the hillside of valparaíso
OK, lack of internet access at our hotel has left me to recap most of Chile into one or two blogs. Here goes! Monday, we traveled to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, two port cities about an hour away from Santiago. Valparaíso is very unique. It has these windy streets that curve downhill until they reach the sea. The houses and streets and sidewalks and walls are all so colorful. And OH the view from atop the hill is gorgeous. Words and pictures don't do this place justice. It truly is one of those places that you have to experience. Also, the houses are built on such steep hills, you are almost surprised that they don't fall off. There are walls on the sides of the streets that have pictures drawn on them. One of my friends here, Elizabeth, called it a "South American San Fransisco.
sherezad in front of one of the murals on the walls
" That is so true. While there, we went to visit the house of Pablo Neruda, Nobel prize winning poet from Chile. His house was very artsy, even within the architecture. It was too bad that we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Viña dell Mar does not have nearly the personality that Valparaíso has. It is much more modern, and where the elite go for a beach vacation. We only had lunch there, but we made time to go play on the beach. My roomie for the week and friend, Jenny, had never seen the Pacific Ocean. What a great place for your first sight! That is about all that happened Monday. Tuesday, we went to a bodega(winery) all morning. It was nice to be able to actually drink the wine! Elizabeth and I ordered an appetizer and a taste of 4wines after the tour, and we liked two of them so much, that we each bought a bottle of white, and I also bought a bottle of red! I don't know if we'll end up drinking them here or if they'll make it back to the US for mom and dad! The rest of the day was a quick city tour. I didn't much care for the tour guide here, so I won't go into much detail, but I took plenty of pictures, so I'm sure that within the 300+ pictures I've taken this week, there has to be a good one somewhere!
