Where in the world is Lani?

Hola amigos!

We have arrived in the coastal town of Valparaiso which is absolutely beautiful. We were initally on the "wrong side" of town in a hostel called El YoYo (i nicknamed it El Crappo) which wasnt the best. It was more of an inlet to all the bars and pubs in Valpa - and the noise didnt help us get over the jetlag that finally kicked in yesterday. After arriving at El YoYo - and being rather disappointed - we wandered into town and checked out the shops. People in Chile have an obsession with beeping the horns of their cars when they drive - they beep for you to walk, they beep for you to stop, they beep hello, they beep when they are not happy - its very confusing, funny and also loud when you are walking down the street.

Last night made up for the not so good day, as we had our first local Chilean dinner of "chorrellana" which is a massive pile of hot chips, covered in tender chunks of beef, with fried onion, scrambled egg & tomato chilli sauce. I know it sounds gross but it was delicious! I also tried the local ale - Escudo - which is ok & Ang and i sampled the national cocktail, a Pisco Sour, mmmmmm. The restaraunt was down a little dark alley called J.Cruz and during dinner we were serenaded (in Spanish) by one of the owners who looked a little like Danny de Vito. He sang all the Chilean favourites (none of which we could understand) but we had loads of fun anyway!

Anyway, we left YoYo this morning and moved to the best part of Valpo. Our casa is adorable - http://www.casa-carrasco.cl/ painted bright pink and turquoise. The hillsides of Valpa are the ones as seen in all the postcards - bright colours all down the hills to the water.

We have decided to stay here for a few days as its beautiful and there are so many things to experience! We are off soon to have a seafood dinner as Valpo is the major puerto of Chile so there are fish as far as the eye can see!

Hope everyone is well & ill be in touch soon,

Lani