Day 24 SA - Valiparaiso

We woke up early to say good-bye to Rick as today we are heading to Valparaiso on the coast and when we return tomorrow evening Rick will be on his way to Toronto. The same flight as us, but 24 hours before we depart South America. By the time we pack, walk the 3 kms. to the subway and get across town to catch the interurban bus it is 11:00. We do well requesting our tickets etc. and are soon on our way for about a 2 hours bus ride to the coast. It is only a bit more than 100 kms away but things move pretty slow through the city and then the mountains.

By 1:00 pm we arrive in Valparaiso, and it is much cooler than Santiago. We had melted the previous day in 30 degree celcius weather so had packed our bathing suits and shorts in preparation of beautiful weather at the coast. Unfortunately the coast is much cooler and we were glad we had thrown in our light sweater/jackets for the evenings as it was only about 13 degrees here. Julie only brought sandals and was getting quite a few looks.

We walked about an hour to our B&B to unload our daypacks of clothes so we could explore uninhibited. First stop is the naval museum which is quite good. There is lots of kudos to Cochrane and O'Higgins for the Chile independence from Spain. Cochrane was an english navel officer who lead the Chilean Navy during the war of independence. To get to the museum we of course got to take one of the many veniculars up the hill. Valparaiso is built on many hills, cerros in spanish and has about 10 veniculars to get people up the various hills. Sadly some of them are not working. The one to our B&B was not functioning so we had to walk up the hill to reach our accommodations. (Of course we could take a taxi, but that would be too easy).

We walked the waterfront which in this area is lots of cargo and containers. Many of the ships in port belong to the military. This is one of the major ports as most of the Chilean coast is exposed and Valparaiso is famous for its port since it has a bit of a protected bay.

Valparaiso is a city of contrasts. On first look it is dirty, with lots of grafitti, stray or at least loose dogs, and corresponding dog crap. A number of the buildings are derelict or in disrepair. We went past one building that had some see through black cloth on it instead of a wall and you could see it was a bathroom on the other side. Wonder if they were still using it? We wonder if some of the derelict buildings and disrepair is due to the 2010 earthquake. The building products of newer structures is mainly tin, of which it is often mismatched, incomplete, and spray painted with graffiti. On the other hand much of the architecture is incredible, and some of the "graffitti" is amazing artwork. You can see the architecture is from a number of time periods and has influences from a number of countries. The city looks like a San Francisco with a layer of grime and decay on it.

We hunted around for a spot to stop for Cervesas and an empanada as we missed lunch. Our goal was to find a spot in the sun, outside, with a view. Not such an easy task with a setting sun and hill side. Finally we did find a spot at about 4:30. The empanadas, were con queso (with cheese), but this meant no meat! We thought it was in addition to meat. An empanada is a pastry folded over with meat in it usually.

After our break we wandered around some art shops for an hour and headed back to our B&B to do some research on where to have dinner and blog a bit. We found a dinner spot with good trip advisor comments just around the corner from us and were off again. Turns out the restaurant was excellent. Beautiful sparkling lights on the harbour to watch, clean, great service and good food and wine. A wonderful way to finish our exploratory day.

Lastly we took a picture of ????? What do you think the 15th pic is?

Photo notes
1) Venicular (inclined street car, cost to ride was $200 Chilean Peso (~50 cents)
2) View looking out on Valiparaiso Harbour - Cargo and Warships
3) Julie and Dawson - the classic straight arm portrait
4) Derelict building
5) Dog and graffiti
6) Derelict Building for sale
7) Cat on a hot tin roof
8) Bath room with partial cover
9) Republic architecture
10) Colourful mural
11) Interesting photo ops
12) Street view to harbour
13) Dawson enjoying a well deserved cervesa
14) Laurel and Hardy give us the thumbs up
15) What is this? Answer will be given next week. Prize once again is a weeks accommodation in the Caribbean next winter.
Cheers Julie and Dawson