Hotel Thomas Somerscales Valparaiso

... the character of this place. Our hostel of a haphazard hundred year old contraption owned by circus freaks! The trapese rope hangs from the ceiling, the couch has a tail and the patchwork quilt on the wall has seen better days.They´ve painted the whole place green, but that hasn´t stopped local graffiti artists making their own improvements.The insane hillside location is nearly impossible to remember how to get back too, and all the streets in ...

... town as Valparaiso is still currently an important Chilean port. However, after the Panama canal´s creation in the early 1900s, the Magellan pass has become virtually unused, leaving the harbour is a lot quieter than it once was. It also means that some suburbs of the town are very poor and notably more dangerous than others - particularly for a gringa like me. While walking on our second day through one neighbourhood we were ushered away by a local couple smoking. They ...

... goodbye. He made me promise that I would come back soon to visit! Of course I will! Next in line was Antonia and then Jenny (and the baby). I can't wait until I get to meet the baby! It was very difficult to walk out of the house, knowing that it will be a long time before I get to see any of them in person. Pablo drove Margarita and I down to Teatro Municipal where I met with the rest of the students from my program and various other programs ...

... to write a one page paper on the similarities and differences between Valparaiso and Ferdinand. It was very easy to note the differences, the colorful houses, the huge hills, the dogs everywhere, gas stations here are not self-service, the ascensores, the graffiti, the sea, the seaport, and the list could go on and on. For the similarities, I talked about how the majority of the population has descendants from Europe and the architecture ...

These past two days have been great! <br> Margarita and Oscar took me to the University at 9 AM, then we <br> did all the orientation stuff, took a placement test, and got <br> a tour of the three buildings (it's a very small campus but <br> there are tons of students walking around). At 2:30 PM, <br> I met up with Oscar (who had been working in Valparaiso) and <br> Margarita (who had ...

... The importance of the Navy in Chile can't be overseen in Valparaiso - dozens of incedibly beautiful buildings belonging to different naval departments document that. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> I don't think I am able to describe this amazing and beautiful city so that the atmosphere conveys to you - but I have a couple pictures to help me ...<br> <br> <br ...

... were littered with graffiti. Besides the colourful additions to the parks attractions the people frequenting the parks were just as colourful. We encounters people from all walks of life from the individualistic / must be different punks to hippies selling all sorts of junk/jewellery, to vagrants who clearly spent more time than most in the parks, to gracious old gents playing cards on rickety wooden tables. And lastly, the parks, in fact whole city was ...

... Boca in BA have had much better views. The town is a haven for stray dogs (hence all the dog poop everywhere) and petty crime. Met two people in the hostel who mentioned of personal incidents, you should also read what the Lonely Planet has to say about this city! Found an interesting cafe called "Color Cafe". It´s covered with graffiti from fellow espresso affecionados. It would have been rude not to leave our mark as well (watch this space ...

... After that we retired to our hotel and the next morning headed back home to Santiago on another very nice charter bus. All in all it was a great trip and I couldn't think of a person I would have rather spent it with. Laurel is one of the most enthusiastic, outgoing people I have ever met. She loves life and it's great being around someone like that. I assure you, you will hear about many more adventures of ours in the future!

... at sea level and the rest up in the hills above.<br><br>There's something special about looking out over the sea from the hills of Valparaiso and although Vina del Mar certainly isn't stunning, it seems like a nice enough place with a great location by the sea. <br><br>Within a few days we'll have gone from a wine area, to ...