Harbor Tour and Biking

  Valparaíso, Chile
Friday, September 9, 2005

Hello hello everyone!
 
Its that time of the week again!  I hope it has been a fun one for all of you, I have been busy as usual as classes are finally falling into a schedule, and I actually have work sometimes!
 
Last weekend started off on a real sour note, mostly because I wasnt taking mountain sports seriously enough.  We had an exam, with a whole bunch of stuff we were supposed to read, in addition to the stuff we covered in class.  Well I sorta skimmed over most of it, read a little and was familiar with the stuff from class.  Come on its mountain sports.  But when the prof handed out our tests and I glanced at the questions I knew I was in big trouble.  It was like long answer questions about the history of organized mountain climbing.  I wrote a lot of nothing, hoping that he will have mercy on the foreigners.  Its really hard to put my mind to work here, I would prefer to just cruise on by and not worry about studying.  Perhaps I learned my lesson.  Ugh.
 
After the exam we went for ice cream.  This was a good thing.  Bravissimo is the location, and they give you 3 scoops for the price of two in the 'winter'.  Its as close to gelato as I have had in a long time, and so it was a good place to go to forget about the stupid test.  Afterwards we walked along the beach in vina for a while, enjoying the nighttime surf and just chattin about life, thinking about how lucky we are to be here!!  Then we went to a bar for a beer, and made plans for the morning.  (we were going to go hiking in the national park...but it was raining cats and dogs in the morning, so we cancelled)  
 

Naval Headquarters

The weather did clear up in the afternoon, and so I called up some people and we decided to go to Valpo and do a tour of the harbor. 

Boats in port

It was like 2.000 pesos a person for a half hour trip, and there was a guide to tell us stuff about the harbor.  The sun was streaming down on us, lighting up valpo like a necklace of gems.  Lots of big ships in the harbor...its a really busy place. 

Esmeralda in port

I had heard that it was illegal to take pictures of the navy ships anchored in port, so I made sure to take lots of pictures of them. 

Navy ships in port with Coastal Mtns in background

(the guide said you can get arrested because they might think you are a spy, so we'll see, this may be my final transmission)
 

Valparaíso from Ascensor Atilleria

After the tour we went up the famous acensor artilleria, which features the blue cafe thats hanging over the cliff you see on postcards all the time (check out my updated photos)  Paseo 21 de Mayo is very pretty and theres a naval museum up there. 

Port of Valparaíso

I'm starting to keep an eye out for interesting touristy type stuff for when my family comes to visit so that they dont get bored! 

Cerro Concepción

 
 
Sunday I got up really early, and was on my bike by 8:20 to head to the next city to the north (Quintero)  on the map it seemed to be about 35 km, which seemed doable since the road is along the coast and stuff.  Once outside of Concon the city melts away and you can see the mountains, the ocean, its all countryside and forests and grazing animals.  I pretty much had the road to myself, but the 35 km and the rather strenuous hills ended up being too much.  My knee was sorta complaining too, and I didnt have anybody to push me to keep going.  I thought of Colin and our bike trip to South Haven.  Good times!
 
The week was a busy one.  Classes went well for the most part, some were a little boring, but thats ok.  All the classes are 1.5 hours.  Its a long time.
 
Met with my companera de idiomas 2 times.  We chatted and I tried to teach her some more english.  Shes a spanish major, and so she loves to give me little things to work on, but they are really basic.  Stuff that I really already know, so I'm gonna have to break it to her that though I mess up a lot when I am speaking, if given a chance to think about it, i'll get it right.
 
Things with the family have been going great.  Ive been able to talk to them a lot more, using my spanish, being able to use my sense of humor more.  Its been a lot better, even though I still wish they did more stuff together.
 
Wednesday was my first drawing class.  I was sitting on the street attempting to draw an old VW bug.  I was doing pretty well, had it all outlined and ready to start shading, when this lady walked out of a building, got in and drove away.  Thats the hazard of picking a car as a subject.  Ha.  I love my landscape 'painting' class.  Its so fun and relaxing to just be able to go somewhere and paint, then afterwords look at each others paintings, give and recieve compliments ect.  I guess I'm trying to get back in touch with my artistic side.
 
My second flute lesson went pretty well.  I can make notes now, but the sound isnt always consistent, so i have to keep practicing.  Ive been playing a lot of suzuki book one songs that I remember.  Any kind of music is appreciated, and since I didnt bring ANY music to S. America, I have to rely on creating my own.
 
Finally burned a photo CD, it feels good to have the photos put away, safe and sound.  Check out my webshots... I have added some new photos to the Vina and Valpo album, some of them are pretty cool! 
 
I always ride my bike to my mountain sports class, and today my professor saw me come in.  We chatted about biking, and he told me some stuff about riding around the area, and where to go to get good maps ect.  Real likeable guy, too bad his tests suck!  So, this weekend I may try doing some more biking.  Theres also interest in going hiking one of the days if the weather is ok, or maybe camping on the beach.  We'll see.
 
We just recieved info on our educational trip to La Serena, a city about 5-6 hours to the north on the coast.  We are going to be there from next wed-saturday staying in cabins on the beach, and doing all kinds of fun stuff including going to an observatory.  I didnt know this before coming to chile, but the area around there has the best night skies for observatories in the world.  The have like 300 out of 365 days clear skies, and so keep your fingers crossed for me that we will have a good night to see the stars.  My birthday is the 16th while we will be at this place, and so that should be a fun time.  Maybe we'll have cake on the beach!  So, youll have to be patient for my next email, but it should be interesting!
 
Well Ive babbled on long enough now!  I hope everything stateside (or overseas where ever you may be studying) is going well.  I miss everyone a lot, even if I am really happy to be here!  As always, I love to recieve emails from you, and I will try to respond when I have time.  Send photos or stories, updates from your own exciting lives!  Take care all, drink some michigan apple cider for me!
 
Un abrazo!!