May 11, 2008

I ended up sleeping until about 1:30 in the afternoon until I was woken up by the girls of room 107. We went out to lunch at a small place called "Enjoy Cafe" near the ocean. We sat outside and had some reasonably priced sandwiches and ice cream. After eating, we continued down the beach and explored the shops and attractions near the water. I stepped in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life which doesn't really seem like a big deal, but was sort of an important mental visualization to really imagine how far from home we were. At one point we noticed a dog following us, so we stopped and threw a stick with it for a good 25 minutes. I found it funny that this stray dog was more obedient and better behaved than most family dogs are in the states. Other than the wastes they produce, I guess the dogs aren't that much of a nuisance to the people of Chile, thus why nothing is really done to get rid of them. I was a little disappointed in the vendors near the beach. It seemed like every one of them were offering the same products. That is not to say that there were also many homemade vendors selling near them too, though. At this point the day was coming to a close and the sun was beginning to set. Chile's only coastline is facing the west which conveniently is also the direction that the sun sets. The view of the sun setting over the open water of the port is indescribable. Now that we are a good way through our trip I'm beginning to realize that I really have enjoyed getting to know the group of people that I hang out with the majority of the time. Unfortunately they are all engineers, but not necessarily engineers that all hung out before this trip. Chile would have been amazing regardless of whom I went with, but this particular group accentuates the experience for me. Shortly after the sunset it began to get immediately colder, so we returned to the hotel for a night of hanging out, not going out. Every one of us needed the extra sleep. Traveling takes a lot out of you.