Sunday, October 2, 2011

noticias locas

El apagón!
Life in Chile has been as exciting as ever within the past week!  In one of my daily conversations with the chatty guard at my apartment last weekend, I was informed that an out of control NASA climate satellite was en route to fall from its orbit and plummet into Chile at any given time.  He assured me that it was only the size of a city bus, and with any luck the atmospherical pressure would break it up into 6 pieces. Being hit by a satellite a 6th of the size of a city bus couldn’t do too much harm..right? Later that night, this fun news was accompanied by a country-wide blackout that affected over 10 million people.  All lights, internet, and most cell phone connection were completely out.  It really frightened many people who associated the blackout with the big earthquake of 2010, in which there was no power or water for 3 days. Luckily, my host-mom and her group of friends that were over playing bingo didn’t let it affect their fun.  Their solution was to fill the house with candles and pop open another bottle of wine.  After 2 and half hours, the lights were welcomed back on with a big round of applause. However, the fun didn’t stop there.  On Monday, everyone and their brother was talking about how the alignment of the planets on Tuesday was going to cause a huge earthquake.  The reasoning behind it was semi-complicated (my host mom read me multiple news articles on it and had the TV on all night) so I’ll spare you the superstitious details.  Luckily, the only notable thing that ended up happening to me on Tuesday was being followed and harassed by a clown with a fake gun while walking down the street (freaky, but I’d take that over an earthquake any day).  And, the NASA satellite crashed somewhere in the waters of the Pacific, close call! :)
Part of Neruda's house
On Wednesday our group took a trip to Algarrobo, a beautiful little beach town about an hour away. A little further down the road was another house of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.  While I don’t have a huge interest in or connection to Neruda, I must admit that I loved touring his house—it was hands down the quirkiest thing I have ever seen. It was huge and expansive, built on the rocks of the Pacific’s shore, each room having a different theme including bug collections, ships in bottles, masks, a paper mache horse, Hindu carvings, and sea creatures (he even has a narwhal tusk!).  It was a great trip.  While I love living in Viña, it is always fun to explore other areas as well.  In fact, I am leaving on Wednesday for a 5-day trip to my sister city, Montevideo, Uruguay!  I am so eager to finally explore this city that I have heard so much about growing up :)  

 

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