Lonely Planet guidebook calls Valparaiso “the most unique city in South America” and it is only 1 ½ hours from Santiago. So, we went there today to spend the weekend. It reminded me a bit of Venice. What makes it special is the colorful ancient houses that are perched on the edges of mountainsides. Narrow, windy streets run throughout the town, and it is fun to just get lost. To get up and down the steep hills, there are a series of fununculars, which were built long ago and still are actually used by locals (and tourists too) to get around. Steep and scary.
We stayed in a youth hostel and stayed up talking to the guests from France, UK, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. We all spoke in English, and one guy from The Netherlands commented that he had traveled for four months in South America and stayed in youth hostels. He said his Spanish had not improved, but his English had improved incredibly from chatting in hostels.
I’ve been in a lot of hostels and met tons of young, cool European people traveling the world on six-month vacations. But this was the first time I was not jealous of them. I’m getting to know the culture and people of South America much better by living and working in Santiago, than those that spend six months traveling to every country and staying in youth hostels.
