I've been itching to go hiking or participate in more outdoor recreational activities since my arrival to Chile. So, I was SO HAPPY when I could get one of the other volunteers to go with me. Although I could not find any clear information on which micro to take and if it was easy to get to the national park by public transportation, Maureen and I decided to go on an adventure regardless of whether we would reach our destination and hoped that people would understand our Spanglish (or I guess Chileanglish).
We took the metro (goes from Valpo to Limache) to the end at Estacion Limache. There was a bus (micro) depot at that station that took metro passengers to other towns for free, but none to our destination. We walked out of the metro and got on 3 different micros before we found the correct one labeled "1 Narvaez, 45 Granizo, La Campana". It supposedly runs every 10 minutes but that did not appear to be the case. WE loved our ride through the countryside past Olmue seeing several (chocolate, basket weaving) artesanias. Our 30 minute ride on the dirt road ended near the Granizo park entrance.
The park ranger told us that we could get to the top of Sendero Andinista in 5 hours (LP book stated 7 hours). We decided half way up that we were determined to try to make it to the top. It was a beautiful day to hike.
I kept on eyeing a jagged snow-capped mountain in front of us that appeared too high to be our goal.OUR DESTINATION
However, we later learned from what appeared to be a boy scout leader (NOT from the 15 hooligan-like 14-year-old boys who threw out every possible English word they knew but unfortunately were all bad words like F**K, B**CH, P**SY) that Sendero Andinista was closed due to the snow and it was indeed that tall jagged mountain that we had seen form below. I'd imagine the entire hike would've taken 8 hours, NOT 5 hours!
(14-year-old boy scouts, BUT DEFINITELY do not use boy scout LANGUAGE!!!)
The cows (I mean boys) left screaming "Marry Me Maureen", "I love you!"
Maureen takes a siesta at the top of a vista point.
A baby fox eyed us possibly thinking we had food.
We saw a cow follow a bison(?) through the woods which was quite strange so high up in the mountains, but perhaps they did belong to someone.
Saturday-
This morning was CRAZY! I saw my mom dressed in her workout clothes and asked where she was going. All I heard "Feria, comprando mucho....". I was excited to go see the feria (farmer's market) in Quilpue so I hopped into the to go.
We went to:
1) supermarket (which btw, they go almost every day or every other day)
2) feria- THIS WAS AN AWESOME feria. It's on Wednesdays and Saturdays until about 1 or 2pm in Quilpue. My parents bought so much stuff that my mom started off our shopping spree by asking one of many wheelbarrow pushers to follow us around the feria as she filled the wheelbarrow with 30 lbs. of potatoes, 20 lbs. of onions, apples, chirimoya (still somewhat pricey here, but cheaper than in the US), pears, clementines, carrots, walnuts for my banana bread (def. cheaper than in the market), etc. The wheelbarrow was then pushed to our car and the guy was tipped about $2USD.
3) Track meet- Our family rushed to Valparaiso to see my brother run in his 100m hurdle university track meet. I've had to hear how much he's hurt himself after his practices when he falls over the hurdles while showing us his bruises and cuts. We thought he did well, but he was a little disappointed with his 3rd place finish.
My brother was in the black and red suit.
Bought some delicious cookies from Tip Top in Vina Del Mar on Calle Valparaiso (apparently famous) with my friends.
My favorites at Tip Top- The cookies with manjar and the chocolate covered cappuccino cookie.
Beautiful Day in Vina with my friends, Consuelo and Francois.
We went to a free choir concert in the Municipalidad Teatro de Vina Del Mar. This is indeed a beautiful building inside and out. Unfortunately the main part of the theatre is closed because it was "terremotoado" ("earthquaked"- Chileans use this term to describe anything that was destroyed by the huge earthquake this year).
Free and paid shows and activities can be found at this website (weekend activities posted on Fridays):
www.mercuriovalpo.cl
I ended the day learning how to play Roulette with some family and relatives. It was fun for a little bit, but it was really a game of chance.
Sunday-
We went over to a relative's home for an asado (BBQ) and I LOVED the choripan!!! Man, I've got to find a place to buy chorizo more often to make sandwiches out of them!!
My mama has been trying to teach me how to knit a particular pattern but has changed the knitting pattern 4 times now, making it easier each time since I can't seem to rely soley on visual memorization. Chileans also knit differently than what I'm used to in the USA. I was hoping to make a sweater wrap by learning a cool pattern, but I CAN'T UNDERSTAND her!
Monday-
I am in the process of trying to obtain my carnet. I went to the International Police Station in Quilpue today with 2 other volunteers only to find out that they could not give us our Certificado de Visa. We needed a piece of paper to be stapled into our passports from another office which we found out could only provide this piece of paper on Wed-Fridays which we have school. I don't think I will be getting my visa extension or stipend for a while..
We walked around Centro de Quilpue in search of a casual sweatshirt or jacket that I can wear in the house instead of wearing my work clothes every day. However, the prices have been similar to the US, so I ended up buying a used jacket for $4 at a chain store called "American Clothing" in Centro Villa Alemana which only sells used American clothing. So ironic that I would buy Aeropostale branded clothing here in Chile when I don't buy it in the US.
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