we like to move it move it

The Raspberry Farm:
After arriving in Santiago, we soon made our way down to Southern Chile to an organic farm called Brita's. Eva (the owner)
makes all kinds of delicious jams, spreads, and pie. The first day, it was quite rainy, so we spent a lot of time labeling jars
and taking photos of the different parts of the farm. The second day, we did our best to construct a giant raspberry out of
plastic red balls to help with the roadside signage, but sadly to no avail. The task proved too difficult. Later in the day,
we explored the property and explored a beautiful river that flowed through the back of the farm. We also found a giant bug.
With Michelle hiding in the house, I garnered up the courage to swipe it with a broom handle. Upon hitting it's crunchy body,
I screamed, causing a neighbor to run over and make sure everything was ok. I was just a little embarrassed, but rest assured
the bug escaped just fine and was placed gently into the grass, out of harms way.





La Serena:
We then made our way up to La Serena, about 6.5 hours North of Santiago. There, we stayed at a hostel with a number of
other gringos, 4 of whom were from Minnesota! Such a small world. The skies in La Serena are supposedly some of the
clearest in the world, and there is a large observatory in a neighboring town. So one night, we took a tour to the observatory
and were able to see the moon in all its glory (see below the picture we took through the telescope) as well as the gases around Jupiter, Magellanic (sp?) Clouds (which are really 2 other galaxies only seen in the southern hemisphere!), and other astronomical goodies. It was an amazing experience and a great reminder of how small we are.



Back to Santiago:
So now, we are back in Santiago for the day and we'll be heading West to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar tomorrow to meet some of the Minnesotans from the hostel in La Serena. Then it is off to Buenos Aires on Friday!




We're both missing home a lot, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas being so close. We should have some access
to Skype later tonight if you are in the chatting mood. Today some Chileans even asked me for directions. I don't know if it
was the 'stache or the scarf, but I was flattered. Unfortunately, I had no idea what they were saying.




We love you and miss you all, and we leave you with this a video of our lunch today!