Concepción

This past weekend some other volunteers and I (3 others from Angol and 2 that met up with us) spent the weekend in Concepción! Conce (as the Chileans call it) is one of Chile's main large cities, and very important for trade since it's right on the coast.  There are also a lot of universities in Conce, and we were pleased to see tons of people our own age everywhere! (not the case in Angol).  We took a 4-hr bus ride there and stayed in a residencial, which like a hostel but even smaller/more personal, just a large house run by this lady and her family and 2 employees. They were incredibly nice, and it was incredibly cheap, so that was a great find!  

The first night we headed to a karaoke bar, and my friends Caroline and Dan and I attempted to enchant the crowd with our rendition of Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer," but it did notttt go as planned. We were really tanking, so much so that at one point a man at the front table was giving us the double-thumbs-down boo (very rude, but probably deserved).  I think we were a little too big for our gringo britches. BUT we got it together by the end!  And we made up for it later with a lovely "Hey Jude." 

The next day we all set out walking towards the center of downtown, and happened upon this little flea market set up near the University of Concepción. So many cool things! A little camera crew interviewed us for their project about the arts & cultural events in the city. 

handmade doll outfits! there are even little nurses' uniforms

caught spinning MJ. ain't nothin wrong with that

Then we made our way to the downtown shopping area and Plaza de Armas (there is a plaza de armas in every Chilean city; it's just the main square). I gave some kids a few hundred pesos (only about 50 cents) towards their school's Harlem Shake party, and we all watched a belly-dancing performance. 

chalk drawings in the plaza!

Then we got lunch in the market (empanadas! delish), which, coincidentally, burned down the morning after we ate there! I would never celebrate a fire, but no one was hurt and I must say I don't mind that these things went up in flames: 

NO THANK YOU

jesus christ

don't worry, mom, I found this picture on Google

After lunch we got some de-LICIOUS ice cream to eat in the plaza. It was a huge two-flavored cone dipped in chocolate. You have to eat it with a spoon because it's so much to handle (in a good way). This photo captures my excitement well... 

Then we took a bus out to one of the ports, called Talcahuano.  There is a navy base there where you can go on board this ship that Chile took from Peru in the War of the Pacific in 1879, the Huascar.  It will be getting its own post, because I took so many pictures of it! But before we got to the ship, we were trying to figure out why there was such a large swarm of people along the water.  It was the busiest I've seen anywhere in Chile!  We soon caught a glimpse of a Red Bull BMX show in full swing, and it was AWESOME.  We actually got up pretty close! 

Conce is on a major fault line; this is where the 2010 earthquake hit hardest. that also means tsunami waves!

just look at these tasty treats

at this point we are still trying to figure out what the hell everybody is looking at

... and then we figured it out

yeah that's pretty cool

That night we ventured out to one of the bar districts near some universities, and of course there was more karaoke. This time Cher's 'Believe' and some 'Bohemian Rapsody.' There weren't many other people in the place but WE thought we did wonderfully, and the DJ agreed so he let us keep singing.  Practice makes perfect! 

Then on Sunday we took it easy and just enjoyed some breakfast and tv before we caught our bus back to Angol. It was a great weekend!  My host family is planning another long weekend in Conce, and I'm already looking forward to seeing even more of the city : ) 

here's the group, plus the daughter of the residencial lady, who came out to karaoke with us!
apparently gringos make her laugh