Beach!

So yesterday didn't turn out to be the best of days. My layover just dragged on and on at the horrible Toronto airport... then I started to feel sick. It worsened as I waited for the group to show up, and wasn't any better when we boarded the plane. I didn't hardly touch my dinner other than the piece of bread on my tray and the little girl behind me was kicking my seat consistently throughout the entire flight. Not only that, but it was the worst Screaming Baby Flight I have ever experienced. Sleep was almost impossible, but I was so tired I was able to pass out against the plastic wall (no window for me!) without even a pillow.

When I woke up and ate breakfast, I felt completely refreshed. We made it off the plane, got our luggage, and spent a good part of the next hour trying to negotiate with taxi and shuttle companies to get to our several different hostels. Once we decided, all fifteen of us piled into two vans and took an hour and a half ride to Vina del Mar. We were in awe as we arrived from above the city, driving down the curvy road to the coast. The water was so blue and the view was just amazing. It took awhile for our driver to find our hostel, driving up into an area that reminded me a lot of Mount Adams. Finally we parked at our quaint little hostel, checked in, and changed into our bathing suits in our tiny box of a bedroom. While waiting for others to shower, Chelsea Kindschuh took me and Chris Schuh to the mini market up the hill. I got a giant bottle of water, and Dinosaur-shaped crackers (which turned out to just be animal crackers) that looked fun.

We met everyone at the beach later on where the weather was just perfect. I got in the water right away with one of the guys, Ryan, but didn't last long because I was afraid the strong tide would likely kill me. We stayed out for a few hours, then decided to head back to our hostel and cook dinner for ourselves with supermarket foods. Once we passed the first restaurant, our plans changed and we got pizza instead. At that, some of us called it a night even though it was only 10:00 and came back up to the hostel to get some much needed rest.