Vancouver Hotel Vina del Mar

... kao ona nasa volim te s jagodama :D u trgovini me totalno sokiralo kad sam vidjela likove kraj blagajne koji ti pakiraju stvari (tipa ona fora sto se vidi u americkim filmovima) - uzmu po dvije vrecice kako bi u njih stavili dvije litre mlijeka. na kraju su kolica bila krcata vrecicama, a meni je srce puklo kad sam to vidjela. cileanci, ocito, imaju jako izrazenu svijest za ocuvanje okolisa. prestrasno nesto!<br><br>grad (vina del mar ...

... up to the top of the hill and then began our tour. We learned a lot about the history of Valparaiso and got to see some really neat, colorful houses which have been changed into hostels, restaurants, cafes, little stores. There was also a lot of Graffiti on the stone walls. All around these hills are very steep walkways and lots of stairs. We walked all the way down to the bottom to catch the buses back to PUCV (my ...

The overnight bus was an interesting experience that exceeded my expectations....except for the toilet, which was gross. For a whopping 10 additional ARG pesos (less than $3) we upgraded ourselves to the higher "cama" class. There were big, comfy, leather reclining seats, a movie playing, and a bus attendant who handed out ham &amp; cheese sammies and 7UP. <br><br>The bus pulled up at the scheduled time and 20 min later we were all loaded up and on our way at ...

... There were also stray dogs lying around everywhere, even in the gutters, making cars & buses swerve to avoid them. Another thing about South America is that there are very few public loos & those that there are charge an entrance fee & also charge for paper. The poor in Valparaiso have found a way round this - they pee in the hedges. Valparaiso bay is surrounded by small hills (cerros) which are where the posh(er) residential ...

... today, and there weren't any hostel staff around. An American guy called Jeremy was leaving at the same time, so I walked/bussed to the bus station with him. The bus ride back to Santiago was next to a woman who had been born in Chile, but adopted by a Swedish family. She had just come back for the first time in 30 years to meet her family. This time I was able to see the scenery on the trip. There were fruit trees and ...

... the Pacific since Australia. It was mega cold but very refreshing! We walked along the beach and then decided to walk around the coast to see the other two beaches. We passed a beautiful castle on the way, which we meant to go back to but never got around to it, although we did see it lit up at night and it looked just as beautiful then too. The second beach wasn't great as it was tiny and separated the river from the ocean, the river was filthy and so we didn't really fancy ...

... sheets really does wonders for the soul =) All this for the reasonable price of $7000 pesos/night (bargained down from $8000/night I might add). I should also mention that the family that runs it is super sweet which is helpful. They are always smiling... but have a really annoying yappy weiner dog that can´t shut up. =) There is a quaint little patio area full of flowers outside the main floor and a great balcony on the third level at the top of the house that has ...

... afternoon. That night we treated ourselves to a movie and loved the fact that "the Quantum of Solace" was filmed in Chile. After 6 weeks of traveling together it was sadly nearly time to say goodbye to the Taylors. We have to rush to get our last tours and adventures while they have more time to take in some of the places we will miss.... On our last day in VDM ended with an argument with the B&amp;B owner who went back on his ...

Today I was off to Viña del Mar, which is almost contiguous with Valparaíso so it's really only a 20 minute train ride away. As I was having breakfast this morning in my hostel I was talking with the owner Juan Pablo and I asked him how the Chilean economy was. He said that although the macroeconomy was growing, that the microeconomy, for little businesses and individuals, wasn ...

... hostel. Thankfully we didn't see any of that where we had been but later when we left the hostel to go to the bus station we could still feel the effects of the tear gas in the air. That night we sat around the living room area and chatted to the 2 Ozzies over some more Chilean wine. The owner of the hostel who is also a music composer came out to us with his guitar and sang us 2 local songs which was really nice. The next day we packed up our bags ...