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We went on a nice little weekend jaunt over to Valparaíso and VIÑA del Mar last weekend. Valparaiso is the second largest city in Chile I'm told. I believe it's about 250,000 people. The city is very very old and so are most of the buildings. There are 46 hills in Valpo, each of which is littered with these tiny houses.
This is the view of the city from the hostel that we stayed at. You can kind of see all of the houses in the background that go up the hills. The hostel we stayed at was actually very nice. It was incredibly clean and the hostess was friendly. She even offered to take us out on the town the first night. That's at least what we thought she offered. We all climbed into a collectivo (a taxi that travels 1 specific route and has a fixed price) and were carted off to the center of Valpo. When we got out she said, "I have an appointment to make so that area over there is where the bars are. Here are the keys to the house I don't know how late I'll be coming home!"Valpo, although it is on the ocean, has no beaches. It's a port town and you can see all of the big cargo and fishing boats parked in the harbor. One can understand how Valpo has developed like it has. It is very much a sailors town. The people hanging around the bars were punky and the bars seemed to follow suit. That said we did not stay out for very long. I think Bree summed up our experience in Valpo pretty well when she said "Valparaiso smells."
Here are some pictures from Valparaiso including our nice pink hostel. Our hostel was on top of a hill on the water and had some very nice views.
Valparaiso really wasn't that bad. We had fun exploring the old city. I went and visited Pablo Neruda's house which was pretty incredible. No wonder the man wrote beautiful poetry when he woke up to such spectacular views everyday. Bree and I also had some wonderful fresh seafood. We went to a restaurant and shared a big steamed bowl of goodness in a white wine fish sauce. That was probably the best thing ever.
It is a shame we didn't take a picture of the presentation. It's baked in this big pot here and came with a huge cover on it. When they took the cover off all the steam and smells came pouring out and it was awesome. Unfortunately this picture is about halfway through the meal so it doesn't give justice to pure righteous power of the steamed seafood medley!The next day we went to Vina del Mar to explore a proper beach town. When we first arrived in Chile we met a Canadian named Glen. Glen gave us some advice about getting around the city and fun things to do and all that jazz. He also told us how lazy Chileans can be. He said that they are more likely to take a bus or taxi than to walk 3 blocks. A perfect example of this is the relationship between Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. Ask a Chilean how to get to Vina del Mar from Valparaiso and they will say that it's too far to walk and is about a 10 minute bus ride. Upon taking a bus there ourselves we realized that in fact it is a 1 minute bus ride, and Vina del Mar is literally just around the corner from Valparaiso.
Given their outrageous proximity, two cities could never be so different. Valparaiso is a big industrial port town. Vina del Mar is a beautiful resort town, with white sandy beaches and clear water. Everything you would expect from a place named the vineyard of the sea is there. We had a blast exploring Vina del Mar. There are tons of very funky shops and restaurants. The beaches were beautiful, though the water is cold because of the Antarctic current (or something like that). There are massive hotels and resorts along the coast that are very impressively designed. There are old castles and houses as well, some of which have been made into free museums. We decided the next time we come we are definitely staying here.
At the Vina Del Mar Sheraton!!Just kidding, our wallets are feeling quite squeezed these days. Time for MORE Pictures!
There is not much else to say for today. I'll try to start posting more often!
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