2014/01 Chile trip - Valparaiso |
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Tuesday January 21st
A shuttle bus picked us up bright and early and took us off to a central bus station where about forty of us set off through rush hour and tunnels along the fast toll road to Valparaiso. This took us through the much greener Central Valley, with its vineyards and orchards, probably irrigated, as the higher slopes looked to be covered in prickly pear cactus.
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Valparaiso |
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After a couple of hours, another tunnel took us through the Coastal Mountains and down the hill into Valparaiso. We’d been warned about its frequent morning fog but we had a rare sunny day, very comfortable. The old town is built on very steep hills above the harbour, a pretty sight with its colourful buildings, but getting around is difficult. The bus dropped us off at the top of a hill and we were to make our way down cobbled streets, stairs, and boardwalks, staying close to our guide
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The port of Valparaiso has had a boom and bust history. The boom came from mining and guano traffic, plus its strategic position on the route from Europe to California around Cape Horn. This resulted in a cosmopolitan city and much architectural diversity. The bust came after a destructive earthquake, a decline in mining traffic, and, worst of all, the opening of the Panama Canal. Now the port has cruise ships, fruit and wine and salmon exports, and the monster ships that are too big for the canal.
The town is a chaos of steep, narrow streets, impossible corners, funny buildings tailored for odd-shaped lots, murals, and flowers. Some houses that appear to be a single story from one street turn out to be the fifth story for the rest of the building on another street 
far below. I felt like asking to see a plan of the sewer system but decided I‘d rather not know.
We came out of the maze at sea level, where the bus was waiting to whisk us off to nearby Vina del Mar, literally “vineyards by the sea”,a much newer and less interesting city, but blessed with sandy beaches. We had lunch at a seaside restaurant, overlooking surfers on the beach and the distant Castillo Wulff, a rich man’s folly, now a museum and a gathering spot for Peruvian pelicans. It was here that we first sampled the local drink, the pisco sour, an addictive concoction of Chilean brandy, egg-
white, and lime juice.
The bus took us to a beach but I doubt that any of us went swimming; Chile’s coast is cooled by the Humboldt Current, straight from the Antarctic. The beach had many more tanning than paddling, even though it was the school holidays.
Our last stop was at the Museo Fonck, not to go inside, but to goggle at the moai outside. Chile owns Easter Island and this is the only 
one of the statues to have left the island. I was surprised that it hadn’t suffered a spraycan makeover. No, we didn’t visit Easter Island; it’s over 2000 miles off the Chilean coast and it has a dismal and depressing history.
We were back in time to eat out in Santiago at the Chinchinera where we finally understood the Chilean habit of adding a 10% tip to the bill. This is not a tip the waiter gets so he’ll ask for one too, and you have to cross out the 10% and give the waiter a tip in cash. Confusing and irritating, but it explained why some of our waiters had looked sad.
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Vina del Mar |
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