Posted by Lisa on July 26th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
On Tuesday, Joel and I got up bright and early and went to the Coquimbo fish market and bought a beautiful reineta and a plump juicy lenguado (flounder). While we were at the fish market, we walked along the dock and watched the fisherman at work. The dock was full of pelicans, and 2 got stuck in a trash can that they were using to discard fish guts and heads into. We briefly thought of helping them, but who wants to get near all the guts and blood? THe fisherman didn’t seem to care, they continued throwing the fish stuff in it- they’re probably used to things like this happening. We then walked around the artesian markets outside the market and I bought an alpaca shawl. We came home, picked up Cara and Steve and headed to La Feria- were we bought a ton of veggies for about $5. Then we headed to La Recova went to lunch and shopped around. Steve ended up walking back to work so we could continue our city tour. We walked around downtown, saw the Plaza de Armas, went to more artesian shope, went to the cathedral, went to a wonderful little antique store then headed to the archaeological museum. Joel’s favorite part were the shrunken heads. Cara bought a beautiful diaguita bowl at the little shop. We then came home, found recipes for the fish and I called and made our hotel reservations and then went to the bus station got our tickets for Santiago and went to Deca and got the rest of the food for our yummy dinner. Joel made stuffed artichokes for an appetizer, then we had reineta breaded and pan fried and Joel baked the flounder over a bed of chorizo and crab stuffing. Steve grilled filete and I made roasted veggies. We had gone to as wine store downtown and had a bottle of red and a bottle of white with dinner.
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Posted by Lisa on July 26th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
Unfortunately, Steve had to go to work on Monday, so the 3 of us headed to Fray Jorge and Valle del Encanto. Fray Jorge is a rain forest situated in the desert and on the water. The last time I went (which was the only time) it was so foggy that we couldn’t see the water, so I had no idea how close we actually were. The road to get there is a dirt bumpy wash board road, that we all thoroughly enjoyed. At the picnic area the foxes were out and we came prepared with some chips for them. We had a great time walking around the foggy wet lush park and taking beautiful pictures. The sun even came out! We then headed to the enchanted valley for the petroglyphs and pictographs. It’s amazing how these etchings have lasted for 4,000 years. We also got to rock climbing. We got back home at 7:30, and quickly prepared for our happy hour at 8 pm. We had a bunch of people over and had great music, wine, food and conversation. Cara and I lasted till the wee hour of 4:30am, while the boys ditched us around 2am.
Fray Jorge Pics
Valle Del Encanto
On a more embarassing note, I wanted to share a little experience I had yesterday. Many of you know, that I am very particular about bathrooms. I really like using my own and it’s a long standing joke in my family. So, of course in the middle of Valle Del Encanto, I had to use it. There was no waiting for the next 2 hours, so I used the most foul thing ever. Now, you may ask, why didn’t Lisa just go outside? I didn’t think of it, I was in a near tizzy at the prospect of the bathroom, and wasn’t thinking straight. I of course, took a picture of said bathroom. So Dad, be proud, look what I used, I am now scarred for life and may have post traumatic stress syndrome :)!!!!!!
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Posted by Lisa on July 24th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
We started off this morning with a hike at 900. While we were hiking, Steve was busy getting breakfast ready for us- homemade pancakes!!! During the hike, Cara slipped and landed on her prickered hand (see yesterday’s entry for explanation). For those of you who are worrying, she is doing fine. After breakfast, we headed out to the observatory to learn about Steve’s job. While we were there freezing our bums off, we got to see the snow capped Andes and 2 Andean Condors. We then headed to El Molle for a late lunch to a parillada and had 2 big clay ovens FULL of meat. Joel was brave enough to eat blood sausage and some unidentified intestines (see below pics). We then headed back to La Serena, went grocery shopping, went to Arte Dulce which is a local bakery and bought a variety of tasty chilean desserts then hung out at home, drank some amaretto, wine and Jack and played games. Currently Cara and I are updating the blog while the boys are busy playing ping pong. From the sounds of Steve’s cries, Joel is winning and Leyna is busy chasing stray balls.
