La Serena

Mark and I went on a six-day vacation with our buddies Alejandro and Hans in Region IV of Chile. We rented out an apartment in La Serena and toured around the area.

There was a hot hair balloon event when we arrived at the beach

puesta del sol

The beach was covered with clams!

A good handful of them where alive. I love this shot!

This kid was so funny with his sand bigote!

The port city of Coquimbo

We rode one of those ferry boats that took us a couple of kilometers out into the city.

Video of Our Captain

Pastel de Jaibas - a delicious Chilean dish in which crab meat is baked in a dish called paila

The moon was really low!

We went to Mamalluca Observatory, which is about an hour away from La Serena. This area of Chile is said to have the cleanest atmosphere in the world, and therefore many observatories are located there.

This is the start of Valle del Elqui is where pisco is made.

This is an instrument that uses the vibration of the wind to make sounds.

Us four at the dam.

So strange- grapes are cultivated on random areas of hills and mountains

A small beach/fisherman town of Tongoy where we stopped to have lunch with Alejandro's brother.

Life at Plaza Italia

I've passed my halfway point here in Chile. It's the four-month stretch now.

The other day, we (my roommate Melissa and I) heard some loud drumming outside the window. We went to check out and saw about thirty people carrying all sorts of drums; djembes, surdos, timbals, ashikos, ect. They settled at Parque Bustammante and drummed samba beats, and with the drum line were capoeira dancers. I regret losing the video footage I took of the drum line and capoeira dancers. It was such a trip to have that kind of cultural experience right outside your window.

I love living at the cultural center of Santiago, Chile. I'm dreading being aburrido when I return to the middle-class suburban life. I will yearn for the cultural diversity of Santiago.

This is a video of Samba Drumming at Brazilian Day in New York. It was similar to this except it was outdoors and there 40-50 drummers and several copoeira dancers.

*phew* What A Summer!

Obviously, the highlight of my summer was Mark, my boyfriend of a year and a half. Doing a long-distance relationship hasn't been the funnest thing in the world, but when you love someone so much, obstacles can be overcome and it's worth every minute of waiting. He came down here for my summer vacation and shared this experience with me. It was his first time out of the country and I'm so happy, glad and honored to share that with him. I'm also glad that he was here with me when the earthquake happened. Now he is back in New Jersey working and I am here finishing up my last four months in Santiago. Here is a highlight of some summer favorites:

This is one of the three giant puppets that a French artist, Jean-Luc Courcoult, brought over to be viewed in Santiago. The giant puppets are operated by several humans and they walked around the streets of Santiago.

This is a video of the Tio walking in front of us.

gotta love their patriotism

Meet the chacarero. This is Mark's favorite of Chile. It's roasted beef, green beans, tomatoes, and spicy red Chilean sauce called ají. I like mine with avocado.

He is a happy man.

We had dinner at Los Vikingos and they let us wear their armors!

Having humitas at Alejandro's place.

Valentine's at Como Agua Para Chocolate. Food there is AMAZING.

Valpo

bowling

taking a break from our bike day with crystals and mojitos

mark biking

 
Mark bought himself an Indio Picaro, Naughty Indian

And then our trip to La Serena and Cajón de Maipo.

Terremoto... not just a drink this time.

It was a Friday night in Santiago when the huge earthquake hit. Mark and I were over at our friend Alejandro's apartment building, fifteen stories up at the balcony, talking and drinking with two of his Chilean friends.

I hadn't notice the shaking until Alejandro said, "Stop. Do you guys feel that?" Then I felt it and waited for it to stop. I thought it was just one of those tremors Chile receives every once in a while. However, this one did not stop; it only became stronger.

"Shit we gotta get outta here," Alejandro said.

We quickly got up and made out way out of the door. One of our friends Sebastian was in the bathroom and his fiancée Oheña went to get him, but he was in the middle of peeing so he didn't come out right away. I took my purse and left the apartment with Alejandro by my side. People from the apartment across us opened the door and we saw a couple in a state of panic. The woman was crying, scared out of her life. They came out of the apartment, ran for the stairs and disappeared.

As Alejandro and I stumbled through the hallway, the lights went out and we couldn't see anything. I called for Mark and heard his voice calling my name from behind. We found him under the door frame of the apartment and all five of us gathered under the door frame and waited while the building shook and rocked.

What was I thinking for during those 30 seconds of rocking? "It's okay. It's okay. It's going to stop. This is a new building. It's earthquake proof. It's going to be okay."

Mark was thinking, "What's going to happen if this building were to go down?"

Ojeña was crying and saying, "Mi Padre! Mi Padre!"

And then it stopped.

We all let out a sigh of relief. We came back in the apartment and half of the furniture had fallen on the floor; plants, books, bottles, ect. His TV was face-down on his bed; it had fallen off the shelf. I went out to the balcony and the city the dark and dusty. Ambulance, cop, and fire sirens filled the air.

Mark and I walked back to our apartment since none of the taxis were picking up anybody. Through our walk, we encountered debris that had fallen off buildings.

We came back to our dark apartment and saw Melissa come out from her room. We all hugged each other. We shared our stories and experiences and went to bed shortly thereafter. I woke up in the middle of night and felt a swaying movement. I looked at the closet ahead of me and saw it moving.

I tried to wake Mark up, "Babe, do you feel that?"

He let out a, "Huh?" but went back to sleep. I figured it was just a minor aftershock and went back to sleep. The next morning, Melissa told me that there was another earthquake in the morning that measured 6.9.

Since then, life hasn't been still. Today, almost two weeks after the big earthquake, three strong aftershocks hit Santiago- the first 6.9, second 6.7, and the last 6.0. This time, I was at work in Maipú without my friends and loved ones. Some students were upset and others exhilarated. I saw that one of the teachers started crying while others tried to comfort her.

I just recently started to feel calm and safe again and after today, I feel more shaken up than ever because I've realized it's not over. Hell, the epicenter has only moved closer to Santiago. I don't know what to do. Just be prepared I guess.