25/08/2012 – 26/08/2012 – The Jewel of the Pacific

Classic overview of the hillsides of Valpo

Your hostel is just over there. Great!

Pizza time!

A hop, skip and a bus and we were arriving in Valpariso, the port town 2 hours from Santiago. Arrived in the dark, so caught a taxi to the next hostel, but were a bit intimidated when we were dropped off at a multitude of roadworks vaguely resembling a street. Fortunately the taxi driver wasn’t just having a laugh, and after dropping the bags off we wandered out and the first eatery we found was a pizza joint. Gutted.

A fleeting shot of Wally on
the tour, next to one of
many abandoned funiculars

Another view out over Valpo,
enjoyed with a Pisco sour

Wild dogs, street art - Valpo to a T

Famous multi-coloured houses - supposedly because the
different colours were cheaper than traditional ones...

Amazing street art in Valpo -
http://www.muralvalpo.blogspot.com/

Upon hearing about a tour for tips walking tour round Valpariso, we couldn’t say no – especially when a new friend from the US with perfect Spanish was also keen. Wally switched seamlessly from chum to tour guide, and gave us a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours round the Jewel of the Pacific (although only really needed to be 2 and a half…). Despite falling into a state of disrepair (due to the Panama Canal - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valpara%C3%ADso) it is full of character, and the street art on show was something else! Decided against doing the mountain bike challenge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ewLH0TVWkU&feature=fvst

Crossing over to Vina del Mar

Post feet dipping, with a smile
(but also a wet shoe...)

After getting our hands on a Completo, which was quickly demolished, we utilised the language skills of our new friend at the bus station to book in our onward trip. Learning basic Spanish was quickly becoming a necessity! From there headed to Vina del Mar, a more upmarket town just round the corner. Tony dipped his feet (unintentionally) into the Pacific Ocean, but Annaliza was unable to locate the stall that sold her some “amazing” beach artwork 8 years ago. Devastating…

Couldn't get away from the
palm trees - this one on the
door to our hostel

Key Learnings:

The Balfours had had a hand
in these funiculars - didn't
ease my journey on one!

1. Dogs are an issue in Chile – no we’re not talking doggy doo, but wild dogs… They’re everywhere, and if you’re unlucky can really interrupt your sleep patterns. It’s very disconcerting when one, half the size of Annaliza follows us for over a kilometre, occasionally bumping into the back of our legs.

2. Even in a Chilean winter, people hit the beach. Strange to see so many people wearing hoodies, jackets, trousers etc…