Chile!

After my 37 hour jounrye, I arrived in La Serena and splurged on a nice hostel with TV and all! Travelling on my own again was nice though I do miss the company of my friends. But I spent some nice time relaxing on the beach and finishing Harry Potter number 6 in spanish. Visinting my first restuartant I had no idea what to order as I have no idea what any of the food names mean to the point that I´m not even sure which is chicken and which is beef. But no matter I had some good food and a nice time walking around the quaint streets. The highlight however had to going to the Mamalluca observatory at night to look at the stars through some of the clearest skies in the world. Apparently most the world´s best observatories ar ein Chile and this one was built just for tourists to look thorugh at night. Among other things I got to see the rings of Saturn and the nebulus of one of the stars that makes up Orion.

After La Serena, I headed 7 hours south to Santiago where I met up with Lore, a friend from my CISV summer camp almost 9 years ago!! It has been wonderful to see her again and she has been a great guide. Saturday we went to Valpariso, one of the oldest town in Chile a bit north of Santiago. Her grandmother took us around town, showed us some great view points, and took us to a great lunch. We also walked around some of the steep, winding streets which around many corners have beutiful wall murals showing a plethora of subjects, like the eyes below. There are also the old elevators that go up the hills that were built many years ago to make life a little easier. They are old a creaky but have great views and are used by tourists and residents alike (see right).

On Sunday we explored the city a bit more a visited a few museums as well. First we went to the Fonck Museum, which specializes in objects from Easter Island and a variety of stuffed animals. It was very interesting to leanr more about Easter Island (named so because it was discovered on Easter Day). Then we headed to the Naval Museum, where I learned the Chileans take their navy really serious. The wrap up the muesum visits we went to a muesum of Lukas, a famous cartoonist from Chile who had some very witty and inteligent drawings. However, on of the best parts was going to lunch. Lore took me to a complete hole in the wall where their speicallty is chorrillana, a dish of sauteed beef, onions, and eggs over a heaping pile of french fries. It was delicous!

We have now spent two wonderful days in Santiago with Lore showing me all the sights. We have been to the tops of lots of hills and some more museums. Anyways kidna tired now so gonna shower and pack cause tomorrow I´m heading back to Argentina!