Coastal partying
Trip Start
Dec 06, 2005
1
11
80
Trip End
Jun 17, 2006
Valparaiso,
Chile
Monday, January 2, 2006
Next day checked out more of Valparaiso with Al, just walking around town, there were tons and tons of people around, street bands and artists, big cop presence, everyone here for NYE. Then went to a dirty Valpo beach after getting lost on a bus. Lots of dirty old men wolf whistling at young girls, big groups of kids shouting english insults at any foreigner for fun, etc... After this we came upon a massive parade leading into a big carnival party in the Plaza Italia (3 blocks from our hostel). Lots of people (30,000 according to the next day's newspaper), lots of bands, dancers, and other cultural stuff (hmm...). The party was to mark the end of a cultural festival they've been having in Viņa over the last week or so. Was great fun at first, then got a little tiring so we called it a night
Cultural Carnival Closing Party
. New Years Eve:
Slept until the sun came out from behind the clouds at around 1pm, then headed straight for the Viņa beach after showing Al what an empanada is, i think he quite enjoyed it! Stayed there at the beach for a few hours, sunbaking and pondering why people were swimming in water that was the colour of engine coolant. Obviously there were signs saying it was inappropriate for swimming, and it looked totally disgusting, no idea how the water got like that, it was fine a few weeks ago...
Checked out the centre of Viņa, nothing really special there so we went back to chill at the hostel for a few hours before the New Years Eve fireworks. After Al was impressed with some chilean hotdogs (completos) - especially the avocado sauce, we went back to the Viņa beach/foreshore for the fireworks, which were quite impressive. The display went for around 25 minutes, but the best part were the big waves crashing into the rocks and showering unexpecting firework-watchers and some parked cars with cold salty seawater. The vibe was great. After watching some serious mayhem and chaos on the streets after the fireworks, we headed to a house party for an hour or so, then to a big dance club place in Valparaiso until the sun rose. With a live band playing the style "reggeton" (unheard of outside Sth America i think), a fantastic crowd, and free drinks, it was awesome fun. Next morning got kicked out of hostel after 3 hours sleep. Not happy.
