Felices fiestas and feliz natal! Happy holidays (in Spanish) and Merry Christmas (in Brazilian Portuguese)! Yet another week has passed since I last posted, and I've been to 3 new cities (if you include a layover in São Paulo, Brazil) and 1 new country, totaling to 5 cities and 2 small towns in 3 countries over the past 2 weeks. Phew! Pictures, maps, and accumulated distances are below.
Day 8: Valparaíso, Chile; distance: 1266 miles/ 2037 kilometers
Today was an amazing day just to tour around Valpo. I spent all day touring the city with my classmate and her sister that I met up with at the hostel. The first thing that I should explain about Valpo is that it is a vertical city- everything is built on a steep hill, so you are always walking either uphill or downhill. This makes for great exercise and tired legs since, as poor college students, we decided not to pay for the acensores (elevators/funiculars) that aid travelers up the various hills. We first walked to La Sebastiana, one of Pablo Neruda's three Chilean houses. Once again, Neruda managed to get a prime piece of property- the view of the city is stunning and the house itself is intricately decorated with his eccentric style. Then, we went on a free walking tour of the city. For three hours, we walked around Valpo with a tour guide who explained the history and significance of certain buildings and locations. We saw some beautiful buildings and views of both the city and the ocean. Two awesome features of Valpo: 1) everything is colorful! All of the houses are painted different colors, even important government buildings. And, 2) the Historic Quarter of Valpo is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which means that the old building facades cannot be altered or destroyed. Instead, they must build around or inside of them. This creates an awesome blend of historic and modern architecture all mixed together. We walked around the city for a little while after the tour (and had to be guided out of a sketchy area by some locals) and then we went down to the port area where they had an open air market. Although there are dirty parts, overall Valpo is a stunning and breathtaking city. Go sometime!
One small example of the amazing colors in the city. It seems as if all of the neighbors are competing in color and exterior decorations.
Everything is colorful here- even stairs! Some are just colored, others have writing and symbols, and some even have numbers so that you can see how many steps you've climbed.
A stunning view of the city and the ocean from Neruda's bedroom window.
Day 9: Valparaíso, Chile to Viña del Mar, Chile; distance: 1270 miles/ 2044 kilometers
Today, the weather was not cooperating with our plans to go to the beach, so instead we went to the Museo de Bellas Artes at the Palacio Baburizza in Valpo, which has Alice-In-Wonderland-esque architecture, and then wandered around the city to get a late lunch and leave for Viña del Mar, a small beach town 15 minutes outside of Valpo. We arrived in the late afternoon and went to the apartment of the woman who was hosting us for the night. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the beaches and touristy areas of Viña del Mar, and we actually stumbled upon a few historic castles (now national historical monuments) and the vacation residence of the Chilean President. These mansions were, of course, beautiful and had spectacular ocean-side views. We bought groceries and cooked dinner (poor college students means grilled veggies and rice, with canned tuna) for ourselves and our host, Nicole. An unusual, yet pretty nutritious and cheap, meal. Not to mention, it wasn't sketchy street food- a major plus! We spent most of the night talking with Nicole and getting to know about her life as a film student in Chile. She is also a world traveler, so it was super cool to hear about her life experiences!
Valpo to Viña was about 15 minutes via metro (subway), since Viña del Mar is just one of the many suburban beach towns that go up and down the coast.
The sun hadn't cooperated with our plans to go to the beach- it sprinkled rain and was blustery all day. However, we did get to see the sun set near the beach.
This is me, my classmate (left) and her sister (the other blonde who isn't me), and Nicole, our host for the evening! She was so sweet for opening up her apartment to us for the night.
The security guards were very nice and let us take some close pictures of the President's retreat.
This is a famous touristy landmark in Viña del Mar called the Reloj de Flores, or Flower Clock. It is a working clock made out of flowers (except for the hands, obviously). Very Disneyland-esque.
