LSU CHILE: Played in Powder, Abducted by Pirates, & Cultured in Concepcion By Leah Katherine Saal

Playing in Powder, July 7, 2012

Saturday morning, we got up early to take a caravan trip with Cristina’s company. It is their yearly family trip. This year, the group chose Rucahue in Los Trancas. After a bus ride, we had the chance to play in the snow, make and eat real ice cream, participate in a snowman-building context, and eat Bar-B-Q at the resort. Although our teddy bear didn’t win, he was pretty cute.

Entrance to Rucahue Resort

Now selling Ice-cold Coke!

Not quite a Louisiana snowball...

Teddy, our entry into the competition

Snow ball fight on the grounds

Abducted by Pirates, July 7, 2012
Next, we traveled to Pincheira’s Cave nearby. The rough hone rock cavern was created by the 40-foot waterfall cascading down its entrance. In the 1800s, the caves were home to “pirates” who raided in the name of the Spanish crown. There, we sat to watch a historical reenactment - complete with pirates on horseback with guns shooting blanks galloping through the crowd. At one point, women were chosen from the crowd to be abducted by the pirates. Although I have been in plays before, being chosen for an impromptu period performance in a foreign language was not something I had planned on for the day. Despite my wish otherwise, Connie and I were “picked” to be chased by the pirates and “imprisoned” in the cave. I don't know if I was more scared of the horses or the pirates. :) After our imprisonment, we were brought out of the cave and given props to return with for the finale. You can draw you own conclusions based on my prop.

Entrance to Pincheira’s Cave

Crowd gathering for show

Right before our capture...

Our "prison" in the back of the cave

Historian/storyteller starts the show

My prop

Hideaways of Concepcion, July 8, 2012

Once you have been somewhere a little while, you get to learn about some interesting “off the beaten track” places in a city. Sunday afternoon, the Pena family took me to see some of the historic and protected places around Concepcion. We saw the Bio-bio River and then traveled to see where the mouth meets the Pacific Ocean within the Pedro del Rio Zanartu Park and Museum. Once there, we also had the chance to view rooms and rooms full of a very interesting and diverse collection that Pedro, who was the son of Spanish aristocracy, acquired from his trips around the world in the early 1900s which include: an Egyptian sarcophagus, armor from China, and artifacts from indigenous people all over Oceana and South America.