| Dec 30, 2005 - Valparaiso, Chile & New Year's!
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 | Harris getting some rare rest
| | The Viña del Mar beach
| | More of the beach
| | The town of Reñaca farther up shore
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 | Harris, Joyce, and I at the beach
| | Valparaiso at night, from across the bay
| | Another night shot
| | Night shot of the moon and the bay
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 | Harris, Joyce, Tanner, & Dan, New Year's Eve brunch
| | Viña beach on NYE, and the wierd green water
| | Tanner taking his pics of the beach
| | Viña beach from above
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 | Sand sculpture art with spray paint colors
| | Large waves of green water
| | Last shot of the beach
| | Harris, Meike, Joyce, Dan, and Tanner, relaxing on NYE
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 | | | | A street in Valpariaso, with a cerro (hill neighborhood) in the background
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| Valparaiso is a very cool port town/city. There is no real downtown area, and there is no beach on the coast, just a bunch of cliffs. A long narrow stretch of the town is actually flat and runs along the top of coast, but the rest of "Valpo" is made up of hills known as "cerros" and each one is a different neighborhood. These hills are made accesible to pedestrians by small old-fashioned train on an incline type elevators that are very fun to take. The whole place has a very nice feel to it, a big change from big-city Santiago, and the look of it reminded me a bit of San Francisco, though probably a very poor comparison. I had chosen this spot to spend New Year's due to their famous and massive fireworks celebration, which is allegedly one of the 10 best in the world. though I don't know how anyone can know that. All the guidebooks recommended it, and apparently over a million people from the surrounding areas all converge here to welcome in the new year. So why not?
The first night after arriving, checking into our hostel, and getting dinner, Harris and I went to one of the Plazas in town where we heard there was a live band and party. I had recieved an email from Leslie, one of the people I had met on my Lake Titicaca tour, saying she was going to be there. But when Harris and I showed up, and saw the hundreds of people filling the large plaza, we realized any search would be futile. So instead we mingled with locals, and had a good time enjoying the music and dance on stage.
The next day we met up in the hostel with Joyce, an Australian girl who was also on my Lake Titicaca tour. We realized back then that we were both going to Valpo for New Year's, and since she was going alone we decided to stay in touch and stay at the same hostel. That morning the three of us went out to brunch, then drove to Vina del Mar. Vina del Mar is another town technically separate from yet bordering on Valpo, and only a 10 minute drive away with both a local train and bus connecting the two. But while Valpo is more of a city, Vina is more of a resort town with a beautiful beach and a bit more well-to-do population. The beach there was very nice, and we walked around a bit exploring the area, and gawking at the unusual green tint of the water there. We also ran into Monica, a Chilean girl from Valpo who we had met in Mendoza while staying at Andino Hostel, and her American exchange-sister from a few year's back who was visiting again. She told us about another show/party happening at a different plaza that night, so now we had plans for the evening. In the meantime, Harris, JOyce, and I decided to take advantage of having a car and drive up to Con Con, another beach town about 30 minutes up the coast. The Lonely Planet guidebook describes it as being famous for its seafood, and mentioned one restaurant in particular. So we searched it out, which proved a lot harder than we thought, though we were glad we did. Possibly the best seafood meal I've ever had, and by far the largest.
Back in Valpo later we went to Plaza Italia, the one with the music for the night, and were reunited with still more people from Andino. Not much to report for the night, except for the way it ended. Almost immediately after the music stopped, police moved in to clear out the area. Pretty soon there was a lot of comotion coming from the other side of the plaza, and a few minutes after that people were running. That's when we saw the riot police hitting people with their clubs, spraying tear gas into the crowds, and moving in our direction. I guess thats how they do things in Chile. It was about that time that we decided to leave.
And then the next day was New Year's Eve! In the morning we were reunited with Tanner, who arrived the day before with Dan, his friend from back home in Colorado. Our hostel was full, so the two of them were staying just around the corner. Turns out they were at Plaza Italia as well the night before, and got a lot closer look at the action. So now the 5 of us went back to Vina again for brunch and some more time on the beach, and this day it was totally packed. We also met up with Meike, a German girl who is studying abroad for the year in Valpo and who I met, you guessed it, at Lake Titicaca. She was equally confused about the green water as well and swore to us that it is was not usually like that. After a while its was time to head back and start the preparations for the night. The 5 of us, along with a brother-sister duo that Tanner and Dan know from home and who were on vacation, went to one of the 2 docks in Valpo and the most common spot to go watch the fireworks. Harris and I sort of compared it to going to Times Square for New Year's, it was totally crazy. There were hordes of people shoulder to shoulder, while the people closest to the front had been there all day staking their spot. Strangely, there was no clock anywhere in sight and no major countdown. Sometime around midnight people start cheering, shouting, hugging, spraying champagne and beer, and broke out into a song I am assuming is like our Old Lang Syne (or however you spell it) And then the fireworks began. Oh my god the fireworks. I did not have my camera so I just need to see if Joyce ever sends me the pictures from her's like she promised (ahem). I can't do them justice in words. You know how great the grand finales are of fireworks in the states? Well imagine that for a solid half-hour non stop. Canon-like fireworks, a montage of bursting rainbows in the sky, walls of fireworks that drip. And then their grand finale. No words, none at all. After the show though, the rest of the night was pretty tame as far as typical New Years go.
And the next day was mine and Harris' last together. We said goodbye to Joyce, got a quick bite to eat, and picked up Tanner and Dan on our way back to Santiago.
(By the way, I later found out that a rare algae had washed into port during those few days and thats why the water had turned green. Hm.) |
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