Yeah, we figured we'd open with those lovely images. There is a restaurant across from the museum, and the owner of said restaurant owns a dog. She recently gave birth to 7 puppies, and they've been a joy to play with after the long lab days. And here's video of 5 of the seven in action (as two are disobedient and like to play in the road).

18 de septiembre parte 2 and more ocean

Today started out all cold, dreary, and with little hope of success, but all in all, we can't complain. We celebrated more for Chilean Independence Day, had pistachio and coconut ice cream (well worth the $1 CAD), did some shopping (hello muneca!), and hung out on the Isla. We can't recall the actual name of the Isla (it was a long day out), but it's not so much an island anymore as a peninsula. It used to be where they harvested guano, which explains why most of the area is white. It was also the site of a battle during the war amongst Peru, Chile, and Bolivia for the territory (three guesses who won, and the first two don't count). While there are no scars from the war still visible on the island, it still has the old military station, and lots and lots of conchas del mar. The beach is made up of them! So we, of course, collected many, along with "pretties" (need to know information, if you don't know, then you're not special). ;)

18 de septiembre pics:








Oh, and in celebration of Chilean Independence, we part took of a traditional meal, but we skipped the traditional drink: chicha. No corn beer for us.



Yes, that's beef.

Isla pics:















Isla Videos:






And here are some random ones from the Isla:



Look at that closely before you faint.



He looks like my lab buddy!

18 de septiembre: Chilean Independence Day

Today is Chile's Independence Day and it has been chalk full of anything and everything Chilean. There are Chilean flags, food, traditional costuming, etc. EVERYWHERE! To celebrate, we ate empanadas and went to a parade. Here are pics from the first part of our day (as we're headed out later to see if anything else is going to happen tonight)...

Busy Weekend

It's been a busy weekend for my bioarch friend and I, the Globetrotting Monkey. This coming week we will be away from the museum as it is their "spring break", but we will not be resting on our laurels or anything else for that matter. We're going to use that time to work on other research related stuff, but before then, we took a little time to ourselves. We visited the Eiffel Church, an all steel church (well, except for the door, which is wooden, and the windows, which are glass). Originally meant for a city in Peru, it eventually made its home here in Arica to replace one that was lost in an earthquake. And yes, Eiffel as in the guy who did the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a break without the beach. This time the beach was covered with all sorts of things, including jelly fish, making it a little more treacherous to walk on. We ended up just chilling in the dry sand instead of taking a chance in the water. Here are some pics and video from our adventures:

El Museo

Today we got a moment to film the museum grounds for your viewing pleasure. We hope you enjoy this silent (or mostly silent) film which includes bright Chilean sunshine, el Parque de Petroglifos, and the Museum entrance.

Enjoy and vote for us when it comes to the Oscars (or whatever the award show may be). ;)

Nos gusta el mar parte dos!

As promised, pictures, and as an added bonus, video!

Warning: Video is not safe for sensitive animal lovers.