Days 2 & 3: Viña del Mar, Chile

Kelly spoke to soon as she closed her posts declaring us non-sunburned, as she managed to miss 2 large spots on her back that now gleam an irritated red.

We took the 10 pm bus from Mendoza after showering in the bus station. We were again on the top floor of the double-decker in the front seat: the death seat. Fortunately we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us (except when we were passing trucks and had buses coming straight at us, which happened twice) because we were winding around the edges of mountain cliffs that surely would have made me nauseous if visible. We also had an extremely obnoxious woman with hot pink lipstick across the aisle from us who jabbered away all night. At about 2 am we crossed the border, having to wake up and get out to go through customs. Not so fun. And not at all warm...we were rather unprepared for the freezing weather atop the Andes mountains. We shivered our way in a half-sleep through various security points and then off we went.

We arrived in Viña del Mar at 4:30 in the morning, an hour and a half before ETA. Without cell phone or Chilean currency, we were trapped in the freezing station, fighting sleep and waiting for Dominic, my friend who we're staying with, to come save us. It was the best exercise in patience I have ever undergone.

We slept until 5 in the afternoon in the most comforting down bed and awoke to a delicious meal with her family. Her parents are nice and her 9 year old brother is energetic and funny, but none of them speak English so conversation can be difficult at times. Fortunately we have Kelly's sunburn to talk about all the time.

At night we went out to the Carnaval Cultural in Valparaiso, a neighboring coastal town with the biggest New Years celebration in South America and quite a lot of festivity leading up to it. We, as well as pretty much the rest of Chile, showed up for a free concert that a popular Chilean group - Shamanes - was giving. Note: we have officially left the land of cumbia and tango and are onto all reggaeton, all the time.

The crowd was so thick that I literally was forced to lift my feet at times and still was moved along with the rush of people. It was the only time in my life I have seriously feared death by trampling. But the music was fun and the dancers entertaining and Dominic and her friends taught us how to dance like a Chilean while passing the boxed wine. The next group up was Chico de Trujillo, who are apparently lesser known but play more typically Chilean beats. Dancing to this music involved a lot of jumping up and down, which was good because it was pretty darn cold out.

After the concerts everyone walked to a street with an extreme incline and chilled with all the other party-goers. This is where we had our first go at a Chilean classic - an Italiano - which is a hot dog in a GIANT bun and loaded with tomatoes and avocado (and mayo, but we got without) to look like the Italian flag. We danced with random drum circles and later sat in our own circle with Dominic and co singing Spanish songs and Kelly and I contributing beat-boxing rhythms.

The next day we slept in (her parents think we do nothing but sleep) and woke up again just in time for lunch. Dominic´s grandpa offered to take us to Concón, a small town nearby, and we got a crazy ride up and down the many hills of the coast. We stopped to get out to walk around rocks jutting out into the water, it was stunningly beautiful despite the cloudy weather, and we could see hints of the land surrounding the cove in the distance. Then we went to a nice beach and stuck our feet in, but it was literally freezing, so we went for seafood empanadas (delicious) then made our way back. We passed giant sand dunes on the way, which we promptly climbed despite the near-vertical incline (everything we do is in preparation for walking the Inca trail...) to get a great view of the ocean on the other side.

At night we relaxed at Domi's house, watched My Best Friends Wedding and ate homemade cake her mom had waiting in the oven for us. Chile is pretty fabulous.