Viña del Mar y Valparaiso

So, first update: My purse got stolen at the beach in Viña so I am temporarily without a camera. Luckily, nothing else of value was in my purse- all my debit cards and large bills and, most importantly, my PASSPORT, are safe and sound in my possession. As I'm sure y'all can imagine, I am pretty heartbroken about parting ways with my camera. I got it right before I went off to college so it has been with me for so many adventures and photo opportunities. And it is just awful to be in a new country with no way to take pictures of it.

So, being robbed was a big bummer, but it definitely did not ruin my vacation. For one thing, I was traveling with some amazing friends and I felt/feel overwhelmingly grateful for them. After the robbery, Kristin spent 3 hours with me at the police station while we experienced firsthand the Chilean bureaucracy. AKA, we waited in the lobby for a LONG time and then I filled out a bunch of paperwork. When Kristin and I returned to our apartment, the rest of my group had made a delicious dinner of mashed potatoes, chicken, and zucchini, and we watched the end of the sunset over our apartment.

Oh, and speaking of OUR APARTMENT, it was amazing. (Since I was travelling with so many other people with cameras, I have a lot of pictures of the week.)

We were on the 19th story of an apartment basically in the middle of the city of Viña, and from our balcony we could see everything.
Here's a view of some of the city and some of the mountains in the distance.

And here's a picture of the sunset. CHECK THAT OUT.

Probably the coolest part of my vacation was going to Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso, La Sebastiana. It was the freakin' coolest house I have ever been in- there were 5 stories, and each room was colorful and filled with really interesting odds and ends and things that Pablo Neruda actually TOUCHED. And there was a French map in the study (top floor) from 1698 (I think) that showed the "Island of California" and had Valdivia labeled as "Baldivia." Oh, and for whatever reason, we got to enter the museum for FREE, and we made friends with a Chilean student named Esteban who wanted to practice his English with us. The whole experience was incredible.

La Sebastiana!!! I wish I could live in this house.

Afterward, we found a park that had statues of some Chilean poets. I got to shake hands with Neruda himself!!


Valparaiso is one of the coolest cities I've ever seen. There is street art EVERYWHERE and all the buildings and houses are colorful and the whole city is made of hills so there is never a bad view of the city. Here's a couple more pictures of me (and my friends Jac and Jahni, in the picture below) and the streets of Valpo.



We also went to the sand dunes, the Chilean naval museum, the mall (dude, the mall in Viña is no joke, it's huge!), a five-story discoteca called Juevo, and La Campana, the area where Charles Darwin himself hiked around when he was in Chile a few centuries ago. I have more of my friend's pictures that I want to post, but for now, I need to sleep so I can wake up early and go to the civil registrar's office and get my Chilean ID replaced! Chao y besitos!