Having lost a few days waiting for buses and adding a stop or 2 in Patagonia, I finally made my way to a couple Chilean cities. My first stop was Valparaiso, a once important port city now famous for its winding streets, street art, and hippie crowds. Valpo was great for exploring, as every corner I turned revealed a unique painting or alleyway. A jazz concert in the main square capped off a pretty efficient 24 hours in the city.
Next up was a short (a relative term) bus ride to Santiago, the capital of Chile. On my last adventure through Europe, I met a couple friends from Santiago, and was able to meet up with them once I arrived. We had a great dinner catching up and sampling traditional Chilean food and wine (hence the purple teeth and lips in the photo).
In typical coincidental travel fashion, as we walked out of the restaurant, we ran into another friend of mine from Cal Poly who had just started a new job at the restaurant next door. We had planned to meet up the next day, but why wait when you can run into each other at midnight in a city of 6 million people?
A visit to a nearby winery, a walking tour of the city, some great Cal Poly reminiscing and catching up made for a great last day. Epitomized by a nightcap Terremoto (translation: Earthquake), a famous Chilean drink consisting of cheap wine, grenadine, and pineapple ice cream, my time in Santiago was short, but most definitely sweet.