Valparaiso

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For about 3 days I was in the town (or small city) of Chillan. It was interesting; hot, and there wasnt much to do. Chillan is the birthplace of Bernardo O' Higgins, and 30, 000 people were killed there during the big earthquake. Because of that, most of the buildings there arent of old architecture as all the old ones were destroyed by the earthquake.

To recomend itself, there are fairly nice parks throughout. They have alot of green grass and are a nice shady respite from the sun. In Parque O' Higgins, the trees in the are huge, and there are lots of white benches and people milling around, namely skateboarders clacking over the tile and many dogs lolling in the grass and barking at each other. I sat there and read alot, even though it was right next to the road and fairly noisy, it was still sort of peacefull and nice. And not far down from the park, there is a pasteleria that sells delicios ice cream- I forget the name of it (I think it was manjar con nuez, isnt that supposed to be caramel with nuts?) but there was one flavor that tasted like banana bread with nuts, and that was really really good, Id buy an ice cream cone there almost every day and then wander around in the heat.

One day I was sitting and reading in the shade on one of the park benches and a gypsy girl with two smaller girls hanging off her legs and peeking around her skirt came up to me. She asked me for monedas, but I said no. I was eating a cheese sandwich, and a one of the smaller girls, with dirt smudged on her face asked me if she could have some of that, so I gave it all to her. But then the older girl asked me if she could read my palm and give me a blessing in thanks for my kindness, and I said no, thanks (because thats how I managed to let myself get robbed by gypsies the last time), and then she said "Why?" and I told her because I didnt want it. And she said why, again, and I told her because I didnt want it, again. And it went back and forth like that for a bit, her staring at me all the time with cold eye's and using a monotone voice like she was selling something. Finally, she left, and the two little girls went with her. I started reading my book again.

Not much later, the two little girls reappeared. The shorter more wily one had dirt smugded on her face and was still holding the last piece of my sandwich, and the taller, skinny, shy one was dressed in a long skirt. They started asking me about my nose piercing, and then the shorter one asked me to take it out. But I didnt. Then they asked me why I spoke funny, was it because I was Peruvian? And I tried to explain that no, I was actually from the states, but they didnt know what that was, so I just said that I was from really far away in a different country. And then the little one started saying" I dont understand!" until I finally gave up explaining and went back to my book. It was kind of funny, because as the two tiny girls walked away, the skinny one was saying to the smaller one "She says she's from a different country far away!" in a completely admonishing voice. Later I say them playing in the fountain.

Chillan also has a couple of nice churches, theres a rather more modernist looking one than youre average church just in front of Parqu O' Higgins, thats kind of oval shaped, and sort of hard to describe. The other neat one I saw there was a big, huge, solemn, grey cathedral looking church, in kind of an odd location, without a yard or anything, so it was hard to get a good look at it.
The hostel I was staying at in Chillan had a free breakfast, but charged for toilet paper, which I thought was odd. I just ended up grabbing a bunch of napkins every time I saw some and using that. It was strange to me to pay more for a small wad of toilet paper than I did for a sandwich at lunch. I was there for 3 days, and then I got bored, and so went to Valparaiso. Where I am at now.

Valparaiso is really pretty, I think, I like the way the houses are all piled togethor on the hills, and I like the really old looking buildings and the people lining the streets selling random things, like old books, screws, and sneakers. There's an area that sells fish and veggies every morning that gets really crowded, and is really interesting, like a soup, filled with people and things and cars all milling around and yelling with smells that change every few steps alternating between fish, pee, baking bread and a million other things.

When I arrived, I had a previosly booked hostel that I found on the web (It was really cheap.), and so I had to get there. I knew it wasnt to far from the bus station, and I started walking and found the street it was up fast eough. So I kept walking down it, toward the hills, and there kept being less and less peaople, and things started getting more and more rundown. And so finally I decided that I wasnt going to go walk straight into what definitely looked like an area that saw very few gringas, and with good reason. One, because I had all my stuff with me, and two, because I didnt want to be robbed. So I asked a woman in a small tienda where the street I was looking for was at, and she sort of stared at me for a moment, and then figured out where it was. Her kid tried to help to. They were really nice, and so it turned out that I was actually one street down from where I was supposed to be at, but in the right area. From there I managed to find my Hostal.

I dont think they get very many gringas at this hostal, though, Im pretty sure it houses mainly people that need to come there to work. When the old man opened the tall doors after I rang, his eyes kind of got a bit wider, and he said " You, alone? There's only you? Did you talk to Evelyn?" (Evelyn is the deuna de la casa), I said I had, through internet, to make the reservations, and he was like, OK, and took me up to a high cielinged room with two beds in it, and then told me to talk to Evelyn later. I stayed in that room that night. The next night I was changed to Evelyn's daughters room (she's out of town), and thats where Im staying now. In the old room there was a sighn "Dont complain about every little disperfection, dont smoke weed, dont smoke in the halls, dont burn the sheets, and there is a pile of blankets that you unfold and sleep under. They dont make youre bed in the morning, and there's no breakfast, and they charge for toilet paper. If you complained about all the disperfections, you'd be complaining all day. It's kind of funny. Evelyn's really nice and friendly, and its a good place to sleep. Its very very high ceilinged, and the floors are wood and creak when you walk on them, and the doors have two panels. Its quite an interesting old building.

There is also a movie theatre here, and so Ive gone to see a couple of movies, Casino Royale and Eragon, because they were in English. It was only maybe four dollars per movie, versus the eight dollars it usually is in the states, and the theatre was almost completely deserted both times. SO that was nice, Ive never had a movie thatre basically ot myself before. I havent seen a movie for a few months. It kind of made me a bit homesick.

I also got news that the passport Ive been trying so hard to get is finally in, so Monday or Tuesday Ill be heading back to Santiago to pick it up, and the on to Cusco.

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