Blogs from Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 77

Wed. 21st. After a good scout round the city, the jury is still out on Mendoza - surely, we can't be going off Argentina. Thurs. All set to go to Parque San Matin on the trolley bus, when the hotel receptionist panicked about taking valuables with us. She even insisted we leave the camera behind, so therefore I'm convinced we're going to get murdered at the very least. Consequently we missed the chance of some fabulous photos. The place was as safe as houses, thank goodness. The park is reportedly the largest in the Americas, and is well worth a visit. The tourist bus cost one pound for an hour's trip, and it doesn't even scratch the surface. The highlight for us was the Liberty Statue on Glory Hill. The most striking monument we have ever ... read more

Our next stops were brief visits to the beautifully unique city of Valparaiso and the neighbouring Vina Del Mar. Valparaiso is a city built on hills and travelling around the city and up and down the hills involves taking a ride on their many funicular elevators! Our local elevator, Cerro Concepcion is the city's oldest, and the odd rickety noises kinda reminded us every so often! The first of our two hostels in Valpo kind of resembled Alfred Hitchcock´s Psycho... think man living alone, picture of mother, hole in wall... hmmm lets just say, watch out when you pre-book accomodation! Anyway, we found a really cool hostel to stay in just around the corner, nice rooms, cool atmosphere, free breakfasts - all good so long as you can handle being chased by stray dogs at night! ... read more

plein de choses se sont passees depuis Vicuña, d abord pour terminer sur ce joli petit village on est alles le soirvoir les etoiles a l observatoire de Mamalluca, c etait bien mais pas top, quand meme pas aussi gros que sur les images de la Nasa. Le lendemain, depart en bus pour 7h de route vers Valparaiso, on y est arrives le soir, on a direct goute aux joies de la vie nocturne de cette ville pleine de significations dans notre imaginaire... en clair on est rentres plutot bourres vers 4h du matin, faudra que je vous raconte ca. Le lendemain, vraie visite de la ville, c est beau et decrepi comme on en revait, ca vaut vraiment le deplacement. Soiree tranquille, comme un dimanche soir. Lundi, on part se balader dans un patelin ... read more

So my last day is today in Chile (and my last travelblog-for this journal at least-in South America--for the time being!)...and im super sad. I leave at 3pm to go to Santiago and then take the 8:35pm Delta flight to Atlanta, then to LaGuardia, take a taxi to JFK and then a 3pm flight to Burlington, getting in around4pm. It has been a stressful week trying to pack--im still not finished and am leaving a ton of stuff here :(, saying my good-byes---wayyy too emotional, and my exams. Turns out I only had one final, instead of two, which was a 10min oral exam--i just had to prepare a subject and talk about it-super easy, I studied for a whole day for the second one, only to arrive too early and then find out that I ... read more

It's hard to believe that if I hadn't changed my flight ticket to stay longer, I would only have six more days in Chile. In saying that, I have six days left in the house I am currently living in with Ema, Roberto, and Jennie before I move in with Marlene. I stayed the night over at her place this week to translate a paper for her Master's study in Psychology that is in English. She got teary eyed when we started talking about me only having one more month left here in Chile. Then she sucked it up and said she wasn't going to cry yet because I will be living with her and we'll get to spend more time together and have a "Spanglish" style house. She's become a really good friend out of ... read more