Lobos marinos

Hola todos!

One my absolute favorite things about this city our prolific sea lion population! I'd never seen a single one before getting here, but now, it's become a regular occurrence.

Everyday, without fail, a whole colony of them hangs out on an abandoned peer called Muelle Barón near my school. To get there, you just have to walk about ten minutes from the main doors, across the metro tracks, and along the walkway that runs along the coast all the way past Viña del Mar.

The first time, I saw them, it took me about ten minutes to realize what I was looking at. I'd walked over with some friends and become very distracted messing around on the outdoor exercise equipment (i.e. adult playground). In the midst of my spinning around on this rotating pedestal, I realized that the concrete peer about 10 meters away wasn't just covered it shadow... it was literally covered in sea lions! Needless to say I lost all interest in spinning and immediately scampered down the rocks to get a better look. I sat there staring for about half an hour before my friends dragged me away.

I've seen sea lions several times since and never really gotten over just how strange they are. Pretty crammed up on this peer, they are incredibly territorial. They lie completely still unless one has invaded another's little piece of sunbaked concrete. They are so so fat and clumsy on land. Their skin dries out lying on the peer in the sun so that they loose all of the luster that's so distinct to marine animals. Their movement on land is a waddle if I have ever seen one and the sound they make certainly earns them their name (think a more throaty roar). And they're actually pretty creepy in some ways: their tail splits in two and acts more like feet when they move and when they look at you, their faces are this dark alien-like void.

Photo from me and Josh's lovely boat tour

With Josh last week, they treated us to a real show! It was cloudy (so no glare!) and I think they were probably just coming back from a morning hunt. The four or five of them in the water finally answered my burning question of how in the world they get up on the peer (it must be about a meter up and like I've said, they are by no means nimble): they jump! It's the funniest thing to watch because they only make it successfully maybe once in every three jumps. The other two times they flop back in the water.

The group that we saw was fighting amongst themselves as they were trying to get back up. They had a lot more energy than I expected and seemed more concerned with pushing the others off than finding a place for themselves to lie.

Here's a video of a small portion of the show:

The great part of this was imaging how nimble they must be in the water to get maneuver into the perfect position to launch into the air. They are really such contradictory animals.

My love to all.

(Lobos marinos means sea wolfs)

¿Tallos defectivos?

Hola friends!

Chilean plants grow upside down! It's the weirdest thing.

 In case you forgot (as I often do), my season's here in the Southern Hemisphere are opposite of yours up north. I arrived here in the middle of Chilean winter and have slowly (tantalizingly, painfully) been moving towards warmer weather ever since. I've been upset about missing fall at home I think in part because our change of season from winter to spring has been subtle to say the least. There has been no beautiful bloom, no slow unfurling of leaves, or even no increase in sunny days.

Our weather has continued to be incredibly erratic. The mornings and evening are quite cold (in the 40s if my iPhone weather isn't lying to me) and made colder by the lack of indoor heating, which leaves buildings in a perpetual frosty state. But in the afternoon, between 11 and 3 most days, the sun usually comes out, raising us into the lower 60s most days.

What never goes away though is the wind. It's a hallmark of Valparaíso Septembers, otherwise known as the Month of Kites. It blows and blows and blows some more leaving everyone to looking windswept and emphasizing the passing of time (which seems to be blowing right past me faster and faster each day). I've actually been told to be careful standing near ledges in this weather!

But, back to the point! I noticed this about the plants when my mom (hi M!) asked me about how the plants have changed with the seasons. Their change happened very quickly and more subtly than I expected. My completely unscientific theory is that because we are in a region where it doesn't frequently go below freezing, not all of the plants change during the winter time. There have always been some flowers in bloom and some leaves on the trees. So the spring has been more of a filling in that anything.

That being said, there's nothing like noticing the leaves on the trees for the first time!

And the upside down plants... they haven't changed a bit. Here's a few:

I think this is actually the Chilean national flower, copihue

Are stems in the southern hemisphere defective? Or better, are they upside down because we're upside down all the way down here? Clarifications welcome.


Love to all.

Aromos, my favorite trees here have been in bloom since the start

Beautiful flowers at the market

Flowers growing on an empty grave

My travel shoes, purple flowers, and a lady bug

(Tallos defectivos means "defective stems")