Winter Vacacion en Julio y Cosas

No, I'm not dead. I just haven't taken many fotos in the past month and waited till I had some good stories for you! It's Saturday and I'm back from a week in Region 1 of Chile. My two week vacation has been pretty tranquil. I spent a week at home, in Antofa. My friend Ron took me to see la Orquesta Sinfonica en el Teatro Municipal Antofagasta. They played Aaron Copland's "Hoe Down- Allegro" del ballet "Rodeo," Jean Sibelius' Andante Festivo (Orq. Cuerdas), Beethoven's Sinfonia Numero 2 en Re (D) Major Op. 36. You know you're watching a musician who loves his music when his entire body is involved with playing the music. As was the case with the soloist, Cristian Peralta, a violoncello de Santiago, who unabashedly wiped his face after his solo in the first part of the concert.

Spent most of the first week with Ron, walking around the Centro, watched Ninos del Hombre (Children of Men), and ate Chinese food. Also celebrated Bastille Day with Sarah and Christina at their apartment by eating French-style crepes. Christina spent a year in France before coming to Antofa and explained that a crepe "completo" is filled with egg, cheese, ham, and sometimes mushrooms. We also had Nutella (yummm!) available for sweet crepes. I tried a sweet crepe filled with lemon juice and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Ah, food!

I left on Sunday for Iquique, 6 hours north of Antofa. Iquique is a smaller city along the beach, known for it's great surfing beaches, Zofri (duty-free shopping center), and historical sights along Baquedano street. I went out on a limb and traveled to the city on the busiest weekend without lodging reservations or contacts in the city. I arrived at 9pm, wandered the streets with 7 days worth of clothes in my backpack in hopes to find somewhere to stay. The city was eerily quiet as most people had left the city for La Tirana, a small town 77 km away. In desperation, I conceded to rent a matrimony suite in a hostel in the centro for 14 mil pesos ($28). After eating a salame y queso sandwich, I boarded a bus for La Tirana. I had no clue what I was headed for, and Karrina, the girl sitting next to me on the bus, invited me to hang out with her and her friends. The population of La Tirana expands from its usual 800 inhabitants to around 1500 for the festival for la Virgin del Carmen (who was told to me to be Chile's national virgin).

We arrived in La Tirana to find every street congested with people from all over the country. The festivities really began at 12am that night. Dancers accompanied by music bands paraded the streets followed by their model of the virgin. Men and women were adorned in elaborate costumes of silk and sequins. Some bands looked more like gypsies. Other bands were more reminiscent of the traditional country attire, complete with cowboy boots, hats, and tulle skirts. Other dancers wore more modern costumes with matching top hats and ballet flats. What was most fascinating were the animal masks, which looked like dragon heads covered in flashing christmas lights. Luckily, no one's mask caught on fire! They reminded me of Chinese New Year's masks. Dragon figurines were perched on the top of the mask, and each had huge eyes on either side.

Food vendors sell the typical popular food the entire night--- Anticucho (shishkabobs), empanadas, completos, pichanga (a pile of french fries topped with barbequed meat pieces), french fries, churrasco sandwiches (thin grilled meat), sopapillas (Chile's fried dough), fideos (sugar frosted grains in various shapes). Yes, a dietitian's nightmare, but as we stayed up warming ourselves with rum and coke and didn't sleep all night, it was a night of celebration. Karrina's roommate, Andrea (whose nickname is Pepa), and I walked through the town in the morning. We toured the flea market (feria) watched more dancing, and visited the town's iglesia.
We returned to their apartment in Iquique after retrieving my belongings from the unused rented room I had for that night and then slept all day. Pepa works in Zofri ("zone free"), the duty free shopping mall of Iquique. We dropped Pepa off at work and then went in search of bistec al pobre-- a typical dish of Chile which includes french fries, sunny side up egg, white rice, and a thick slice of steak. The food court at Zofri was congested with people, so Karrina and I went to the center. We settled for a restaurant by the mercado which offered churrasco instead of bistec (thin slice of meat instead of a thick piece of steak). We visited Palacio Astoreca under the Universidad Arturo Prat by Plaza Prat on Baquedano. In the plaza, the streets are constructed with laquered wood. That evening we met up with Karrina's friend, Freddy and his two guy friends. They work for La Seguridad de la Ciudad, driving a white security van around the city like policemen.

The next day I toured the anterior of the region. We drove outside of the city and visited the abandoned refinery of Santa Laura. The tour guide gave us an in-depth explanation about the area, of which I understood maybe half of what he was saying! Then we drove a few minutes farther to the abandoned community of Humberstone. The original name of the community was changed after the Mr. Humberstone took over. The community was restored by various community groups and organizations, but after a while, a lot of the empty buildings started to look the same. We drove farther to La Pintado, the hiroglyphs closest to Iquique. By this time, I tried to shed all my clothes to a bare minimum as the desert heat was intense! We then drove to the desert's oasis town called, Pica. We ate a beautiful meal at Los Naranjos, a restaurante with a very carribean atmosphere. Here, I got a chance to speak to the other tourists and find out where they were from. I walked through the town of Pica as I hadn't brought my bathing suit for swimming. We drove back through La Tirana to watch some of the dancing. That night the atmosphere was much more tranquil than the first night but still beautiful to watch.

The last day I hung out at Zofri with Pepa while she worked at Casa Y Hogar. Each vendor has a tiny space to sell knicknacks of all kinds. I guess back in the day, Zofri was a true bargain. But as the larger department stores have taken over the city, Zofri dwindled to cheap things. Granted, some things were still pricey. I tried to buy a hiker's backpack for cheaper at Zofri, and some cost 40 mil ($80). On the flip side, things that are sold cheap in Zofri are also cheaply made. There are a lot of imported things from Chinese and international import companies. Karrina met up with me and her friend Patty and we shopped around for a bit. Then we returned home to rest and watch the soccer game between Chile and Argentina. We went to the centro to visit a friend, Carla, who worked at La Capilla, a bar in the centro. We had some drinks and then went in search for late night food. A block away was a fast food restaurant where we got roasted chicken and chaufan (fried rice) from a friendly "Tio" who gave us a bargain for the food.

My last day, we said our good byes at the bus station, and I promised to come visit Karrina and Pepa for Pepa's 23rd birthday in August. They're hoping I come live in Iquique after the program... but who knows? I celebrated my return to Antofagasta with Ron by trying sushi at Kimi Sushi and received a lovely bouquet of flowers from him when I stepped off the bus! More pics should be coming of my friend's 80's party tonight and then Monday it's back to reality, back to school!