Where is Rachael now: La Serena, Antofagasta, Calama, San Pedro de Atacama ...somewhere in the desert
July 26-30 Valparaiso and Viña del Mar
We got into Valparaiso shortly after leaving Santiago, found our hostel, admired the sun and view from our hostel on Cerro Concepcion..and then napped (and iced my leg). We stayed at the hostel until the evening when we went out and found some Amazing pizza: tomato sauce, extra cheese, basil, and garlic. We had some drinks and then called it an early night. The next morning we got up for the traditional chilean breakfast: tea, nescafe (read: noncafe), bread, butter and marmelade, and some fruit. Afterwards, we headed downtown to walk around, stop at a feria, or street market, and then up to one of three of Pablo Neruda's houses in Chile. Pablo is one of the most famous poets in Chile and internationally known. The house was eccletic as Pablo is an avid collector of whimsical things. It had an amazing view over all of Valpo.
La Sebastiana
I should mention that Valpo is called ¨the San Francisco of the South" and for good reason. It has a harbor, built mostly on cerros, small hills, with the houses lining the steep streets in colorful colors. Valpo is also COVERED in artistic graffiti. After Pablo's house, we wandered through the hills and found the best empanadas I've had in Chile. The bread was flaky and delicious and with the gooey cheese inside, it made a great lunch.
We then stumbled upon one of Valpo's three cemetaries. They are old and worn down and most of the bodies are housed in elaborate marbled crypts. Some of the tombs were from the 1800's as well as many that had colapsed in the large Valparaiso earthquakes that occured in the 1900's and 1970's. We discovered that instead of R.I.P., the spanish translation is Q.E.P. D. which means Que En Paz Descanse, translatiny to Rest In Peace.
After all that walking, we made it back to the hostel to relax. In the evening we first stopped at a swanky bar for a nice drink and some tapas. I had a ¨Valparaiso" which consisted of pisco, pineapple juice, and sugar. Then we walked around checking out pubs and clubs until finally finding a cool place with a few tables still open. We found out that they had 3mil ($6) pitchers of terremotos, the drink of wine, 2 liquors, and icecream). As we are enjoying these, two of the guys from our hostel walk in and as there are no other tables available, we invited them to join ours. We soon found out why they had been so quiet at breakfast: both were from Sao Paulo, Brazil and one spoke basic spanish and intermediate english while the other could hardly speak either. With the loud live music and the language barriers, conversation was difficult but we got by..with lots of laughs. Ashley and I went into the bathroom before we headed out and were addressed by two girls asking us, in english where we were from, giving us toilet paper as the bathroom was out of it, and inviting us to go out with them another night. It just shows how kind Chileans are to foreigners and how much english they all speak!
The next morning, we had decided to change hostels for our last night since our hostel had emptied out. This is where the explanation of Chileans and the concept of love comes in. In the morning, the two Brazilians came into our room to wake us up for a goodbye breakfast. We ate with them and then said our goodbyes and separated to pack. They seemed to be lingering around for us to check out and asked which way we were headed. Finally, they left and immediately the dueña, or owner, said to us ¨Those guys are in love with, waiting around and wanting to leave with you.¨ I had to laugh... I've discovered that Chileans love love. If you spend time alone with a guy, go out for drinks, hang out with one multiple times a week..you are surely in love with them. I heard it a lot from my mama in Valdivia. When I wasn't hungry, it was because I was in love. When I went out, it was confirmed that he would be there also. If they didn't hear about or see a guy with me for a few days, it was assumed we were lovers in quarrell. Either way, I've learned to just laugh and go along with it. Thereś no harm in a little more love in the world or in your life.
We got to the other hostel and immediately as we are waiting to check in, a little boy of 4 comes over and tells me my bag is disorganized and tells me he will re-organize it. Unfortunatly, even he could not tame my mess. That day we took a boat ride through the harbor. The guide was funny, making jokes about not having to pay if we fell in, trying to entice sea lions to jump in our boat (I was Not happy about that), and refering to our romantic boat ride. To our surprise (Ashley almost died) we saw a penguin swimming by! That evening, we cooked a good dinner of burritos and hung out around the hostel. We had apple juice, but it seemed the Bacardi was in high demand as everyone kept coming into the kitchen and discovering the bottle was already empty.
On the morning of the 29th, we got a colectivo to Viña del Mar, Valparaiso's 10 min neighbor, which, in the summer, is the hot tourist spot with condos and a real beach! . . .
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