In English, "here comes the sun". I woke up today and it was gloriously sunny outside, not a single cloud in the sky which is rare for this city right on the coast! So i went into the lab for a couple hours to do a few things, then took the whole afternoon to enjoy the sun. I walked from the university up a few sizeable hills to reach Coquimbo's cruz del tercer milenio - a giant concrete cross located on top of the highest hill around. I paid the 2,000 pesos ($4) to ride the elevator to the top and was rewarded with the most amazing panoramic view of the coast, mountains in the background, colorful city houses, and the distant horizon of the pacific ocean. I took so many pictures that don't do this amazing view any justice!
That was by far the highlight of today. It's been a busy last week here in Chile! Over the weekend I took a bus 6 hours south to go to viña del mar and valparíso with the other IFMSA exchange students. We were an interesting mix of Canadian, American, Russian, El Salvadorian, Brazilian, and Chilean. It was definitely an action-packed weekend! When we arrived Friday we went to grab some food then came back to our hostel to prepare for a night out in viña. We went to a super trendy and cool disco that was half in a building and half on a patio, right on the beach! As per usual here in Chile, we danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday, we woke up early to grab some breakfast and head to the neighboring city of Valporíso. I loved Valporíso, it was such a cool bohemian city set on the hillside overlooking the ocean, with thousands of brightly colored houses peeking out everywhere you looked (I promise to post some pictures soon!). We started at la Sebastian, Pablo Neruda's house, which was this super funky 5-story house with a stunning view of the bay. We walked down the hill to the center, and ate at a local hole in the wall restaurant called J.Cuz (pronounced "ho-tah crus". We indulged in a local favorite called chorianna, which is french fries topped with eggs, onions, and meat. Probably one of the least healthy things I've ever eaten in my whole entire life. We went on a boat ride around the bay, took some cool diagonal elevators up the side of cerro alegre ("happy hill") and ate some fresh seafood on the beach. We were all so tired by the time we returned to the hostel that we didn't make it to the disco that night.
Sunday we spent the day walking around Viña. We took lots of pictures on the beach, walked through a cool park, and played some peso slots in the casino. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend with some amazing new friends from around the world!
One last fun story. Last night, Thursday, my supervisor Liliana took me to La Serena to see a cultural demonstration put on by the university in the evening. It started at 7, so instead of just staying at the university with her and going directly there, I thought I would make things a little complicated and try and go home and eat and change then come back (I had about an hour to complete this mission). So from the university, I walked to the corner where you catch collectivos (remember the taxi/bus hybrid?). (Side note- I can, and often do, walk home from the university. In total, it's usually about a 45-50 minute walk, so given the time constraints i thought collectivo would be faster). So I waited for a collectivo. And waited. And waited. And tens, maybe hundreds, drove by...all completely full. So after half an hour of waiting, I knew I was running out of time, and made an impulsive decision.. I buckled up the chest strap on my backpack, and took off running down the side of the highway towards my house. I'm not talking a nice leisurely jog along the beach... like a full out, run like a dog is chasing you/Phoebe on friends/fast as your feet can go run. So I can only assume it isn't every day in Coquimbo there is a tall giant with a lime green backpack, madly sprinting down the side of a major highway, obviously winded and cursing under her breath. I made it home at exactly the time we were supposed to leave the university, but Liliana was nice enough to come pick me up (although some unfortunate miscommunication did involve me running back and forth on the highway a bit more between a few blocks trying to find her). Anyway, the evening ended up being fantastic. I enjoyed the show, after we went to Liliana and her boyfriend Ian's house and ate a late dinner and drank some wine with 2 of her friends.
And that more or less sums up my last week or so in Chile! I leave for Santiago next Thursday night, and from there to fly to Ecuador on June 30th. My time is so quickly coming to an end, but I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people I've met and all the amazing places I've had a chance go see so far.
More stories, and hopefully photos, coming soon!
¡Hasta luego!
