Independence Day

Today we began the day by walking around Viña del Mar for a bit. I know that I have been talking about Valparaiso a lot, but our hotel is actually about a 15 minute drive away in Viña because it is slightly less picturesque and therefore substantially cheaper. We were invited inside a church where we got a tour from the priest who showed us the ornate stained glass windows and the records for all the weddings and baptisms since 1913. He was very welcoming and told us how he grew up in Barcelona, Spain and moved here about 12 years ago. As soon as he said that I immediately picked up on his Spanish accent because the "c" sound is pronounced like "th". Gracias = Grathias, Barcelona = Barthelona, things like that.
After coming back to the hotel, the three of us decided to branch off a bit. Sophia and Devin went to the beach while I tackled my personal goal of walking all the way up to the top of the cliff in Valparaiso to take a picture. Maybe it was the 10 kiwis I ate for breakfast this morning or my slight fear of riding the metro alone for the first time, but either way I ended up traveling from Valparaiso to Viña del Mar on foot. It took about an hour and a half instead of the usual 20 minutes just to get to the city, but I think it was well worth it. The whole walk was along the coast and it put me in a different part of town that I would not have otherwise discovered. Because it was a holiday, almost all of the shops were closed, which allowed me to leisurely make my way through the normally busy city and take it all in at my own pace. The neighboorhood that I ended up in was a little less developed than where we walked around a few days ago. Cobblestone roads were replaced by dirt ones, and the houses were clumped together a little more with grass and trees in between. I loved it...It was so high up that the only people around must have lived in a house nearby. In order to climb up to the top I got to walk up windy uneven steps that led me right past people´s doorways. To celebrate, Chileans fire up the bbq, deck out their house in red, white and blue, and eat together with friends and family. Sound familiar? Another thing that I thought was pretty cool was how on practically every street there were kids flying square paper kites high up in the air. Being right by the ocean and on a steep hill creates ideal kite flying conditions. I talked to a man for a while who was curious about where I was from and how I got that high up alone. A few other people said "hello" in English, meaning that my Chile baseball cap did not fool them...

I was so happy to be up in the hills to witness the celebration because I knew that it was the real deal. When I was looking into a valley of houses and trees I could hear groups of people cheering in the distance, music blaring out of people´s windows, wild street dogs barking at each other, and kids excitedly yelling about their kites that looked like tiny little dots up in the sky. I felt so lucky to be a part of it, even if I was the awkward American trying to control my urge to take a picture of everything I saw...another great day.