Chillán and Viña del Mar

Thursday, 23.01.2020

After packing my belongings back into my backpack - it keeps getting bigger - Juan, a colleague from Germany, arrived in Santiago at noon and we met in the city. He is from Chile and is visiting family and friends here. I can accompany him for a while, so we took the train, after a few Empanadas, to Chillán, his hometown. We were warmly welcomed by his entire family.

After a cozy afternoon, a typical Chilean BBQ started late at night, mainly a good piece of meat and a few side dishes. As always, there was also good wine and plenty of beer. We didn't eat until midnight, I still have to get used to that.

It looks like the times of going to bed early are finally over and I should get used to taking a siesta (here it's called Zorrito). The nights in the south are a bit colder, for the first time my thin sheet was not enough for sleeping.

Friday, 24.01.2020

Around noon, we headed to a more rural area, to Juan's grandpa's house. A beautiful estate with two large gardens, one for pleasure and one for vegetable growing. There's also a small pool, the cooling off felt good.

Some family members spoke good English, while with others I tried to filter out a few snippets from the fast Spanish. The housekeeper provided us with tasty homemade Humitas - a steamed corn dish that can be eaten sweet or savory.

The evening was enjoyed with cocktails by the pool, more family members kept arriving. Afterwards, the grill was fired up again, wine and later Pisco, rum, and whiskey were flowing freely and the atmosphere was lively. We spent the night playing card games until late.

Saturday, 25.01.2020

After everyone had enough rest, we returned to Chillán and went straight to the next party. It's starting to become a bit tiring to constantly adapt to new circumstances and people and get little sleep. But it's also nice.

So we went to Christian's birthday, a friend of Juan's. The location was awesome - a large green meadow with a beautiful pool in the middle and a cute little country house next to it. Add a few trees and a hammock, the grill had been running since noon, perfect. It was sunny and warm, and I was able to relax there for a bit.

In the evening, Camilo, Diego, Dani, and I briefly left the party and visited a small stationary "festival area". There are three permanent food trucks, one of them vegetarian, and recently a stage where local performances took place today. After a delicious quinoa burger, we went back to the party, again until the early morning hours.

Sunday, 26.01.2020

We drove back to Santiago by car, where we met two German buddies of Juan, who are traveling through Chile for a month starting today - Ruben and Flo. They will be joining us for two nights in Viña del Mar. Otherwise, the evening was quiet, a break from the parties for a change. I visited Manuel and Pablo again and cooked, as I haven't had the chance to reciprocate their hospitality when Couchsurfing, or rather I was too lazy to cook until now.

I think the time in Viña del Mar as a group could be really cool, and then I'm looking forward to traveling alone again.

Monday, 27.01.2020

Around noon, we arrived in Reñaca, a small coastal town north of Viña del Mar. Finding the booked Airbnb turned out to be difficult, as the address was not listed correctly on Google and a completely different address was provided in the email link. When we finally found the apartment, it turned out to be dirty and messy. So I contacted the host, while we went out for lunch. Since the host didn't respond, we quickly booked another apartment, which was nice and clean and only 10 minutes walk from the beach.

It was mostly cloudy and cool during the day, but in the evening, when we went for a walk on the beach, the sky cleared up and the weather was perfect. After a quick shopping trip, the guys cooked while I went for a jog. At first, we considered going out to party, but instead, we ended the evening with homemade Pisco Sour in the apartment.

Tuesday, 28.01.2020

Today we split up. Ruben and Flo went to see Valparaiso, Juan and his mom went to the shopping mall, and I had a quiet day in the apartment - sleeping, researching, and reading. Afterwards, we all went to the beach together to end the day. Instead of cooking, we got some delicious Empanadas from a street vendor and then sipped cocktails in the apartment.

I find it a bit difficult in this group of guys, as it often revolves around football, hot women, and alcohol. Late at night, we wanted to go to a club, but the entrance fee turned out to be too expensive for us and we were all a bit tired.

Wednesday, 29.01.2020

After checking out, we decided to spend the rest of the day here at the beach and only return to Santiago in the evening. Overenthusiastically, we only applied sunscreen in certain areas and all got more or less sunburned. Before the return trip, we went to the big mall together, the sensory overload drove me crazy.

In the evening, I had a little crisis of meaning, as I didn't know what to do next. Should I stay longer in Santiago, where I really liked it? Go to the popular surfer town of Pichilemu and stay in a hostel? Look for a farm somewhere in the countryside? Many options and no clue for a decision... But what I do wish for is more inspiring people and conversations that broaden my horizons.