We think this might be a bit of a monster one so get comfortable!!! Let´s take it up from where we left off. `Los Blackbird´ last Saturday were actually really good – apparently the John Lennon was especially good (I don´t know the Beatles well enough to be able to say that sort of thing but our resident Beatles expert was quite impressed), although he was probably a bit on the portly side! In fact, they didn´t look anything like the Beatles and didn´t even try to (don´t think they would have been very successful), but the sound was good. Our second row seats were worth it and all in all, it was a fun night.
We left Mendoza on Sunday to arrive in Santiago at about 5:00. The border crossing was all very smooth and they even managed to fit 4 stamps on one page of our passports, much to our relief – we were getting a bit worried at one stage that we might have to miss out a couple of countries as we wouldn´t have space but we think we´ll be OK now.
The first part of the journey followed the road we had been along on the excursion a couple of days beforehand, although we didn´t get as good views from the bus so we were pleased we had seen it beforehand. Once we crossed into Chile, we had to descend from the 3,100m above sea level crossing and we seemed to do it in the space of about 2 miles! The road turned back on itself at least 20 or 30 times – quite impressive.
When we got to Santiago, we were met off the bus by taxi drivers instead of hotel owners, which was a bit of a novelty…and then one of the taxi drivers started telling me about a hotel he had information on. I got all confused with the Chilean money and thought that it was really cheap so I was asking for more info on it etc. and was quite enthusiastic. I tried to sort of fob him off though by saying that we needed to go into the terminal to go to the bank etc. but he just said `Oh, it´s this way´ and started taking us. I then told Chris about the hotel, to which he replied that it was the equivalent of 90 Argentinian pesos – not cheap at all! Ooops! I don´t think he was too impressed. By this time, it was a bit hard not to go with the guy though so we thought we´d go and have a look and maybe stay one night.
The hotel was actually quite nice so we thought we could manage one night there and it would also give us a chance to get our bearings a bit. We went out after dumping our stuff to try to find somewhere cheaper for the rest of our stay in Santiago – no mean feat! The Rough Guide failed us somewhat but we eventually managed to find somewhere that was reasonably priced and agreed to move in on Monday morning – we´d been told by Roberto that the Chileans like to bargain so we managed to get a bit of a discount on the room as well!
We got up on Monday morning, had a bit of a measly breakfast at the hotel, which made us feel even better about leaving (tea and coffee were included but milk wasn´t!), and set off. Our first stop was the bus station as we were a bit worried about being able to get bus tickets to Arica around Christmas. We didn´t have any problem though and we treated ourselves to `cama´ seats again – it is a 28 hour journey after all!
Most of Monday was taken up with jobs – nothing too exciting. Santiago seemed like an OK city – very busy…lots of people…lots of traffic…but there were some nice buildings etc. I got a bit frustrated a bit later on in the day as I wanted to buy a couple of new t-shirts as mine are getting disgusting and not getting clean when they´re washed but I couldn´t find anything decent that fitted!
On Tuesday, we thought we´d do a bit of sightseeing in the city and set off on a tour of some of the buildings – the Palacio de la Moneda, the cathedral, the post office (looks more interesting than it sounds), and we also went to a museum that has artifacts from all over Latin America, some dating back to 5000BC so that was quite interesting. The Rough Guide recommended the main market for lunch as there are lots of fish restaurants but they turned out to be a bit expensive so we ended up in a cheap place just outside. Unfortunately, she conned us a bit with the price (James S if you´re reading this – I think this is the first time we´ve been conned…at least the first time we´ve noticed!) which annoyed me. And it annoyed me even more that I didn´t really speak up about it. So half of the afternoon was spent with me in a bad mood!
I did cheer up a bit when we went up `Cerro Santa Lucia´ - a lovely little hill just out of the centre, which was developed as a type of park. A nice winding road up it and lots of trees. It was quite peaceful and a very pleasant walk. There were also a couple of lovely fountains and we got some nice views of Santiago. They changed Chris´ perception of the city somewhat as he didn´t think it was a very big place until we were up there and could see the sprawl for miles around. Unfortunately, you don´t get a very good view of the mountains surrounding the city as they´re mostly shrouded by smog!
On Tuesday night we survived our first encounter with a cockroach!!! There were a couple in the bathroom, one of which I caught under the plunger (and then felt a bit guilty about – starving´s not a particularly nice way to go…although it was a cockroach), and another one which somebody else squashed.
On Wednesday, we decided to go up another of the hills in the city - `Cerro San Cristobal´. This one is higher than Cerro Santa Lucia but there is a `funicular´ that takes you up to the top so it wasn´t too strenuous. To get to it, we had to walk through Bellavista, which is apparently the bohemian area of Santiago. There were lots of bars etc. and it probably gets quite busy at the weekend but it didn´t seem that exciting. Again, we had a nice view of the city from the top of the hill, where there is also a big statue of the Virgin Mary. We then took a cable car down the other side of the hill which Chris didn´t really seem to enjoy. He was a bit worried by the height and the fact that it wobbled a bit when we went past the pylony bits. We got to the bottom and went in search of lunch.
We thought we´d be super fit and walk up to the halfway station on the way back and it turned out to be a good decision – there were a couple of really nice gardens, namely the Japanese garden and the Mapulema (possibly) botanical garden, which had examples of plants from all over Chile. It was quite strange though because we got eyed by the park guards rather suspiciously a couple of times – we weren´t doing anything bad though! There is also a beautiful open air swimming pool at the halfway point, which looked particularly inviting! We made our way back up to the top and then went back down the other side and that was about it for Wednesday.
