Today was the day. We had heard about the 18 since the first meeting of the Tufts-in-Chile Program 2009 way back in April. We had heard that Chile took their independence day seriously and that this year marked the beginning of the 200th year of its independence, so the parties were going to be something to write home about.
We started our 18 bright and early at 3:30am (normal wake-up time for us on this trip). We got ready and waited for the tour guide to come pick us up and take us to El Tatio, the geysers in Chile. We arrived at the geysers shortly after 6:00am. You have to get there early because the geysers are better seen when the air temperature is lowest (aka, at the butt-crack of dawn). It was worth it though. We all had a good time. The tour company also provided breakfast, which was a great incentive to get us going. It wasn't anything extra special, just instant coffee, bread, cheese, ham, an apple, and a small chocolate bar. We're college students, so any time there is food, we're always a little happier.
After the geysers, we headed to the thermal baths. It was a fun place. There are a ton of tour groups in San Pedro, especially at this time of year, but our tour company sets out on their treks about 30 minutes earlier than all the others so we get to every place a little bit sooner and have the chance to take pictures without a bunch of tourists in the way. We were actually the only group at the thermal baths which was nice.
Since we got up early that morning, we made it back to town right before lunch. We stumble across this nice little restaurant on a side street. It had a small sign advertising its empanadas. We were intrigued. Leanne and Austin got theirs to go, but Katy, Emily, Steven, and I decided to eat in and take advantage of the Pastel de Choclo that they had on the menu. Pastel de Choclo is a classic Chilean dish made with corn, chicken, and a beef and onion mixture called Pino (the same mixture that is found in the empanadas de pino). The four of us got empanadas and two pastels to share. It was appropriate that we had empanadas and pastel de choclo considering it was Chile's independence day and these two things are top five on Chile's list of national foods along with cazuela, super 8, and pan.
We spent the afternoon relaxing in the hostel before heading out to dinner and experiencing the nightlife in a small Chilean town on independence day. Unfortunately I wasn't blown away with the festivities. There was a section of the town blocked off and there were about 20 booths selling food and things. I guess we're still not acclimated to the Chilean lifestyle because we called it a night around 10:30pm, but the next day, our tour guide (slightly hungover) told us that the party had started in the bars at 11:00pm.
Day 9: Friday, September 18th at :30am until Friday, September 18th at 11:30 pm
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