Valparaiso: November 2015
Our neighborhood in Valparaiso, Chile.
After not sleeping well the night before, and the early wake up, we both slept through the hour bus ride to Valparaiso. On arrival, we were starving and ducked into a hole in the wall restaurant that was decorated with random shadowboxes created by the owner. The food was subpar, but did it’s job, and we left full. We failed to take the metro and instead took a bus, which reminded me of the combis in Cusco. The driver zipped along unnecessarily fast and would come to a rolling stop where people old and young were jumping on and off. We were sitting there putting along, and Javier excitedly says, “Off! Now!” Apparently, the bus was moving so quickly, his map app couldn’t keep up, and when it finally updated, we were at our stop, or at least around it. We hopped off (bus still in motion) and walked up the hill to our hotel. We actually walked right past our hotel, and therefore walked unnecessarily further, which wasn’t so bad since the street art kept us plenty entertained.
Valparaiso, Chile.
We caught the afternoon free walking tour. Our group was small and we had a great time. The city has funiculars all over so people don’t have to walk uphill if they don’t want to. The buildings in Valparaiso are brightly colored, the street art covers all the bare walls and staircases, and the walls that aren’t covered in art are covered in graffiti. We walked through a tiny pedestrian road and our guide knocked on a door. There was a small sign hanging above that said “Alfajores.” An old man opened the door, our guide quietly spoke to him, he produced a Chilean style (covered in chocolate) alfajor for each of us, closed the door, and that was that. No smiles, no interaction, it was like a backdoor drug deal except with desserts.
Alfajor break. Valparaiso, Chile.
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We sampled some Pisco mixed with lemon…it was okay. The highlight of the tour was the dogs. There are stray dogs everywhere, and our guide says that his record for the tour is 8. One dog in particular enjoys chasing reflected light. He followed us most of the time, and everyone had their phones out, reflecting the light and watching the dog go crazy. We ended the tour by the water, and while the rest of our group opted to take a boat tour of the harbor, Javier and I went to eat. Javier had spotted a Peruvian place on the way to the tour meeting point. So of course we had to try it. It did not disappoint. Javier took pictures and made funny noises with every bite. He truly enjoyed this experience.
We rolled ourselves home as we were too stuffed to do anything else.
Art. Valparaiso
The next day, we didn’t have to check out until noon, lovely. After checkout, we walked for about an hour to Pablo Neruda’s house. The walk was very entertaining, full of art, dogs, and tourists. We walked up and up, and then followed a flat, curvy road the rest of the way. I don’t know what I was expecting from Neruda’s house, and while it was interesting, I wasn’t overly impressed. It’s just a house, and it’s described as a boat, but in truth, he wanted to believe his house was a boat, and therefore created this image. To me, it’s just a tall narrow house on a hill. The house is 5 stories with each floor containing only one or two rooms. I’m glad we went, but I think this was one of those instances where I enjoyed the journey more than the destination.
Valparaiso, Chile.
From there, we walked back down to the Peruvian spot for lunch and then walked to the bus station. We were able to catch the next bus right away, and were wide awake for the ride home. It was a quick stop, but on reflection, we both enjoyed Valparaiso much more than Santiago.
To see more pictures of Valparaiso, click HERE.