A Weekend in Curanipe
Recently, a friend of mine and fellow astronomer from UVa, Loreto, visited me in Concepción to give a talk and do a bit of work. She invited me to spend the weekend with her and her sister’s family at their father’s house up the coast. After making an early departure from work, we caught a ride to the city bus station for my first bus ride in Chile!
We spent a couple hours on the bus, winding our way North to Cauquenes along country roads, making stops in many towns along the way. Periodically, I would discover I had slid down/forward several inches in my chair from the bumpy roads; a little scoot up would solve the problem for another twenty or thirty minutes.
After disembarking in Cauquenes, Loreto and I walked to the main plaza and had dinner at a local restaurant while we waited for her sister to arrive and take us the rest of the way to Curanipe. There was a small market in the square, with vendors hawking all sorts of wares. On the other side of the square, kids raced around in rental pedal-buggies, turning pedestrians into a moving obstacle course. A little after darkness fell, Loreto’s sister and family arrived; we piled into the car and took off along the winding roads to Curanipe.
We arrived in Curanipe sometime before midnight and brought our stuff inside Loreto’s father’s house. Loreto’s dad is a very friendly and excitable guy; despite he and I both posessing similarly limited command of the other’s language, it was clear that he was a fun-loving guy. We spent the rest of the evening chatting in the living room, eventually calling it a night between 0130–0200.
The next morning (and the rest of the weekend) was relaxed and ran at leisurely pace. I had a cup of coffee with Loreto’s father and we had a little exchange in spanish (probably not enough to call it a real conversation :) ). After everyone else woke up and had eaten, they took me for a tour of Curanipe. It was a pretty small seaside fishing town. We walked downhill into the “downtown” where we turned towards the ocean.
Curanipe is near the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. A tsunami hit Curanipe (and other areas) shortly afterwards; a monument has since been built:
As would be expected from such a major natural disaster, all of the buildings at or near the water were brand new, having been built in the past four years. The beach was mostly deserted, aside from a few surfers enjoying the small break by the beached fishing boats.
After walking around the beach, we went back to the city center and picked up supplied for lunch, including what would turn out to be my favorite food from the trip: mariscos (seafood) empanadas.
A leisurely lunch was followed by a walk to the nearby river (apparently unnamed on OpenStreetMap) and followed the dirt road up-river a ways. The road alternated sides of the river and we balanced on logs, rocks, and mini sand bars to work our way across. Our travels up-river concluded at a swimming hole, where we passed the time skipping rocks back down the stream while Loreto’s nephew swam. Taking notice of the time, we eventually retraced our route to town – sunset was approaching!
After getting back from the swimming hole, we drove South along the coast to try and catch the sunset over the Pacific. But as the coastline near Curanipe is in a Southwest direction, we watched the sun sink below the coastline, after chasing sunset south.
Curanipe from George Privon on Vimeo.
The rest of the weekend continued to be relaxing. On Saturday night, we repeated the approach from the previous night and stayed up late, talking. Though, to be honest, I was mostly listening, and understanding only a little bit of the rapid Chilean Spanish. :)
Come Sunday afternoon, we took leave of Loreto’s father and piled back in the car. I was heading back to Concepción, while Loreto, her sister, and her sister’s family would make the drive North to Santiago. They dropped me off at the bus station in Cauquenes, and I reversed the bus ride back, periodically sliding myself back up in my seat.