Where in the world is Lani?

Hola everyone!

Today has been another great day in the port of Valparaiso. We had a great experiene for dinner last night - after wandering the cobblestone streets of our local area we stumbled upon a wonderful place called the "Colour Cafe." It is funky, ecclectically decorated & so tiny that only 5 tables fit inside. One thing i have noticed about restaurants in Chile is that they LOVE putting up things up on their walls. The other night we ate at J.Cruz, and their walls were lined with thousands of passport photos of all the guests that have eaten there over the years. Ang left her old proof of age card on the wall to add to the collection. At the "Colour Cafe" they just had random postcards, voodoo dolls, napkins with interesting sayings etc lining the place. Alot of it was kitsch, but somehow it worked!

After a fabulous dinner (of 5 courses!) we walked home. I noticed on the hill ahead what looked like a mass of fairy lights twinkling - but on closer inspection it was the house lights of all the casas on the Valparaiso hills - what a spectacular sight. We have now settled into Chilean time so earting dinner at 10pm doesnt feel un-natural anymore. The flipside of getting to bed so late is that we are obliged to follow the local tradition of sleeping til 11am which is tough.....

Today, being Sunday, nearly everything is closed for church so its a good day to walk the streets without the crowds. Ang & i spent the day riding the funiculars (scarily steep trains that lift you up the hills). It costs $100CLP (about 45c Australian) for a ride each way, and once up top you have fantastic & different views of Valparaiso ports & all the old casas on the hills. The last one we rode on is aparently the oldest here, built in 1852, and you can definitely tell! The floor is patched up with bits of wood from the local area, and i think the conductor breathes a sigh of relief everytime it makes it on another round trip.... 

We are enjoying our lovely accomodation, with beautiful rooftop views from the 1970s style (think fake plastic flowers, hot pink chair covers and an old radio playing the Grease megamix over and over....) garden which is on the 6th floor of our hostel. Ang sprained her ankle yesterday, and somehow, though our spanish is poor & the hostel owners english is limited - we obtained a bandage for her ankle, which is now on the mend. I also realised that i do remember a thing or 2 from my St Johns 1st aid certficate - thank goodness.

Tomorrow we are off to the markets & also on a mission to plan our next phase of the trip to neighbouring Viña del Mar for some beaching. Its a tough life.....

Ciao,

Lani