Life in and around Concepcion

Well, I told you before I didn't get much sleep due to the quakes at night.  Last week we survived our first 6.1 quake.  It scared the pants off me and woke Ella up.  Our whole building shook with a lot of force but not violently.  It was as if someone was shaking us awake with big pushes from side to side.  There was also a low but loud rumbling sound that you could feel in your belly (like a loud bass).  Below is the graph of the major quakes around the world.  When you locate Chile, the small red circle is ours and you might have guessed the big yellow one is the February quake.

Our quake is the smaller red circle in southern Chile.

OK, so it's been a while since you've heard from us.  Well, that's because we rented a car for a week (super expensive) and toured around the local area. The girls have the week off from school due to the Independence day holidays (Like our 4th of July).   It's been great to explore but the drivers here are CRAZY.  It truly is every person for themselves.

Tiny car with big price tag.

We are only allowed to cross the bridge to Concepcion three days out of the week.  Like everyone else our days to cross the bridge depend on what the last number is on our license plate.

So, as I mentioned,  it was time to head out of town!  Our fist trip was out to the water falls, Saltos de Laja (saltos means to jump, so the rivers here jump instead of fall).  It was a nice day trip into the country. 

Saltos de Laja

Is the river falling or jumping?

After walking around a bit we all felt a bit hungry so we headed for some food.  We ended up at a place without a menu.  They offered us some soup so that's what we ate, Caseuela (a traditional stew).  It came in two huge bowels and consisted of a huge chunk of beef with squash, potato, and broth.

Yummy traditional soup!

We also took a day trip to the Pacific Ocean!  It was time for Mabel to play in the sand.  We went to Playa Blanco but found the sand was not so Blanco.  There is a lot of black sand actually!  The water looked clear and felt cold!

Brrrr

After this day trip we headed to the Andes!  We visited the closest ski hill (No, unfortunately we didn't ski).  There was plenty of snow and people were skiing nice spring corn-snow.  The prices at this ski hill were more than any place we've been in Montana.  Since we arrived at the end of the season few places were open for business and those that were were out of our budget.  After some looking we finally found a cabana for the night.

Ski map

From here we started home and took some history lessons.  Right now everyone is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence so we went to the birthplace of one of their main revolutionaries, Bernardo O'Higgins (if you were wondering his father was not Chilean).  There wasn't much to see when we were there but I'm sure this weekend things are different.

O'HIggins

After the short lesson we were feeling thirsty so where should we head but the local Cervaceria, yes, local brewery.  This is not a common pastime here in Chile but apparently it is growing.

Though we couldn't taste any of the beer on site, we were actually lucky enough to catch someone there who showed us around the one room brewery.  We did purchase some for later!

On our way home we passed through Florida, who would have thought?!

A nice town for a picnic lunch.

This weekend we have been eating a lot of meat!  It is traditional to have a barbecue which consists of an appetizer of sausages then a few courses of different cuts of beef served with red wine and at the end some iceberg lettuce with lemon juice.  I have to say it all tastes really good if you like meat!

Our introduction to the holiday traditions took place at the girls school.  Mabel dressed up in the traditional dance dress and we took part in the festivities.

Watch out she knows the Cuaca!

Meat kabobs!

We've also seen lots of professional dancers.  It is amazing how everyone knows the classic dances, even at Mike's department cookout everyone ended up dancing the traditional dances.  This is a very nationalistic country.  It is fun to watch them celebrate!

Hanging out with the Gauchos!

They dance in these!!!

Check out the dancing by clicking the link below:

Well, I guess I should include some pictures based around why we're here in the first place.  We have had the opportunity to walk around the campus lately.  Ella's first comment was, "Wow, this is so much like home."  I think that speaks to how similar university campuses are, with all the  students walking around the well kept grounds.  The University of Concepcion is the second largest university in Chile (second to one in Santiago).  It has a big campus and lots of paths to get lost on (which we did when we tried walking to Mike's building).

Statue and fountain on the main square.

The main clock tower on campus.

Monica and Mike on campus.

In the picture above you can see Monica Sorondo, who has basically been our life line in Chile.  She has organized our whole trip down here.  We owe her a lot!!

OK, I have lots more I could include but I'll sign off for now and include more later.  Please keep sending messages.  We are having a great time but believe me we also miss you all at home!  When we are not distracted by some strange new sight we are often looking at pictures of all of you on our computers or in our photo albums.  We love you!!  Thanks for staying in contact, keep the messages coming!

Here are few closing pictures for all you biologists!

Lizard on campus. Notice the bug in it's mouth!

Big beetle that Mabel loves. Caballito

Pretty local weed that grows all over the place.