Day 10: Viña del Mar, Chile to Santiago, Chile; distance: 1346 miles/ 2166 kilometers
We woke up pretty early this morning to pack up and catch a bus from Viña del Mar back to Santiago. The drive was about 2 hours, and we spent the morning in the Plaza de Armas area and hiking Cerro Santa Lucía (which has a spectacular view of the city). After lunch, we split up since my classmate and her sister had to catch a bus to Mendoza, and I had to check into my hostel (I decided to stay at Kombi Hostel again- I loved them so much the first time that I was in Santiago!) After checking in, I decided to go the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Fine Arts Museum) because admission is free on Sundays! Afterwards, I walked to La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's residence in Santiago. Now I have been to all three of his Chilean houses! La Chascona was very plain on the outside, but the interior architecture and design, as well as the gardens, were gorgeous! (Once I have returned to BA and can download my camera photos, I am going to post some information and photos about all of his houses!) I walked around some artesan markets near my hostel and saw a ton of eclectic jewelry, clothes, and decorations.
The drive back to Santiago from the coast was scenic- green mountains and beautiful foliage surrounded the bus.
A view of an old castle on Cerro Santa Lucía (cerro means hill). This hill is in the middle of the city, and so it's like a little park (with a lot of stairs) that helps you escape from the concrete jungle!
This is a view of Santiago from the top of the hill. The clouds were kind of a bummer, but it helped to have cool weather during the hike up the steep stairs to the castle!
At the Fine Arts Museum of Santiago. Behind me is a piece of art: a huge pile of clothes over one story high. The worn-out clothing represents the thousands of Chileans who were kidnapped, tortured, and/or killed by the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.
Today was a Monday, meaning that every museum in the city is closed. Since I couldn't tour myself through the city via museums, I decided to take a tour guided by actual Santiago residents. There are several city tours, and the one that I chose was an "off-the-beaten-path" tour around some of the local haunts and markets that aren't considered particularly touristy. Fresh seafood, raw meats (ew!), vegetables, and fruits were everywhere in these markets, as were restaurants that served locals (read: lower prices and more "everyday" foods!). I love immersing myself in the local culture, in addition to seeing the traditional touristy areas, so this tour was fantastic! After the three-hour tour, I had lunch at a local restaurant and then made my way back to my hostel. I rested up for a little bit and then headed up to Cerro San Cristóbal, a large mountain in the middle of the city that people can hike up, drive up, ride their bikes up, or even take an ascensor. The hike took a while (and it was all uphill at a pretty steep grade!) but the view from the top was breathtaking. Check out some of the pictures below, even though they are a pretty poor representation of the view. (Note: Even though cerro means "hill", Cerro San Cristóbal is really more of a mountain. Although, I suppose that anything is considered a mere hill if compared to the Andes mountains that are right next door...) After getting lost on the hike down, I made my way back to the hostel where I had dinner with some of the other travelers who were staying there. Most of them were crazy brasileros (Brazilians) and they cooked a delicious pasta dinner.
During the tour, we saw how the architecture of Santiago is very varied (see what I did there?) because of the frequent earthquakes. Buildings are demolished and then re-built with the current style, yielding eclectic neighborhoods.
I was kind of grossed out by the meat market. (The weirdest things to see were the pig heads...)
Only a small view of the huge fruit, vegetable, and restaurant market in Santiago. The market today is two city blocks wide and 4 city blocks long- and it is only 4% of what it used to be! The government decided to relocate most of the market to outside of the city so that the land could be developed.
This is me after reaching the cumbre, or summit, of Cerro San Cristóbal. What a stunning city view! I could even see the Andes with some snow on their tips.
Today was a pretty chill day since I had seen almost everything on my list. I went to get my visa (round 2!) at the Brazilian consulate and I got it quickly and without a problem- thank goodness! I checked out of my hostel after lunch and moved to one that was across the city and closer to the bus terminal to get to the airport- I have a flight to catch tomorrow! What I didn't realize was that this new hostel was in a pretty sketchy area of town, so getting to know the neighborhood was not going to be an option. However, I did walk about 20 minutes to get to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, which is the Chilean Museum of Memory and Human Rights. It's free, and the museum takes you through the history of the Chilean coup and dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. The museum is very comprehensive and very moving- I highly recommend it to anyone in town. After the museum, I headed back to the hostel to eat dinner and pre-pack my bags for the morning- I have to leave the hostel at 6:30 am!
