http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Chile , Valparaíso Region en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:31:07 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:31:07 +0000 We left Santiago for Valparaiso. Pato directed us to the right tube stop 3 stops down for the bus station. Would have been so simple had Cecilia not directed us in the wrong direction. With both of us already scratching our heads about how heavy our bags were the pain was just prolonged......After catching an evening bus we arrived to find our hostel was a traditional Valparaiso house Unesco http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-463428.html I had an open week between two of my finals so rather than taking the free time to study my friend and I decided to beach it. I met her at her house with a backpack filled with a bathing suit book and flipflops. We went to the bus station said ok so where is somewhere cheap close and on the beach. We ended up taking buses from one little beach town to the next most of which werent too ex http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Horcon/blog-461119.html You may have heard that Charles Darwin sailed on a boat called the HMS Beagle and wound up writing a somewhat controversial book called On the Origin of Species. I once tried reading it and would not recommend it unless you yourself are stuck on a very slow boat sailing across the Atlantic through the Straits of Magellan up the coast of South America and then across the Pacific. What is perhap http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/La-Campana-National-Park/blog-459981.html This is a cool town very arty and bohemian. In the early 90s the city commissioned some artists to paint murals to create an outdoor museum. Time hasn't been very kind to them they're not in very good condition nor as interesting as the regular graffiti and murals done more recently on other walls all over town some of which are excellent. Just a few km's down the road or a few stops on the tr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/blog-454852.html We celebrated Halloween in Santiago a big party that was a lot of fun. The next day some friends and I took a bus to Valparaiso for the night a beachtown about an hour and a half way from Santiago. Its a really cute place famous for its hills that are covered in multicolored houses overlooking the ocean. We went for a jazz show ate Chorialla a mountain of french fries topped with beef egg http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-451448.html So Its been 3 weeks or so since I was in Valparaso and Via del Mar but I finally have time to write about it. Via is nice and modern with big buildings right on the coast. There's a Starbucks one of the few outside Santiago and the oldest casino in Chile. Via is one of the biggest music scenes in Latin America and most major performers in the spanish speaking world played there befor http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-450585.html Vik's bitSo an uncomfortably long journey brought us to Santiago capital of Chile and home to about onethird of the population there. Suitably sized in order to hold all that folk it spreads itself within the confines of the mountains that surround it. The city bustles but does not overwhelm and we spent our days enjoying the plazas the coffee and the seafood. The plazas provided random http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-449210.html So schnell vergeht die Zeit. Und schon sind wir in Chile...ok wir sind auch sehr schnell gereist...aber es gibt noch so vielwas von uns gesehen werden will. In Mendoza haben wir eine super Zeit verbracht. Das Weindegustieren haben wir sehr genossen und deshalb fast die ganze Zeit dabei verbracht Auch sind wir Paragliden gegangen und haben sonst Mendoza unsicher gemacht. Bilder die viel mehr a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-447023.html I arrived back in Vina del Mar at 11.30am on Monday 12 October and checked into a hotel near the bus station as I was only going to be staying for 2 days. After lunch I went to the beach to enjoy the clear blue sky and hot sun. It was so nice to relax on the beach for a few hours after being in the bustling metropolis of Santiago for the weekend. In the evening I went for dinner before returni http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Vina-del-Mar/blog-447008.html Sept 24 2009We made a phone call to LAN airlines and got the good news that Justinrsquos luggage finally arrived Yay That meant that we would have deodorant and Justin can finally change out of his smelly clothes. So we got up early because A we had to go all the way back to the airport to pick up Justinrsquos luggage and B we wanted to make the most out of the day in Via del Mar. We http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-441121.html Irsquove just arrived back in Mendoza home sweet home away from home from some amazing spring break travels with some amazing people. Caitlin Garrett and I left Mendoza on the 17th of September. The Chilean ldquoIndependencerdquo Day is the 18th of September. It was thus a whole weekend of party party and more party in Valparaso Chile where we stayed with Garrettrsquos extremely http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Vina-del-Mar/blog-440595.html Valparaiso is the most often visited region of Chile thanks to its proximity to Santiago. It is less than 2 hours from Santiago and is blessed with beautiful beaches. It is known as a center of gastronomical artistic and cultural activity making it a wonderful metropolis. About 400000 people inhabit this beautiful area. We are taking the bus. Hard to believe. Agriculture fruit fishing http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Vina-del-Mar/blog-440221.html Study Abroad Vina Del Mar Spring 2010Hello I am a student looking into studying abroad in Vina del Mar Chile from late Febearly july. I would appreciate ANY help information etc.... I am quite adventerous and want to really experience the culture espescially some of the smaller towns away from Vina I speak some spanish but will be relying on my homestay and studies to improve..Some of my m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Vina-del-Mar/blog-436953.html Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are supposedly the places where the Chileans go when they need to get out of the city. We decided to visit Valparaiso or Valpo as apparently most people go to Vina del Mar. Valpo is a port city set out on an array of hills. It's most striking feature is the graffiti everywhere well that and the dog poop. It all goes together to create a laid back feel and you http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-436296.html NOTE LOCATION. CHILE HAS BEEN EXITED. 4 AND A HALF MONTHS. done.were i draw some sort of flashy excel chart then it woudl show a quirky purple lines gradient gradually steapening as chilean life takes on. Superb final two months complete with un poco espaol a little bit of jessica by my side and muchos aventuras.Post the week long winter adventure it was decided chilling out at near by beaches http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-431421.html Thanks Francisco for the notes of ideas and things to do. I have tried many different foods especially the Completo combinations. Had a good fish meal of tuna with sala last night. With a half bottle of Cab Sav of course.I ended up basing myself in Valparaiso which is the more historical and rustic of the two neighbouring towns in the bay. Drinking beers in an old saliors pub. Ending up in with http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Vina-del-Mar/blog-429711.html so went to the hairdressers. this was my second outing to the peluquira. the internet was broken so unable to print picture of required strimming. couldnt be bothered to look up correct words in dictionary. the woman doing my hair turned out to be ...the cousin of one of the kids at the nursery Alberto looks like a hamster whos had a labotamy asked him where his brain was the other day. KAR http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Vina-del-Mar/blog-428507.html Party on a PrayerMy epileptic horse dance moves arenrsquot really impressing here not sure they really did in England but then everyone was so smashed gazeaboed mullered bogrolled you know Michael McKintyre to notice. O yeah we just hit a month with absolutely no alcohol. Final taster of the devils urine was a pint in Atlanta airports TGI Fridays. Was so weird kept on asking peop http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-423433.html Facebook sometimes I love it sometimes I hate it especially when I'm sat in a hostel with free Internet and the person using it decides to spend 5 years uploading photos or more annoyingly flicking through someone else's when all I want to do is quickly check email..... grrrrr. This time though it meant I unexpectedly met up with Chantal and Jeremy two friends I'd first met whilst squashed i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-420826.html As I mentioned in the Santiago entry I took a jolly down to Valparaiso for a couple of days. It's meant to be a really interesting city with coloured houses set on an assortment of hills surrounding the port. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived it was cold grey and foggy thus you couldn't see anything. I took a trip up one of the lifts out of duty but it was a bit pointless. I serio http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-417668.html