Blogs from Valparaíso, Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 31

Comfy, soft spongy chair, 'ah...' I thought twiddling with the reclining button and getting the angle just right. Santiago sped by and I closed my eyes. Six or seven hours of countryside awaited, there would be plenty of time to look out windows. I felt a gentle prod on my shoulder and looked up. The young man dressed impeccably in a freshly ironed uniform handed me a pair of headphones. I smiled, 'gracias...; and closed my eyes. Moments later he was back, placing an unexpected pillow under my neck. Before we had left the city he returned carrying newspapers. 'El Dia?' I think he said in a hopeful tone, and I shook my head, smiling. I had just switched on the iPod and was listening to David Kitt singing about park benches in Dublin when he ... read more

I was just looking quickly over other blogs & can´t believe that I´ve been to some of these places. It seems surreal. You forget how beautiful the places were & the photos only capture a fraction of it. Anyway next stop was Valparaiso,a Unesco world heritage city. Again we were met by a fella at the bus station that pointed us towads a great hostel, right in the centre. Valparaiso is a hilly city & has lifts for those of whom the climb is a bit of a struggle. We were based right beside the 2nd oldest lift.....the Cordillera lift but I can confirm that we never took the lift, despite the 163 steps to our place & the rancid smell of urine...both human & animal on the hike up the steep steps. We arrived there ... read more

Hello all welcome to the latest South america update, right where to start. Our Plane was delayed once again by 6 hours meaning we had to spend another 6 hours in our lovely hotel, that part was good, unfortunatley it meant getting up at 5am to go to the airport and having to spend a 13 hour flight wide awake with nothing much to do (except for play cards and make paper sculptures) We finally arrived at Santiago and checked out at 8. we were then immediatley pounced upon by some over friendly Pedros who were very keen to help us out we were suspicious but too jet lagged to put up much of a struggle, long story short they gave us a taxi which charged us waaay too much to get to the bus station, ... read more

Hello again! Gestern fuhr ich mit der U-Bahn und dann mit dem Bus (2 h) nach Valparaiso. Eine herrliche Stadt am Meer die sich bis hoch in die Huegel hinauf zieht. Fuer die weniger Fitten hat es auch immer wieder einen Lift oder wie man das nennen will. Ich ging natuerlich zu Fuss hoch, rauf und runter. Zwischendurch wieder mal etwas gegessen oder einen Kaffee getrunken. War ein anstrengender aber schoener Tag. Am Abend dann in einer typischen chilenischen Bar etwas gegessen. Heute ging's dann auf eine Weintour. Zum Glueck waren wir nur 4 Leute und so hatten wir die Gelegenheit viel zu erfahren. Beim Weintesten wurde zuegig eingeschenkt. Am Nachmittag besuchte ich dann den Fischmarkt mit einer riesigen Auswahl und genoss dann einen guten Fisch. Einfach herrlich. Was mir in Santiago auffiel ist, dass es ... read more

Hola a todos, A few days ago, after I got off the metro and started making my way towards the bus stop (I was coming from Vina del Mar, where our classes are, going back home to Valparaiso) and it started snowing! Well not really, but it kind of seemed like it; instead of snow falling from the sky, it was ashes. For the past week there have been numerous fires (incendios) around the city, including one gigantic forest fire that is way, way up on the hills. Apparently, Valparaiso has a big problem with fires in the summer because it is so dry here and because of the strong winds. My host mom was telling me how it is normal to have a few fires every summer, but this particular summer has been one of ... read more