jupiter shining really brightly in the sky, and then through the telescope you could see its 4 largest moons too. Very cool. We also learned about other big telescopes around the world, such as the VLT (Very Large Telescope) in Chile, SALT (South African Large Telescope), and CELT (California Extremely Large Telescope). Another telescope that will be finished in 2012 in Chile is OWL (Overwhelmingly Large Telescope). And I'm serious. The trip fee also included a bag of cookies and a Pisco Sour. Random, yet extremely enjoyable.

Sunday morning we left La Serena at 8am to travel to la Isla Damas. The views from the bus were amazing!

So we get to this very small town (population: 500) and meet Jorge, our guide to Isla Damas. Fue muy guapo. There were about 20 people (mostly from Switzerland and some from France) and we all hobbled into the boat one by one. As we were riding out to the island, Jorge starting shouting, "To the right! Delfines!" Sure enough, about 50 ft away I could see the little fins of the dolphins. Every time the dolphins came back up, they were closer and closer to us! Oh, it was so cool.
As we neared the island, we could see another little island, and on top there was a flock/herd/family of sea lions (lobos marinos). I liked these ones much better than the dancing one at the aquarium. They're so cute. I want one.

And then we saw penguinos!! They were so little and cute and I want one of those too. Most of them were just kind of standing and huddling there, but there was one waddling over some rocks and I just about peed my pants with delight. Or maybe I was just so cold.
After seeing the lobos marinos y penguinos, we stopped at la Isla Choros and got to walk around. One of the other guides took us on a wee detour to try to find some penguinos but, sadly, we had no success.















On the drive back, we saw a guanaco!! AKA a llama. (If you click on the picture it gets bigger and you can see it better.) And if that weren't enough, we passed a mountain full of goats, which we cleverly dubbed "Goat Mountain." (It was funny at the time...)







Monday we went to La Recova, a super cool handicraft market. Gosh, I wish you guys could just go to La Serena because it doesn't sound as cool with me writing it.

Anyway, if you're lucky, you just might have a little something with your name on it from La Recova...



We stopped by the mall later that day just to shake things up a bit. And attached to the mall is a medical center. I'm sure you can imagine how funny the "shop til you drop" joke must have been.

Tuesday morning we went to el Parque Japones to go to el Jardin del Corazon.

By the way, that black coat cost me $6 USD.

In other news.....

When I got home there was an email waiting for me saying they had found me a new family to live with, so I'll be moving there on Friday. I haven't really told my family yet, but I think I'll wait as long as possible to. But I guess me packing my suitcases might give it away.

So, back in Santiago, people are just more outgoing with their thoughts. I went to get my cedula de identidad (an ID card) today and I was sitting there reading a book, and a guy walks in the door, comes over to me, says "hola," kisses me on the cheek, and walks away. A little (or a lot) caught off guard, I just kind of mumbled a quick "hola" back to him. But hey, I suppose there are worse things a guy could do.

Now, I will share with you the discovery I have made since being here in Santiago. I call it "The First Three Questions a Chilean Man Will Ask a Gringa." It goes a little something like this:
1. ¿Cómo te llamas? (What's your name?)
2. ¿De donde eres? (Where are you from?)
3. ¿Tienes un pololo? (Do you have a boyfriend?)

They really get to the point here.


Okay, that's enough. Sorry for the lack of wit and cleverness. Maybe if someone hadn't been so pushy I could've given this post a little more thought. You know who you are. But I still love you.

Oh, and I have more pictures up on facebook so you can also stalk my travels through there.

Besos y abrazos!