Heyyyy!!!

SO SO Sorry we haven't written in what seems like forever. Basically, we have encountered either internet problems, or just no internet at all…so anyways, bare with me this will be a long post!

At last update we had arrived in Chile and were starting our trek up the coast. We had heard from other travelers that Santiago wasn't really a place to spend more than a day, however, because it was one of my grandfathers favorites of SA, we definitely wanted to give it a chance. I'm glad we did! Santiago may not be as big or "glamorous" as say Buenos Aires, but it certainly has a lot of charm.

We had a rough start our first day as we arrived in the city around 7a.m. Being the budget travelers we are (seriously, parents you would NOT believe how cheap we are now) the metro was our choice for transportation to our hostel. Needless to say, it was rush hour in Santiago, and with the metro being the cheapest, and most efficient means of traveling through the city, it was PACKED. I have never seen a subway busier than this. There were lines of people on the platforms waiting to try and get into an already completely packed car. There were even officers walking up and down the sides, helping when peoples arms, bags or whatever would get stuck in the closing doors- pushing them in before the train started to move. So, now that you know the scene, imagine two very lost tourists with backpacks the size of another person trying to get on one of these trains. After some courage, pushing, and a lot of dirty stares, we secured two spots and road to our destination.

Arriving at the hostel, exhausted from our previous 16-hour bus ride and the metro incident, we were told our room wasn't ready, but would be in an hour or two. Well, FIVE hours later we finally got settled in and showered…. Because we really hadn't eaten since the night before, first on the agenda was to go find something to eat. After walking around BellaVista (the neighborhood we stayed in) we settled with an "authentic" seeming Chilean restauraunt. We ordered a cazuela, (a stew of corn, pumpkin, beans, peppers, and chorizo) an empanada, and a mixed salad. It was very delicious and exactly what we needed. We continued on to walk around the area and check out Cerro San Cristobal or St. Christopher's Hill. You can take a lift up to the top where there is a "gleaming" statue of the Virgin Mary and great views. Due to the weather (it was really cloudy) we decided to go back the next day for a better visit. Returning to the hostel we took a quick nap and discussed what we were going to do for the night. It was a Monday, so I suggested we see if there was an American bar that would be playing Monday night football (I knew how much Chris was missing football). We found one that was only a couple metro stops away that served wings, nachos and pitchers of beers. Sounded perfect to us. Overall, it was a well-run bar and Chris got his football fix!

The next day we decided to take on Santiago by foot. We were impressed by how green the city was. There were many more parks in Santiago than there were in Buenos Aires, and the city center was more appealing than BA's as well. We wanted to see Museo de Bellas Artes (modern art museum) but unfortunately it was closed for reconstruction. We instead visited a different art museum that housed a lot of local art- very well done and very interesting. For lunch we chose an outdoor café that had prix fix menu. Not only was a it a great meal, but the day had really cleared up and the sun was shining, so we were happy. To end the day we wanted to head up St. Christopher's Hill to catch the sunset, or start of it. To our surprise, (and no doubt because of our luck) the workers were on strike and the lifts to the top were closed. A little disappointed we headed back to the hostel to sit out on the porch, read, and enjoy the nice day. For dinner we wanted to try out a different type of cuisine and found a Peruvian restaurant nearby. We had our first Pisco Sours (Pisco is Chile's national drink, it is considered a grape brandy) and a great beef, rice mixture. Though we didn't order so much, our bill was higher than usual, but we than realized that it was Chile in general that was much more expensive than Argentina. The wine in particular was almost triple the price! Just meant we needed to be even more money conscious…

The next morning we packed up and took the metro (yes we braved it again) back to the bus station to grab a bus to Valaparaiso. A city built into the mountains over the ocean shoreline, Valapairso boasts on being a quaint village by the sea, filled with colorful houses and great restaurants. Arriving in Valapairso Chris and I both were stunned at how much larger it was than we expected. Following the directions to our hotel, we hopped on one of the local buses (after much deliberation of which one in fact was the RIGHT one, and of course I was right..) and sped off into the hillsides. The view over the Pacific was simply breathtaking from the curvy roads that wind through the town. Interestingly, other travelers had warned us that tourists had been frequently robbed in Valapairso and to watch our stuff. As we were exiting the bus to our hotel, a local girl stopped us and told us the same thing, so we knew the warning was legitimate. Settling in to our hotel (we stayed at in a B&B), we approached the owner with these concerns. Instead of calming our fears, he was actually OFFENDED at what we were saying. He claimed Valapairso was like anywhere else and that you had to be careful. We actually both found him (Renee was his name) rather annoying. Not only was he hotheaded, but also EXTREMLEY proud of Chile and felt the need to rub it in our American faces. Besides him the B&B was very quaint, and the breakfast included fresh fruit, which was such a nice change from bread and jam.We were only spending two nights in Valaparaiso and so we decided that first day to walk around and see the viewpoints of the city. There is sort of a marked path that crosses over the hillside that leads to all these viewpoints, which in reality were large balconies overlooking the town and the ocean. Each were very beautiful, and we were lucky because the sun was out. Around dusk we started to head back as despite the lack of concern from Renee, we still weren't too keen on being robbed. We cooked a simple pasta meal and met the other couple staying in the B&B. We ended up having wine and chatting with them rather late (they were from London) and watching the Chile soccer match on tv.

