After the difficulties in getting through customs, we get into the centre of Santiago safely, and cant believe how Spanish the whole place feels. We're in a trendy little barrio called Bellavista, with lots of colourful houses, bars and restaurants spilling out onto the pavement. We could easily be in Barcelona or Madrid, except that we're a lot further away than a 2hr Easyjet flight into Gatwick. We dont allow ourselves too much of a rest to try and combat jet lag before heading out for a stroll around, along with many other Santiagans.
Although we can speak a bit of Spanish, the language here is a bit different - sounds very lazy, and whole sentences merge into one. The local beer, escudo sounds like 'sou' but we manage to order a few to have at a sidewalk bar while the sun goes down. Its nice to be back in shorts and flip flops after the chill of New Zealand. Definitely not chilly in Chile. Practically next door to our hostel is a retso offering traditional Chilean food so we settle in for a parrillada, which is best described as a mixed grill. Not something we would normally go for at home, but we are in Chile, and tuck into sausages, chicken, chops, steak, and some surprisingly good black pudding. No veg though, apart from a couple of huge potatoes. Its good food though, and we are stuffed as Easter Sunday comes to an end - at last.
Monday we spend wandering central Santiago. Not a lot to report, some old Spanish collonial buildings, couple of big Catholic cathedrals, and a nice park on a hill to climb up and get good albeit smoggy views across the city.
We get more views the next day from the Cerro San Cristobal, a huge hill on the to pof which a huge white statue of teh Virgi Mary looks out over the city. You can almost make out the Andes in the distance, but the pollution gets in the way. Too exhausted and jet lagged to do much else, we spend the rest of the day snoozing and skype-ing and generally catching up with everyone at home, before heading out for supper in the local trendy area of Bellavista patio.
We're out with our bags by 1100am next day down to the metro station (which is as warm as the tube in summer) to head over to the bus station and onto Valparaiso. Its only 90 mins on the bus, but as we descend down to the coast, the weather changes and cloud comes in. We squeeze on the local minibus at the other and find our digs for the next few days. Not in the same league as our place in Santiago but at least it has wifi. We head out for a stroll around, and find some lunch in a restaurant which is showing the champions league - its good to keep in touch back home. Valpo is a pretty little town, built in between a number of steep hills. There are about a dozen ancient funicular lifts, built at the turn of the 19th Century, rattling up and down the hills so you dont have to use the steps. Most of the buildings are really brightly coloured, and stand out on the hills, making the whole place look really pretty, and there are lots of good look out points over the very busy port.
We dont get a good nights sleep as our hostel is one of the noisiest we've been to, and have to politely ask some locals not to watch youtube with the volume on full at 100am.
Next morning, we're awoken to the sounds of Vivaldi, which is definitely a step up from Spanish you tube. We're off to Vina Del Mar for a daytrip, a seaside town further North along the coast that is the upmarket end of town. Sadly its pretty chilly again in Chile, so we cant make the most of the beach, but its a nice town to stroll around and we find a place for lunch that has an amazing red wine that we tuck into, having moved to be in front of the real fire. Almost like being in a good pub in England on a winter's afternoon. Warmed from the fire and teh wine we head back to Valpo, and considering the number of mini busses going back and forth, its amazing that we get the same driver who recognises us, and rattles us back along the coast, with only a couple of near death experiences.
After a quick rest back home, we head out to a bar up in the Cerro Concepcion, one of the nicer areas of town that we found yesterday Instead of just a couple of beers we end up staying out until after 100am. Hoping that the party is over back home, we're faced with the closing moments of a party as the rest of the hostel, and about 20 other randoms are heading out. British gap year students off their heads seem to let the side down. We're feeling like the old grandparents asking them to be quiet, and recognise that arrogance that we get in return...
Anyway, despite another disturbed nights sleep, we're in decent mood the next day, helped by apologies all round from noisy neighbours. Another day pottering around Valpo, this time though in the sunshine. Its a nice place to hang out with some great views, and also a decent pizza place to spend the evening. Weary and not a little wary we return back to the hostel, and its all pretty quiet, until some bloody night club starts up downstairs. With a if you cant beat them atitude, we pop to join in, but there is noone there. Its probably the worst nightclub in the world as they only seem to have about 5 tunes, and they knock off after an hour. But only until about 430, when we get the same tunes for another hour or so.
So a bit of an odd experience in Valparaiso, and not one that we want to repeat again anytime soon! We're glad to be heading out of Chile, even though we're leaving at 730am (sorry for waking everyone up so early) not least because of the lack of sleep and dodgy immigration officers, but there's not really a lot to recommend about Chile. Its nice, but like the food, in a bit of a bland way. Glad we came, but cant really see any reason for coming back. Hey ho, on to Argentina, which I've been looking forward to for ages!
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