Where in the world is Lani?

Buenos Dias everyone,

We had a great day yesterday in Valpa once again, although we didnt realise that for the Chileans Monday is an extention of the weekend so lots of shops etc were closed. Its hard to know whether shops are closed or whether the owners are just taking the "late" south american starts VERY seriously. We wandered down to "Justice Square" here at Valpa after an adventure to find le correo (the post office). Here in Chile there are 2 kinds of post office - one for picking up your mail & another for posting your mail, although they both look the same....

Anyway, back to justice square - its a large concrete are on the port where there are small markets and this is where all the cargo ships come in. Its very similiar to what Newcastle harbour looks like. We wandered down at about 11am, and some of the market holders hadnt even finished setting up their stalls yet! I love the fact that a late start to the day here is a national passtime!

After justice square we walked the entire lenghth of town (about 6km) because i wanted to ride the mountain trains over the other side of the hill to see if they gave us a better outlook. After walking through the "car repair" district, the "bulding products" district & a whole bunch of other very uninteresting areas we found that the funiculars over this side of town were closed. Oops! We made up for the big walk back home by stopping at one of the hundreds of cake shops for a sweet treat. The Chileans take their cake shops as seriously as their football - its the least we could do but to help the local economy by buying something covered in chocolate!

After the obligatory siesta, Ang & i joined our 2 new travelling buddies (from UK & Holland) for dinner in the city at a traditional Chilean bbq place where we were presented with a massive plate of sizzling meats and an equaly large salad. The cerveza negro (black beer) here is very good & cheap so we decided to get some of that as well! The steak & chicken was great but we decided to leave the "unknown meats" on the plate. My new philosophy is if something doesnt smell good BEFORE you even take it off the platter - chances are it wont taste good.

We ended the night at a small & funky cafe where we drank Pisco Sours & Piña Coladas until bedtime. Tomorrow we have decided to head to Viña del Mar (think the gold coast) for a day trip before jumping on an overnight bus to La Serena (7 hour trip) for a few days. It will be sad to leave Valpa but we have had a magical time here!

Until next time,

Hasta luego

Lañi