Father's Day in Laja/San Rosendo
My family gave me a substantial gift for Father's Day this year...they agreed to wake up at 6:30am in order to catch a train to a small pair of towns upriver from Concepcion: Laja and San Rosendo. The towns are located at the confluence of the Laja and Bio Bio Rivers and are easily accessible by the regional train BioTren/CortaLaja system that leaves from downtown Concepcion. The fare is ~$6 usd round trip which is great deal for an hour and forty five minutes on a train.
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The train ride upriver was relaxed and quiet as it was early Sunday morning. The fog had rolled up the river and there were beautiful blasts of sun through the dewy trees and onto the river. The BioBio is wide and shallow with big sand dunes and a few vegetated islands. Hillslopes are generally steep along the river which incises down as this region experiences rapid uplift. Most hillslopes are planted with industrial forests of pine and eucalyptus.
San Rosendo
Upon arrival in San Rosendo, we walked up through the sleepy, small town to the main square. Singing from the Episcopal church and barking stray dogs were about the only sounds. A few small tiendas were open and we quickly found one with the simple sign "Pan Hoy" out front (Bread Today). Inside, there appeared to be no bread, but once we were able to communicate what we wanted, the Dona of the shop, opened a door and I could see a couple of older guys shaping and working dough in a small room lit by low angle light made dramatic by the flour in the air. I wanted to take a photo, but used my poor Spanish as an excuse not to ask permission...(this is the second time I have done this...embarrassing).
After playing around in the square, we headed down to to the old train yard that included huge concrete relics and a bunch of abandoned passenger cars. As there were no signs or fences suggesting otherwise, we decided to explore around. This was the gem of the whole day. We made music on an old steel roundhouse, played around below crumbling, dripping concrete water towers and explored cavernous foundries where workers must have hand smelted parts needed for the trains. All were impressive ruins. Just like Pocatello, the town must have contracted when the railroad reduced its local investment. Today there appear to be a couple of folks that take care of passenger needs at the train station and another guy who interacts with trains at a junction between the north-south line and an east-bound one.
We played for an hour or so at a park that is in the Y of these three lines. There were numerous passenger cars and old steam engines to climb around on as well as a shockingly large number of teeter-totters (at least 12) and a handful of old valves and handles that you could twist and pull on. There were also a bunch of modern outdoor exercise equipment to play on. Why aren't there more things like this in the states? Must be liability... Cana had a stellar idea that they should have these work-out things at dog parks where the owners can have something to do while their dog plays.
Laja
We walked from here across the long bridge over the Laja River to the town of Laja. Claudio told me that the river is sourced up in the Andes and was dammed by a volcanic eruption that when breached, created a big flood that spread over this area. Today, the river carries black sand and builds a large delta into the larger Bio Bio River.
By the time we reached the other side, it was 1pm and everyone was preparing to cook a big Father's Day feast. It seemed that the only shops open in town were the butchers. We found a small restaurant/bar (~1 block west of the main intersection downtown) and went in for our first true Chilean almuerzo (an extended, multi-course late lunch. the biggest meal of the day). As we drank sodas and juice we were served a round soft white bread with pin holes in the top. This was followed by a tasty clear soup with cilantro, chicken broth and some kind of thin short rice(?) noodle. As the flavor was mild, I added some Aji (a spicy chili sauce). The main dish was a chunk of meat (chicken or steak) with either rice or french fries. Tasty again. The salad was a large spread of lettuce, tomatoes, olives and avocado that you sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and olive oil. Desert was a red jello in stemmed, shallow goblet. For all this (four full meals) we paid 16,800 clp or $38 usd. It is strange how some things in Chile seem so expensive and others seem to be very affordable. The staff were kind and attentive and delighted to know it was our first restaurant experience in Chile.
After the meal we headed back toward San Rosendo, walking past the train yard and a new, brightly painted storage facility that the kids joked was google's new headquarters. We tried to walk out onto the fan a the confluence of the two rivers but were stopped by numerous distributary channels that we were not prepared (in dress shoes) to go jumping over. Beautiful sand dunes. It looked like it had been vegetated, but that a combination of flood and fire and chainsaw had brought to a close. I saw a guy carrying a log from the bar back to town on his shoulder. The town has been dumping earth off the bluff onto the bar, I think trying to create a little real-estate. Sounds risky to me.
With not much time left, we headed back to the train station and rested before boarding a pretty full train. Wells and I eventually gave up our seats and stood for a fair amount of the trip home along with many other passengers. The windows were coated with some kind of advertising sticker things so the views of the river were a little less available, but the culture on the train (hip-hop kids to abuelitas) made up of the limited landscape visibility. These Sunday trains seem to be packed with folks heading back to the city after spending time with family in the country. A wonderful day!
