Hotel Terrano Concepcion

... prepared myself to a few days of solitude, donning running trainers i took my first run in far too long down the black beach... arriving back the hostel was packed! everyone had been out surfing that there was a really friendly international lot, all very chilled and wicked company... the next few days we all enjoyed chilling and watching the massive waves, not actually minding the stormy weather... cooking for each ...

We verlaten het merengebied en gaan verder met onze tocht naar het noorden, via de rio Bio Bio naar Concepcion, de tweede grootste stad van Chile waar we een afspraak hebben met Dania, een weerzien voor Constanza 18 jaar later. Een kort bezoek aan de stad, enorm druk. Daarna samen met Dania haar familie een gezellige avond met lekker (en veel) eten - BBQ met heel lekker vlees.

... which is more of a dark ale, to be honest not really to our liking, anyway we may go to the brewery in Valdivia as they have some brands. The next day we sore heads ( a little!) and it was a slow start that morning! First of all we headed to the university art house, where they had amssive mural as a symbol of Mexican and Chilean friendship, then we went out of Concepion and took the bus southwards to the coastal town of Lota. this town is famous for ...

With just a little trepidation I looked out over the waiting crowd for Ricardo. Would he be very different after 20 years? No. Just the same. My short hair caused a moment of hesitation from the other side of the glass but no more than that. Where do you start after being out of contact with one of the most important people of your university years for so long. Well, 'You look just the same' is probably not original but it was what I said.

... is about as entertaining as it gets. Afterwards, we all went and drank some amazing wine on the beach. Not bad for a Friday night... I'm actually to the point now where I have to start thinking about coming home. There are definitely mixed feelings about that, depending on the day. Yesterday, for example, after unsuccessfully navigating the bus system and ending up a few miles from the theater I was ...

... me to the business dean and several professors. Even though I wasn't planning on participating in any classes here, I think that I am going to sit in on a few, just to help with my spanish, and maybe even learn something. Besides that, I am going to be working with a professor in the Marketing Department who does research on marketing and its effects on voter behavior. I don't know a lot about this area, but it sounds pretty interesting. Finally ...

... ones containing people are me with colleages/friends who I´ve known since 1995. Also included are fotos of Lota - the coastal coal mining town that I once called home. Nestled on hills overlooking the Pacific, the city has incredible potential.

My housemate woke me up at 7am asking if I wanted to go to the beach. A few hours later we arrived at the livey city of Concepción. I finally found a sports bra in a huge department store - most Chilean ladies do not seem to wear them to the gym so you cannot buy one anywhere in Chillán. Had a lovely afternoon at the beach, water was super cold and full of crawling animals but it was a ...

... still feeling a little silly buggers from that (we met some local who pulled out the following line which i thought was a goodie "this is the closest i'll ever be to Australia in my life so let me enjoy it", so who were we to stop drinking). Whilst trying to nap the american guy who we met (who we grew to despise yet his ability to speak fluent spanish definately came in handy) insisted on staying up the whole time. Eventually the people ...

... two sisters are still wonderful. I have been spending lots of time with Carolina who is my age and she is now finished her studies and working. But she isn{t working very many hours so she has lots of time. Last night I went out with Caro and her cousin Vanessa and other old friends that I knew when I was here. It was lots of fun. Today Caro and I walked to the University and around the buildings where I had classes and around ...