Viña del Mar y O'Higgins

Facts:

• Wikipedia estimates the population of Santiago, Chile to be just under 5.5 million
• Santiago is a city with mountains surrounding it, certainly not a coastal city.
• Chileans like to go to the beach
• Viña del Mar is the closest, best furnished coastal city to Santiago
• Just under 5.5 million people all get stuck on the same 2-lane highway almost every weekend heading to Viña del Mar.

Two weekends ago, my family and I went to Viña del Mar, which also includes the cities of Valparaiso, Concon, and Reñaca, all in the same cove type thing, on the Pacific coast of Chile (what am I saying, Chile really only has Pacific coast). Due to the facts stated above, the normal 1-2 hour drive to Viña took about 3-4 hours, but it was worth the wait.

We stayed in a hotel that was actually in Concon, but everything was an easy drive away. We had an amazing view of the ocean from our porch at the hotel, and I've decided that sometime in my life I want to live on the coast. Doesn't matter where.

That night we went out to see the city at night, which is really when Viña is at its best. We ate Mexican food, which is verrrrrry different from Chilean food, I've had a lot of people assume its the same. 

The next day, we went all around Viña and Valparaiso. We took a horse-drawn carriage thing, which im told used to be the only thing on the road. We also found a boat tour of all the cities from the bay. It wasnt just any boat though. It had a massive Canada flag on it. The captain told me it was because he goes to Toronto every winter to see his girlfriend, but I think all the Canadians in Chile are following me. By the way if I never told you, I met a guy from Kitchener, he lives beside my school. That's not weird at all.

Anyways, we saw a really cool city, and I'm sure I will go back many times. We ate lots of seafood, took lots of pictures, and had an incredible time. I'm also really happy I got to walk around this city before it gets to hot. Its mid spring right now and we're getting 28, 29 degree days already. I think I'm gonna melt.

As I have already mentioned, soccer is a pretty big deal here. My city of Rancauga has a team, its called O'Higgins, after the Bernardo O'Higgins, a famous general that helped Chile gain it's independence. The game was against Colo Colo, probably the largest team from Santiago, and currently in second place. I think O'Higgins is somewhere around 14th. To put it in Canadian, its like when the Leafs play the Canucks. (I know, the Leafs are near the top right now, wait a couple months). Nevertheless, some friends and I went to the game with our baby blue jerseys and cheered in spanish (also shouldnt be translated). It turned out to be O'Higgins day, we won 2-0. My friends and I hurried out of the stadium at the end of the match, there were a lot of Colo Colo fans and frankly South America doesn't have a rich history of peaceful soccer games.

P.S. I go to Patagonia in two weeks for my first Rotary Trip!

Later Days,

Stuart