Blogs from Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 20

For those you have been following my blog an apology. I have just arrived in Valparaiso, had a shower and read the last few entries and I've just noticed how poor my spelling is - sorry! For those who know me this will come as no surprise! In my defence I have written the last few blogs at the end of the day when I'm done in and I don't appear to have spell check. I am off for a beer (which probably doesn't help) and something to eat - more to follow later... read more

I met my host family on Sunday and they are great. On Sunday morning we packed our stuff to leave Hotel Rent-a-Home, chunked it on a truck, and hopped on a bus to tour some more of Santiago before making the two hour trip to Valparaiso-Viña del Mar where we'll be attending school and staying for the duration of the semester. The plan was for our parents to come pick us up from the University. It was so funny. When we pulled up to La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, all the other ISA students and I were sweating bullets!! The ISA staff gave us all name tags with the names of our host families so when we entered they would know who we belonged to. There we were, doe-eyed, name tagged, arms full of bags, ... read more

We have been looking forward to our visit to Chile with great enthusiasm as it is our first time. I always think of this country as a “downunder” version of California. Terry Breen put a map of Chile against a U.S. west coast map, and at 2653 miles, Chile stretched from the tip of Baja to the Gulf of Alaska. Down here it is called the "shoestring country" because it is so long and narrow. This thin ribbon of a country is only about 110 miles wide. Chile is a land of extremes from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, from Pablo Neruda to Augusto Pinochet and from the Mediterranean warmth in the north to the frigid glaciers of the south. Chile has the driest desert in the world and some of the wettest weather ... read more

Some thoughts on Chile: Santiago is a typical large capital city. Since it is summer, the visitors include many Chileans as well as international tourists. The people I met were friendly and patient with my lack of Spanish. Starbucks was a huge hit here, as Chile did not have anything like it. Among the beautiful 17th and 18thcentury buildings are modern high-rises. Earthquake damage from the 2010 quake is visible and slowly being repaired. The main highways are in excellent repair. They are privately owned and paid for by tolls. All main highways are toll roads. The downside to this privatization is that roads get built where they will be profitable and other areas may be under served. The resort of Vina del Mar is teaming with tourists, many from the Mendoza Province of Argentina. It ... read more

Olaaaa!!! Sao 8.50 da manha aqui em Valparaiso, dia 30 Dezembro. Hj a noite vamos embora em direccao ao sul, Villarica mas nao queria deixar de escrever umas breves palavras sobre esta cidade. Adoramos. Estamos novamente ao nivel do mar. Chegamos na quarta feira dia 28 depois das ditas 24h viagem onde passaram 3x seguida o mesmo filme,lol. A cidade e encostada ao oceano pacifico e com varias colinas. Na verdade, e parecida com Lisboa, tem digamos o mesmo caracter. E uma cidade com vida, alegre e com a particularidade de que tem paredes pintadas por todo o lado. no facebook pus uma foto de uma escada que esta toda pintada, memoravel. Da uma personalidade, um ambiente fantastico. Esta bom tempo, calor, os dias aqui no sul sao maiores, ate as 21h e de dia e ... read more