Where I Rest My Head: Viña del Mar, Chile

To escape the often brutal summer heat in Santiago, me and a group of new friends decided to venture towards the coast for an ocean breeze in Viña del Mar, a beach town about 90 minutes west of Santiago on the Pacific. The weekend was filled with relaxing days at the beach, beautiful sites and of course some fresh fish. Luckily, because the sun sets no earlier than 9pm, we still had time to hit the beach when we arrived Friday afternoon. This beach, La Playa del Sur, was packed with families and young people on their summer vacations. In general, Viña is comparable to a smaller, Chilean version of Miami Beach crossed with Atlantic City. Many wealthier Chileans have condos here that they use on the weekends and in the summer and the city itself is very commercialized. Nevertheless, it was amazing to get a break from the city and dip our toes in the Pacific. I say dip with complete literal meaning as the water was freezing, more so than I´ve ever felt the ocean in California, or even Lake Michigan. My teacher told me that it is due to the glaciers in Antarctica moving up through the ocean, or something similar to that effect, who knows.. I might have gotten things really confused in the translation...

Playa del Sol 

Looks like Miami Beach, no?

The rest of our weekend was filled with nights on the town, a trip to Renaca, a different beach about 15 minutes by bus (which was beautiful!) and even a trip to the sand dunes, which was my favorite part! Of course my camera died at that point, so I´ll post pics later of me sandboarding down, it was a blast. In Viña, we stayed at a hostel where we had a chance to meet other young travelers from Israel, Chile, Brazil, Australia and more....This is "where I rest my head":

 

Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
Accomodation: Kalagen Hostel, a clean and comfortable hostel located on busy Valparaiso street, this was an ideal location to call home for the trip. The staff was friendly and helpful, there were other like-minded travelers also staying there and "breakfast" was included. Our group all took spots in one of the 8-room mixed dorms and because there were 5 of us, we nearly filled it entirely. It was an excellent and affordable accomodation for the weekend and I would recommend it to other budget travelers looking to stay in Viña.
Length of Stay: 2 nights

Me and Lori

It was also a treat in Viña to meet up with a new friend I had recently met in New York before I left, Lori. She is traveling around South America for 2 months on a career break as well and it was so fun to cross paths for the weekend. I´m sure she was even more excited to see me since I ended up accompanying her on a quick trip to the local hospital clinic due to a reaction she had to some medicine given to her in Argentina. It was certainly an adventure and luckily she felt better later on to enjoy the rest of our weekend!

On our last day in Viña, we took a day trip over to Valparaiso, a neighboring city, which I would love to go back and spend more time at. It is a really vibrant city filled with so much character and incredible street art. We didn´t have too much time, but we were able to ride up one of the ascensor´s that takes you up into the hills where you experience a great view of the city. We also had lunch at this amazing little spot, thank you Lonely Planet, where I had fresh fish and salad for about $5 US, can´t beat that! 

Riding up the ascensor

Spectacular street art

At the top, a view of the city

This week, I´ll be practicing my Español, touring other neighborhoods in and around Santiago and visiting a winery outside the city. I think I´ll be staying in town for the weekend as well, more updates soon!
Besos xx

Sunset in Viña del Mar