My first trip outside of santiago!!!!!!! so this was quite a while ago. Christian was still living with us, now he lives in switzerland! and we have a new room mate named jacqulene. she´s chilean, but has been living in germany for the past 2 years, so now our house is 4-languages! i love to listen to the others talk and have no idea what they´re saying, and yes, that still happens when my room mates are speaking spanish sometimes! Depends on the context of course, for example if rodrigo and mauricio are talking, every other word is weon or some [View Full Entry]

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This was by far one of my most favorite days in chile! It was part of the program, and our last field trip! Only 9 of us showed up...we were all out celebtrating sydney´s cumpleaños until 6 that morning, yup, we met at 9 in el centro to leave! It was so nice to get out of the smog for a day and be in the campo. So pomaire is about an hour west of santiago, and is famous for their pottery, called greda. tradicionally they would use the soil of pomiare to make their pots, but only in the last [View Full Entry]

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Valparaiso is a port town not too far from Santiago. It has streets running parrellel to the shoreline pressing back up against the cliffs. Residential neighborhoods with sidewinding, criss-crossing, irregular streets rise up behind the organized business district below. Prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, it was one of the most important towns on the Pacific Coast. However, now it is not on the main trade routes and its importance as a port has started to decline. However, the remnants of the once great city are still present in the old ascencures (kind of a mix between elevators and [View Full Entry]

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Moving on From Reñaca to La Serena Have finally dragged myself away from the excellent company of my friends in Reñaca. Its is so hard to find the words to describe just how openly and warmly these people have welcomed me into their lives. Since Saturday I have been staying with Lorena and Eduardo, they have a beautiful apartment overlooking the ocean, and we have spent many hours out on the balcony enjoying the view over the ocean and round to Valparaiso. Oh and the building also comes with swimming pools, sauna, tennis court, and covered bbq area, complete with a [View Full Entry]

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So the last update the question was to study or to wine..... well neither happened of course! Saturday took a walk around Vaparaiso, passed a free concert from a group called Pachamama de Valparaiso, absolutely brilliant and ended staying for the whole performance and bought both cds. Met up with Brian, a friend from the Santiago hostel crew. Went to a crazy restaurant in the evening. The walls and tables were covered in graffiti, shelves crammed with a random assortment of nick-nacks, and passport photos plastered everywhere. Music by 2 old boys, one singing, and the other on the accordi [View Full Entry]

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We actually hadn't intended on spending more than a couple of days in Chile but as we had reached our final destination of Mendoza and had squeezed all we could out of the town we decided to cross the border. The bus ride over the Andes to the town of Valapairso (an hour from Santiago) was really spectacular and well worth a few photos out the bus window. The border crossing was much quicker than the previous palarvar of going to Ushuaia and as Argentina disappeared into the distance we felt sad to be leaving. Valparaiso is a town that we [View Full Entry]

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The next stop was a small village called Ritoque. It was the place where we were decided to chill and kick back. Leaving the city vibe and returned to beach style with surf on the door step. We took a local taxi from Vina and headed around the rocky headland for about 35kms to the town of Quintero. It was another 6km down a potholed track to our final destination of Ritoque beach and our accommodation of a surf hut. It was really great, the hut was with sea views and had all self catering facilities. Our host´s name was Ian [View Full Entry]

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Yah... So I don't even think anyone reads this. Pero igual... Tomorrow is voting day apparently, so everything that sells alcohol closes at 12 tonight. Of course, as an expat there is no problem because we'll just do what we always do. Go to someone's house, make dinner, play some music, sing some songs til 4am... Wow, I'm on couchsurfing.com and there's a poor guy in Berkely with the last name Hyman. I miss kombucha. Real bad. Oh, and the latest South Park was great. At least with the Peruvian Pan Flute bands... I am loving that music here. Also, I'm [View Full Entry]

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Valparaiso and Spanish School Loving Valparaiso, it’s a crazy city, a large port, flanked by a small, flat commercial and business area, behind which the Cerro’s, or hills stretch up around the city. To climb these hills is a choice between a calf burning hike up winding streets or a cheap ride up one of the many “ascencores”, rail cars, that climb up almost vertical slopes, some of which are (and look) over a 100 years old. Either way, it is well worth it for the spectacular views down through the streets of brightly coloured houses and down to the bay. [View Full Entry]

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It was a grey and misty morning, as usual, when we left Valparaiso to head for the metro for the short trip to Vina del Mar. It is a large holiday resort close to the city and is full of high rises and apartments for the rich from the city to enjoy the weekends. It has a few miles of sandy beaches and row after row of street vendors selling candy floss, toffee apples, ice creams and local crafts at inflated prices. It had peddalo cars and a mini fun fair for the kids. Despite its generic look, we enjoyed it. [View Full Entry]

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