Valparaiso and more, Chile

December 26 -29

After an overnight bus ride, from Chiloe, we arrived in Santiago. From there, we had to find our way by metro to another bus terminal, where we bought tickets and, immediately after, boarded a bus to Valparaiso. It was great timing! We had another 2 hours to go until we reached this oceanside city.
Valparaiso has one of the country's most important seaports and was once known as the "Little San Franciso". I do remember that we compared it, a little, to San Franciso, only because  much of the city is built up on many different hilsides. From the flat city center, the buildings (mainly resisential) up above, look like they're built right next to, and on top of one another and many appear to be clinging to the edge of the hill. Many of the facades are made from corrugated iron and painted in bright colours. The result - a hodgpodge of colours covering the hillsides!! Such wonderful sights and so many kodak moments!! Another aspect I liked was that the city still has much of it's "old" charm and one feels very laid-back here.

After checking into our hostel, we moseyed along the streets of Valparaiso toward Plaza Sotomayor, where the Monumento a Los Heroes is located. The monument is built over a crypt and pays tribute to heros that died during the war against Peru in 1879. From there we began our ascent into the neighbourhoods of Cerro Conception and Cerro Alegre.

We walked up narrow and windy streets and at times took steep staircases that lead between houses, including many art galleries. People actually have open doors into their house, so you can view some of their art work in the front rooms of their home. We went along on a whim. It was like getting lost in a maze, though we still had a map with us just in case and especially since these roads often lead to 'nowhere'. Turning a corner sprung up a new surprise. We would stumble upon incredible artwork along various walls, or a view upon the city and ocean down below. We then came to a commercial area of Cerro Conception where several restaurants and cafes are located. We were drawn into a cafe which served homemade icecream. While I got the icecream (delicious), Rakesh got hot chocolate and a brownie (also delicious). Next we continued along into Cerro Alegre and then started to make our way back down. At some point we made a turn and ended up in one, of many, funicular stations. This city is also known for its very old funicular system (dating back to 1800s). Like, colourful wooden boxes, pulled by cables that ascend and descend on steep inclines. We thought we'd give our feet a little rest and try out our first ascensor! It was short and sweet!

As we headed back toward our hostel, we walked into a music store. I can't remember what exactly attracted us to go into that music store at first, but while we were there, I thought I would ask some people at the desk, whether they could point us in the right direction for some live music, later than night. Rakesh and I felt, that once we left Brazil, our desire to hear some good latin music went by the way side (mostly because we were either sick, or too busy to seek it out). We felt that it would be our last chance to do so in Chile. Sure enough, a young lady gave us all sorts of information about various music venues. One of them, was "El Gato en La Ventana" (The cat in the window), a very low key bar with a small stage.

After buying some ingredients for dinner and cooking at the hostel, we made our way out toward "El Gato en la Ventana". Earlier that day, when we had passed by the bar, we were told that the band (playing all different South American songs) would not begin until 10:30pm. Since we had some time to kill after dinner, we walked around a bit and came across a pool joint. We spent some time playing a couple games of pool, the worst and most tedious of all our pool games, and then made our way to the bar.

It was more like 11:30pm by the time the band started to play.  There were in fact two locals bands playing that night. The first was pretty good, with 3 members playing, whereas the second had a whole troop. We enjoyed the first group, as they were a little more on the traditional side. We stayed for a couple of tunes played by the second band and then decided to call it a night (it was close to 1:30 am).

The second day, we walked back through many of the same roads as the day before. Our first destination was to one of Pablo Neruda's houses, "La Sebastiana", which I believe is in the neighbourhood of Cerro Alegre. It was a fair walk, in the heat and beating sun and up into the hills, but nevertheless very enjoyable.

We had an audio guide which took us through Pablo Neruda's house. A wonderful house, as you might imagine and a very interesting tour. He was definitely a "lover of things". These "things" were often given to him or bought from flee markets. It was a friend of Pablo Neruda's who found the house for him. The attraction was that the house, overlooks the city of Valparaiso and the Pacific ocean. Quite the view!! It was fun to go through the house and learn about Pablo's life as a poet, politician and social host!

[Rakesh writes: The best part for me was looking at the old maps that were hung in the house.  In the collection was one particular map that stuck in my head.  It was from England(Duke of Glouster I think..).  It was a mix of geographical and historical map.  The Duke had written brief blurbs about each country in South America.  The regions were demarcated completely differently.  The colonial mindset of exploitation was vividly evident from descriptions such as "Peru: a land to find gold and other treasures" and "Brazil: made up of barbarious nations who maintain their freedom" and so on........ ]

After a bite to eat, near the museum, we ventured back down a different route. This time, our aim was to go through the "open sky museum" or Museo a Cielo Abierto. This lead to a group of streets from where one can view more artwork painted on exterior walls, as well as some installations (i.e. colourful benches). Somehow, we were not as taken by this artwork compared to that which we had seen the day before. Still, they were interesting and unique.

By mid afternoon, we had made our way to the train station in order to get to the neighbouring region of Viña del Mar. During a stop over at our hostel, the owner kindly gave us a card that we could use so that we would not have to pay to get on the train. We were very thankful to her, as we got a free train ride to and from Viña del Mar.

