Santiago/Valpraiso, Chile
So we jump off the bus with a English couple we met on the bus that has learned zero Spanish in three months of being in South America (Don´t ask me how). It´s time to do the routinely find a hostel in the middle of the night. After a couple hours trying to find this one hostel that wasn´t clever enough to put a sign on the building where they are located (Ya I know, crazy idea) we finally find a bed.
The next morning set out to check out the town. We were situated in the Plaza de Armas which is the central area of a Chilean or Peruvian city that has the town hall and other important government buildings. It´s usually one of the most scenic areas of the city with beautiful historical buildings and statues. After checking that out we headed out to the viewpoint of the city. Santiago is nice city surrounded by mountains. A great chance to get some nice photos and an even greater chance for our American friend to get photos with Flat Stanley. I think this is an American thing. After we hit up the San Christobal statue in the middle of a high park. We took a scenic gondola up and were able to catch the sunrise. Very scenic, very nice. About 20 photos later we decided to take the long route down the hill. One thing I have to say about Santiago is there are tons of stray dogs kicking around. Don´t get me wrong, there are tons of stray dogs in other South American cities as well. These ones are different. Allow me to explain. The Chilean dogs have some deep hate against hub caps. They can´t help themselves but to chase cars and bark directly beside the front hub cap of the car. Oh, but it´s not just cars, it´s also motorbikes too. This one guy had to kick the dog in the head to get it out of the way. Long story short, very amusing.
Matt (My Australian friend) and I then hit up his old host family for a free dinner. You can imagine how hard he had to twist my arm to come along. Matt started his trip in Santiago for three weeks with the host family to learn Spanish. They are a very nice warm family. I can imagine how people learn Spanish so fast through these programs. You are pretty much only speaking Spanish with them. It´s a complete crash course. I got some free dinner and some good Spanish practice. Bonus!
The next day I decided to hit up Valpraiso with my American friend for the day. I´d say Valpraiso has a much better feel then Santiago. It is much less urbanized and is right by the beach. Many of it´s buildings are Bohemian style with tons of houses sprawled on the hills. Surprise surprise, we head straight for the coast. First thing we see there is a group of 5 sea lions sprawled on a cement pad in the ocean. These guys were looking for trouble. They were barking at the birds in the above rafters. They were getting so frustrated they started slapping eachother. Naturally I waited for a fight to break out but they were just bluffing. Sea lions, all bark and no bite.
We then preceded along the coast towards Vina del Mar. Vina del Mar is a famous Chilean beach/area that is adjacent to Valpraiso. It´s a very nice walk towards Vina del Mar and the beach is self is quite nice especially for a city beach. We stuck around to catch some rays but didn´t have much time beacuse we had to head back to catch the bus. I came back to find my wasted Australian friend. Haha, atleast one of us had to be tipsy for the bus.
Next stop, La Serena!
The next morning set out to check out the town. We were situated in the Plaza de Armas which is the central area of a Chilean or Peruvian city that has the town hall and other important government buildings. It´s usually one of the most scenic areas of the city with beautiful historical buildings and statues. After checking that out we headed out to the viewpoint of the city. Santiago is nice city surrounded by mountains. A great chance to get some nice photos and an even greater chance for our American friend to get photos with Flat Stanley. I think this is an American thing. After we hit up the San Christobal statue in the middle of a high park. We took a scenic gondola up and were able to catch the sunrise. Very scenic, very nice. About 20 photos later we decided to take the long route down the hill. One thing I have to say about Santiago is there are tons of stray dogs kicking around. Don´t get me wrong, there are tons of stray dogs in other South American cities as well. These ones are different. Allow me to explain. The Chilean dogs have some deep hate against hub caps. They can´t help themselves but to chase cars and bark directly beside the front hub cap of the car. Oh, but it´s not just cars, it´s also motorbikes too. This one guy had to kick the dog in the head to get it out of the way. Long story short, very amusing.
Matt (My Australian friend) and I then hit up his old host family for a free dinner. You can imagine how hard he had to twist my arm to come along. Matt started his trip in Santiago for three weeks with the host family to learn Spanish. They are a very nice warm family. I can imagine how people learn Spanish so fast through these programs. You are pretty much only speaking Spanish with them. It´s a complete crash course. I got some free dinner and some good Spanish practice. Bonus!
The next day I decided to hit up Valpraiso with my American friend for the day. I´d say Valpraiso has a much better feel then Santiago. It is much less urbanized and is right by the beach. Many of it´s buildings are Bohemian style with tons of houses sprawled on the hills. Surprise surprise, we head straight for the coast. First thing we see there is a group of 5 sea lions sprawled on a cement pad in the ocean. These guys were looking for trouble. They were barking at the birds in the above rafters. They were getting so frustrated they started slapping eachother. Naturally I waited for a fight to break out but they were just bluffing. Sea lions, all bark and no bite.
We then preceded along the coast towards Vina del Mar. Vina del Mar is a famous Chilean beach/area that is adjacent to Valpraiso. It´s a very nice walk towards Vina del Mar and the beach is self is quite nice especially for a city beach. We stuck around to catch some rays but didn´t have much time beacuse we had to head back to catch the bus. I came back to find my wasted Australian friend. Haha, atleast one of us had to be tipsy for the bus.
Next stop, La Serena!
posted by Kean @ 4:45 PM
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