I was gently reminded today that while living in paradise I should record my adventures; This blog is not just for my friends and family to live through vicariously, but to have something to look back on to remember my time here. For starters, just to help convey how ethereal my walk to the bus stop is every morning:
As I usually leave 20 minutes early for work I feel like I have enough time for a few hiccups here or there; however, today my time was devoured by the lackadaisical bus system. It should be noted that there is no official bus map for the entire city of Antofagasta. While I have counted at least 10 different buses, most people simply memorize the routes. Though this may work for current residents, I expect the learning curve might be a tough one for expats or tourists similar to myself. After nearly a half hour, I finally managed to find the 111 bus that took me to work.
On the other hand, Antofagasta has many things in its favor. I think my favorite part about living on the western sea board may be the eternal sunset. Antofagasta has done a good job revamping their board walk and here you can see custom pergolas that line various parts of the coast.
One of the best ways to experience a culture is through their food. I would be hard pressed to describe what you see above without drawing some analogy to a hot dog. It is a hot bun filled with meat, avocado, pico de gallo, and mayo, assembled in such a manner as to give new meaning to deliciousness. While certainly not filling, it was a nice taste of Chilean food.
While many of you will assume that with Antofagasta's location in the Atacama desert, it consists of purely sand, I can attest to beautiful rock formations throughout the city. I will claim no knowledge of geology beyond my basic requirements in college but feel as though the city would be very enjoyable to the more trained eye.
Another aspect of the city that is unforgettable is the weather: a high of 75 and a low of 45. Coming from Texas this is absolutely perfect and especially so when the locals begin to complain about it "getting hot" at a whopping 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So to take full advantage of the weather I went out to the beach with some friends on Sunday and taught them how to fly a stunt kite. With wind gusts up to 30mph, we had ideal conditions for people to try it out. Mike, who you can see flying the kite in the above picture, was dragged around a bit with the stronger gusts but held is ground. Only one person lost her footing but tenaciously got up and kept at it.
As it is getting late here I will leave you with one last photo of a building behind my work. I was informed that the building has no designated purpose but tends to be used for just about anything people see fit (currently it is outfitted with a ping pong table). The real intrigue in my mind lies in the construction. It is a very simple structure but offers what appears to be about 800 square feet. The building is south facing and appears to have a great deal of solar shading to avoid too much radiation.
As I usually leave 20 minutes early for work I feel like I have enough time for a few hiccups here or there; however, today my time was devoured by the lackadaisical bus system. It should be noted that there is no official bus map for the entire city of Antofagasta. While I have counted at least 10 different buses, most people simply memorize the routes. Though this may work for current residents, I expect the learning curve might be a tough one for expats or tourists similar to myself. After nearly a half hour, I finally managed to find the 111 bus that took me to work.
On the other hand, Antofagasta has many things in its favor. I think my favorite part about living on the western sea board may be the eternal sunset. Antofagasta has done a good job revamping their board walk and here you can see custom pergolas that line various parts of the coast.
One of the best ways to experience a culture is through their food. I would be hard pressed to describe what you see above without drawing some analogy to a hot dog. It is a hot bun filled with meat, avocado, pico de gallo, and mayo, assembled in such a manner as to give new meaning to deliciousness. While certainly not filling, it was a nice taste of Chilean food.
While many of you will assume that with Antofagasta's location in the Atacama desert, it consists of purely sand, I can attest to beautiful rock formations throughout the city. I will claim no knowledge of geology beyond my basic requirements in college but feel as though the city would be very enjoyable to the more trained eye.
Another aspect of the city that is unforgettable is the weather: a high of 75 and a low of 45. Coming from Texas this is absolutely perfect and especially so when the locals begin to complain about it "getting hot" at a whopping 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So to take full advantage of the weather I went out to the beach with some friends on Sunday and taught them how to fly a stunt kite. With wind gusts up to 30mph, we had ideal conditions for people to try it out. Mike, who you can see flying the kite in the above picture, was dragged around a bit with the stronger gusts but held is ground. Only one person lost her footing but tenaciously got up and kept at it.
As it is getting late here I will leave you with one last photo of a building behind my work. I was informed that the building has no designated purpose but tends to be used for just about anything people see fit (currently it is outfitted with a ping pong table). The real intrigue in my mind lies in the construction. It is a very simple structure but offers what appears to be about 800 square feet. The building is south facing and appears to have a great deal of solar shading to avoid too much radiation.
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