Spring Saturdays

Now that the weather is *perfect* (I have no doubt that someday science will prove that a sunny 70° is the exact perfect condition for human beings), I have finally been seeing more parts of Angol! You know, those places that require planning and weekend-morning-awakeness that just seemed better left till warmer weather anyway. The time has come!

Last Saturday I met the other Angol volunteer, Todd, out at this place on the edge of town called El Vergel. It's a big plot of land that was once owned by a missionary (named Dillman Bullock (weird), from the U.S.) and his family, but is now a funky little villa with public gardens, picnic areas, a museum, garden store, and an agricultural high school (where students learn to be farmers by actually farming the land). You can see it when you're driving on the highway on the way out of town, so they have this fun little sign that is perfect for posing:

The gardens there are very pretty, with lots of flowering trees and little benches and whatnot--though I have been assured that it used to be even more beautiful (not sure what happened between then and now, or why).  But it was the perfect sunny afternoon to see it all!

I had been hearing about the museum at El Vergel ever since I got to Angol, because apparently it is the only museum in town. Luckily, it was open that afternoon!  Upon paying the (slightly excessive) entrance fee, we were given a little brochure that told us the three little rooms were organized into History, Biology, and Miscellaneous (I was obviously extremely curious to see what was in store for us in the Miscellaneous section).  The first room was pretty cool, with old pottery and other artifacts from people who used to live in this area, but in the second room we started to notice a pattern.  It was a bunch of collections of things--presumably the old American missionary man's personal collections.  A big wall of preserved butterflies, another of agate rocks, one display case full of sea shells and another full of stuffed birds.  Not necessarily native to the area, and really without any explanation other than the species name, they were all just put together because they were kind of cool to look at (and to show off some serious dedication to collecting on Dillman Bullock's part, may he rest in peace).  As expected, the Miscellaneous room was really the icing on the cake.  We had collections of guns, bird eggs, coins, office supplies (?), odd wooden statues, etc...

I believe you have my stapler...

I draw your attention to the Santa Claus dollar at the bottom here. What the hell is that? Is that real money? It's not just one of those where someone drew over Washington's face--it's printed with a Santa head

OK. A giant chicken egg, with a normal egg INSIDE it. Does anyone know how that is possible?
Seriously, please email the explanation to madelynboots@gmail.com, I must know

But the real, highly UNexpected gem of the Dillman Bullock Museum was this perfectly preserved mummy.  We turned a corner and there it was, just crouching in wait for us. The plaque explaining this mummy just said, more or less, that an anthropologist had been on an expedition in northern Chile (where the desert makes for wonderful dead-body-preserving conditions) when his students excited brought back this mummy that they had come across somewhere.  You fools! Even I know that improper excavation like that pretty much negates any useful anthropological information that mummy could have brought to the academic world.  There was no explanation for how or why the mummy then ended up down here in southern Chile, pretty damn far from where it was found. So many secrets.  But, all things considered, it was really cool to look at- you can still see the fingernails and the braids in his/her hair, the clothes they were wearing, etc.  

From the museum, I insisted on following the animal noises I could hear and was rewarded with a pen full of sheep behind the agricultural high school.  As it is springtime here, there were lots of baby lambs, including an adorable little black one! And a pig and its little piglet.

what a pretty farm tree!

they flocked to me (haha)

nice baby blues, lambkin

awww he doesn't fit in! will his wool change color or is he destined to always be the black sheep?

seems like the chicken/pig neighborhood has seen better days

On the way back out of El Vergel was the biggest Araucaria that either of us have seen (the iconic tree for which our region--and also my neighborhood--are named).  It's illegal to cut them down, but I don't see how you would finagle your way around chopping it/carting it away because their leaves are more like spikes.

for reference, that's a human-sized Todd undernearth the tree

Then this weekend, another volunteer (Ainsley) came to stay with me and spend some time in Angol! I had a lovely time showing her around. Once she got off the bus from the nearby town where she lives, we walked through the large outdoor market (called la vega), that I have somehow never seen. Well, I say "somehow" like it's a mystery, but really I know why I have never seen it: Saturday mornings I usually find an excuse to sleep in.  But I'm glad I finally went, because I couldn't believe how busy it was! I don't know where all those people came from; I have never seen Angol so bustling.  

perfume, anyone?

this extended for several blocks down this street and the street parallel

From there, we meandered through the town center to do some shopping and eat lunch.  Saturday was apparently a big soccer match involving Colo-Colo, because there was a rally/march of Colo Colo fans decked out in their gear, banging drums and waving flags and shouting their team cheers.  When I got to Chile one of the first things I learned was that there is a huge rivalry between the two most popular soccer clubs in Chile, Colo-Colo and La U (Universidad de Chile).  There seems to be more Colo-Colo support here in Angol and in my host family, but I had still not seen a little street party like this marching through the plaza before.

In the afternoon, Ainsley and Todd and I climbed one of the hills on the edge of town to take advantage of the heavenly weather and see the view, but that will get a separate post here.  Then Ainsley came to mass with the host family and I, and we had a nice family dinner, then she and I went out with Todd to catch the live music at one of my favorite restaurants in Angol and then go dancing after.  Of course I have no photos of any of that--gotta leave the camera at home sometimes, right? But really, it was the perfect day to spend out enjoying Angol, I'm so glad she was here! We had lots of fun (and got sunburned) : )