Valparaiso

So my last post I started with a rant. The reason for it was mainly because of the conversations I'd had about my plans to go to Valparaiso. If you Google Valparaiso then you'll see it's not considered to be the safest of places and everything everyone kept saying to me was really starting to put me off going. Thank heavens I didn't listen to them! I had a wonderful visit! Of course I took as many precautions as I could and the only thing of value I carried on me was my camera but I was also careful in choosing the parts that I visited alone and I only went to 'unsafe' areas as part of a group and so it meant that I really got to see a lot of the place and boy, did I love it! I'd been recommended by some people to stay in Viña del Mar, and I did visit it, but am so thankful that I didn't stay there. You'll see why later.

Anyway, I took the bus from Santiago to Valparaiso and was interested to see the variety of landscape that I encountered, from small trees and scrub

Right through to really lush green areas

(Apologies for the picture quality... don't think they'd cleaned the bus windows in a while!).

On arrival in Valparaiso I took a bus to close to my hostel. This is where I love the Internet! I'd been googling 'pubic transport in Valparaiso' and found an amazing blog www.the-wild-life.com that told me exactly how to get the bus to where I needed to be! Thank you Alys! And so following these instructions took me virtually to the end of my road. This would have normally been great, but Valparaiso is built on around 42 hills (the actual number isn't clear) and so despite only being around 200m away when I got off the bus, it was a very steep uphill 200m! Needless to say, all the inhabitants of Valpo (as it is also known and is quicker to write!) have very cute bums! 😉 Anyway, this was my replacement hostel after the first one I'd booked cancelled the day before I arrived and after a few hairy moments when they didn't have any record of my booking, I was able to stay. It was great actually and I think better than the one I'd booked. It was really peaceful and there was only one other person staying there who Daniella (the owner) put in a different room so that we could have our own rooms! Plus it was in this passageway

So behind 2 locked gates (one at each end of the passageway) and another to the property as well as the front door so couldn't have been any safer!

That evening, I went for a bit of a wander round and then had a much better pizza than I'd had in Argentina, plus a couple of pisco sours (the first was so good. I couldn't resist a second!) and headed back to the hostel with the plan of doing the walking tour the next morning, which I did! It was one of the best I've ever done. We got to ride one of the funiculars (Queen Victoria)

Play snakes and ladders down the slide

(This is obviously not me, just to show you what we did). And at this point I learnt that my travel trousers are incredibly slippy as I nearly flew off the end of the slide!!

And of course, there's the street art, which was my main reason for going after all. Wow. I've really struggled to pick out the art that I liked the best but here are some highlights

Some were really creative - I particularly liked this one.

The way to tell really good street art is to look at the eyes and hands (when it's people of course!) If they're well proportioned, this is a good indicator of the quality of the art; this is a good one!

The street art is highly regulated, even more so in the UNESCO area. You're only permitted to paint the side of a building if you have the permission of the owner. The person who painted this fell foul of this rule:

He didn't get permission so was arrested. However, he felt so strongly about the painting that he went back at night to finish it and returns in the dead of night every 4-5 months to retouch it! In the UNESCO area you're not allowed to change the facade of the buildings at all. This is both a blessing and a curse. The UNESCO award has meant that tourism has increased dramatically in this area but unless you benefit directly from this income, then maintaining a property (which has to be done with the equivalent materials to those with which the building was originally erected) can be incredibly expensive. Particularly if you have a fire in your building, which isn't uncommon as they're mostly wooden buildings, as you have to reconstruct it as it was originally built. All this art, plus the generally colourful buildings mean this is such a pretty place to visit! Although, of course, if you were to zoom in on these pictures, you'd see the rough edges here too. 

Other places we went to on the walking tour included the former stock exchange

And Plaza Sotomayor

We also stopped for lunch and went to an empanada place that did over 80 variety of empanada frito (fried, as opposed to al horno - baked). I had chicken, cheese and mushroom, it was soooo yummy!! And went very well with the shot of pisco sour!