These folks were carrying some cool round cylinder (carpet? linoloeum? piping?) and it looked nice from above.
View Larger Map
The train ride upriver was relaxed and quiet as it was early Sunday morning. The fog had rolled up the river and there were beautiful blasts of sun through the dewy trees and onto the river. The BioBio is wide and shallow with big sand dunes and a few vegetated islands. Hillslopes are generally steep along the river which incises down as this region experiences rapid uplift. Most hillslopes are planted with industrial forests of pine and eucalyptus.
San Rosendo
Upon arrival in San Rosendo, we walked up through the sleepy, small town to the main square. Singing from the Episcopal church and barking stray dogs were about the only sounds. A few small tiendas were open and we quickly found one with the simple sign "Pan Hoy" out front (Bread Today). Inside, there appeared to be no bread, but once we were able to communicate what we wanted, the Dona of the shop, opened a door and I could see a couple of older guys shaping and working dough in a small room lit by low angle light made dramatic by the flour in the air. I wanted to take a photo, but used my poor Spanish as an excuse not to ask permission...(this is the second time I have done this...embarrassing).
After playing around in the square, we headed down to to the old train yard that included huge concrete relics and a bunch of abandoned passenger cars. As there were no signs or fences suggesting otherwise, we decided to explore around. This was the gem of the whole day. We made music on an old steel roundhouse, played around below crumbling, dripping concrete water towers and explored cavernous foundries where workers must have hand smelted parts needed for the trains. All were impressive ruins. Just like Pocatello, the town must have contracted when the railroad reduced its local investment. Today there appear to be a couple of folks that take care of passenger needs at the train station and another guy who interacts with trains at a junction between the north-south line and an east-bound one.
We played for an hour or so at a park that is in the Y of these three lines. There were numerous passenger cars and old steam engines to climb around on as well as a shockingly large number of teeter-totters (at least 12) and a handful of old valves and handles that you could twist and pull on. There were also a bunch of modern outdoor exercise equipment to play on. Why aren't there more things like this in the states? Must be liability... Cana had a stellar idea that they should have these work-out things at dog parks where the owners can have something to do while their dog plays.
Laja
We walked from here across the long bridge over the Laja River to the town of Laja. Claudio told me that the river is sourced up in the Andes and was dammed by a volcanic eruption that when breached, created a big flood that spread over this area. Today, the river carries black sand and builds a large delta into the larger Bio Bio River.
By the time we reached the other side, it was 1pm and everyone was preparing to cook a big Father's Day feast. It seemed that the only shops open in town were the butchers. We found a small restaurant/bar (~1 block west of the main intersection downtown) and went in for our first true Chilean almuerzo (an extended, multi-course late lunch. the biggest meal of the day). As we drank sodas and juice we were served a round soft white bread with pin holes in the top. This was followed by a tasty clear soup with cilantro, chicken broth and some kind of thin short rice(?) noodle. As the flavor was mild, I added some Aji (a spicy chili sauce). The main dish was a chunk of meat (chicken or steak) with either rice or french fries. Tasty again. The salad was a large spread of lettuce, tomatoes, olives and avocado that you sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and olive oil. Desert was a red jello in stemmed, shallow goblet. For all this (four full meals) we paid 16,800 clp or $38 usd. It is strange how some things in Chile seem so expensive and others seem to be very affordable. The staff were kind and attentive and delighted to know it was our first restaurant experience in Chile.
After the meal we headed back toward San Rosendo, walking past the train yard and a new, brightly painted storage facility that the kids joked was google's new headquarters. We tried to walk out onto the fan a the confluence of the two rivers but were stopped by numerous distributary channels that we were not prepared (in dress shoes) to go jumping over. Beautiful sand dunes. It looked like it had been vegetated, but that a combination of flood and fire and chainsaw had brought to a close. I saw a guy carrying a log from the bar back to town on his shoulder. The town has been dumping earth off the bluff onto the bar, I think trying to create a little real-estate. Sounds risky to me.
With not much time left, we headed back to the train station and rested before boarding a pretty full train. Wells and I eventually gave up our seats and stood for a fair amount of the trip home along with many other passengers. The windows were coated with some kind of advertising sticker things so the views of the river were a little less available, but the culture on the train (hip-hop kids to abuelitas) made up of the limited landscape visibility. These Sunday trains seem to be packed with folks heading back to the city after spending time with family in the country. A wonderful day!
These folks were carrying some cool round cylinder (carpet? linoloeum? piping?) and it looked nice from above.