The next morning we decided to head to Vina Del Mar which is a neighboring town to Valaparaiso that is supposedly more chic. There is a metro that connects the two, which Chris and I took over. Though it was a nice day, the wind was pretty bad in Valaparaiso so I didn't think it would be warm enough to lay out on Vina Del Mar's famed beaches. Well, I was wrong and as soon as we arrived there were sunbathers everywhere. That didn't stop us though! We took off our shoes and laid in the sand for a good hour or so to soak in the sun. Afterwards, we walked around the boardwalk area looking for a place to eat. Vina Del Mar is definitely more "uppity" than Valaparaiso, evident from the sky-high apartment buildings and expensive shopping. We settled on an off the beaten path restaurant that turned our to be very good. We ordered a stew like dish that consisted of cream, mushrooms, chicken, some spices and cheese. The best part was that it was cheap! Returning back to Valaparaiso, we simply heated our leftovers and called it a night; exhausted from the day.

Moving on we awoke the next morning to catch a bus from Valaparaiso to La Serena. The main draws for La Serena are its beaches, and in the high season (starting in December) it is packed. Arriving there, it was a great day, but we could see right away there wasn't going to be much to do aside from the quick city center and checking out the beach. We knew this could be done in two days, though we were scheduled to stay for three. We figured we'd check out the city center and markets etc on the day we arrived and head to the beach to the next. Both were lovely (the beach a bit too cold to lay out) but not extremely interesting. The best part of our stay in La Serena was a Chinese restaurant we went to for dinner. It tasted like home!! We were so content. Slept like babies that night…

We had discussed taking a day trip to Pisco Elqui (a valley in the middle of the mountains that is home to all the pisco vineyards) on our last day, but instead we decided to nix our final night in La Serena and head to Pisco to spend a couple of nights there. It was probably the best decision we could have made. The bus ride to Pisco Elqui (only about 1.5 hours) had unbelievable scenery. As soon as we rounded a mountain we saw why Pisco Elqui is known as such a picturesque place. Amongst the backdrops of beige/gray massive mountains sits this vast valley full of green and Pisco vineyards. It claims to have sunshine 90% of the year!We stayed at an amazing hotel that consisted of little bungalows all around the property, beautiful flowers, and a great pool. Our room was small, but had a great view and even a skylight in the ceiling to see the stars at night. The day we arrived it was so hot we were able to lie out by the pool until dinnertime, a true delight for me, as I have wanted to get in some tanning time…Before dinner we headed across the street to a "Schoperia" which literally translates as a pint bar. We each got a local pint of beer and played cards. We also made some local friends (you'll see in the pictures). For dinner we ate at the hotel restaurant and had a great spinach soup, beef, potatoes, beets and gravy entrée, and a crepe for dessert. Yummmmy.

We got up early the next morning so we would have time to visit the two pisco distilleries we wanted to see. The first was about a 2 mile walk. Though the whole road was under construction, it was still a lovely walk. Arriving at Los Noches, we found that they didn't have any tours for us that day. Though we were bummed, we at least got some exercise! Heading back we went to the second distillery, the oldest one in Pisco Elqui. Here we did get a tour, albeit all in Spanish, but it was still very interesting. The unique process of creating pisco is a perfected one, and requires a lot of attention and detail. Though it does come from grapes, it is fermented at high heats, and aged a different way than wine. It truly does taste more like a brandy/liquor than a wine. For lunch Chris had his first Supremo (a large hotdog with tomatoes, guacamole, and mayonnaise toppings- a very popular food here) and I had a traditional soup that had a chunk of corn, meat, potatoes and a very tasty broth. The rest of the afternoon was very relaxed, reading by the pool etc, and dinner that night was very simple; pizza from a local café.

To continue up the coast it was necessary we headed back to La Serena to catch a bus to Arica, the most northern city in Chile and a passageway to both Bolivia and Peru. We knew we had a very long journey ahead of us (Arica was 24 hours away) so we ate a good breakfast and jumped on our first bus. It would be quite mundane and boring for me to explain our travel to Arica, as we literally just sat on a bus, but there was one significant event that happened…..we got robbed for the first time.Both luckily and unfortunately the thief only got away with Chris's sunglasses, but it could have been a lot worse. So we had stopped at a terminal probably around 11pm at night to pick up some passengers on the way to Arica. Chris wanted a soda and I needed to go to the bathroom, so we both left to get off the bus. There were still people sitting in our cabin, and Chris was only going to be like 5 feet away, but ironically enough I told him to constantly keep a watch on our stuff (something I usually don't think about saying because I know he will). Coming back out from the bathroom, I saw Chris in the bus cabin frantically looking through our backpack. He told me that he went to get a coke, but the coke machine was broken so he had turned around to walk back to the bus when he saw a stranger sitting in our bus seats. He started to walk toward the bus, and as he did the stranger quickly picked up our backpack and walked out of the bus. Chris started yelling "hey!" and the guy quickly noticed he had been caught and started to run. Chris started to run after him and because our backpack was too heavy, the guy dropped the bag on the ground and ran away. Chris said he saw him holding something (he thought it was his wallet) and after a thorough search it was his sunglasses that had been taken. Though we were so fortunate, it was definitely a wake up call that we needed to be carrying our stuff with us EVERYWHERE (even though no one else does on the bus).

A little rattled and about 18 hours later we arrived in Arica. As it really is just a stopping point to cross the borders, there isn't much to do in Arica besides the beach. We are only staying for one night and heading out tomorrow though so we plan to just relax and explore the downtown a little……

Ok I hope I didn't bore you!! I am so sorry it took forever, but like I said, internet is definitely more of a luxury here. I can only imagine it will get more sparse as we travel into poorer countries…..

Miss you all so so much!!! LOTS OF LOVE to the family!!

Ciao!

Sarah and Chris