Last Full Weekend in Viña!

Hard to believe it, but I just had my last full weekend in Viña! This weekend my friends and I are taking a bus trip up to La Serena, a beautiful beach city north of here and going to an observatory and to a penguin reserve! The weekend after that I am going to Buenos Aires to visit my friend Paul, and then the weekend after that is my last weekend in Chile and I fly back on that Sunday! Time sure flies :)

On Friday night, Katie and I hung out with some of our Chilean friends to watch the next Copa América game between Chile and Bolivia. They were super intense about it and set out a big screen and projector in their yard and we watched the game outside with speakers and grilled sausages and meat and it was so fun! Chile won 5-0. It was crazy!

On Saturday we went to the Jardín Botánico here in Viña and walked through the beautiful park. It is listed in everything of things to do in Viña, so I figured I'd better check it out! Katie, Natalie, and Mahathi came with too. We had to catch a bus to rural areas outside of Viña and then walk about 10 minutes to reach the park. It was such a beautiful and cute place! It is a big park area with tons of open spaces, very cool plant species, trails, an adventure area with rock climbing and a rope course, and a picnic area with tables and grills. It would be the PERFECT place for a family outing when the kids are young. Lots of space to run around, play soccer, eat food, and enjoy the beautiful Chilean weather. Haha.

Here are a few pics from the garden!

Such a sunny and beautiful day! I actually walked around in a t-shirt for a while! For those of you who are curious, I am on the left, Natalie is next to me, Katie is in the back left, and Mahathi is in the back right.

 So many interesting plants!

 Autumn is my favorite season, so I was LOVING all the beautiful fall colors and leaves here! 

We came back to Viña and walked around for a while and grabbed some empanadas. A successful, relaxing day. Sometimes it is hard because I feel like I am traveling and need to be doing something 24/7, but then I realized that this is my home for 2 months, so sometimes I need to take a break and just chill and do nothing for an afternoon because that is important for my sanity as well. I am not crammed for time in a weekend, so I need to balance out my running all the time. :)

Sunday was the winter solstice, the official first day of winter here! I celebrated by going for a run along the beach and embracing the beautiful winter of course. It was 72 and bouncing between partly cloudy and sunny throughout the day! Best first day of winter I have ever seen :)

Then on Sunday afternoon, Katie and I had a baking party! It was quite the adventure :) I am going to dedicate my next blog post to that, so stay tuned! :)