20 Days left and counting.

I have 20 days left in Chile before I pack up shop and start my trek north. The plan is to cross the Andies into Argentina and head north through Bolivia and into Peru. It will be an interesting trek to say the least. I'm going to try and do it as cheap as possible which I'm sure will make for some interesting stories. I have to pay $135 to get into Bolivia, my bus fare and around 100 bucks to get into the ruins of Machu Picchu. Those expenses are ontop of finding a place to sleep and eat everyday.





I'm trying to take advantage of the time I have left here in Chile. Last weekend I went out with some good friends of mine. In the picture above is Faye (left) and Muriel. Faye is from an island off of England and Muriel is from France. We jumped on a bus to Vina Del Mar, Chile. Its only an hour and a half out of Santiago but man is it a different world. Santiago is just another boring city. It has the feeling of LA without all of the perks. People are busy and rude. You go to the coast and its a different story. Vina is clean and is known as the get away for the elete of Santiago. We spent the weekend enjoying the incredible (warm) weather, playing in the casino (lady luck must have been busy because she sure wasn't with me) and walking the beach.

The tide was up and we had fun watching the huge waves and dodging the overspray splashing over the rocks.


As you can see from the pictures Vina is an upscale cosastal city a lot like San Diego. We jumped on a bus which took us around a point to the town of Valparaiso. Its the sister town to Vina but it has a completely different feel. It is built on the side of a hill and it has a lot more charicter. The people of Valpo don't have as much money and its apparent in the town. Its covered in grafitti and has a more latin or south American feel to it.


I recently took over a new English class that was taught by another American who was heading back home. The office I teach in is in the most upscale part of Santiago and the only grafitti that I have seen has been the the really well done pieces. I'll leave you with some eye candy. *notice how in this part of town you dont see trash or anything in this part of time.

There is more to life than being alive.

Hey.

Man...what a weekend. I took a bus with a German buddy of mine up north. First we went to this little town on the coast called La Serena. We found a place to crash, threw our things down and headed straight for the casino. Lady luck was with me and I won 300 bucks playing Poker!

Off to a good start.



The next day we took a bus three hours inland to Valle de Elki and stayed in this little mountain town of Pisco de Elki. Its where they grow the grapes for their national drink, Pisco. Man I wish I could have taken you all there. It was like nothing you have ever seen.


First we enter this little town way up in the mountains. We are looking for a place to stay and a lady comes over and tells us how she rents the rooms of her house to tourists and that it will be way more comfortable than staying in a hotel or a hostel. We reluctantly jump in the back of her truck and head up the side of the valley. We go to her place and quickly discover that its a mini paradise. She lives on a large piece of land that is scattered with fruit trees and hammocks to chill in the sun. She also had three friendly big dogs.





The stars up in this canyon are like nothing I've ever seen. They were seriously so bright it seemed like you could reach out and touch them. Unreal.

One of the days we rented mountain bikes and the paid the lady to take us an hour away up another canyon. We road down in half the time it took to make it up. We couldn't have asked for better weather or a better time. It was nice to get out of Santiago and see the countryside of Chile.





On the way home we stopped in a town called Coqimbo. It has this giant cross that towers over a poor town.