Blogs from Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 13

Well, I have sucessfully made it to Viña Del Mar! My group and I spent last weekend in Santiago and on Sunday we took a bus ride of only about an hour and a half to Valparaíso, the city adjoining Viña del Mar. That day I met my first host family. They were very nice, but it became clear early on that it was not going to work out. Thankfully, the university I will be attending (which is also in charge of placing students with host families) and the director of my program were very helpful in finding me another host family. I now live in a neighborhood called called "recreo" and it has been a wonderful place to live so far! I have about a 2 minute walk to a great ocean lookout, and maybe ... read more

12/02/13 Check out of our hotel was at 12 noon so there was no hurry to rush. The couple of things I wanted to see and had planned to do this morning AND we didn't see on yesterday's walking tour, we saw on the walk back to the hotel; namely the clock tower and the funicular that services Cero Conception. As I said, nothing to do this morning except relax, take our time. Due to the size of the Cruise Terminal in Valparaiso, everyone is given a check in slot. Ours was 14:30 – like I said, no hurry. Other patrons of this establishment must have also had the same idea. At breakfast we met Bob and Lyn from Charlestown, South Carolina and a Japanese Gentleman who seemed to be carrying around a large 6-foot piece ... read more

With changes to the start of our adventure, now well in hand, because of restricted access over the Andes between Chile and Argentina, due to construction work on the Paso Redenter, we will head South to Curico, Chile, for a night and cross over the Andes through Paso Vergara, into Argentina, the next day with our first night in Argentina staying in Malargue. The next day we will ride up to Uspallata, then onto Los Flores and we should be back on schedule. I have made two maps, one heading out of Vina del Mar and getting us up to Machu Picchu in Peru. The other map shows the return route from Cusco back down to Vina del Mar, Chile and the end of the adventure. I hope these work for you, if only one map ... read more

Hello again from somewhat cloudy Valparaiso.I am told it has not been a great summer here on the coast, with more cloudy days than they are used to.Perhaps another sign of the warming of the planet and the movement of the ocean currents that effect these coast lines so much. I asked Micheal the Pirate to take me out to some vineyards and see some of the country side outside of Valparaiso.Michael suggested we wait a couple of days to see if he could round up a few more adventurers for our excursion but as the time went by no one came forward so off we went with just the two of us in Michaels father in laws car.Michael lives in an apartment building in Vina and has problems with wingnuts parking infront of his car ... read more

Departed Argentina for the fourth and final time (just as well as passport rapidly filling with stamps !), crossing the Andes to the Chile lake district adventure town Pucon, overlooked by the imposing Volcano Villarrica. Hired a mountain bike for a hot and dusty 40 km to the Ojos de Caburgua waterfalls busy with Chilean families, scrambled across streams and ate a picnic in the shade. Followed the ride with a much-needed refreshing dip in the chilly lake with its black-sand beaches. Next day caught a bus out to Huerquehue national park for another steep hike past volcano viewpoints to hilltop lagunas, chatting to fellow Swiss and German travellers but unfortunately (?) just missing a giant tarantula photo opportunity. Final day at Pucon was spent lazing in nearby Las Pozones hot springs, before catching an overnight ... read more