Concepción

I had a weekend away, the first one that I had taken without other extranjeros and a great chance to speak spanish the entire weekend. The only english I was surrounded by was the music, there really is more english music than spanish.

Concecpción is the second biggest city in Chile after Santiago and before Viña/Valpo. I took the overnight bus which made the trip really easy, I arrived really early though and Alfonso, my guide to the city hadn't slept much. I decided to go out for a few hours on my own, not really considering the fact that before 10am not a lot is open but it was pretty interesting to see the hustle and bustle of a new city so early in the morning. School kids in uniforms running to be on time, the morning traffic you would expect in any city and the gray clouds that I was hoping would melt away mid-day ... and never did.

I also didn't grasp the fact that I had gone 7 hours south and it was going to be colder. I have been so spoiled in Viña with sunshine every day and beach days just as often that I almost forgot to take a jacket with me. That first morning I walked to the city center which was only about 7 blocks from Alfonso's families house, walked around a bit and ended up sitting in the plaza Independencia reading Nicholas Spark's "The Wedding" in spanish : ) I realized that the day really wasn't warming up and decided to have a coffee in a cute cafe around the plaza and wrote a bit in my journal - don't be fooled, all I write in this journal is specific details of trips ... for some reason my rambling is really much better when I can type, lucky for you!



After a quick nap we had a giant Chilean lunch with Alfonso's Mom and Sister. After which I couldn't imagine that I would be eating again for the rest of the weekend! Alfonso and I headed to the Universidad de Concepción which boasts one of the only real campuses in Chile. By that I mean it has one central location for all of the University buildings versus what my University has which is many buildings all over Valpo and Viña. It was a pretty ugly day, very cloudy and even a little rainy but it was nice to get out and walk around especially with such beautiful scenery. It was like we were in the forest, except for the palm trees which apparently exist in every part of Chile! We ended up watching a rock concert that a few of Alfonso's friends were playing in and then heading to a local pub and restaurant, eventually ending up at a friends house before heading home to crash at about 2am.



You can tell with the next pictures that Saturday was absolutely beautiful!


I spent the day driving around greater conce with Alfonso and his Dad. The city itself doesn't feel very big at all but the small towns that border it are all so beautiful and in truth much more interesting.

We drove up the coast through the towns of Tome and Pingueral and had probably one of the best meals I've had in Chile at a really nice oceanside restaurant. We had an appetizer of seafood empanadas, Pisco sours, I had chilean sea bass with rice, and a little cafe to finish the meal. Of course when I went to give his Dad my share of the bill I was told, "Are you insane?" ... well it was far too generous but I didn't want to be too persistent because in reality the idea of a young girl paying like that kind of goes back to the deeply embedded machismo which is alive and well in Chile.

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to drive around, especially after realizing that where we were would not have been very accessible via public transport. That is one thing that I wish was easier even in Viña. Patty doesn't have a car and there are times I wish I could just drive up the coast or explore more around Viña and Valpo, luckily the micro (bus system) is pretty comprehensive, and because they come so frequently taking the wrong one isn't ever really an issue.

Ok, more about Conce ... that evening Alfonso put together an asado (barbecue) at his house with a bunch of his friends. It was really great to meet a big group of Chileans and be able to talk to them, and the food was delicious!! Of course we didn't actually eat until midnight, with the time it took to get the fire going (no gas bbq's here : ) ) and the late start we got, but it was so worth it! He had also invited three french canadian girls who were pretty fun, hard to understand ... the french accent with spanish is a pretty tricky combination ... but it turns out they are going to be on the same Navimag (ferry/cruise to Patagonia) as me! I also talked with one Chilean who's mother is German and has spent alot of time in Germany. He gave me some advice on where to travel down south and we chatted about Denmark.

The next day I decided to take the 11am bus back because I had work and so did Alfonso. His mom and sister tried to get me to stay which was soo nice and I just loved them. His mom said that it didn't matter if Alfonso had to work that we could do something together, just the girls. She told me to make sure next time I visited that I stayed for more time, I just wanted to wrap her up and take her with me!!! She was soo sweet!!

The bus ride was too long because I ended up going to Santiago first and then Valpo and then Viña ... 9 hours ... but it was really beautiful to be driving alongside the snow capped Andes the whole way, between naps of course I looked out : )

Hope you enjoy the pictures!! More soon.