Viña del Mar is another ocieanside city, but unlike Valparaiso, has many beaches. By the time we arrived, the sun was still blaring. We got a map from the visitor's center and made our way to a nearby Parque Quinta Vergara. It was the best choice ever, as we sat on a patch of grass and under the shade of a tree. We were just one couple or group of people, doing the very same thing.

After some time, we began to make our way through the streets of Viña del Mar, toward the main beach. This city is of stark difference from Valparaiso, as it is much more developed and westernized. Still, the city is quite pretty.  On our way, we stopped by an empanada place that was mentioned in my guide book. A place which sells all sorts of weird and wonderful empanadas with fillings of all kinds. For example, goat cheese and sundried tomatos. Definitely, not very typical, but pretty good.

It was close to sunset, by the time we arrived at the beach. We had a nice long walk, mainly on the sand and partly on the long boardwalk filled with stalls selling food, clothes etc. Definitely, another tourist destination. Unfortunately, the ocean here is not a very swimmable. In fact there were signs along the beach, discouraging the act of swimming. Also, much to our dismay, the beach itself was pretty dirty (though, having seen other such beaches along our travels, this needn't have been much of a surprise!).
That evening, we thought we would end up at another music venue, however, by the time we got back to our hostel and had dinner, we were pretty tired and the thought of going out, again, was no longer appealing to us. Instead, we had an early night's sleep.

The next day, we got up fairly early to catch a bus to a region, south of Valparaiso called,  El Quisco. We were, in fact, heading out to another one of Pablo Neruda's houses, Isla Negra. Unlike, it's name suggests, however, there is no island involved. The house, supposedly is named this way because of the black rocks on the beach in front of the house, and for Pablo Neruda's feeling of being on an island (for all you can see in front of the house is the beach and the ocean!!). The Isla Negra house is one of his most popularly visited houses. After seeing "La Sebastiana", we also understood its popularity. His Isla Negra house is a lot bigger, has a different architecture all together and sits right above a beach. The majority of his collections in this house have some relationship to the ocean: parts of a ship, seashells, sailboat etc., navigation maps etc. Much of the house is built to resemble a ship with low ceilings or doorways etc.  A section of the house was even made to look like a ship cabin (all in wood). However, despite his love of the sea, Pablo was not very keen on sailing. He had a beached boat on the premises. He would sit in the boat with his friends, drinking wine and talking politics.

Both, the surroundings and Pablo Neruda's house are magnificent. The audio tour, was very fascinating. As with the previous house, the guide gave a good overview of Pablo's life and personality, through the collections and architecture of the house.  Going through his house and surroundings was like living his poetry. It is here, that Pablo Neruda and his wife were buried. A highly recommended place to visit.

Outside the museum, we asked for a lunch recommendation from one of the locals. We were directed to the main street of El Quisco, to a very nice restaurant, where Rakesh and I shared a salad and another congrio, eel fish, dish. Very good and fresh!

After JUST missing our bus back to Valparaiso, we had to sit/stand/dance/jump around at the bus stop for a half hour or so before the next bus arrived, as there was not much else to do around. A test of patience! Once we got back to the hostel, we had a little time to rest, make dinner and then head out to a concert!! Briefly... upon arriving in Valparaiso, on our first day, I noticed several posters on billboards advertising for an "Inti-Illimani" concert that Friday. I did not know anything about this group, other than that they are from Chile, but had previously heard about them through my chorus leader, Lichi. Since we both wanted to get saturated with live music before leaving South America, we inquired about tickets the day before the concert. Since the seats were decent and the price was cheap, we decided we had nothing to lose.

The concert was fabulous!! Much of their music is influenced by  a ex-Chilean musician and political activist, Victor Jara. The instrumentals and the voices of the members of this group were incredibly moving, in all ways. For the most part ofcourse, we had no clue what they were singing about. However,  I was pleasantly surprised when the group sang a song, that I learned in my chorus. After being out of practice for a while, I could somewhat follow along (quietly!) :)

The next day, was our last in Valparaiso. Nevertheless, we spent some time in the morning heading to a part further away from the areas that we had already explored. We had been told to go to an area called Cerro Artillería. We took it slowly and even loitered around an open market, in Sotomayor plaza. There, I bought a magnet (adding to the collection of those I bought in Argentina, Peru, and Brazil).
In order to get to the top of Cerro Artillería, we took another (our second) ascensor. This time, the ride was longer and the cable cars were beuatifully painted in all sorts of bright colours. At the top, there was a lookout from where we had the best vista of the city. We took some pictures, as best we could, considering all the other people around doing the same. Other than that, there is a naval museum there, for which we did not take the time to visit and a bunch of stalls selling the typical tourist "stuff".

Instead of taking the cable car back, we took an easy stroll down. We then headed back to Cerro Conception to an area we hadn't been before. It was by the Bellas Artes museum (unfortunately, we did not have time to visit this) which is located in a nice square and the building itself is very insteresting. From there, we ventured back to the area of restaurants and cafes, in that same neighbourhood, where we sat down and had another nice lunch. Our last, in Valparaiso.

After picking up our backpacks from the hostel, we walked back to the bus terminal where we left for Santiago. Again, our timing was impeccable. As soon as we bought our tickets, we boarded the bus (we had no previous idea of the bus schedule, though knew that the buses were frequent). Perfect!