Day 3; Vina del Mar & Valparaiso!

On the third day in Chile, we took a tour of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. They are located north of Santiago, as you can see in this map below:

The drive was a little over an hour to get to there from Santiago, but it was so worth it. We drove though the coastal mountains. Valparaiso, also known as "Little San Fransisco", is the largest, most important port city in Chile. Vina del Mar, also known as "The Garden City" is a wonderful resort. According to our tour guide, many people like to retire there. While we were visiting, we walked around and took pictures, rode an elevator from the early 1900's, and had lunch in a restaurant that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Here are some pictures from our adventurous day:

Something that I find really interesting and cool about Chile is that all of their markets of the same sort are grouped together in the city. Each "block" is for a different type of market, according to our tour guide. For example, if a person needs to buy car parts, they would go to only one area with many shops that have car parts. If a person wanted to go to get furniture for their house, there is a specific area for only furniture stores. Also, they have people selling fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish in an outside market on the streets. It's really cool to see, and it kind of reminded me a lot of "China Town". I hope that you enjoy the new and old buildings in the photos! As said before, I will post more pictures from my camera when I come home. Chow for now! -Ashley