During the walking tour I'd become friendly with Roger and Helen, a retired couple from Hampshire. I'd already decided that at the end of the tour I wanted to go and see Pablo Neruda's house, San Sebastian and as Helen also wanted to see it, initially all three of went for a walk to a look out point, passing the longest flight of stairs (192) in Valpo

And then Roger went off to do a boat ride and Helen and I continued to the house. This was the most incredible place. I really wish I could have taken pictures inside but they're not permitted so the best I could do is take some photos of the outside and also of the views:

It was frustrating though as because I'd left everything of value in my hostel, including my student card, I missed out on a 4500 peso discount on the entrance fee! It was the fist time I'd seen a student discount available in Chile/Argentina and so hadn't thought it worth taking with me... Pablo Neruda was obsessed with the sea and so there are many nautical aspects to the building but it was the large windows that dominated every room (hidden behind the tree in the picture above) and gave the most incredible views across the bay that captivated me. I'd never read any of Pablo Neruda's poetry before heading to South America but I have bought a book of it. I find it a little overly romantic and was tempted to give up on the book, but when I saw a postcard in the shop with his 'Ode de Tomate' I knew I had to stick with the poetry. Anyone who writes an ode to my favourite food is worth a second chance!! After the visit, Helen and I headed back down the hill where we said goodbye and I luckily bumped into Roger who had done his boat ride and seen seals, which was his aim, and was heading back to their car so it was nice to be able to say bye properly to him too.

The next day I took my trip to Viña del Mar. Lots of people had suggested I stay here rather than Valpo and as soon as I alighted the bus I could see why. It was a smart place with nice leafy trees and wide boulevards with great plazas and for sure felt really safe in comparison to Valpo. However, it felt really sterile and devoid of feeling. It is very much a beach town and holiday destination whereas Valpo is a working port town. The beaches were popular too! Of course, I braved the sand to dip my feet in the sea

But it was very unpredictable and one minute it covered your feet, the next it was half way up your leg! so my trousers did get more than a little wet, but it was around 33 degrees so they dried in no time! There was a pier there which I wandered along 

But there was no shade at all on it and it pushed the limits of my factor 50 sun cream! From here I went a wander to the flower clock, one of Viña del Mar's highlights

Before getting the bus back to Valpo. It had taken me a sedate 20 minutes to get to Viña del Mar, I took me 8 minutes to get back, it was the fastest, most kamikaze journey! But fun!

Having enjoyed visiting Pablo Neruda's house in Valpo so much, and because I'd been recommended to visit due to my own love of the sea, I decided to stay an extra night so that I could visit Isla Negra the next day, Neruda's third home, roughly a 90 minute bus ride from Valpo. It was a lovely journey that took me along the coast and this time, I had my student card with me so got in for 2500 pesos (just over £3) rather than 7000! Of the two, I was less keen on this house. 

As I've mentioned, Neruda loved the sea and there are some subtle pointers to this

And some not so subtle. This house is dominated by figureheads from ships. They're everywhere! And they're large. Although you'll have to take my word for it as photography wasn't allowed inside. The house is also closer to sea level so whilst the views are beautiful

they're not so awe inspiring as those in San Sebastien, although because the sea isn't so calm here, the views you get are more dramatic. Neruda died shortly after the coup that ousted Allende and he is buried here, joined by his second wife Mathilde when she died in 1985. Chascona, his house in Santiago, built so that he could visit her whilst he was still in his first marriage is named after Mathilde. Chascona means wild hair which Matilde had and which Neruda adored.

By the time I got the bus back, the beaches we passed had filled up dramatically! I took this picture as it reminded one my friend Noel hadn't taken years ago and won a photography competition with!

His was somewhat different as it was a picture of people holding umbrellas to keep the rain off them as they entered Oxford Street tube station rather than to protect them from the sun on the beach, but the close proximity of the brollies triggered the memory!

On my return to Valpo, I decided to break one of my golden rules and go back to the pizza place I'd discovered on my first night. This wasn't to be though as they were closed! See the world will help you to keep your self-imposed regulations at times! So I ended up at a French restaurant where I had beef bourguignon and a nice glass of carménère. The meal kinda makes sense when you think beef and red wine are two of the region's specialities... Whilst there, a guy came in to play the guitar. Now a while back, I asked you for your recommendations for songs for me to listen to on my travels, and one I received was Gracias a la Vida (I'm not saying who suggested this - it's not up to me to share other people's playlists!) but it's rapidly become a favourite of mine. It was the second song the guy played, beautifully too! Needless to say, he got tipped! It was a really lovely ending to a great visit to Valparaiso.