El 12 de Marzo, 2015 – El 15 de Marzo, 2015
First Stop: Mendoza, Argentina
Valparaíso was a beautiful, dynamic, and intriguing city. I was there with a lovely group of people. This group included: myself, Evan Fagan, Sydney Catharine, Lauren Gay, Alexa McCoy, Rachel Blair, and Hannah Kuehl. A piece of me had wished, I would have studied abroad in Chile.
The journey began after finding that our bus to Mendoza, Argentina, actually departed 30 minutes earlier than we had thought. Thus, I got a taxi to the bus station (a 15 minute drive from my house) and arrived on-time to meet my friends. We boarded the bus, lasting 9:00pm until 7:30am.
Mi Grupo (L->R): Lauren, Sydney Evan, Me, Rachel, Alexa
Then, we hopped onto another bus in Mendoza to Valparaiso at 9:30am. The ride was BEAUTIFUL. Luckily, it was during the day and we were able to see the marvelous Andes Mountains.
The Andes
At the Chilean border, I got a new stamp and waited for about an hour to go through customs, which means it went pretty smoothly (apparently they aren’t usually too organized).
Chilean Flag
Upon arriving to Valpo at about 7:00pm, we went to go check in at our hostel, the Muffin Hostel (10/10 would recommend), where we met its owner, Matías, set our stuff down and went out to eat.
Thursday, we woke up, had our free breakfast, which was consistently tasty (thanks Matías) and decided to go on a “Free Walking Tour” of the wonderfully colorful city. We walked through Cerro Concepción and Cerro Alegre and the sights were lovely; quite captivating.
I learned Valparaíso was once a port for Santiago (a 90 minute bus ride away) until someone built a church, which spurred the creation of more homes and businesses. The city has 42 hills or “cerros,” and each hill has its own distinctive barrio, with steep streets and long stairways everywhere- think Pittsburgh or San Francisco.
There are even some ascensores (elevators) that reminded me a lot of the Pittsburgh incline and I got to ride two of them! I saw a lot of beautiful street art and colorful houses, the most recognizable features of the city (besides its crime rate).
At the Valparaiso port
Free Walking Tour: City of Valparaiso
Sydney & I during our Free Walking Tour
Street Elevators
We took a break at an empanada restaurant, where we had some Chilean- style empanadas, which are much bigger (and better) than Argentine empanadas (fried instead of baked). Sorry Argentina….
Sydney, Alexa and I
After the tour, we regrouped at the hostel and decided to go kayaking from the pier four blocks from our hostel. Half of our group backed out at the last minute, but Evan, Alexa, and I decided to go kayaking. Once we were there, we received a guide, named Ximena (who honestly didn’t do much), but she told us the names of things in Spanish when we pointed to them, which I guess, was helpful.
Kayaking in the South Pacific Ocean
House of Seals
We saw a ton of huge, beautiful jellyfish, and on a old dilapidated piece of a pier that was cut off from shore, tons of sea lions were sleeping and fighting for space. When I paddled around them I could see them swimming under my kayak which was incredible.
Jelly Fish (one of many)
After these escapades, we found a ‘hopping’ Mexican restaurant, where I got three burritos for $4. What made the Chilean restaurant, particularly good, was that our waiter was a former student in our Spanish Studies program in Córdoba! He was so excited to be around English-speakers for the first time (in a while), so unfortunately, we lost some opportunity to practice Spanish, but we got good tips on places to visit in Córdoba instead.
On Friday morning, Matías helped us to navigate our way to a bus, headed to a beach very close to the Dunas de Concón (Dunes of Concón). We had a nice beach day and then had an easy trek to the dunes. However, the bus driver told us we should get out in the middle of Viña del Mar (the city right next to Valparaíso) and two or three cities away from Concón, which we were not aware of at the time.
So, we traversed onward–down the coast for about an hour, before our group got too tired and impatient to keep walking. Alas, we stopped at a nice beach, between Viña del Mar and Reñaca. We took a naps, read, collected shells and sea glass, jumped in the freezing cold water (and back out) and simplyt enjoyed the sunshine for a bit. Afterwards, we walked to the Dunes to watch the sunset and to see the entire coast, from Valparaíso to Concón.
The dunes were phenomenal, however, there was a massive forest fire apparently happening in Valpo, so smoke blocked a lot of the coast during sunset and the ash and soot from the burning trees were falling. If you can see in the photo, the sand was darker than normal. It was quite the experience and we all still really enjoyed the view. Afterwards we got on a bus that took us practically to our doorstep which was much needed since we were about to pass out. We went out for dinner at a restaurant nearby, and shoveled our food down partially because it was closing and partial because we were hungry as hell. It was our last night in Valpo but we were all too exhausted to do anything so we had another early night.
The Dunes
Sunset at the Dunes
Saturday, we woke up with our assorted burns, aches, and pains, and walked to La Sebastiana, one of Pablo Neruda’s three homes (the most famous Chilean poet ever as well as a politician). The museum was located at top of a very steep hill. Once there, three of us waited outside, and Rachel, Hannah, Alexa, and Evan went into the tour and seemed to enjoy it. (I was still bitter about my sunburn and not being able to sleep). Although, from the group that went into the museum, I learned that Pablo loved the sea and collected trinkets from all over the world. Cool dude.
Back at the hostel, we packed and went to the grocery store, as we awaited our eventual departure home to Cordoba. We went to the station at 9:00pm, and began our other long and agonizing journey at 9:30pm. After arriving in Mendoza at 6:00am, we took our last bus at 9:30am, which got us to Cordoba 12 hours later. I spent every hour of daylight Sunday on a bus. Wow!
Overall, it was a marvelous trip and I am so blessed to have experienced it!
Trip took place March 12th to March 15th.
Sin Fronteras 