Hola All,
Currently stuck in Valparaiso. Lovely coastal town about 1.5 hrs nw of Santiago. Stuck? yes. The buses are full and everyone in chile is in holiday mode so we won´t be leaving until 18Sep. and then heading south to Pucon. We don´t mind being stuck here as it is a beautiful colourful arty town with a bohenian feel about it. The hostel, luna sonrisa, is smack in the middle of the trendy suburbs was built in the 1900s and run by the guy who writes the chile section of the footprint guidebook. We have been amused by the eccentric felicity, and english woman, from france, who has travelled the world but loves Valparaiso and regularly stays at the hostel. There are plenty of sealions, humbolt penguins and pelicans in the harbour and we have endured the traditional seafood soup at the fishermens coop end of the harbour.
Still foggy. Was foggy until 2pm yesterday and not looking better today. When the sun breaks through it is blue skies and about 23 deg C.
Took a ride around the harbour on a ferry with about 30 other people. Cost 1 mil (1000) chilean peso each or US$2 and the captain gave a great and animated talk from on top of the cabin in spanish which no doubt was amusing and interesting by the laughs from the crowd but all we heard was bla bla bla. Chilean spanish is really hard to understand. Fast and a local accent.
Visited the Pablo Neruda (sic?) at museo la sebastiana. He was a famous chilean statesman and poet.
Stayed a bit longer in Valparaiso. Decided to leave a few days ago but when we got to the bus terminal there were no tickets to anywhere but santiago. Why? Chilean independence day on 18Sep. Ended up back at the same hostel. Yes.
Walked to a seal colony after catching the train to vina del mar. Walk was about 10km each way. The whole northern section in a horid resort area with highrises and nice beaches. Maybe compared to the gold coast but with colder water.
Taxi drivers. We have had 3 taxi drivers in Valparaiso. The first got lost and eventually got us to the hostel after going up a few one way streets in the wrong direction. For the pleasure we paid too much. The second was fine and got us to the bus station but the third was a smiling assasin. He took us via the scenic route back to the hostel from the bus terminal. If only we knew more spanish we could have yelled at him. Scoundrel.
Heading off from Pucon tonight (18Sep).
Adios,
David & Vanessa
