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| Viña Del Mar - Playa (Beach) Acapulco |
Kyle and I spent the weekend about 2 hours away from
Santiago in a city called Viña del Mar. It’s a total beach town, right on the
coast and a lot of Chileans spend their entire summers there. This past weekend
was the beginning of “shoulder season” meaning summer had JUST ended the
weekend before so most people were back at work or in school but the weather
was still perfect.
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| Playa El Sol (Sol = Sun) - On the other side of the pier from Playa Acapulco |
My host
parents actually own an apartment there but they rent it out from March to
November. I told them Kyle and I had booked a hotel and were looking at buses to get us there.
They surprised me by offering to drive us there and back because as it turned
out, they had a baptism to attend in Viña and were planning on
driving down on Friday to spend the weekend with their family anyways. The bus is only
about $20 round trip but the hassle that we saved by them driving us is immeasurable.
The bus terminal is huge and confusing and just taking the metro to the bus station
from my house takes about an hour itself. Needless to say, Kyle and I jumped
at the opportunity to go with them and have them drop us off at the hotel's front door on Friday and pick us up at the same spot on Sunday.
Our hotel
was called Hotel Monterilla and it couldn’t have been in a better location. It
was a 6 minute walk to the beach in one direction and a 6 minute walk into town
in the other. There were tons of restaurants in the immediate area. Oddly
enough, a majority of the people at this hotel were Americans. I found it particularly
surprising just because it really is a small little area and I was surprised that many
people knew about it, let alone made the trek out to actually visit.
Kyle and I
spent all day Saturday at the beach and came home to discover both of us were
significantly sunburnt – even after using tons of sunscreen (I swear!) We
bought some aloe at a local pharmacy and walked around looking for a nice place
to eat dinner. We discovered Tierra de Fuego, an AMAZING restaurant
situated on top of some rocks, right above the ocean. The view was impeccable
and we made a 7:30 reservation to order in watch the sunset. We ended up loving
the restaurant so much that we went BACK, 17 hours later, on Sunday for lunch!
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| Enjoying a rooftop lunch at Tierra de Fuego |
Sunday we made a
quick trip to Valparaiso (another city about 15 minutes away by metro). Valpo
is Chile’s biggest and most important port and while we thought it was
interesting and that the houses were all pretty and colorful, Kyle and I both
preferred Viña and made our way back after only a couple hours.
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| Valparaiso |
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| Valparaiso |
Later that afternoon, my host
parents picked us up (6 pm on the dot!) and we headed home. It seemed like we got home in half the
time it took us to get there, an unfortunate feeling that I think a lot of people feel after
leaving somewhere amazing. Orientation is continuing on this week until
Thursday and then Thursday and Friday are the first two days of class!
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