Day 7: ¡Vamos a la playa!

Today we were headed out of Santiago to the coast. We breakfasted early and packed our backpacks for an overnight trip. (I felt a tiny bit guilty about my kind sponsor for the trip paying for the room when we weren’t using it but I got over that!) Then we hopped in the hotel car and headed for the bus station. Yup, we were traveling like locals – except for the hotel taxi part. We would have taken the subway but it was rush hour and we’re not that adventurous!

Granted we weren’t taking the local bus where you stand a the bus stop until one arrives. We had reserved seats on the 8.25 bus to Valparaiso using one of the local bus companies – think Greyhound or Stagecoach. The first challenge was to finding the right bus station: apparently Santiago has 7 of them! And of course the driver dropped us off at the wrong one! How did I know? My toddler Spanish of course! ¿Está este autobus aqui? ¿No – donde?. We were able to figure out we needed to go the terminal next door and managed to board the correct bus.

And then we barreled to the coast through the mists of the Casablanca valley where the white wine grapes grow well. We passed through a range of hills and then were at the coast. We disembarked and started walking to our hotel through some very interesting parts of the city. I’ve often wondered if they choose to put bus stations in unsavoury parts of town or if the causality runs the other way. After about half an hour we appeared to have arrived at the center of town and faced our first experience of Valparaiso – hills. 42 of them to be precise (or 44 according to some accounts so maybe not so precise!) We managed the slog up Cerro Allegre to San Enrique street and our home for the night.

I don’t always randomly pick a good hotel from online websites but this time we hit the jackpot. The Augusta Apart Hotel is a small boutique place with just 6 rooms. Ours was number 4 with an AMAZING view of the city and the harbor – if you look at the hotel website, it’s the second from the top. The owner allowed us to check in early so we could drop off our backpacks and do some planning. She also walked us through some suggestions for what to do and where to go and then made dinner reservations for us at her recommended restaurant. Perfecto! So it was off to do some wandering which is definitely our thing. Valparaiso is built on a series of hills with funky architecture and pretty random buildings stuck to the sides of the slopes. Colorful houses, a definite bohemian vibe and more street art (and graffiti) than you an possibly imagine. And we wanted to see it all plus eat some fresh seafood and enjoy the coast.

It was chillier here than in Santiago but by the time we got moving the morning fog had burned off and we had lovely walking weather. It would have been lovelier if there was some part of the city besides the harbor that was flat but at lease we’d be earning our lunch! We wandered all over (read: up and down) taking in the sights before heading to a lovely place for lunch. I had “sealed tuna” – Google translate doen’t ALWAYS get it quite right – and Frank had the flat iron steak – both with Chilean wine of course! The fog/mist moved in and out through out the day so some photos are better than others.

I know that I tend to post a LOT of photos of street art but this time it just isn’t possible to show it all. I have posted below the art of a duo known as Un Kolor Disntinto from Santiago who have really covered the spaces of Valparaiso with their oddly intriguing work.

So after covering at least 3 of the hills, we needed a break. Back to our lovely hotel for a glass of wine and some down time. A shower and several hands of cribbage later, we were back out wandering the streets – this time in search of sunset views. While Valparaiso does look over the Pacific, the part of the city we were in faced north which doesn’t do much for sun rise or set. I had read a recommendation for having a drink on the patio of a particular hotel so we toddled along, glad that it was close to the restaurant. The “sunset view” was a bit of a disappointment but the pisco sours were lovely. Then it was time to go to La Concepcion for our 8pm dinner reservation. What a fantastic meal! The view over the harbor was outstanding – made even more so when we go to watch the moon rise. We had a local savignon blanc (I’m coming around to this wine!) and ceviche to start. Then it was Frank’s turn for tuna while I had some local fish that I never could translate correctly (I suspect it was hake) but everything was delicious! Then back to the hotel for a breathtaking view of the city at night for the 10 minutes we were able to stay awake.