Valparaiso, Chile

It had been 6 years since I left Viña del Mar/Valparaiso and I never thought I would make it back there. It is a weird thing to go back to a place you thought you said your last goodbye to.

Valparaiso is the oldest port in South America and Viña is the city next door that hosts thousands of Santiaguitos on their beaches every summer. Viña del Mar is where I lived and studied in 2003.

Greg and I loved wandering around ¨Valpo´s¨ alleys ways and pasajes. We arrived on a Monday, so all the museums were closed, but we kept busy walking around and checking out the cool murals and grafitti. Greg´s highlight of the day was when a cop came up to us making sure we were going in the right direction, because if we turned right we were headed into trouble. That night we feasted on ¨completos¨ (hot dogs) and wandered home early with a bag of grapes to read our novels.

Day 2 we awoke in our amazing hospedaje overlooking the city and bay, ate a small breakfast and visited La Sebastiana, one of Pable Neruda´s various homes. The house was built specifically for him, with a nautical feel (he liked the feeling of being on a boat, but did not necesarily appreciate the feeling of being on water). The house in built on 4 stories, each story quite small but filled with the eclectic taste of the famous poet. The house is quiet poetic in itself.

After our tour, I was excited to walk around Viña del Mar again, checking out my old apartment, trying to find favorite places to eat and our coffee place we used to hang out at. We chilled on the beach (our tans are getting pretty good!) and then wandered around. Greg patiently listened as I went on about remembering this and that. In the end, it was nice to visit Viña once again.

We roamed back to grab our backpacks, have some dinner and catch our 10pm bus to Mendoza, Argentina. We had decided it was time to get back to Argentina (as Greg´s Argentine spanish was starting to fade), plus we really wanted to eat some more meat and show off our tango skills.