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| Viña is getting ready for Fiestas Patrias, Chilean National holidays on Sept 18th and 19th |
This week was full of rain and more rain.
But luckily, by the weekend, it cleared up and was a beautiful sunny Friday,
Saturday and Sunday! Normally it’s the other way around, so it was great to
have a warm weekend outside. So we
took advantage of our great weather and spent the whole weekend outside,
enjoying the Chilean sun.
When we got back from Santiago on Sunday,
we didn’t have any internet and it took until Friday afternoon for us to have
properly working internet access again, which normally wouldn’t be a problem
except that this week was constantly raining from Monday morning until Thursday
evening, and I had gotten sick after traveling, so I was pretty much stuck
inside the whole week, in my bed trying to get over my cold. I ended up just
reading a lot, and finished a few books that I’ve been looking for the time to
read, including the prequel to the Maze Runner series, which is another Hunger
Games-esque post-apocalyptic action/suspense trilogy. It’s pretty entertaining
and I’m glad it gave me something to do while I was sick and internet-less! I’m
already into the next book…
Finally, on Friday, the rain clouds cleared
out and the sun shone through! It was the best feeling ever after not having
seen the sun for 4 days. So Cristian and I took advantage of the good weather
and went to Valparaiso to the Barón Pier, and then just walked along the coast.
We saw a foca (seal) and some lobos del mar (sea lions) and I was squealing
with excitement and people were judging me as the crazy gringa that I am. I’ve
never seen a seal in the wild! I’m allowed to squeal about it. We kept walking
along the coast, and came across an old train car that had been converted into
a café, venue for piano lessons, and “museum” called El Tren Más Lento del
Mundo (The Slowest Train in the World). It was such a weird little place,
packed full with random ancient trinkets, like dolls and birdcages and old
signs. I’m not exactly sure what qualified those artifacts to make the train a
museum, but it was fun to look at all the same! (except for the creepy baby
dolls)
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| Lobos del Mar on an old pier |
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| View from the end of the Muelle Baron (Baron Pier) |
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| Inside of the train "museum" |
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| Inside of the train cafe/piano parlor |
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| The Slowest Train in the World |
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Saturday I woke up to sunshine yet again,
so we decided it would be a great day to go explore around the hills of
Valparaiso some more. We went up the Ascensor Concepcion (the oldest funicular
in the city, built in 1883) and then started wandering around Cerro Alegre and
Concepcion, taking pictures of the eccentric street art and panoramic vistas
that seem to be around every corner. We also had an amazing lunch, complete
with ceviche, paella, and mote con huesillo (rehydrated peaches (huesillo) with
a type of wheat (mote) in a brown sugar syrup, very typical Chilean). Then we
followed it up with a trip to Emporio de la Rosa, an amazing ice cream shop
with unique flavors like Lime Mint Artichoke, and their namesake, Rose. The
rose flavor is actually really delicious, and tastes kind of like a mildly
sweet perfume, but in a delicious way. I got a scoop of that with Manjar
Blanco, which was a lighter version of their dulce-de-leche like sweet sauce.
It was a perfect end to our day in Valpo. We got back to Viña just in time to
catch the surreal sunset. The sunsets here always blow me away. Every day the
clouds in the sky create a different canvas in the sky as the setting sun
paints it with its golds, oranges, pinks and purples. I’m really going to miss
living this close to the coast. My apartment here is 2 blocks from the beach,
and I have the luxury of watching the sunset over the Pacific every single day.
I’ll miss living in this part of the country, but I know that my next stop in
the Colchagua Valley will have its own charms that will make it equally as
wonderful in its own way. Saturday we also went out to a bar that had live music, and the band was playing American classics, like Journey and Lynyrd Skynyrd. They were so good and so fun to listen to! Chileans love American classics like that, so it wasn't even out of place, and most of the people in the crowd were singing along, although many people don't speak English here, so I'm not sure that they actually know the words they are singing. but it was such a fun atmosphere and everyone was having a good time jamming out to Don't Stop Believin!
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| The entrance to the Ascensor Concepcion |
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| Mote con Huesillo (looks gross, but it's actually really good, I promise!) |
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| Rose/Manjar Blanco Ice cream |
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| Love those colors |
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| Don't Stop Believin! |
Today, Sunday, we woke up to yet another
sunny day (what is this lucky streak?!) and decided to take advantage of the
warmest day we’ve had in several weeks (It was 70 degrees today!) and go
surfing in ConCon. There’s a beach there called Playa La Boca that is like a
cove, and the little waves are constantly rolling in. was basically the perfect
conditions for beginners like us! After we donned our wetsuits, which were very
necessary since the Pacific is freezing, especially now since it’s technically
still winter, and had a quick land lesson from our instructor Paulo, we took to
the water. It was pretty tricky, and it took a while for everything I learned
in my surf lesson at New Smyrna last summer to come back to me, but I
eventually started getting more confident and stable on the board, and even
caught a few waves on my own! I realized also that this was my first time
swimming in the Pacific, so that’s another first that Chile has helped me cross
off my list! We had the most beautiful backdrop for our surfing lessons, with
the beach, the mountains, the dunes, the waves, the sun glistening on the
water, and all the wonderfully happy people that surrounded us. This was one of
those moments where I’m stopped in my tracks and amazed that this is my life. I
am filled with so much joy and gratitude that I am able to be a part of a place
and an experience like this. The
day ended with some of my favorite local seafood empanadas, a scenic drive back
to Viña along the coast, and yet another incredible sunset. What a wonderful
end to a wonderful week.
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| All suited up and ready to shred |
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| Our view on the drive home |
This week started out slow and gloomy, but
we made up for all the time we were cooped up inside by spending as much time
as possible enjoying the beautiful weather as we could. I’m so happy that we
got to experience more of the things that this area has to offer. I'm starting to get sad about leaving this city in 2 weeks, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that I take advantage of my time here. I've still got a few things left on my Viña/Valpo bucket list :)
Besos xox
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