Posted by Lisa on April 9th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
I know, it’s been a week since the Margheim’s left, and I haven’t posted for a long time. I wish I could say I’ve been really busy at work, but no excuses. I’ve been plain lazy. So let me catch you up on the rest of our wonderful visit with Steve’s parents. On Day 11- which was Wed, we went on a nice drive through Ovalle and to the Valle Del Encanto. It’s a park where they have petroglyphs an petrographs from 4000 years ago. The park is similar to a rock climbing park with the rock carvings all over. I expected the carving and paintings to be roped off but they weren’t, we were allowed to climb over them. Steve and I are think of going back and making some etchings. IT was a beautiful day- nice and sunny, and we all had fun rock climbing!!
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Posted by Lisa on March 23rd, 2006 — Posted in Activities
On Monday we traveled to the quaint little fishing village of Caleta Los Hornos for lunch, to one of my favorite restaurants that I have found in Chile. They serve fresh fish, caught by the fisherman at the dock below the restaurant. Terry, Steve and I had the menu of the day which was a piece of fish fried or plain, a side dish, and 2 empanadas for only $4. We were able to sit out on the deck and watch the ocean and the birds. Our original plan for the day was to go fishing, but unfortunately, it was cold and dreary in the morning, and the sun didn’t come out until 3. We do plan on trying to go fishing tomorrow. On Tuesday, we went downtown, went to La Recova and did some shopping. Steve and I bought some diaguita pieces for the house and also some figurines. Afterward we brought the puppy to the park to practice her frisbee catching. She’s really doing well with it and getting some good height when she jumps. The only problem is that she hasn’t mastered bringing the frisbee back yet and we have to chase her down. Day 11 (which was Wed) was wonderful, will update soon with some great pictures from it!!
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Posted by Lisa on March 20th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
On Saturday, we got a somewhat early start for the day. We were out of the house around 1030, and were off to go to the observatory. We stopped in El Molle to get Terry a painting, but unfortunately the store was closed. So we continued the drive into the valley and up to the observatory. Once we got to the top, Steve gave us a personal tour of Gemini. We walked around outside, enjoyed the views, and then headed down to Vicuna. Once in Vicuna, we went to lunch at The Hosteria- walked around their beautiful grounds- which included 2 alpacas, then walked around the square and went to the shops. We went to my favorite shop, the glass shop. We also went to the great bug museum, where you can see bugs from all around the world. We then came home, played monopoly (yours truly won), watched some TV and went to bed. It was a great day, but especially for the Margheim’s since they’ve been waiting for 20 years to see Steve’s dream come true of working at a telescope.
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Posted by Lisa on March 20th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
I know, it’s already Monday, and I’m only now posting for Friday, but we’ve been busy! On Friday morning, once we all got up, I made fabulous green waffles in celebration of St Patty’s day. After a great breakfast, we got ready and went to spend the day in Coquimbo. First, though we went downtown to the post office so Mary Jane could mail some postcards. We were able to get the stamps and get them mailed very easily. The 3 of us then walked around the plaza de armas a little while we were waiting for Steve to drive around the block, then came Coquimbo. We started out at the fish market. The fish market is STINKY!!!! I did make my first purchase here though, I bought bait so we can go surf fishing, (which we plan on doing today). We then walked around the artesian shops and bought Mary Jane a nice hooded alpaca sweater for Christmas. Then came Barrio Ingles, which is Coquimbo’s square. We walked around the square which was hosting a traveling art show of 100 picture’s of Chile. We also went to one of the artesian shops on the square which is an outdoor area that has a bunch of booths. Then we went to the cross, walked around, took the elevator to the top, and went to the museum in the cross. We had to be home by 4 so Steve could go to a meeting. While Steve was at his meeting, Terry, I and the pup went hiking. I’m proud to say that Terry did both steepies and made it to the top. A feat that Steve has yet to accomplish. We were supposed to go to dinner with a friend visiting from Australia, but unfortunately he had to stay up and observe at the telescope another night. We decided to go out for dinner and went to Coasta Inca- which is a Peruvian restaurant on the beach. Apparently on Friday nights they have a buffet, so that’s what we had. Steve and Terry got to try goat for the first time, Steve’s response was similar to lamb but not as gamey. The buffet was good, though I would like to go back and order from the menu. So, though we didn’t have corned beef and cabbage, we had a wonderful day!!!
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Posted by Lisa on March 17th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
Day 4 (which was Wed.), we had a nice relaxing day at home. Steve had to go up to the observatory for the night so we stayed in and hung out with him until he had to go. Day 5 was more active. Terry and I got up early and went off to the farm for the morning. To get to the farm you drive past the airport and into the valley a little ways. It was his first time seeing the valley, and he really enjoyed it. The valley is beautiful, with farms along the road. One of the farm areas that we drove through had tons of artichoke plants, which I can’t wait to eat! At the farm, Terry met Ruben (the farm worker) and we got to work. We picked cherry tomatoes, regular and heirloom tomatoes, basil, and we tried to pick some carrots that were very pathetic looking, about the size of our pinkie toes. Ruben picked swiss chard, zucchinis, shallots and parsley. Our friend Rikki came to help as well. We then separated all the produce into shares and were done. We got home, I made tomato basil and mozzarella salad, picked up Mary Jane and the pup and went for a hike. While we were at the farm, Mary Jane had a nice relaxing morning reading and cuddling with Leyna. Steve got back from the mountain around 4. For dinner, the Margheims got to experience their fist choripans (chilean sausage and bread) and papas duquesas (fried mashed potato balls). We also had awesome tandoori chicken that Steve grilled up for us.