On Thursday we headed for Valparaiso, which is where we are writing this from. It´s a port town on the Pacific coast (our first ever sighting of the Pacific ocean!), about an hour and a half from Santiago and isn´t really like we expected. It´s a lot bigger for one thing! It´s quite a nice town though and it definitely feels lived in rather than just being a tourist resort, which is nice. There isn´t a lot of flat land between the port and the hills surrounding the bay so most of the houses are built up the hills and as many of them are quite brightly painted, it´s quite attractive.
We went to the tourist office at the bus station when we arrived who recommended an excellent little place to stay. I know we don´t really plug places normally but if anyone reading this is on their way to Valparaiso, we would highly recommend `El Rincon Marino´, San Ignacio 454. It´s a really nice place – nice rooms, really friendly owners, free internet use and an excellent breakfast! Good value for money for Chile too…although still more expensive than Argentina. Oh, the bathrooms are shared but we never had a problem getting in them. So, that´s the sales pitch.
One of the first things we did in the town was a boat trip around the harbour – I managed to bargain on the price again so was feeling quite proud of myself! We actually had the boat to ourselves and it was a very pleasant half an hour. We had a guide who was telling us about the port etc. It is a major port in Chile, with cargo ships from all over the world coming over to export mainly fruit and copper. Apparently Chile is the biggest exporter of copper in the world…Valparaiso is also apparently the only city in the world to be the government seat that isn´t the capital city. We didn´t tip the guide at the end (people don´t seem to in Argentina), which the bloke didn´t seem very happy about. We´ve got to get used to a whole new set of rules in Chile!
We then went up a few of the `acsensors´, which are tram-like things that take you up the hills. We had some nice views of the city and the bay (lots of nice views recently!) and it was really nice and peaceful wandering around the streets up there, unlike the centre, which is extremely busy and rammed full of people, cars and so many buses!!!
On Friday, we headed for Viña del Mar, which is basically a tourist resort a few miles down the coast. We´re not really sure why we went because the sound of it didn´t really appeal to either of us as it is basically just a tourist town but we´re pleased we did because it was actually a lot nicer than we were expecting. We decided to go by train as it was a bit of a novelty – there aren´t many trains in South America, although the lady in the tourist office did give me a bit of a funny look when I asked about it! It was fine though – quite old but in good working order and we had some nice views (there they are again!), out across the sea.
When we arrived in Viña del Mar, we thought we´d be a bit different and rather than heading for the beach, which seems to be the main attraction, we went for a walk in a really nice little park – Parque Quinta Vergara. It was originally the gardens of the `Palacio Vergara´, which now houses an art museum. Apparently the wife of the guy who owned it was a bit of an amateur botanist and so planted lots of different types of plants and trees and the collection was added to by their son, who was in the navy. I can´t say that I really appreciated the diversity in species as I´m not an amateur botanist but there were lots of trees and it was a nice walk. We also made a friend – a stray dog that followed us from the time we entered the park until we left it. Chris christened him Perry.
We then went for lunch at a great little restaurant – a 3 course meal, with drinks for 2.20 each! Then it was time to head for the beach. It was a lot less busy than we expected, which was a very nice surprise and we wandered along it and went for a paddle in the Pacific! It was a bit too rough for swimming for my liking, although we got a good soaking by a couple of rather large waves anyway!
We then decided to wander over to a castle on the seafront and somehow managed to get soaked by another monster wave, even though we were walking on a pavement about 10 feet about the sea! The castle was quite nice and was built as a home rather than for defence purposes. Again, we had a guide to show us around and this time we gave him a bit of a tip – we´re learning!
Our next stop was a flower clock, which is a flower bed with clock numbers and then mechanical clock hands which tell the time – quite a cool idea. It was then time to head back to Valparaiso where we went up one of the acsensors again to watch the sunset and see the city by night. Although you would think that we´d get quite a spectacular sunset from here, the bay actually faces north which means that the sun goes down behind the hills of the city. It was quite pretty though and the city looked quite pretty when it was all lit up – Chris reckoned it looked like a fairytale city.
Which brings us to yesterday, when we thought we´d have a bit of a lazy day but actually ended up reasonably busy. We did a couple of jobs in the morning, including looking at some places to stay in San Pedro de Atacama for new year – it all looks quite expensive at the moment! We then thought that we should have a fish lunch as we´re in a port town and I had the seafood platter, consisting of a lot of shellfish. We recognised the mussels, the crab and the clams but I don´t really know what the rest was! There were a few small lobster looking things that were quite purple! It all tasted quite good though. Chris had fish and chips with hake, which is the most common fish around here.
We then went to the `open sky museum´, which is a series of murals around one of the bits of the town on the hill. You walk around the streets to see them and there are 20 in all. Although I wouldn´t say that I was overawed by the art, we thought it was quite a cool idea. Next we went up another of the ascensors, which was a bit different and more like a lift. You have to go through quite a long tunnel to get to it! Again, we had…wait for it…quite nice views of the city and bay.
And that´s about it for Valparaiso. We´re just about to head back to Santiago for a few days, where we hope to do another couple of day trips to various places, before heading to our luxury hotel in Arica for Christmas! We´ll be back soon…
|  | 
|
