When we arrived in Valpairso, we went to our hostel, which was very cute. Staying in a hostel is fun because it is cheap and there are lots of other young travelers from all over the world staying there. It can lead to unusual situations though too, b/c they tend to have mixed dorm rooms. Well with 8 of us and 6 girls, we could work around this... or so we though. We booked a room for our guys, and then the 6 of us would fill up a dorm. Well the dorm in our hostel in Valpairso was a 7 person dorm. So it ended up being the six of us and a guy from Columbia, named Andreis. It ended up not being a big deal, he was really clean cut and didn't go to bed until after we were all asleep and didn't get up until we were all up and out. But there were lots of jokes about us sharing a room with a Columbian. Is it weird that was less uncomfortable than the idea of sharing a room with our guys?
ANYWAY... the first thing we did was to head up the coast to Vina del Mar the resort town next to Valpairso. It is the ritzier place to stay. It was really pretty. We wandered around some then headed to the beach to put our feet in the Pacific.
I love this picture because everyone was nicely posed as we waited for the wave, but the water was so cold we got quite a reaction. The funny thing is that the wave turned out to be really high. I think the bottom of several people's jeans were a bit damp.When we went back to Valpairso we climbed the big hill up to our hostel. We had planned to eat at a restaurant down the street from our hostel, but we found out it was closed. Then the debate became whether to venture back down the big hill. 5 of us decided to head down to a German-Chilean restaurant. The food was good and it was really fun kitchy place. We had the best time laughing and carrying on. The owner who is a German who moved to Chile 20 or so years ago (or as the English version of the flier about the restaurant said, "droped his anchor" yes droped, not dropped) came over to visit with us. He kept giving Luke a hard time about being out with 4 women. It was a really fun night.
I had a caught a cold at some point, so I had a hard time sleeping. I stayed up really late because I felt bad coughing was afraid that I'd keep everyone else up. Anyway, I slept in while the rest of the group headed to a museum. It did give me a chance to visit with Andreis who is a computer programmer.
We had lunch at the restaurant we had intended to eat at the day before. It was a gorgeous day and we got to sit on the balcony that overlooked Valpairso and Vina del Mar. The food was amazing. We could order Thai, Italian, Indian, etc. Like most of our meals, this one took us about 2 hours to order, wait for the food, and eat. But I grew to enjoy this pace on vacation, esp. when we got to enjoy beautiful weather and see amazing views. After lunch we headed back to the train station and back to Santiago.Once we got to Santiago, we headed to our hostel. This one was in the middle of the art district, and this time we had a room for 6 girls, so we didn't share with any strange men. It was interesting that everyone that stayed at this hostel spoke English and I don't think anyone was from South America. In the evening we went to a nearby neighborhood that had lots of little shops. When you are in a group with 6 girls... shopping cannot be neglected. After shopping we ate dinner at an Incan Restaurant. I'm still not sure what kind of sauce was on my chicken, but it was super good. After dinner we went back to the hostel. We met an American couple that took a year off from work to travel. I hung out with them the rest of the evening. Among other things we watched the World Series.
On Friday morning, Chelsea, Kelsey, Jennifer, and I headed to Starbucks. (Our excuse is that Kelsey's uncle collects Starbucks mugs.)
Then to waste time until the museums opened, we went to Cerro Santa Lucia which is a park on a big hill. It was like stumbling on a fairy land, or as Kelsey put it, into the Secret Garden. There was a big fountain where you could make wishes. (Of course it required throwing coins... so...) At the top of the hill there was a castle like tower. From the top there was an amazing view. After we finished exploring the park we headed to Palacio de Bellas Artes to meet the rest of the group. It was really cool because there was a "live"exhibit, which was people painting and doing art. The coolest
exhibit was a a giant exhibit was a room with black material covering the wall. There was pictures of rooms done in stick pins with color ends, it was so pretty, but impossible to describe.
After the museum, we split up. I visited the pedestrian streets, grabbed some lunch, and successfully got cold medicine from a pharmacy. Unlike the States, we have to talk to some one behind the counter to get the cold medicine. I was proud to do it Spanish. I then headed back to the hostel to meet the others. Anne, Chelsea, Luke and I went to the zoo in Parque Metropolitano which again is on a big hill. Then we rode the funicular to the top of the hill, which is even bigger.After the trip to the zoo we went back to the hostel and spent quite awhile hanging out with some folks from the hostel. Several of us sat outside, including the American couple, an Israeli woman, a German guy, and 3 Brits. It was a lot of fun. For dinner we went to eat Greek food. When we got back to the hostel, some of the girls went out to listen to some local music. I ended up watching Elizabethtown with the German guy. He had missed the first part, and we could hardly hear it. It was funny trying to explain the non-plot.
Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to the bus station. Then we began our 28 hour trip home. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. We slept a good portion of it. Our trip was fun, but I was glad to get back to Montevideo and my own bathroom.
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