Farm near the organic farm
Road to the organic farm
Us at the farm
Cerro Grande
Choripans, yum
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Posted by Lisa on March 15th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
While Steve went to work this morning, the rest of us went for yet another hike. This time we hiked a little different of a trail and ended up going along the ridge to the ruins of an old house. After our hike, Steve met us at home and we went off to spend the day exploring La Serena. We went to lunch at one of my favorite little dives- El Mundial, where we had the house specialties of merluza frita and churrasco completos. Merluza is a white fish and churrasco completo is a sliced beef sandwich with palta (avocado), tomate and mayo. We then went downtown, walked around- went to the plaza de armas and the cathedral (it was closed unfortunately), went to the archaeological museum, went to the artesian shops at La Recova, then went grocery shopping yet again. We seem to be continuing my daily Deca visits. For dinner I made chicken parmesan, a salad, and had garlic bread with an alfredo dipping sauce. Afterwards, thanks to Terry, we didn’t really have any dishes to do, and watched The Sopranos and had dessert- mendocino cookies- which are vanilla cookies with manjar (dulce de leche) in the middle and the whole cookie is dipped in chocolate. A wonderful chilean specialty. Also today, Terry and Mary Jane got to try another chilean specialty- pebre (which is basically salsa made of tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil and cilantro) which is served at most restaurants with the rolls/bread.
Mary Jane reading before our daily hike with the little lap dog to keep her company
more pics from Cerro Grande (may be a daily posting)
Lunch
Archaeological Museum of La Serena
new scary picture from museum
La Recova
Downtown La Serena
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Posted by Lisa on March 14th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
The Margheims arrived on Sunday. We were hoping to get to the airport early enough with our sign and be standing outside waiting, bur their plane got in a couple of minutes early. We then came home and they got to meet the pup. We went down to the beach, had pisco sours and cheese empanadas then went to the point off of Coquimbo, where there were pelicans, a sea lion and other birds. Then we went grocery shopping, came home and played with the dog. For dinner I made the infamous quinoa. Afterwards, we went to the hot tub. The Margheims were basically up for 40 hours, but they were troopers. While in the hot tub, Steve was able to point out some of the southern constellations.
Day 2, we got up and went on a family hike in the morning. It was a beautiful morning, sunny a little hazy probably in the upper 60s. Once we got home, Steve made us wonderful pancakes and eggs. We then got changed, and off for a relaxing day on the beach. We went to one of my favorites, Totorolillo, which is about a 30 min drive from here along the coast. The water was pretty cold, but I still braved it and went in, everyone else walked along the edge. We hung out at the beach for a couple of hours, and we all started working on our tans. We basically had the beach to ourselves! For dinner, Steve made us some terrific filets!
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Posted by Lisa on February 23rd, 2006 — Posted in Activities
Sorry that I haven’t updated since Santiago. We’ve been having a wonderful time here. We’ve gone to Coquimbo – the cross and the shops, we’ve been to the beach a couple of days and worked on our tans, we’ve gone out for wonderful dinners, we’ve played with the puppy, we went to a big barbecue at the top of the recinto and had way to much to drink in the sun, we’ve played games, explored the area more, went to the garden shop and bought flowers for the front of the house, went fishing, and just hung out. Here are some pics (though I have been a little lax with my picture taking!, we’ve only managed to take about 700 pictures while my parents were here).
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Posted by Lisa on February 12th, 2006 — Posted in Activities
On Saturday, after a nice big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon, we headed off for our personal tour of Gemini Observatory. It was a hour and a half drive from La Serena. Driving up to the observatory was a much better experience than Thursday’s drive. Steve actually knew how to use the 4 wheel drive. Once we got up to the observatory, Steve gave us a tour and showed us the telescope and bHROS- his instrument. Gemini observatory is located over 9,00 feet high in the Andes about halfway between the ocean and Argentina. In the distance we saw some snow probably glaciers in the more distant and higher peaks of the mountains in Argentina. Some of our friends from here are actually camping there this weekend. While we were at the top we saw a few young Andean Condors flying around. On the drive down to the bottom, we saw hawks, goats and horses along the mountainside. We then stopped at a papaya stand, had some papaya juice- the papaya trees are located in La Serena, and at this stand they also sell wine from Falernia Vineyard. We bought a bottle of their 2002 Syrah which has won numerous awards here in Chile. We then traveled to Vicuna and stopped at the Capel plant for a pisco tour and tasting. The tour itself was short and in spanish, but we were able to figure out the pisco process. We then went into Vicuna, walked around the artesian shops, tried Copao- which is a type of cactus fruit grown in the Atacama. It tasted like a cross between a kiwi and grapes. Then we stopped for onces and had some pisco sours and empanadas before coming home.
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