our new friends. and one ginger.
from the top of the cross
and again
Matt looking fly with his sweater
Andrew with our UGA alum friend Nick
statue from Easter island in the museum here
La Serena and Coquimbo are neighboring cities here on the coast. They are of comparable size, but from what I´ve seen I would say that they differ as much as any two cities in spite of their proximity. Coquimbo is the port town here and they say that´s why it´s much crazier than La Serena - also much less safe. The city front is along the water line with a big steep hill comprising most of the city and they warn tourists not to go up the hill. In fact, one of our groups was walking up the hill and was told to quickly make a right turn by an old woman shaking her head and drawing her finger across her throat.
The biggest (literally) attraction of Coquimbo is, however, at the top of the hill. Overlooking the city by the sea is the world´s largest cross. I don´t know exactly how tall it is, but it´s quite large. You can take two elevators to the top giving you a great view of the surrounding area, from the Coquimbo bay to the ocean and from the city front to the snow capped mountains in the distance. It was a great view from the top. We hiked back down the hill into the city front for some lunch only to find that almost everything was closed because it was Sunday and a religious holiday (San Pedro´s day). We made our way back to La Serena via city bus. I´m almost certain that not once did we come to a complete stop on the bus ride. It seems like the drivers just slow down and people jump off and on. Then the driver furiously speeds back up to merge back into traffic while throwing change at people who just got on.
The next morning was our first day of class and our sleepy eyed group gathered together to wait for the bus at 9am. The class Matt, Stretta, and I are taking is Intro to World Politics and it´s being taught by an Armstrong professor named Jose da Cruz. He´s originally from Brazil, where after serving in the military regime became a diplomat and worked for Brazil´s ambassador (who was ´a real dick´). He´s a little bit crazy, but fun to talk to. His views on politics are some what insane (´Do I miss the military regime? Of course I do´), but the class maintains a very relaxed discussion based atmosphere. We certainly have the least amount of work out of all of the classes and because we´re only taking one class we get done at 2 each day, leaving us a completely free afternoon.
Our second day of class was much the same as the first. At lunch, about midway through the main course, the room started shaking. About ten seconds later we had all survived our very first earthquake. Awesome.
The biggest (literally) attraction of Coquimbo is, however, at the top of the hill. Overlooking the city by the sea is the world´s largest cross. I don´t know exactly how tall it is, but it´s quite large. You can take two elevators to the top giving you a great view of the surrounding area, from the Coquimbo bay to the ocean and from the city front to the snow capped mountains in the distance. It was a great view from the top. We hiked back down the hill into the city front for some lunch only to find that almost everything was closed because it was Sunday and a religious holiday (San Pedro´s day). We made our way back to La Serena via city bus. I´m almost certain that not once did we come to a complete stop on the bus ride. It seems like the drivers just slow down and people jump off and on. Then the driver furiously speeds back up to merge back into traffic while throwing change at people who just got on.
The next morning was our first day of class and our sleepy eyed group gathered together to wait for the bus at 9am. The class Matt, Stretta, and I are taking is Intro to World Politics and it´s being taught by an Armstrong professor named Jose da Cruz. He´s originally from Brazil, where after serving in the military regime became a diplomat and worked for Brazil´s ambassador (who was ´a real dick´). He´s a little bit crazy, but fun to talk to. His views on politics are some what insane (´Do I miss the military regime? Of course I do´), but the class maintains a very relaxed discussion based atmosphere. We certainly have the least amount of work out of all of the classes and because we´re only taking one class we get done at 2 each day, leaving us a completely free afternoon.
Our second day of class was much the same as the first. At lunch, about midway through the main course, the room started shaking. About ten seconds later we had all survived our very first earthquake. Awesome.
Last night we went back out to the bar on the beach, actually right next door to the internet cafe I´m currently at. We were celebrating one of the (few) guys on the trip´s birthday. We talked to some strange locals for a while, realizing at the end of the night that they had been putting all their drinks on our tab. All in all it was a fun night and was not much fun waking up for our tour of the city this morning. We went to a museum containing some artifacts from the first civilizations in the region and learned a little bit about the history of the region. Then we went to a house in the square downtown where a former president of Chile lived. His name escapes me right now, but he was president from 1944-1950. There were pictures of him with Ike, Truman, Elenor Roosevelt and a lot of other important figures. We saw a protest in downtown Chile. Apparently some miners hadn't been paid in three months. There were police everywhere, causing me to comment on how impressed I was that they weren't just beating the protesters. However, I've come to find out that they did indeed arrest them and carry them off in a big paddywagon.
After lunch at the University we came home for some good quality nap time. Tonight we´re having a barbeque at our houses with some University students.
Dave, thanks for the blog. I hope you can get your slack ass friends to do some of the work. Meanwhile, you all take care. Sounds like you are having just the experience you wanted.
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