Day 13: Santiago, Chile to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; distance: 3181 miles/ 5119 kilometers
Well, today was interesting to say the least. All of my travel mishaps keep me on my toes, so I guess that's good- right? I didn't really sleep well last night because I was too nervous about missing my flight. After going to the wrong bus terminal for the airport shuttle (in my defense, I had been told it was the right one!), I got to airport and checked-in without a problem. Until I started to go through Immigrations to leave Chile and realized that my Chilean entry visa (which is a small slip of paper you fill out and get stamped upon arrival) was in my checked bag! I had gotten very little sleep and had an interesting morning already trying to figure out how to get to the airport, so of course I forgot something in my bag. I frantically asked a security guard what to do, expecting the worst, but apparently Chileans are pretty chill about that kind of thing. I just had to re-fill out an entry slip, and then I was approved to exit Chile. Phew- that could have gone super terribly! I boarded the plane without an issue and, since it was an international flight, the services on board were awesome! Personal TVs, food, and I had a whole row to myself. I could get used to this! (Just kidding, I'm to poor for that.) I landed in São Paolo 3.5 hours later- after 9 and 14-hour bus rides, that was super short! I had a 2 hour layover, which was perfect timing to get my bag, go through customs, and re-check-in for my super short flight (one hour, more or less) to Rio de Janeiro. After struggling to figure out yet another currency and how to get to my hostel, I got on a bus that was supposed to stop right near my hostel- short enough that I could walk to it at 8 or 9 pm and be okay. I say "supposed to" because the bus driver drove right by my stop, and drove for about another 10 minutes before stopping. So now I was lost in Rio at night, looking like a tourist and carrying all of my belongings with me! Yikes! I asked some nice women for directions, and they helped me get a cab (with what few Brazilian Reals I had) and I made it to Beach Backpackers Hostel safe and sound. I chilled out at the hostel after a busy and crazy day, and I Skyped my family for 2.5 hours- we had a lot to catch up on! I met some cool people at the hostel so we chatted while the Christmas fireworks were going off.
Me awaiting my flight out of Chile. Man, was I lucky to get through Immigration without the right paperwork!
Here is the living room in Beach Backpackers Hostel. A bar, TV, books, couches, computers, and an outside lounge area!
From Santiago to São Paolo to Rio de Janeiro: finally, I got to fly instead of busing! Much faster and much more organized.
Day 14: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; distance: 3181 miles/ 5119 kilometers
Merry Christmas! Today was weird because so much of what makes Christmas Day and the Christmas season a reality is the environment- Christmas lights, hot cocoa, carols, etc. But here in Rio, the hostel was playing American radio with the Top 40 or something, Christmas lights don't exist on trees or apartments, and it is so hot and humid that hot cocoa is literally the last thing that I want to drink! So this was definitely the strangest Christmas I've ever had. Some classmates from school flew into Rio this morning and we met up at the hostel. We just chilled out all day, since they were exhausted from early flights. We wandered around our hostel a little, but everything was closed. The main problem is that another girl and myself have no money- our cards aren't working at ATMs and we can't exchange cash because everywhere is closed! Fortunately, credit cards are widely accepted, so we can still eat. At around 7 pm, we left the hostel to go to see a floating Christmas tree at Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, a large lake in the middle of the city. The tree had a light show with some music, and it helped us get into a little bit more of a Christmas mood. We walked around the lake for a really long time to get to the metro, which we took to get to the restaurant we were going to meet some other friends at. We couldn't find the restaurant after walking around for a while and asking for help (and we were getting pretty hangry!) so we just decided to stop by a busy burger stand that had burgers, fries, pizza, and acai drinks. Although unconventional, it was nice to have a Christmas dinner with friends. We caught a taxi back to the hostel (which was cheaper than the metro!) and we stayed up chatting a bit. It was a pretty weird Christmas because it didn't feel like Christmas at all, but I am glad that I was able to spend it with good company and able to have this adventure as a story to share!
A sunset view of the city from the lake. Seeing the buildings light up on the hills is incredible, not to mention the backlighting of the mountains! Not pictured: the Christ the Redeemer statue beautifully lit on top of the city.
Some photos of the beautiful light show on the lake. The theme was "Sun and Moon" so the light show went through sunrise, sunset, and the night sky. Stunning.
Christmas dinner with my friends! Cheeseburgers, fries, and acai on a random street corner.
Well, another week has passed and so much has happened! It's a little insane how fast this break is going by. I hope your holidays are as good as mine! By the time I post next week, it will be 2015. Crazy, right? Well, until next year...Besos,
Tina the Exploradora
