Constitución and the Train

Last weekend, we took the train to Constitución. I'd tell you the day, but I can't remember. I do remember getting up at the most un-Chilean hour of 6:15am to be at the train station a bit before 7am to buy tickets for a 7:30am departure. We had heard rumors that the train filled up early, we needed to be there at 6:45am, etc. Turns out those rumors are possibly true for the summer tourist season, but not for May, when the ticket office opens at 7:05ish and there are 5 people there at the station at time. Those 5 people happened to be the 4 people in the first photo below as well as another of our friends(from England). I think the most notable thing about the train was that it was major-league old. And pretty small. Only two cars. It was the equivalent of a VW bug on rails. A tin can with an wee little eggbeater of an engine. I actually read that the engine produced 180 horsepower before boarding the train, but didn't believe until the train tried to pull away from the station.

Marianne, Me, Sam, and Matt

The train takes a route that heads directly to the coastal town of Constitución. It passes through a number of towns that are inaccessible by road. Which is pretty cool, because it means that this train(which passes twice daily in each direction) is the major form of transportation for about 10 little villages and communities that live along the tracks. The next picture shows the approximate midpoint of the line. A train also leaves Constitución at 7:30am, and this station is the only place where they can pass each other. Both trains pull up, stop, and take a break so everyone can get out, smoke, and chat with their pals on the other train.

Check the rad color scheme

Constitución is a coastal town, and Chile is famous for its mega-earthquakes, which leads to the signs like the one below. Clearly, it instructs one to fly up cliffs if approached by sharp pointy waves.

Fly! or Levitate! Your choice.

With the warnings in mind, we walked through the town of Constitución towards the beach, which is the real attraction. We had been warned that Constitución would smell horribly due to a cellulose plant that operates down near the beach, but we found that only a few small zones smelled like evil, and that the rest of the town and beach were fairly nasally friendly. To the south of town, the beach is covered with rock formations that have been scuplted into pretty cool shapes. The most famous is La Iglesia de Piedra, which I suppose looks somewhat like a church. And it's definitely stone.

Seemingly the only parishioners are the thousands upon thousands of birds who nest on the Church.

Too cute.

Other rocks down around the corner from the Iglesia

These rocks are pretty awesome, and we had them all to ourselves as it was a grey autumn day that was drizzling a bit. We had fun anyway, but it would be a great place to come in the summer and get your bronze on in the company of enormous rocks.

We had a couple meals in Constitución, one of which was tasty seafood, and the other of which led to the picture below. Sorry, I know, I'm 23 now, but I still think it's funny. For those interested, 800 chilean pesos is the equivalent of 1.42USD.

I also know a place in Talca where the price is 900p, but it comes with a drink.

There isn't much to do in Constitución outside of summer, so we headed back to Talca on a late afternoon bus.


On a wholly unrelated note, if anyone was thinking about driving from the US to Talca, I would first refer you to my aunt's excellent blog post on the matter here: http://beyondthetensionline.blogspot.com/2009/04/driving-directions-to-talca.html