La Serena, PICHILEMU, and Laguna Verde/Las Docas

The day after my birthday the entire CIEE group hopped on a bus for a field trip to La Serena, which is quite a ways north of Viña del Mar IV Región. Once there, we went to the Observatorio Cerro Mamalluca, which is a small observatory 45 minutes away up in the mountains. We learned about la cosmovisión Andina (the Andean´s understanding of the stars as compared to our current one), got to see Saturn through a telescope, which was pretty awesome, and also listened to a live band playing música andina. The next day we hung out and went to the market in town. This is the beach by our cabins:



Then, two weekends ago, we went to Pichilemu, famous surf town (surf report here ... you can also check surf for Ritoque which is about 30 mins from Viña and is also really good) with really good waves. My friend Tamma´s best-friend from back home has a little brother named Geordie (17) who came down for a surf trip and ended up moving out there. He has a nice set up: room/apartment in the hostel connected to the Pin Pon, the restaurant where he eats (and once met the Malloy brothers, somehow). The town is adorable, small and dusty and deserted minus a small community of surfers from all over the world (Ohio, Australia, Cornwall, England, Brazil). It gets really busy and crowded during the summer but right now it´s really mellow.

We arrived Friday afternoon. Tamma surfed, I didn´t becasue it was freezing and getting dark. Saturday morning I rented gear and went out with Tamma and Geordie while Jo had a lesson with the surf school. She´s now hooked :) So...with a 5mm wetsuit and booties I paddled out to la puntilla. It was amazing to be in the water at a spot I´ve only heard about and seen in movies. But it was COLD. You get gnarly ice cream headaches duckdiving if your wetsuit doesn´t have a hood and after the first 1/2 hour or so, I could only think about how cold it was and it gets progressively harder to focus. Tamma went out again that day, I didn´t. I like surfing but think I´ll stick to warm water, chill, purely for fun surfing back home.

Since it was his last weekend there, they threw a goodbye fiesta Saturday night and everyone had dinner at the Pin Pon and then went to Disco127 (or just "the disco") which is basically the only disco in town. The next day we went to Punta de Lobos to watch the surf and then caught buses back to Santiago and Viña.

Here´s a satellite view of Pichilemu and Punta de Lobos (the two big bays) and some photos.

paddling out at Punta de Lobos...this is next to the two rocks (las tetas) in the foto below

Finally, this past Saturday Chett, Tyler, his Chilean brother, Rodrigo, and I went on a day trip to Laguna Verde and hiked to a beach called Las Docas. It was fun and pretty, the end...

see that tiny house on the point? it belongs to a famous chilean painter and I want it

cumpleaños :D

It's been a while, but I figured my birthday celebration still deserves a post because it was awesome! My chilean friends and sister got in touch with a few friends from the program and threw me a surprise party. I was completely surprised...had no idea. I thought we'd do something small the week after because the exchange program had planned a trip to La Serena leaving at 8:30am Friday, April 25th...not very convenient. Since birthdays are usually pretty anticlimactic, I was kind of relieved to not have to worry about it.

But...Max told me he was playing a soccer game at Santa Maria (my host sister and her friends' university) if I wanted to come watch Thursday. I went with my sister and Pablo (who left early to run to Max's apartment and meet up with everyone else). Then on the way back, Maca asked if I minded stopping by Max's apartment to pick up a notebook she'd left and surprise! everyone was there with the apartment decorated and music and drinks and delicious cake with candles, the whole shebang...they had planned out everything! everyone knew but me and lied like experts so I wouldn't find out :) We hung out in the apartment and then headed down to Scratch, a club in Viña to dance and meet up with Olivia and her friends because her birthday is also April 25th and they had had a separate, smaller gathering at her house earlier. We danced until really late, got home at 5ish, took a nap, and then hopped on the bus to La Serena at 8:30am the next morning. Fantastic :) Siguen algunas fotos (and a group shot off to the side):

Max y Pablo

Tamma y sus amigos

la Caroline y su hermano