Studied spanish for a week and stayed with a Chilian family up a steep coble stone and dirt street lined with a mix of multi-storied brightly painted houses and small tin walled and roofed shacks squeezed in where space allowed. Took a few breaks from school while in town and visited Pablo Neruda´s house (Chilian poet and communist figure), treked up through graffiti walled streets to a sanctioned "open air graffiti muesum" that displayed less artwork than the ascent, and visited touristy Vina Del Mar (beach 15 minutes to north).
Highlight of town was staying with the family. Two nights they had family or friends over and included me in festivities. Early in night I could communicate a bit as questions were said slow and repeated often. Later in the evening the words flowed like the wine and cheap beer being thrown back and I was reduced to the ever smiling, ever oblivious tourist.
La Serena
Stayed in beach town 2 nights 7 hours north of Valparaiso. Water was too cold to swim, but highlight was playing in a beach soccer game with 6 Peruvian and 3 Brazilian guys.
If you can zoom in on picture you can see first hand the complete awesomeness of the zip off shorts... once again coming through in the clutch.
Two of the Peruvian guys invited me to the bar with them later in the night to watch the World Cup qualifying match between Chile and Peru. After a bit of thought I decided I valued my life too much and skipped out on the invitation.
Caldera and Bahia Inglesia
Yet another 6 hour bus ride to the north (Chile is a long country) I currently find myself in Caldera. A town supported by fishing and tourism, with the summer tourist boom having been over by almost 2 months now. I´m exploring the town with two girls from Holland that I met on the bus and we stayed in a hospedaje in the middle of town with only two others last night.
Just a few kms down the beach and pictured below is Bahia Inglesia, a traquil resort town to the core with empty streets this time of year, minimal restaurants and hotels open and clear water lapping at the shore. A good stop for an afternoon.
Next
Taking a night bus tonight to the northern desert town of San Pedro de Atacama. Should have a few more pictures in the next posting. Is it really almost April?
No comments:
Post a Comment