Day 146 Sun 23/1 Border crossing, Valparaiso
After various 20 hour bus rides, a 7 hour bus ride seem like a breeze. The only glitch was the 2-2.5 hour wait at the border to cross into Chile. The scenery was well worth the time spent in the bus as we drove along the Andes, gaining about 1500-odd metres from Mendoza to the border. They had signs at the immigration control advising people how to deal with altitude sickness.
After checking into the hostel at Valparaiso, I went for a walk and also to get some food. There was some music in Plaza Italia, and a dance performance in some other plaza. I ended up missing dinner!
Day 147 Mon 24/1 Valparaiso
Spent the day exploring the port town. The downtown is not attractive, with dirty streets. There are lots of stray dogs in Chile and Argentina, which leads to a lot of “kaka” on the streets. Not much fun to walk along these streets. But it all changes as soon as one steps onto the hills. The town has a Porto-like feel with extremely colourful houses on hills. There are many “ascensors” that take you up the hill and the hills are connected by streets. The views out into the ocean from the hills also well make it worthwhile walking these streets. The title of cultural capital of Chile seems to be well-earned as there is an artistic vibe to the place!
After about 4 hours of walking, I was ready to head back to the hostel to get some rest before heading back out for a short walk in the evening.
Day 148 Tue 25/1 Valparaiso
Spent the day with a Finn and Kiwi. One was a musician and the other worked in wineries, making wine and was extremely knowledgeable about wines.
Pablo Neruda had a house in Valparaiso, named La Sebastiana, which he bought complete from a Spaniard. Spent a couple of hours enjoying the house and the lovely views from his house. He definitely knew how to enjoy life!
Walked around the neighbourhood and had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. Very good food and service.
Off to the hostel to get some shelter from the sun. Head out again in the evening for a walk along Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre, a region which has been deemed a UNESCO world hritage centre. A very interesting neighbourhood with colourful house, graffiti on the walls and winding, steep streets! There are some very nice restaurants in the area as well.
Day 149 Wed 26/1 Valparaiso
Went to Isla Negra to visit Neruda’s house on the coast. He designed most of the place, so it has touches of his eccentric personality. It is about 1.5 hours from Valpo.
I got an hour early for my appointment for the guided tour, so spent the time sitting on a rock on the beach. Listening to the waves, as they roar and leap, and die on the rocks is such a soothing experience.
The tour through Neruda’s house was a bit rushed, but still informative. He had a love of ships, and owned a boat, but never did sail, because he was afraid of sailing. He has a model of a horse in a room, with saddles and other things, but never rode. He seemed to collect many things! There are items off boats, maps, butterflies, bottles, posters… He enjoyed wine, food and the company of people. His bedroom looked over into the ocean and was well lit from two huge windows. Beautiful views from a bunch of his rooms! The tombs of Pablo Neruda and Matilde, his 3rd wife, are also in the property.
The guide requested that we not take photos. This didnt please a French lady from New Caledonia, who muttered away in French. It was hard not to laugh at the way she seemed to hide behind the rest of the folks in the tour and try take photos! She did get caught taking a photo in one room, as the flash gave her away. When the guide objected, she blamed other tourists, who were looking into the room, and spouted more French.
Stopped in a town called El Quilco on the way back to have a picnic lunch on the beach with my travel companion, who has lived quite an interesting life.
The night was a very sociable one as I ended up spending most of the time in the kitchen, talking to people, being offered food and wine.
Day 150 Thu 27/1 Valparaiso
Spent the day wandering about Cerro Concepcion (again), seeing things I missed the first time and visited the cemetery. Also went to the museum of fine arts, Palacio Baburizza, which had been closed for ages for renovation. They only opened the previous day and had 3 rooms with paintngs (European) open to the public.
Thursday was the first of 3 days of Arts and Music festival in Valpo and they had some nice “sculptures” outside the museum, which I really liked.
Spent a couple of hours after lunch in a nearby town called Viña del Mar. It is as different from Valpo as one could imagine. It could have been any European or American beach town. I recall that Playa del Carmen in Mexico looked similiar. Beach being the main attraction, there was little in the town to interest tourists. The town itself is very clean and teeming with multi-storied buildings.
Day 151 Fri 28/1 Valparaiso
After spending some time in Viña del Mar again, to visit the park and the archaelogical museum, I headed back to the hostel. A fellow traveller from San Diego, Mostafa, opened a bottle of wine and a few of us sat around chatting for a while, savouring the wine.
Then it was time for a concert at Pablo Neruda’s house as part of the festival in Valpo. It was by an orchestra called Orquestra Andina. The combination of flutes, guitars and drums left me wanting for more! Wish they had CDs on sale.
Tango time – the show was supposed to start at 20:00, but they had barely got all the instruments ready by that time. They announced that the show wouldnt start till 21:30 and the crowd booed and hissed. I guess it was late even by laid-back S American standards! But when it did begin, it was a very enjoyable show. They had artists from Arica, Bariloche, Mendoza and other places. I have learned to love Tango on this trip and plan to get hold of some more tango music when I get home.
I really enjoyed my stay in Valparaiso and can understand why it draws tourists by the thousands!
Damu