Today we went to Valparaíso, Chile. I´ve been intrigued by the city ever since my good friend studied abroad there in college. It was a quick bus ride from Santiago, and we decided to start are day by walking to a French restaurant recommended in our Lonely Planet for lunch. The walk looked innocent enough on the map, but soon we found that Valpo is a city full of hills that are not to be underestimated! However, climbing the steep grades (I swear some appr...

Today was the kind of day that I´ve been waiting for since I first started dreaming about this trip almost 4 years ago. We got up late-ish, enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel (with peanut butter and real milk!!), and headed out. Our first stop was el Museo de La Memoria- the museum made to remember the atrocities of the dictatorship under Pinochet from 1973-1990. It was very well done and I learned a lot. I´ve studied Chile and its dictatorship so much...

So far Santiago is crazy but cool. It seems like a mix of Miami, Lima, New York, and New Orleans- if you can imagine that. We are staying in the Bohemian nightlife district- the streets are all lined with outdoor cafes piled with people enjoying boisterous conversation, greasy food, and cheap wine/beer/pisco sours. Chile is strange because everything feels so familiar, and yet off. Plus, it´s really hard to understand people! They seem to understand us th...