Viña del Mar/Valparaiso = chill place to hang for awhile

I decided to make a last run to the beaches before heading inland and Valparaiso and Viña del Mar definitely did not disappoint! 2 hours from Santiago, Viña and Valparaíso are two separate and distinct cities but are only separated by a quick like 10-15 minutes bus ride. We have a small church there, only about 20 people actually, but they truly are an amazing group of people. What´s cool is that for whatever reason, this weekend the church had visitors from Santiago, Concepción (other city in Chile) Argentina and the US ( I was note ven the only one visiting from the US!). It was quite the international group!
I got in on Friday evening and immediately joined in on going to a surprise birthday party. Here is a photo from the bday party:

The girl who I was staying with, Pachy, actually lives in Viña. But I was able to spend all day Saturday in Valparaíso. Every Saturday the members of the church go to a soup kitchen to feed the homeless. We made turkey sandwiches and this HUGE vat of hot tea. We even had a a guitar player from the street join us for the first time. He played for everyone and even got a few people to get up and dance. I think it was an encouraging morning for everyone. After that we made our way over to a museum for Pablo Neruda, a famous Chilean writer. I know I read stuff by him in high school - couldn´t tell you what though! LOL.

Valparaíso is actually known by all its hills. It has like 44 or 45 to be exact. They are all completely covered with houses. Since many of them can be quite steep, they have built quasi-elevators to take people to the top (or you can climb the streets or stairs!). I knew I couldn´t leave without going up in one. We didn´t have time to hit a big one, but we still managed to visit and go up a small one. FUN.





Some shots from the city:






After that it was ANOTHER birthday party. How the heck I have managed to go to 4 birthday parties during this 4 week adventure is beyond me – I think it should be statistically impossible! LOL. But one of the guys taught me the basic steps to salsa, so that definitely made it a lot of fun to go to.

Sunday was spent in Viña. Viña seems to have a bit more natural areas left. It has fewer hills and the few that they do have aren´t completely covered with houses, which gives the city a nice feel. I first went to church service and it was great.
Everyone there was just so warm and friendly. It was really nice to visit with them all! This is Pachy and I after church.



Afterwards a bunch of us went out to eat lunch. I had been dying to get some seafood on this trip so I definitely made that happen. I got fish and some super yummy shrimp! A photo of the group having lunch:



After that it girl time! Pachy and I hit an artesan area. I bought a cool bracelet and some earrings. Then we headed to the beach. The waves were HUGE that day - just unbelieavable to watch. We sat in the sand, chatted and just enjoyed listening/watching the ocean waves.

It was really hard to leave Viña. I would definitely love to go back and visit and spend a bit more time there. I don´t know if/when that is posible, but I just felt so much love there I would love to try and make it happen!