A Brief Geography Lesson

I’m sure that you, as a knowledgeable world citizen, know what the country of Chile looks like. If not, however, it’s something like this:

 The best part of this is that the mountains are 2-3 hours away from the beach, which is a dream come true for me, and a huge factor in my choosing to study abroad in this marvelous place. When I arrived in Chile, those facts comprised all of my knowledge about the country—long and skinny with the Andes on one side, and thousands of miles of coast on the other. Wait, I also knew that there are penguins in the South, which probably gives you a glimpse of my priorities. Zooming in, Chile is broken up into fifteen regions, and I’m sitting smack dab in the middle in Region 5--kinda makes you think of Hunger Games, no? I’d volunteer as tribute.

Zooming even farther in, you’ll see the layout of the Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Reñaca, Con Con area. Before I came, people kept throwing out all these names, and I kept telling them that there was no way that there were that many towns that close together. “Impossible!” I said, but it is indeed possible. As you can see the cities orient themselves around a semicircular bay. Valparaíso runs into Recreo (not really a town, but it’s where I live, giving it the utmost importance and relevance), which runs into Viña del Mar, which runs into Reñaca, which finally ends in Con-Con.

It’s impossible to describe each of these fantastic places in a brief paragraph, but I’m going to give it my best shot based on the impressions I’ve gotten in my six weeks here:

Valparaíso-The commercial port of the country, Valparaíso is always bustling with ships and dock workers, but also extremely prominent is the Chilean Armada, or navy, which draws in huge numbers of sailors—all in uniform, if you catch my drift, ladies—as well as a number of massive ships outfitted with cannons and other such naval devices—I really don’t know much about the armed forces in any country. The rest of the city is beautiful and walking through the streets, you can find some of the most incredible street art in the world. This means that something mundane, like a real estate office, can be beautiful simply because someone went after their exterior walls with a can of spray paint—it really does put the tagging in the States to shame. It is worth noting that this is a more dangerous area, and it would behoove you to ten cuidado (be careful) while walking the streets, and avoid heading out there at night without some trustworthy Chileans by your side.

Recreo-My home! It’s a small portion of the area, but it still claims some panaderías (bread stores), lavaderías (washing/dry cleaners), botillerias (beverage/liquor stores), and other shops as its own. I also always feel safe in my neighborhood—which is not to say that it is 100% safe, but that at this point in time, I am probably blissfully unaware, and therefore incredibly lucky, of any violence. Having gotten lost a number of times in my neighborhood, I have stumbled upon some gems beyond the brightly painted houses, including a secret garden, a small, stone staircase that takes you up the 50 foot precipice that you sometimes run into when you take the wrong turn from the metro station, the Estadio Español—which I haven’t wandered into because it’s gated, but according to the internet, seems like a Chilean country club. To that I say “¡Qué rico!” (how fabulous!)—and some lovely old men that sit at a card table outside of one of their houses, smoking cigars, and talking about those topics that trouble old Chilean men, and who always greet me with grins and a “Hola, gringa” when I walk by on my way to the bus stop.

El Estadio Español

 Viña del Mar-The hub of all things touristy in the area, Viña absolutely caters to those from out of town and offers tons of restaurants, beaches, and attractions. It’s quite possible to live here for five months and rarely travel outside of Viña del Mar. To put it simply, it’s gorgeous. It also has its fair share of historic and cultural attractions that I won’t give away here, but I will post about as I check them off of my “to visit” list. Something I noted quickly about Viña—call it the princess in me, however small her voice may be—but you casually walk by these massive castles that seem like something Walt Disney installed in the 1970s, but your mama chilena tells you that they date back to the colonial era, and that the one over there happens to be the President’s vacation home, and that one houses a world class spa. Oh, well that’s….pretty amazing…And the mixture of architecture is absolutely one of the best parts of the city. 

Wulff Castle--I suppose it will do for a second home

 Reñaca-In Reñaca, you will find multiple neighborhoods—Reñaca Alto (i.e. up in the hills) is not a place for gringos to be walking about late at night, but Reñaca Abajo (beachfront property) is much better. Reñaca is most certainly a place to explore! Home to some of the most beautiful beaches in Chile and a bustling sector of vacation homes, it’s packed in the summers. Luckily, since we are just heading into Spring, we’ve been keeping it to ourselves, but I think we’ll start having some company very soon now.

 Con-Con-Mostly known for its massive sand dunes, Con-Con is the relatively small, northernmost sector of the area that I am starting to call home. The dunes are nationally preserved, and thus protected, but the area around, according to the signage, is looking at some massive development projects coming soon. Let’s hope it doesn’t detract from how amazingly beautiful this place is!

Alright, considerably lengthier than originally anticipated, and I don’t think I’ll be penning any travel guides anytime soon, but hopefully that gives a small snapshot of the region! There is so much more to these places than what I could even start to describe here. Therefore, you’re just going to have to come and figure out how wonderful everything is yourself. Lo siento que no lo siento--Sorry I'm not sorry about that one.