Blogs from Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 73

Down the coast from La Serena and just a two-hour bus journey from Chile's capital, Santiago sits the port town of Valparaiso. Once one of the largest ports on the Western Americas coastline and the first port-of-call for boats coming round Cape Horn before the days of the Panama Canal, it still has much commercial shipping and is home to many naval vessels but its oceanic influence is much smaller these days. Still, those days have left a mark on the city and also many memorials and museums to boot. Valpo (as it's referred to by the locals) climbs a steep bank away from the bay on which it sits. The majority of the old city doesn't follow the conventional grid-like plan of most other South American cities but is a higgldy-piggledy warren of weaving streets ... read more

Spent Sunday and Monday (thanks to a day off because of a saint´s day) in Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. Eight of us took the 2 hour bus ride through vineyards and hillside towns exclaiming their names in signs reminiscent of the Hollywood sign. Literally every town had a massive white sign in the hills to let you know what town you were passing. Coming down through the hills we finally saw a glimpse of the Pacific and the town of Viña del Mar. At first sight we were not impressed by our surroundings, but then the areas around the bus terminals never are. We made our way to the B&B and checked into our luxury for a night, aka no bunks and our own bathroom ::sigh::. We opted to spend the rest of the day ... read more

Viña del Mar, Chile South America » Chile » Vina del Mar » Viña del Mar By Bowmen16May 26th 2006Tori Lynn Scottx... read more

I forgot to write about my day trip from Santiago to Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. The bus takes about 2 hours to get there. Valparaiso is more picturesque while Vina Del Mar is more of a mix between the old and the new. As soon as I got out of the bus I got convinced into getting a daily tour and later got somehow tricked into getting the tour agent´s son to translate the tour for me from spanish to english. It turned out that buddy was actually quite eager and keen to share with me the details of the city and its history. We visited a dead poet´s house. Since chilean poetry was never my favourite passtime, I cannot recall the name of the supposedly famous poet. Then we took a ride on the ... read more

I am staying in Viña del Mar with a Chilean family and attending Pontifica Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. I am doing a month long language program with the University of Utah here. Our first week here was very dreary- we didn´t see the sun at all. But even more now that the sun is always out, Chile is a beautiful place. Viña del Mar is the ¨cleaner¨city of the sister cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, but I also think it is the more boring city. As my culture teacher said, Valpo has a jail, and Viña has a mall, but they are really the same thing. Viña has good shopping at the Artesan centers, and beautiful beaches- especially if you go North about ten minutes to Reñaca or Con Con. It has a great ... read more