A Few Days in La Serena

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I got a super cheap bus ticket (about $6 US) to La Serena (a beautiful coastal city about 5 hours south of Copiapo- where Laura lived while on exchange). I spent about 5 days with Laura's host family (good friends of mine aswell, who I spent the summer with during my exchange year).

It was great to see Laura's host brother Pito, and his band-mates and friends! We didn't tell any of them that I was coming so it was a lot of fun to surprise them! They've all grown up so much, I can't believe it!! I guess it's been a while since I last saw them... I went with Tia Susy (Laura's host mom) to Pito's school's anniversary event which consisted of a fashion/costume competition between classes. Pito's class did musical icons, and did a hilarious performance on the catwalk as Barry White. Some of the other great ones were Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias and Kiss.

The household is just the same as I always remember it... lots of laughing yelling and singing! Meals around the little round dining room table there are one of my favorite parts of La Serena. Cote's (Laura's host sister) new dog that I met last time I was here has gone to live on their grandmothers vineyard seeing as she is a big dog and didn't have enough space to run here. And they have a new kitten now, who is a lovely spoiled little furball named Blanquita Maria (little white maria). Here in Chile cats and dogs most often live out in the patio of the house rather than inside (big dogs never live inside... at least not that I've seen) but some families have small dogs and cats that live inside. Now, it actually occurs to me that I don't know if it's the same way down south, because it's a lot colder there and maybe it's more common for pets to live inside.

I visited with friends including Pito's bandmates, a few friends from Copiapo that are now studying in La Serena, and James's aunt and cousins. It was a very nice and relaxing trip but I didn't do anything terribly exciting (although I did go to a great brass concert on the beach with Tia Susy.... and forgot my camera of course!). Although we did have a great time watching my cousin Billy's wedding via webcast and Pito and the guys got a kick out of Billy saying "for richer or richer"!

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Photos

San Joaquin 1
the view from Tia Susy's house

San Joaquin 2
the view from Tia Susy's house

Soto as historic figure
(I can't remember who! it was someone from famous chilean literature!)

Avocado face masks!
I made an avocado face mask and Pito joined in on the fun :P