Jon can walk again: Valparaiso

I have spent 4 days in in Valpo, but Ive been a little sick,  so I spent a couple days mostly reading and cooking in my hostel, but I am walking aroung again, and I went and saw Valpo in the last two days.

Everyone keeps asking me about the food.  Chile is all about fast food, but not the normal American chain restaurants.  They have what are called fuentes de soda.  Often there will just be a bar, and you order your food and eat it standing up.  People next to you usually talk to you.  The most common food by far at these places is the Completos, which is just a hot dog smothered with a layer of tomatoes, and then lots of guacomole, and then a thick layer of mayonaise. Here is a picture:

Valparaiso is two hours west of Santiago, on the coast.  It was once one of the largest ports in South America, until a collosal earthquake hit it in 1906 and completely destroyed it.  It never really recovered, but it is now a very charming city.    The whole city is set on a large steep hill.    They have ancensors, which are like elevators, that take you up the hills.   Here is a picture I took while going up one:

 The coolest thing about the city is definitely the houses though.  They are all very brightly colored.

And here is me in the city!

Tomorrow, I am taking a 20 hour bus ride north to San Pedro, which is near the Atacama, the driest desert on earth.   Resources are much more scarce up there, so I am going to have to start camping and using my keen survival skills.   

Last Days in Santiago

I am leaving tomorrow for Valpo, a popular beach in Chile.    Santiago is surrounded by the mountains, and I hiked up one to get this view.  

There is a line of trees in the middle, which is the Parque Forestal which I have been going to read.   Apparently,   Chileans are much more public with their affection, and I keep end up having people in benches all around me elaborately making out, which is a little awkward.  

The hostel environment is very social, and right now there are people from Brazil, Turkey, Norweigh, Sweden, Denmark, and New Zealand.    We have been cooking dinner together to save money, and here is a picture of one meal, where the Turkish guy made a traditional liver pasta dish. 

Tonight is my last day here.  Wine is amazingly cheap.  Its about $3 for a large bottle of wine or beer.   I have enjoyed Santigo, but it is not toursity and I definitely stand out.  I got pulled onto  a stage for a comedian in front of at least a hundred people, and I had know idea what was going on.

I´ll post in a couple days about Valpo.

I´m in Santiago, Chile

So I am now in Santiago. Here is a picture of me leaving Nashville.

And here I am in my hostel.  The picture was taken by my new Turkish friend who I think already thinks we are best friends and has invited me to his mansion in Turkey.

I have been just wondering around Santiago, which is a huge city and there are so many people, and I definitely am the tallest person there. The place I´ve been reading in is called the Plazas Del Armas, and it is a huge town square with lots of artists, fountains, trees, chess players, and ice cream. Here is a picture of the Plazas Del Armas with some of the artists.

I also like the Mercada Central, which is like a huge farmers market. I accidently bought a huge bag of bananas which I felt silly carrying around with me the rest of the day.

Yesterday, I hiked a huge hill overlooking Chile, and here is the picture.

I really like Santiago, so I´m going to stay here until Wednesay, and then I will head over to the coast, to Valparaiso and Vine Del Mar.

Tracking

During my trip,  I will have a GPS tracker called SPOT.  It will send two messages everyday to satellites, which are then plotted on a google map, which is here:  Jon's Location
here is the url just in case:  
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0aPt39yb2fCD1odyqQEcX5Daq8Iggiy7R

Jon's First Blog

My older sister Kristen has just helped start my blog for my 3 month trip to Chile and Argentina. I leave January 13 and return April 13. Stay tune for more updates!