Day 93, The Santiago Gang says goodbye

The following takes place on Monday, February 28, 2011

Monday would be a bittersweet day as it would be Ben’s last full day in Santiago and the Santiago Gangs last night together as a group. This was an amazing group to hang out with and it was strange how fast we became a little group of friends. As it was Ben’s last day, we made plans for the two of us to head out to Valparaiso and Vino Del Mar on the coast of Chile.

Two red heads on the beach and in the sun. Yeah, this will turn out well.

We woke up early and after Ben talked to his family back home in Melbourne, we headed to the bus terminal. It took a little bit to locate the ticket offices for local destinations but when we did it didn’t take long at all to find a bus heading to Vino del Mar. We got a return ticket and raced to the actual departure terminal to catch our bus that was leaving in ten minutes.

The ride itself lasted only about an hour and a half. . . I think. I ended up sleeping the entire time. We left the terminal and walked down the street towards the beach. We passed by one of the major tourist attractions in Vino del Mar, the flower clock. Vino is considered the “flower city” of Chile and has many botanical gardens spread out throughout the city. Just like in Iquique, I enjoyed a good hour or so of just jumping over or under the big waves. I could easily see myself moving to an oceanside city after this trip.

While Vino del Mar is seen as the place to go for beaches, most people go to see Valparaiso, the city famous for it’s numerous furniculars and bohemian community. If you’re an artist, Valparaiso is the place to go. We grabbed a city bus right at the beach to head to Valparaiso as the two towns are pretty much the same city. If you’re at the beach, just head up to the bus stop. Every bus that goes by heads into Valparaiso which makes it an easy and cheap way to see both places on the same day.

Our main goal in Valparaiso was to find this one seafood restaurant that pretty much everyone we met told us to go to. It was very easy to find and the food was amazing. I ended up having a shrimp ceviche and it was perfect. A little much though. I couldn’t finish the huge bowl of shrimp in lemon juice.

We wandered the city in search for a furnicular to take up to one of the many mountains surrounding the city. Unfortunately for us, every one that we came across was either closed or broken or abandoned. And being red heads, the sun was starting to have its effect on both of us. We decided to cut our losses and head back to Vino del Mar and the bus station to head back to Santiago.

Back in Santiago, the final night the group of us would be together began. Once again, it started with a rousing game of Sociables. This seemed to become an even more intense game as the majority ruled that one of the cards would be to take a shot of Pisco. People were getting drunk. We never even went out that night. The entire nights festivities were in the hostel.

It was a great night and ended with myself, Ben, Erin, Kasandra, and Fernando(the hostel owner) heading to the gas station for some late night hot dogs. Then, there was that incident with the guard at the India Embassy. Really, I think he was just happy for something to do at 3 in the morning.