First of May

I celebrated the first of May by walking to Horcon, some 4 km or so basically up hill in the boiling sun. The road is unpaved, narrow and fool of holes and has been under construction since we got here though I see no improvements. About 20 minutes into our walk we turned a corner and saw a colony of white bubble houses. We went in to see what they and were told they were a hotel/cabanas. They are called the Elqui Domes and they basically attract rich tourists who want to gaze at the starts. Each dome is open at the top with a telescope! When I got home I asked Tota about them and she said a friend had stayed there to test them out, and besides being extremely overpriced, they are also freezing in winter, boiling in summer, have no plumbing and you can hear everything in between bubbles…looks can certainly be deceiving.

After the domes we walked for what seemed like hours, the little town of Horcon was completely quiet with the single little village shop shut. In search of water we walked on, got diverted off the road down to basically a dirt track that went by the river. The track was about 30 degrees cooler than the road and we found a shop to buy figs and water and pears and cake and had a picnic by the river. Feeling much refreshed we walked on and around another corner came across the Pueblo Artesenal de Horcon. There were about 20 or so little shops arranged in a circle. The shops sold a mixture of crap, some stunning jewelry made from flowers painted over with resin so they looked like glass, wood carvings, lots of glass things, chocolate and manjar, and some leather books I was sorely tempted by.

After looking round all the shops and chatting to the resin jewelry woman we started the walk back and luckily got a ride from a Santiago couple. The amount of tourists in Pisco for the long weekend was ridiculous, and apparently much less than Semana Santa or the summer. Before getting a ride we passed a group of men having a picnic along side the river with them was a dwarf (I don’t think little person would even be understood in chile) who called to us various things, typical Chilean man using his 20 words of English to talk to gringas, he was obviously drunk and quite funny. Later we found out his name is Juan I think, Juanito and he gets roaring drunk and high at the one bar in Horcon, and when he is too out of control, the barman calls his wife who is a regular height and she comes and picks him up…in a wheelbarrow!

Saturday I went to the plaza with my family to watch the tourists and out to the local club Topsy with Anne where we saw all our liceo students.

xx