Hospedaje Blanca-Cerro Alegre Valparaiso

... drummers grouped together and freestyled. Super bakan.

 That night, after I took another dayquil, we went to La Caleta Membrillo in Playa Ancha to see some live music, which was part of the whole mil tambores business. It was essentially a massive group of people hanging out with music. I met a boat load of people like Jorge, who talked my ear off about politics for an hour, and Max, who is a 22 year old math teacher in Viña. Once again it hit me how beautiful it ...

... in a nearby house, someone playing salsa music. I thought, "I'm so glad this place isn't in the guide books".

We ended the day with a coffee in a café called, Café del Poeta. Our waiter was, for lack of a better word, freaking cool. He was terribly nice, and when he asked us if we found Chilean Spanish difficult to learn, he said he understood because his first language was Rapa Nui! Uh, how awesome is that? We met a native Rapa Nui man. I geeked out a little bit. The real ...

... of the presentation that I was going to give on Thursday. After practicing what I was going to say, I spent some time talking to Maria and Maite again until Margarita called us up for once. Pablo, Jenny, and Oscar (hermano) had all arrived to meet the girls and to spend time with me, too! After eating and enjoying Chirimoya coladas with the family, I left to meet up with my American friends at the corner of Cafe Journal (our favorite meeting ...

... de cuero (leather making workshop). This workshop is part of my ISEP program, and there are two parts to the workshops. One week, a group makes something out of leather while the other group makes something out of glass. Next week I will be doing the glass workshop, but this week I had a blast making a bracelet and a key chain out of leather. First, we went into this little workshop/store/house where we were taught how to go about making ...

... SO yea..YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY WINE. At home they won´t.. they will just make us pay 100% of the cost of everything. ********. Now we´re in Valparaiso. Its a nice town on the Pacific Ocean with all these brightly coloured houses on the hillside. We met back up with Sarah and Jeremey (The Aussies) and we´re heading to Santiago tomorrow to waste away the last few days of our trip. Tonight.. Seafood on acount of the seaport town we´re in.. Yay Rob.. Boo Dre.. D

... but it was an early one for me, calling it stumps at 3am. The next day I met my amiga Daniela who I´d previously met in La Paz. I met her in Viña, she took me to her very nice house - first home I had been in for a long long time, provided me with lunch then we headed to the beach with her friends and finished the day with Empanadas y Cervezas. We were both tired so I said my goodbyes and headed back to the hostel to begin the long journey south...

... Eve in Valpo, and it never happened. But sometimes with bad, comes good - I didn't get to celebrate with friends I've known for over 10 years, but at least I was able to celebrate with newfound friends. After a day full of hassles and plans that never came to fruition, I'd have to say that everything turned out quite well. Sometimes things don't turn out how you wanted, but if at the end of the day you have a big smile on your face, does it really ...

... to get a bed for CLP5,000 per night, which is pretty cheap. In general the hostel is nicely situated at Cerro Concepcion, which is pretty much the best area to stay in. After dumping our backpacks, we started walking towards the city ...

... one of the Valparaíso residents at the Santiago bus station and as I was lost, Rolando showed me around and later invited me to lunch with him and his wife (their Cerro Numero 15 elevators didn't work so my calve muscles had a great workout!). Attractions: Labyrinth of streets and cobblestone alleyways 100-year-old funicular elevators (highly-inclined cable cars) Multi-colored homes that cling to sheer cliffs Working docks ...

... they fire the big fireworks from on New Year's Eve, when Valparaiso is one of the best places in the world to celebrate.



I was glad that we hadn't booked a boat trip, the vessels all looked rather dodgy to say the least!

We then walked down to the bottom of the Ascensor Artilleria, which had a scenic ...