Trip to La Serena

Hi there! First things first, I have been in Chile for a month, which is simply unbelievable. When I think of everything I’ve done, it makes sense, but really time has been flying by!

I recently returned from a nice long-weekend in La Serena, which is a small, beachy city about five hours North of Vina. It is the 2^nd oldest city in Chile, and has the government and court buildings for the 4^th region of Chile. Anyways, this trip was part of the IFSA program, so it was our big group of U.S. friends. While it was fun to catch up with everyone and hang out with new friends, I always feel very conspicuous in such a large group of Americans.

This is a photogenic old church in La Serena

There were a few fabulous highlights of this trip. We stayed in a nice condo type place and cooked delicious group meals. I’ve missed cooking at the See-Saw, so it was just really fun. We made an amazing barbequed meal the first night, and fajitas the second night. Both meals complete with tons of fresh guacamole, yum!

Some of the group waiting for dinner to finish grilling

We spent one day exploring the city center. We saw the Plaza de Armas, an Archeology museum, a nice Japanese garden, and of course, the Recovo market! I just can’t get enough of the markets in Chile, everything is colorful and cheap. This market is known for its papaya fruit and candies, which were a real treat. I also purchased a pair of earrings (under $1) and a colorful pencil pouch.

The Japanese Garden and overly friendly ducks

A taste of the market

Awesome mini cacti being sold at the market

That evening, I took a break from the group and enjoyed a beautiful beach walk. Birds were flying all around as I watched the sunset and looked at the lighthouse in the distance.

The following day, we ate at a very cool restaurant that uses only solar power. They cook everything with mirrors and solar ovens, and let me tell you, the food was delicious! We had fresh baked rolls with picante sauce, salad, chicken with vegetables and rice, and papaya for dessert.

These are the solar ovens, some had rolls baking and others had pots of food cooking

Then we went to a pisco factory for a tour and tasting. Pisco is a very popular liquor here, it is made from grapes in lots of varieties.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but these barrels of pisco are enormous

Definitely the best part of the trip was going to an Astronomy observatory. This area is known for clear skies and we sure did see a remarkable sky! There were over 600 million stars visible to the naked eye. We used a huge telescope to look at the Milky Way, various stars and planets. Mars and Saturn have never looked so beautiful! Our guide would point to a little star, barely visible to the naked eye; and then show us the same star through the telescope and it would actually be hundreds of bright stars! Astronomy always blows my mind, this was no exception. We also saw a number of ‘estrellas fugaz,’ which means shooting stars.

All in all a good trip but, I am happy to be back with my host family and try to settle into a routine. I also have about 200 pages of art history reading (in Spanish of course) to read for a test on Thursday, wish me luck!