Last Stop: Valpo

Our first few nights in Valpo, we stayed in Hostel Casa Aventura.  It was a great hostel with an awesome breakfast!  Eggs, toast, fruit, and REAL coffee.  We then just bummed around the city, taking acensores, eating chorillana, and drinking pisco sours.      

We then decided to stay the night in Algarrobo, which is a little town outside of Valparaiso.  It is also home to penguins and the largest pool in the world!  And thanks to my wonderful mom, we stayed in a very nice hotel right on the beach.  The first day there, we walked around town, ate a few empanadas, and went to see the San Alfonso pool.  We really wanted to swim, but since the pool is only for hotel guests we figured it most likely wouldn't happen.  As we were taking pictures from outside, I noticed a guard and decided to ask him if it was possible to just buy a day pass.  He told me that it was a little late in the day for that, but to come back tomorrow and he'll see what he can do.  So we flagged down a colectivo and headed back to the hotel.  Funny story about this particular colectivo ride...
As I was getting out of the colectivo, I felt something drop, but looked on the ground and didn't see anything, so I shut the door and she drove off.  It wasn't until about an hour later that I noticed I didn't have my camera.  Panicking, I ran out of the hotel room and searched the street...no camera.  I then was able to track down the same colectivo driver and I searched her car but again...no camera.  Thankfully Sean took some pictures of the trip, including Machu Picchu so we weren't at a total loss.  

The next day in Algarrobo, we went back to San Alfonso, paid an entrance fee and were able to swim in the largest pool in the world!  It was pretty neat.  We then headed to the dock to see if someone would take us out on their boat to see the penguin island.  We soon found out that unfortunately the boats only run on the weekends.  No penguins for us :(

Guess we'll just have to go back another time!

We then made our way back to Valpo and stayed a few more nights in Cerro Concepcion.  We did a little last minute souvenir shopping and then before we knew it was time to leave.  Nano and Carmen dropped us off at the bus station where we said a very emotional "hasta luego" and boarded the bus.