Viña del Mar and Valparaiso

I can't get into as much detail about the weekend... because I saw and did so much. Also, I've been at the center for 2+ hours this morning and I have yet to do anything productive (other than a quick trip to the bookstore to order readers).

On Friday morning I took the bus to Viña del Mar, a coastal town about 2 hours from Santiago, with a few other Stanford students. We drove through the Cordilleras (smaller mountain range) to get there, which was lovely. Upon arriving in Viña, we found a nearby hostel, actually an old couple's house with rooms to rent. The rooms were very nice, with twin beds and TVs and closet space, and relatively cheap, too. We dropped off our stuff and walked around the city all morning. We saw the Palacio Vergara, an old estate and home to the art museum, which was unfortunately closed for Good Friday. But the surrounding gardens were really beautiful and had trees from around the world, including the traditional Chilean palm. We climbed up a dirt path and got a wonderful view of the entire city.

In the afternoon we headed to the beach, Playa Acapulco to be exact, and the weather and waves were absolutely perfect. At the beach, we ran into two other groups of Stanford students, as well as one Stanford girl and her family, and a girl from high school I haven't seen in years. It was great to relax on the beach when we knew the Stanford students back on campus were probably in class...

While wandering the streets looking for a restaurant for dinner, we saw an Easter processional with actors portraying Jesus carrying the cross and soldiers whipping him. Musicians, a priest and altar boys were also a part of the procession, and probably a hundred people followed them, singing and praying. Seeing this really affected me and reminded me how important Easter is to the Catholic world and the Christian religion in general.

We spent the rest of the night hanging around the hostel, watching movies and being lazy. I guess I should have gone out and enjoyed the fabulous Viña nightlife, but it was good to relax. I haven't been this well rested since winter break!

On Saturday we took the metro to Valparaiso, a port town just 15 minutes away from Viña, connected by a subway which runs along the beach. Valparaiso had a very different feel to it, less of a beautiful beachy resort town and more of an industrial town, with lots of history and little colorful houses built up into the hills. Valparaiso also has 14 working funiculares, little elevator cars that run up and down the hillside. We took one up and walked about 2 miles to La Sebastiana, one of the poet Pablo Neruda's three Chilean houses. The walk was long and hot but it was nice to get some exercise and to see beautiful views of the ocean. We took a tour of the house and got to see his collection of maritime items and other belongings... like a footstool that still had inkstains from the green pen he always used.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the city and checking out fountains, plazas, statues, old buildings and the like. We took a 5:00 bus back to Santiago and I spent the rest of the night with my family, watching Shrek 2. good times. Easter was another interesting day... but I will write about that later.