Artistic Seaport

Looking out to port in Valparaiso
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Back in the Sun!

We arrived in seaport Valparaiso after 20 hours of travelling north. We loved the change in climate, getting off the bus into the heat after 3 weeks in much cooler Patagonia was superb. We had four days to chill before flying to Easter Island from nearby Santiago. We had heard a lot of great things about arty Valparaiso, it sounded a lot more chilled than Santiago and safer.

Our hostel choice was a gamble, we had emailed to book from Puerto Montt but hadn't got a reply back in time, the friendly taxi driver didn't reckon there would be room but our booking had worked and we got the last double room, very nice. We can recommend Casa Aventura to anyone visiting!

Gato's
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Valparaiso is a very unusual city, it's built on dozens of ridiculously steep hillsides facing the ocean with luxury villas rubbing shoulders with tin shack slums. It's got a wonderful historic air to it, with charismatic old buildings and cobbled streets. Each hill (called Cerro) has a different flavour to it. The hills are so steep that funiculars were built to transport people up and down them. There are 14 rickety, wooden cable car lifts still running, most over a hundred years old.

Colourful terrace
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Our location was in between Cerro Alegre and Concepcion, there were heaps of really nice restaurants and cafes nearby. Oh and lots of murals. In fact our lasting memory of Valparaiso will be the artistic nature. Beautiful murals brightening up otherwise run down streets, bright colours disguising tin slums, even post boxes, fire hydrants and railings were painted. A fellow navimager, Jordan (U.S.A) turned up at our hostel and we had a pleasant time sharing stories over nice food with him. We taught Jordan a useful method for keeping track of camera memory cards...numbering! Genius idea.

Hillside views
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We explored the windy, cobbled streets. Sometimes using funiculars, mostly walking. Discovering out of the way places with amazing views over the port. Our favourite was Hotel Brighton, a classic old wooden building, rooms were way out of our price range as were the meals.. but drinks are always affordable! Writing postcards, supping on cold beers and gazing over the city from the terrace became a favourite pastime! We ate fantastic meals at French, Thai and Italian restaurants. We enjoyed salads and healthy lunches. Amazing the difference in culinary culture to the rest of our travels. We even tried our hand at cooking steak one night (not the best experience).

Cool mural
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The sunday flea market was fascinating, we were very tempted by some nautical antiques, though everything seemed to be made of cast iron and was completely impractical to send home. Our trip on a small boat around the harbour was fun as it gave us a different perspective of the city. We even understood most of the constant banter from the skipper and his mate (our Spanish is finally improving!). Our walk around the open air museum was interesting, such a bold idea to commission artists to paint artworks on buildings and to come up with the concept 30 years ago. Though it did feel like we were walking through peoples backyards sometimes!

Steep, steep stairs
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All too soon our time was up and we were rising very early to get the bus to Santiago airport. Our lovely hostel owner had made us a packed breakfast as we were leaving before brekkie. It was even wrapped with a red ribbon and a note wishing us a good journey! What a great hostel! A few transfers later we were at the airport. On time and very very excited about our next destination... the mysterious Easter Island!!!!