Oporto Nuevo : Valparaíso : Day 1 : Mon 3rd Mar

There are three (at least) bus terminals in Santiago depending on where you are heading. We headed to Terminal Alameda and bought a ticket with Condor Bus, but of course the bus leaves from the other terminal. Thank heavens it was only a five minute walk away.

Ah yes, another morning, the last morning, in Santiago. Another encounter with the creepy guy in our room. My temper has descended to the level of out-and-out hostility. He got short shrift. There is no way I'm posting my response to him here.

So there we are on another bus, delighted to be leaving the capital of Chile. It did us no favours at all.

It doesn't take long for the bus to be out of Santiago. It doesn't even feel like the urban sprawl of Belfast, running into neighbouring towns. Its quite simply a compact capital with nothing nearby to get sucked into its greater metropolitan area. The landscape has a mottled, Mediterranean feel, dusty sand-coloured hills descending into well-irrigated plains. The Chileans have made the most of this land in the centre of the country, its easy to see why the grapes for wine all come from round here.

Then we round a corner, there's a few shops, one has 'Valparaiso' written on it, and we notice a familiar view of houses staggered up the side of the hills. It's like being back in Oporto again, but without a big bridge, a bunch of fortified wine warehouses, and somewhat lacking the dramatic spectacle of everything falling apart. 120km has flown in between here and Santiago.

'Valpo' is Chile's true bohemian heart. Its a vista speckled with pastel colours, the occasional block of flats oddly juxtaposed halfway up a hill providing an attractive break from the endless quadrilaterals of more-or-less equal size and shape. Nice basic bus station, out the door, jump on bus to 'Aduana', jump out at the Shell petrol station, up the hill, up the coloured steps, Hostel Casa Volante there you are with complementary black and white fluffy cat (looking like it did not want petted, which did not stop me).

Lovely spot, comfy beds, excellent staff, all the usuals, plus a first! Italian stovetop coffee pots! Plus free ground coffee! You can keep your 'breakfast included' other hostels, this is how you do it (not to mention all the free fruit you could ask for). We chuck our stuff down and head out to explore (somehow I have miscalculated the number of days we are here. Later I will realise we have a bonus day, which makes our lives much much easier).

This is what the 'original' quarter of Valparaiso looks like. Over the past ten years they have tidied the place up; its still basically a big naval town, but now the whores are a lot less noticeable. This part of town, however, still retains some 'character'. By 'character', read 'thieving scumbags and drunks'.

The view down the stairs...

...and the view up to our hostel.

I considered doing a separate entry for all the street art, but no joke, it's absolutely everywhere, perhaps more than anywhere else we've been, so you're getting it on a day-by-day basis.

Italian / Peruvian cuisine? Hmmm!

Valparaiso is noted for the number of funiculars (ascensors) it has rising up into the hills. There's one hidden in this building here!

Plaza Sotomayor, north facing view of Arturo Prat statue.

Plaza Sotomayor, south facing view, Comendancia De La Armada straight ahead.

Down at the harbour we found a load of sailors all on strike (sitting in front of banners for the sailors' union and not doing much and looking gruff), but we couldn't work out why. The harbour is fully functioning. If you want to head down and get a tour of the destroyers I think you can, but no close up photos, so we didn't bother. It looks a lot like the little boats have blocked the harbour.

Nothing like a sign letting you know the escape route if there's a tsunami! Of course, we are in a town which was struck by a fairly serious earthquake recently, so its no laughing matter.

Into the crap part of town we go. Plaza Echaurrah is supposedly where the city got started, seeing as Valparaiso has never been founded, but its certainly where you will see the most grubby humans and derelict buildings.

This is Plaza Echaurrah. As you can see, it looks pretty but its full of hallions.

Our patience for dealing with creeps and weirdos is at an all-time low after Santiago's klampets. Back to more populous streets we go. Normally we have good tolerance for ramshackle bars charging 50p a beer, but today we want to go somewhere with nice humans.

We did not go up these stairs.

So we stop off in Mastodonte as it is time for a late lunch and sometimes even Sarah can appreciate what a fussy eater she is in a town where almost every restaurant sells the same three dishes: (a) Seafood stew, (b) roast chicken on the bone, (c) enormous plate of chips and onions and meat and cheese and chips called a chorillana (in the south these are called pichangas). For those who were wondering, a chorillana is built for two (this one came with free beers, upset tummies be damned haha!)

Back on the street. Not-dead dog, Plaza Anibal Pinto, etc etc.

The difference is that its closed.

Fairly enigmatic piece of graffiti there.

We did manage to wind our way up to Cementerio No.2.... but it was closed.

That church on the left is the Lutheran Church. More on that tomorrow.

Far away in this picture you can see neighbouring city Viña Del Mar, where we will not be going (probably).

What sort of birds are these Heather? Are they fancy parrots or are they basic parakeets? Or even worse, big green budgies? Joooooooey!

Anyway that sort of summed up the day. We went to a supermarket then went back to the hostel. I ate a tin of peaches and felt much better. Sarah went to bed and felt worse. At least the beds are comfy.