The Dogg Logg

Valparaiso

coreynw — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 02:49:00 GMT

So I just posted photos from Valpo, but I dont know how to include captions on any of them so youll have to just guess at what youre seeing. Most of the pictures are from our day on the beach, then up in the hills above the city where some of the nice old houses are, the ascensores which are kind of like diagonal elevators that take people up into the hills, and then the funny rooms in the hostel where I stayed. It was lots of fun. In fact, so much fun I think were going to go back and spend about another week there. Anyway, Ill try to figure out how to include captions to make all this easier. Ill also try to get photos up on my Picasa site where I know how to include captions. IM in Santiago now, its fun, but kind of boring on Christmas day.

Gallery: Valparaiso

coreynw — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 02:41:00 GMT

Good beach, cool city.

Gallery: La Serena

coreynw — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 12:15:00 GMT

Mainly japanese garden

Beach Bum

coreynw — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 06:17:00 GMT

Its hard to leave the beach. I made it away from La Serena, but only to come to another cool beach town. Now Im in Valparaiso and its hard to leave here too. Ive already extended my trip an extra day. Valparaiso is a pretty city, and Vina del Mar, its siamese sister city has nice beaches. We spent most of the day in the sun yesterday. It was nice. I was planning on going to Santiago today but I have liked being here quite a bit, and I like the hostel I am staying in and the people who are staying here. Unfortunately none of them are accompanying me on to Santiago. No doubt there will be another good group there. Travelling and hosteling is funny. Yes I am travelling alone but its not like being alone. There are always other people doing ths same thing. Funny thing is most of them are european and just graduated from high school. Most are also travelling for at least six months or more. Why dont americans do that? Anyway, Chile is pretty cool. Especially when you can avoid spending a lot of money. We cook and eat communal meals here and avoid paying restaurant prices. And we travel in groups which is good too. Im not so sure what the point of this entry is but I figured an entry from Valpo was important since ive been here a couple of days now. I begin to realize how easy it would be to just spend a week or more in alsmot every city I visit. Especially ones with beaches and pretty gardens. Im a sucker for gardens, hopefully Ill get the pictures from the Japanese garden in La Serena up online soon. Christmas is really soon and people are packed in the streets shopping, buying mainly cheap plastic crap to give people they should know better but dont. I guess it doesnt matter how far you run, you cant get away from consumerism. Thank goodness for beaches and sun and wind. More from Santiago soon.

Made it to Chile

coreynw — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 09:50:00 GMT

Since my last entry, I have spent thirty six hours in buses. My butt is tired. Had a really nice bus from Nazca to Tacna, very relaxing twelve hour ride in the equivalent of first class. Arrived in late morning, went immediately from the bus to a colectivo (private car shared by numerous passengers) which took me, three chilean women and another american college student through the many border checkpoints and finally into Chile. There the other american (Tyler) and I had some lunch and immediately borded another bus for the 24 hour ride down here to La Serena. Arrived here a little after noon, checked into a reccomended hostel, spent a couple hours on the beach, and are now out in search of food. Chile is a trip. I didnt see much difference in the little towns we passed through after crossing the border, but now that we have arrived in this semi-large town, I realize how different it is than Peru. Chile isnt really a developing country. Its fully well developed. Theres a mall here that is a nice and as swank and clean and large as southpointe. We might go to a movie later. People stop for pedestrians at crosswalks and rarely honk for any reason. I must say its nice to be here. More later.

Gallery: And so it begins- Nazca

coreynw — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:17:00 GMT

Day 1- Still in Peru

coreynw — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:02:00 GMT

Woooh finally on the road. Kevin and I left Lima last night around 10pm on the most mmmm... economical bus I could find. Bad choice. Probably would have been fine if I was five foot six like everybody else down here. But sadly no. So I spent seven hours with my knees pressed into the back of the seat in front of me. An inauspicious start but really only a minor setback. Rolled into Nazca this morning around 445 am, bleary eyed and smelly. Even at that hour we were immediately attacked by tour touts. Details being insignificant we eventually emerged from our early morning stupor and decided on a company to take us up in a plane to see the lines. Hour or so later, saw the lines, really really neat. Hope the pictures come out. If you dont know what they are, just google nazca lines. That all concluded about 9am this morning. Earliest bus going south out of here today is at nine tonight. Other than the lines there is absolutely nothing to do in this town. Long story short I kinda halfway snuck into a nice big hotel place with a nice relaxed courtyard, hammock, pool, lounge chairs, and passed the afternoon there reading and napping. The owners didnt seem to mind. Now Im still killing more time by writing this, my first journal entry. Hope yall enjoy. Will update when I can.