Hiking Pics
Observatory Pics
El Molle
Before and after intestines…
Celery truck we followed home
Tonight’s fun
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Posted by Lisa on July 23rd, 2006 — Posted in Activities
Cara and Joel came in today at 1100 this morning. After picking them up at the airport, we brought them home to meet the pup and see the house. We then went to Leider- which is a big grocery store to pick up some things. Then we headed off to lunch at Backulic- for their first official pisco sour (or 3) and good fish. After a terrific meal, we strolled along the beach, felt the chilly water and relaxed. Afterwards, we headed to Coquimbo, drove around, and then went to the point- where we watched the birds, the sea lions and went for a brief hike. Unfortunately, during our walk around, Cara apparently was holding hands with a cactus and had prickers in her palm that we need to pluck out. Cara got to enjoy her first nescafe con leche con un poco de azucar. Normally, she doesn’t drink coffee, but this ended up tasting like hot coffee ice cream. Tonight, we played cards had wine and cheese and hung out. Check back tomorrow, to see what we will do…
Us awaiting Cara and Joel’s arrival-
Enjoying the fish market at Leider
Lunch time
Frolicking in the Pacific
Coquimbo Point
Tonight’s sunset
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Posted by Lisa on July 11th, 2006 — Posted in Misc
As you can see, still the same clear beautiful skies, almost as warm, except the grape vines have all died and he Andes now are snow capped.
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Posted by Lisa on July 11th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
After some nagging from my spanish teacher, I have joined a spanish conversation group. It is taught by 2-4 chileans and there are about 8 of us that go every Monday to practice our spanish. Today, we went to Vicuna which is about 45 minutes into the valley, and had a great time. My friend Judith’s house is amazing. It’s the type of house I’ve always pictured being in Chile. It has a nice courtyard in the middle with rooms surrounding it. I was a little uncomfortable at first speaking spanish with my english speaking friends, I find it much easier to speak spanish to strangers, but in the end, everything went perfectly. I practiced my future tense and told everyone about Cara and Joel coming to visit, and what we plan on doing. Afterwards, I took the pup on a nice hike up the mountain. I’ve started timing myself, and today made it to the top in 41 minutes, my personal best so far.
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Posted by Lisa on July 10th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
Tonight (Sunday night) Joanna and Rob came over for a fiesta. We had homemade tortilla chips, steak and chorizo chimichangas, mexican creamed corn, and mexican roasted vegetables. We also had dos equis and corona- happy days, are both now found at deca. For dessert, Rob made a fantastic cuatro leche cake, it was to die for. We ended the night listening to music and playing carcassonne- a german game. I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD!!!!
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Posted by Lisa on July 10th, 2006 — Posted in Misc
Get a foreign drivers license. As we have now been here for a year, our international drivers licenses have expired, so we spent the end of the week at the chilean DMV. We didn’t have to take a driving test, but we did have to take a reflex test and an eye test. In the end, everything went well, though the lighting at the DMV picture taking place is for chileans, and Steve and I ended up looking like tomatoes in our pictures, oh well.
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Posted by Lisa on July 10th, 2006 — Posted in Misc
Though we are not avid soccer fans by any means, Steve and I have watched almost every World Cup game this year. I actually ended up enjoying it more than I thought, though part of that may have been in-part due to the fact that at the end of the games the soccer players take their shirts off, and also I love hearing the chilean announcer yell GGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL for about 10 minutes. Today, while I was rooting for Francia, and Steve was rooting for Italia, Leyna was busy rooting for Alemania. We didn’t have the heart to tell her that they ended up in third place.
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Posted by Lisa on July 4th, 2006 — Posted in Uncategorized
We made homemade cupcakes (silver-white cake with buttercream frosting) for tasty flavor explosions in our mouths. BOOM! YUMM!
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