Valparaiso, Chile

Today I took a bus from Santiago to the coast to visit a charming hilly town of Valparaiso. Jody and I left the city where it was suppose to be 90 degrees for the coast. We knew it would be a little cooler at the coast, but didn't think that it would be foggy and cold when we got there. Decked out in our swimsuits, shorts, tank tops and flip flops we screamed Tourists as we walked down the streets and all of the local people were wearing wool sweaters and scarfs. I mean it might not have been short weather, but I thought that wool sweaters and scarfs were a bit much. I mean come on, February is the middle of summer here, it would be like our August! Could you imagine wearing a scarf in the middle of August (and not a fashionable one, one that is meant to fight the cold wind.)

We walked around the town center for a while, waiting for the clouds to burn off. In the afternoon the cloud rise and we took one of the many famous elevators that took you up into the hills. Once you are in the hills of the city, the city's charm comes alive. On a clear day you get views of multicolored houses that cover the entire hillside. Today the view was not that good but I could imagine what it would look like. I loved walking around the little streets lined with boutiques, cafes, museums and houses. You could get lost in the streets for days if you weren't careful, which I have decided wouldn't be such a bad thing. There were so many fun things to discover on each street.

I think that I will go back to Valpo when Christina comes in to town. I would love to see the city when it is not hiding under a layer of clouds.