Chile

Our ride to Chile from Mendoza was not smooth, but our time there made up for it. The bus ride was supposed to take 7 hours, but ended up taking 10 because some lady on our bus tried to smuggle a peach into Chile and was detained for hours. Plus the crying, pooping babies behind us didn´t help matters. However, the Andes scenery was the silver lining. Once we arrived in Santiago, we took a taxi to our Couchsurfing host´s apartment in the upper-middle class Providencia neighborhood. This was to be our “bachelor pad” for five nights. Our hosts Cristián, Camilo, and Matias, all Chileans our age, were cool, iPhone-toting guys who had interesting jobs and hobbies. Cristián works in web development, Camilo in journalism, and Matias as an actor. Between the constant influx of their friends in the apartment and the antics of their hyper cat, Mujercito, we were never bored.

Santiago was a city that defied all of our expectations. We had read in travel literature that Santiago was a dirty, boring city. However, we were surprised to find that it is a modern, clean, and beautiful city with better infrastucture than average US cities, including a metro system far better than that of Buenos Aires. We spent several days walking the streets, climbing hills, and seeing sights. Some highlights were the Cerro Santa Lucía, the Pablo Neruda house, and the Plaza de Armas. We also shopped a bit in chic malls and stores which were remarkably hip, fashionable and a little pretentious. Another big surprise was the quality of the food. Chileans are OBSESSED with avocadoes, which they generally mash into a paste and spread on everything. You can even get guacamole on your Big Mac in Santiago.

New Years Eve was fantastic for us. We took a trip to Valparaíso, a nearby port city which is known as picturesque and bohemian. Some compare it to San Francisco because it has really steep hills and colorfully painted houses. The hills are so steep that they put in an elevator system to transport pedestrians. Every New Years Valparaíso puts on a major league fireworks show that draws millions of people from Chile and beyond. All hostels and hotels book months in advance for this festival, but lucky for us some friends we met in Mendoza invited us to go camping with them near Valpo. We partied and saw the fireworks show in the city and then took a long, bumpy bus ride back to the campsite in the middle of the night. In the morning we woke up to an amazing view of the Valparaíso Bay, and breathed fresh air to start the new year. We dragged our weary bodies back to Santiago on a series of buses and metros, excercising our traveler´s patience. After one last night in Santiago, we are now returning to Mendoza to rest and plan our trip up to Northern Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.

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