New Year's Eve Locura

locura:
sustantivo femenino
(demencia) madness, insanity; ¡no lo hagas!, ¡es una locura!, don't do it, it's insane!

What an awesome time! New Year's Eve in Valparaiso is awesome, a locura, even.

I arrived in Valaparaiso on the 29th with a reservation for only that night and with a detailed plan for finding a hotel room for the next 3:

The Plan:
Step 1: Make some inquires
Step 2: Hope for the best
Step 3: see Step 1

I prefer simple plans. I don't get confused that way.

So here's what happened.

I'm met a random Slovakian on the bus. He'd been on that same bus for 2 days coming from Arica in northern Chile . (See Wanderings in Boliva for my experiences there) He too had a similar plan. We figured 2 plans we better than 1 so we teamed up.

We stayed that night at the Luna Sonrisa. A great little hostel in the happening Cerro Alegre part of Valparaiso (Valpo). Our intention was to put our plan(s) into action that afternoon. For my part... I failed miserably.

It turned out that my roommate from the Polar Star (see Antartica) ship had scored a cheap flight to Santiago and had arrived in the same hostel that morning. He already had a reservation for New Year Eve - smart man. We met up and it was decided that coffee and beer were far more important than finding a place for me to stay. Beer comes in really big bottles around here - really, really big bottles. So... 1am of Dec 30 finds our heros hopeless lost - and slighty inebriated - in the windy streets of Valparaiso.

They say that there is a angel that looks after drunks and fools. That night I believe I met both requirements. I imagine it was that same angel who dropped a room for 3 nights in our laps the next morning. We didn't even have to move hostels.

I like it when plans work out!

Valparaiso (Valpo) is the place to be for New Years Eve. It stages the largest fireworks display anywhere. There were 8 launch sites stretching along 15 km of coast. 2 million odd people come to Valpo to watch and to party it up. Thus at about 10pm Dec 31, 2008 our merry band of 6 gringos (an American, a Canadian, a Slovakian, a Brit and a Kiwi) hiked to the plaza at the top of the cerro to take it all in.. I'm not going to even try to describe the show it was that good and that big.

After the fireworks we tagged on with a group of locals who we singing and dancing there way down to the absolutely packed area near the harbour. Gringos can't sing, neither can we dance, however if there is wine to be shared it doesn't really matter at all.

We didn't get back to the hostel until 5am the next morning.

The next morning it was evident it had been a good party. No property was really damaged, however people were passed out in doorways, on sidewalks, in the middle of the street. I counted 10 on the 5 min walk from the hostel to the coffee place. The police, to their credit, ensured partiers were out of harm's way and let them sleep it off. My favourite part of the morning were all the girls sharing their feelings about their boyfriend's New Years Eve behaviour. Spanish is such an expressive language.

In more current news, I'm hanging about in Pichilemu a dusty surf town down the coast. I'm working on my tan and reading the Narnia series in Spanish. The pace here is exactly what I was looking for. Yesterday, I hugout with a seal on the rocks; today I rented a rickety bike a pedaled up to where the surfers play. Life is rough.

Tomorrow I start the journey inland. I plan to meet up with Ginge in Pucón around the 7th. There's an active volcano in Pucón that you can hike up. How sweet is that!? So I'd best be off to find out when the next bus leaves here.

Hope everyone is keeping warm back home.

Hasta Luego!