Week 12

This week I experienced my first hailstorm, power outage, and fall foliage for my time in Chile. While the week progressed fairly uneventfully, I took a trip this weekend out to Chillan, a small town about 6 hours South of Santiago. The town itself is pretty inconsequential, with the typical Latin American set-up: a bunch of businesses surrounding a central plaza, fanning out into residential area the further out you go. On the principal plaza there was a cathedral that, while hideous on the outside, was a gorgeous structure within, consisting of a tunnel of high arches and bright light. (See pictures.)

Much of the produce in Chile is grown in the South, and because of this the fresh fruit and vegetables were a treat! Chillan has a farmer's market/artisan market that we made sure to visit, and we ended up getting food to make dinner with from there. Other than the market, the town has very little to offer, but was filled with clean air and tranquility, leading to a wonderful night's sleep!

Saturday we took a bus to the nearby town of Valle La Trencas, a tiny town in the middle of a gorgeous no-where. Since we had no information on this area other than what the lady in the tourist office of Chillan had given us, we asked the bus driver to let us know when we were in the town. He laughed at us, because, as we found out, there really isn't a town, just a collection of cabanas and restaurants. (We ended up asking to be let off at a hostel, which worked out really nice.) It rained all day, and even turned to hail, so we didn't stay outside for too long, but it was still a beautiful, peaceful area.


Saturday night we had just started eating dinner when the power went out. A lovely candlelit dinner followed, reminding me very much of home. Contrary to NH in the winter though, the power was back on within a few hours, so we weren't roughing it too much!

The skies cleared on Sunday, and we went for a hike up to a viewpoint, where we were rewarded with amazing views of the surrounding mountains, valleys, volcanoes, and fall foliage. It was breathtaking and a great way to spend the day before heading back to smoggy Santiago.