Valparaiso II

I have had a couple of fun action packed days in Valparaiso. I have been staying in the YMCA (I even get my own room). My friend Jon Milonas lives and works at the YMCA, however this week he has been staying in a hotel up the road with his brother Dave who is visiting this week from Chicago. It has been great to sight see with the two of them. The day after watching the Bears lose the Super Bowl we hung out at the Y for the morning and then went out to the foster house where Jon volunteers (I have a lot more respect for Jon, the kids were out of control). After spending two hours with the kids we met up with two of Jon´s friends and went to a Circus (Los Tachuelos) in Viña Del Mar. The parts that I could understand were pretty hilarious.

The next day we went to La Compana, a national park about an hour away from Valparaiso. We hiked to the top of the peak, and got one of the most spectacular views that I have ever seen (I will upload pictures later), but basically we spent the entire climb in the clouds and when we reached the top we broke above the clouds and could only see clouds and other mountain peaks.

Yesterday we spent the day at the beach in Reñaca, just past Viña Del Mar. It was a very relaxing fun time. That night was Salsa night at the Y, so I had my first hour and a half of Salsa dancing lessons. It was fun, but much harder than it looks, I will need more lessons, but hopefully before I leave I will have it down.

Today we took a tour of the Valparaiso harbor in the morning and then spent the afternoon at the Viña Del Mar beach.

I will hopefully be posting pictures with more details in the next few days, but for now that is all.


Chao