Week 21--
Ch-ch-ch-¡Chile!
Alyssa, Molly,
and I began week 21 by crossing the Andes in order to reach Valparaiso, Chile.
The ride crossing the mountain range was magnificent—again, a reminder of the
God’s beauty in the world. The roads were, however, a bit curvy for my liking.
Talk about sweaty hands! My friend Molly is luckily a walking medicine cabinet,
and with the help of some Dramamine I ended up feeling fine.
There were 29 of these curves. 29!
Colorful. Hilly. ßTwo words
to sum up Valparaiso.
It’s one of
those cities where you can walk around the entire day and feel satisfied. The
walls and streets of the city are covered in street art and graffiti, and the
houses are all painted different, vibrant colors. We learned that the people
paint their houses different colors to establish a sense of ownership—to
distinguish their house from the other houses. “See that blue house…that’s my house.” “If all of the houses have
the same appearance,” one Chilean explained, “how could you point your house
out to someone easily?” Tiene razón.
All of that
being said--we pretty much walked around for two days simply admiring the
uniqueness of the city. In my opinion, the best view of Valparaiso and the port
can be seen from the top of Cerro Alegre. We arrived to the top via ascensor and were met with a view of the
port, the huge cluster of houses, and Viña del Mar in the distance. In addition
to meandering around the city, we stopped to take a tour of the cultural center
(which had a fantastic photography exhibit), visit one of Pablo Neruda’s
houses, and board a boat for a little zip around the port. After three nights
and two days it was off to the neighboring city of Viña del Mar.
Our street in Valparaiso por la noche.
Centro de Cultura--photography exhibit.
Las casas de Valparaiso on a super cloudy morning.
Un arco iris de colores.
View from Pablo Neruda's home.
Little statue proposal goin' on. Sneaky Susan in the backround...
Sneaky Susan.
Street Art.
Pobre Papá Noel.
*Gasp!*
'The birds cannot live in the water because they are not fish.' Reeeeeeal deep.
Art.
El Puerto de Valparaiso.
El Ascensor.
Amigas en Cerro Alegre.
Cerro Alegre.
Colorful streets!
Viña del Mar is
just as beautiful as Valparaiso, but in a completely different way. Valparaiso
stands out in terms of distinctiveness whereas Viña del Mar stands out in terms
of natural beauty--namely its beaches. We walked to a park, visited a museum
(with an original Easter Island statue, ancient artifacts, and a two-headed
lamb!), and…drum roll please...went SURFING! Oh goodness, was surfing fun. The
“teacher” (debatable) gave us “lessons” (which lasted maybe two minutes) after some “yoga” (stretches) and then it was
into the water for over two hours to catch some waves. I did not want to leave!
I would have stayed in the water for hours on end if my body had been
physically capable and if the time we had paid for had not run out. Let me tell
you, it was exhausting. At times I
felt like I would paddle for 30 minutes and not move anywhere. Exhausting, yes,
but so fun. After two nights and two
days in Viña, we boarded a bus to leave for our final destination—Santiago!
Viña del Mar!
Woa.
The water is so blue!
Original Easter Island statue.
Two-headed lamb! What?!
Pre-surfing.
Yoga. Entre comillas.
Post-surfing.
Santiago
reminded me so much of Buenos Aires for some reason. Probably because it was a big city, with many things to do and
see—parks, museums, historical buildings, etc. And that’s practically what we
did! We visited parks, did a city tour, and saw/learned about many of the
historical sites of the city. I enjoyed the tour because we got to see many
places in a short amount of time. Our guide taught us everything from little
cultural aspects, such as the typical food and customs of Santiago, to bigger
themes, such as the conflicts with the indigenous people and the dictatorship. Our
tour guide, a local, showed us a typical Chilean restaurant and suggested that
we try a plate called Chorrillana. For dinner we returned to the restaurant to
test his suggestion… La comida estaba muy
rica.
The Cerro de San
Cristóbal was my most favorite place in Santiago, as well as one of my most
favorite moments from our entire 2 ½ week trip. We took a bus to the top, from
which you receive an incredible view of Santiago. From there we continued
walking up the hill to a huge statue of the Virgin Mary, the Immaculate
Conception. There is a little chapel, candles to light for personal intentions,
and places to sit, reflect and/or pray. I enjoyed sitting with Our Lady and
talking to Our Lord. Sitting there with Her behind me and the city of Santiago to
my front, I felt such a sense of peace.
Santiago, Chile.
'Poetry is not sold; it is shared.'
El Parque de las Esculturas.
El Parque de la Esculturas.
Palacio de La Moneda, Santiago, Chile.
Random collection of bottles we found in the street--I thought they were pretty.
Santiago street art near Pablo Neruda's other house.
La Virgen en el Cerro de San Crisóbal.
Santiago behind us!
On Saturday we
began our casi 30 horas back to Montevideo en omnibus. It wasn’t too bad. I
actually had a pretty deep conversation with this one guy about true love, the
basis of the family, faith, and different issues in society. All in SPANISH! Gosh, I love that. Finally…
I am incredibly thankful that I had to ability and the resources to take this trip to Argentina and Chile. If they had the link to my blog and could read this, I would want to thank all of the incredible people we met along the way--especially the locals. I learned so many lessons from them which I hope to carry with me throughout the rest of my life. Special thanks to my parents for their support, and especially for their trust. Thank you to Lindsay, Alyssa, and Molly for your friendship and for the many memories made throughout our time traveling together. And finally...thank you to all of you for your thoughts and/or prayers throughout my travels. I greatly appreciate them.
Welp. That was
my big trip! I hope you enjoyed hearing about it.
Talk to ya
Sunday--
Courtney
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