Valparaiso & Viña del Mar - Week 24

25th - 28th February

After a 14hr overnight bus from Orsorno to Valparaiso, that included a snoring man like a fat pig all night behind us, we arrived in Valpariso to thick cloud - and we were hoping for a bit of beach action here! Luckily the weather is like that each day and by early afternoon the sun burns the cloud off leaving bright blue skies. We stayed in a pleasant little hostel called Casa Aventura on Cerro Concepcion where a lot of students and bohemians live, giving it a very trendy, relaxed feel.

Valparaiso is a strange and interesting place. It is built on a hillside made from lots of steep little hillocks or cerros dotted all over the place. All the buildings cling periously to the cerros fighting for space, with expensive houses mixed in with shacks made of wood and corrugated steel. There is also lots of graffitti and murials but they are done in such a way that they don't make the city look run down, but really add to the character of the place.

In the 19th century, Valparaiso was the key port for US shipping between East Coast and California and was also a major banking district. It's decline began with the opening of the Panama Canal and banking moving to the capital, Santiago and the rich people moving out to Viña del Mar nearby. However, Valparaiso is officially Chile's capital of culture and is a major university town and so is now reviving.

We got into our room on Sunday at about 1pm then walked down the hill into town to find the supermarket and did some cooking. Very tired after no sleep on the bus the night before so we were in bed early that night.

On the Monday, we did a lot of walking around Valparaiso. First, we walked Avenida Alamena which is a long, curving street around the top of the cerros with great views of the town all along the way. You could also see the huge fancy mansions perched amongst the slums, very strange.



Next we walked along the front of the port to the west of the city to take our first (and in fact, only!) ascensor ride (on Ascensor Artilleria) up to a viewpoint. There are about 20 ascensors dotted around the city to transport people up and down the cerros and they are a major part of the Valparaiso landscape.


On Monday night we went to the cinema (hadn't seen a film for weeks - what a treat!) to see the very cheesy, The Vacation.

On Tuesday, we had intended to get the train to the next town, Viña del Mar but the main point of Viña is the beach and the weather was not good, so we did some more touring of Valparaiso. We walked through the streets around the Museo al Cielo Abierto which is a collection of 20 street murals designed by Chilean contemporary artists.

We then walked up to Casa de Lukas, the beautiful home of a famous Chilean caricaturist, which displayed a lot of his fantastic drawings. We also visited the former house of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet but James was more interested in the design features of the house as inspiration for our next house when we get home than the museum... Saw many more ascensors on the trips around town like the one below:

That evening we couldn't resist the cinema again (still suffering with our allergic reactions and not allowed alcohol with the antihistimines!) so went to see Babel which was brilliant. Bit tricky because so much of it was in a foreign language and, of course, had Spanish subtitles but we understood most of it, surprisingly. Good practise!

On Wednesday, we finally got to Viña del Mar and sat on the beach for an hour or so. Sea was absolutely freezing so no swimming action! Viña is right next to Valparaiso and is basically the holiday resort for Chileans. We weren't that impressed. Very Torremolinos! Had a good cheap 3 course meal (2 quid) of soup, steak and chips and fruit though, then headed back to Valparaiso.

That evening there was a concert in one of the squares which we went down to have a look at. We gathered it was a 'back to uni'-type affair but there was far more talking than music so we got bored and went to an Irish pub where James had some nice stout and there was a flamenco show (random). Then back to get packed ready for the bus to Mendoza the next day.

Book Katie tried to read: On the Mississippi by Mark Twain, got boring half way through...