VALPO!

We arrived in Valporaiso (not indiana..haha) around 9pm on Friday. The other had made a reservation at a hostel, it was called Hostel Yo Yo. It was a very unique place, very colorful with both colors and people. It was 5,500 pesos a night per person, which is $11 a night. We all shared them same dorm room, which was nice. The bathrooms were rather disgusting though.

The first night we went out for food at a German Resturant. It was good food I had the Peppered steak with a salad. It was delicious. I laughed as someone mentioned the meal was more than one night in our hostel.

The rest of the night was pretty tame, as we had all been traveling.

The next morning, we had a free breakfast! Yep, FREE! Not bad for $11, eh? The breakfast was scrambled eggs with bread. The guy, Chico, told us that the maid wasn´t able to make it, so he would have to cook for us. He did a good job. The food was good, however I did question to myself whether he was using spices or if I was eating the teflon or the flakes of something else that had been cooked in the pan. I decided to just close my eyes and eat.

Valpo is a port city and as we learned from our tour, it wasn´t established as a city until it had been there for a while. So, that is what contibutes to the very chaotic organization (if I can even say there is an organization) of the city. It is houses on top of houses on top of houses. One person in the group made a comment about this city quite possibly breaking every building code ever made. She may have been right. It is certainly something to see.

The city is a hilly port city. They have ascensores that are kind of like a cross between a train and a gondola. It carries you from the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill so you don´t have to walk. It costs about 50 cents. There used to be something like 38 of these Acensores, but now they have something like 29.

At one point we took a bus to the other side of town...let me tell you...whoa! It was better than a ride at an amusement park almost! Up, down, turn left, turn right, turn left again, another quick right, dodge a car, dodge a person, down, down, down, up, up, up...well work 75 cents. Thank God for good brakes and a driver who can multi task! The driver would take money, change money, and drive...even when someone may have been standing on the first step of the bus! ha!

We took a walking tour that was interesting. We followed the outdoor, graffiti, art tour (for lack of a better description right now). I really like Graffiti!

The city is full of colors, but also very dirty.

I had my first Completo...which is a hotdog on an oversized bun with avocado, mayonaise, tomatoes, ketchup, and mustard. I cannot say it was the most dilectable thing I have ever eaten, nor can I say I would buy another one...I really don´t like Mayo...I think I clogged an artery...

The next day, it was raining, but we walked up to the Jail that had been abandoned but turned into a public place for doing graffiti. It was ok. The graffiti was much like the graffiti in the streets, so I cannot say it was any better. Plus, we all thought it would be more developed since it sounded more like a museum...but it wasn´t.

After the jail, we went to the bus station and headed back to Santa Cruz. It was a nice trip. The group I went along with is a very nice group of people...very interesting. It was nice to get away and relax, as well as see something new.