Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

We landed in Santiago, changed our money and hopped on a bus to the city centre.  Just before leaving we met a taxi driver who recommended a hostal and even called ahead and reserved beds for us.

At the hostal we discovered the only rooms they had left were dorm rooms and they cost 7,700 pesos ($NZ22) each!  Lacking the will to hunt for a better offer (when we were unlikely to find one) we locked our bags away and went hunting for some food. 

A nearby diner style restaurant had "Lomo a lo pobre" AKA "poor mans steak" which is essentially steak, french fries, fried egg and cooked onions.  Erin got a healthier looking lunch of steak with some avocado, tomato and stuff.

Next stop was the mall down the road.  We tried to take the local buses but they required a card (which we didn´t have!).  We walked it; it was only 7-8 blocks or so, not too bad.  Along the way we found a store with MP3 players.  Since the theft of ours in Bolivia we have really been missing music.  We checked a few out but didn´t buy one, yet...

At the mall we found the post office and checked how much it would cost to send another package home, then we decided to see a movie and bought tickets for later that night.  Leaving the mall we decided to find a card for the buses.  Apparently it was a new system and you could only buy cards in the morning.  Luckily a local woman very kindly decided to lend us hers, provided we put some money on it, which we did.

We had a bit of time so we checked our email, and prices of MP3 players at home.  By now it was almost time for our movie, we had just enough time to get a coffee and some snacks for the movie.  Cappuccinos here all come with cream and a little glass of sparkling water.

After the movie we tried to use the card to catch a bus but there seemed to be no buses at this time of the night, or they didn´t stop outside the mall... crap.  We walked it... again... *sigh*

When we got back we found the other two occupants of our room already asleep, but one of them had decided to change beds which meant there was only one un-used bed.  We grabbed a fresh set of sheets and changed the other bed, waking them up (whose fault was that!).  Finally we could sleep.

The next morning we took our things to the post office, on the bus! (finally).  We posted the things, went back down the road and bought an MP3 player then headed back to the restaurant (on the bus!) for lunch.  We found a nearby internet place and killed some time before packing our bags, catching a bus back to the mall, giving the lady her card back and walking to the inter-city bus station out of here.

We arrived in Valparaiso that afternoon and were met at the station by a woman trawling for travellers to stay at her hostal.  We don´t normally accept these sorts of offers but the price was good - 8,000 pesos for both of us - and we didn´t really have another hostal in mind.

The hostal was a house run by her mother (71 years old) and her crazy cat (which tried to catch and eat our bags).  It was a fairly simple place but they were friendly and it had a kitchen, plus we could wash our laundry and it had a nice view of town and the harbour. It was also only a short walk downhill to town.

We walked in to town to find dinner.  I had Bife a lo Pobre this time - a thin beef steak, chips, eggs and onions.  Erin couldn´t decide on anything so we bought some fruit from the supermarket, plus veges to cook up tomorrow.  We did a bit more internet then headed to bed.

The next morning we headed back into town, to the information centre for a map and some ideas of things to do and see (Erin already had a few from the guide book).

The city is a lot like Wellington but it has really nice sunny weather.  It is full of acensores, they´re cable cars that take people up and down the hills of the city.  We decided to start by riding one of these to the top of a hill, walk around a bit and ride another one down.

The first ascensor:

At the top we saw this ingenious use of an old lightbulb.

Looking back down, and around the city from the top.

Walking around we stumbled across a local artist.  He showed us his pictures (all original works) and also pulled out an old National Geograpic (2003) which contained an article about Valparaiso, including a picture of him and his art.  We decided to buy a small one, small enough to fit in a book so it wouldn´t be ruined.

Along the way we spotted this.  It´s funny because "Mono" is both the opposite of stereo and the Spanish word for monkey.

At the second acensor there was a bunch of nice older buildings and trees.

Plus a view of a church and another acensor.

The inner workings include large wheels with thick cables.

The ride down...

Next stop a museum called Museo al Cielo Abierto.  It is a collection of 20 murals on the outside of buildings.  There is a map to follow, showing where the murals are.

This one is not an official mural but Erin quite liked it, probably because of the bees!

More murals, and a window with clothes drying (Erin liked this for some reason... apparently she has always liked clothes drying... weird!).

Most of South America is full of dogs, Valparaiso has a large number of cats too.  Now, I don´t want to let the cat out of the bag, but...

We headed up the hill to one of Pablo Neruda´s houses.  Erin visited.  I sat outside and read my book. 

The house was fascinating but you weren´t allowed to take photos inside (and for once I didn´t join everyone else and break the stupid rule that had no point - they didn´t even sell postcards with photos!).  Erin over.

That was enough walking for one day, it was back home for nachos and guacamole followed by roast veges, yum.  For anyone who hasn´t tried it you should add tomatoes to your roast veges.  And then melt cheese over the whole lot.  Yummy!

The next morning we decided to catch a bus to the nearby Viña del Mar where they have some beaches (not as nice as NZ, but still pretty good).  This looks like torture.

Not exactly dressed for the beach, but I don´t really like swimming and there were signs saying you couldn´t swim here anyway, dumb.

We (Regan) had some lunch (Burger King!) then we headed back to Valparaiso where Erin had a much healthier salad for lunch.  Later on Regan needed to swap his book so we went to a place we had found in our wanderings, a restaurant owned by a Canadian guy, and his Chilean wife, both of whom used to work on cruise ships.  He had a huge selection of books and allowed us to exchange one for one.  We also decided to have lunch here. 

Erin discovered her favourite dish, a sheppard´s pie made with choclo (sweet corn) instead of potato (which she hates, with a few minor exceptions and depending on her mood).  It´s called "Pastel de Choclo" which we thought odd because in Peru and Bolivia Pastel de Choclo is a cake made from choclo. 

We figured we might see a movie so headed into town to the cinema, bought some tickets and then... Erin decided she was hungry and didn´t really want anything in the restaurants, so we cashed in the ticket and headed home for dinner (very yummy roast veges and cheese) and bed.

The next morning we headed to the bus station to buy tickets for our next destination, Temuco (the start of the Lakes District down south).  On the trolley bus on the way there we saw this woman travelling with her pet dog.  It had "chopped off legs" we discovered when the woman got off shortly after taking this photo.

 

We also wanted to ride an acensor which starts by going horizontally through solid rock before rising vertically to the top of the hill.  Sadly this one was closed (had been for 5 months).  We decided to walk to the top to see the view anyway.  We signed the petition calling for it to be reopened too.

On the way back we bought some fruit from the market (including a watermelon) and we also had a coffee at Erin´s favourite little cafe.

 

We decided to go to the movies again, and this time we made it (with our watermelon in tow). 

These show the view from the hostal where we were staying.  The old lady invited us back to stay if we are ever over that way again!

Our bus arrived in Temuco at about 7am.  Regan was too tired to keep going as he couldn´t sleep on the bus (again!) so we got the taxi driver to take us to the cheapest hostal he knew of.  There were no good options in Temuco.  It cost us 9,000 each but we got a fat guy snoring next door for free.  It was a worse night´s sleep than in the dormitory in Santiago!

Erin did manage to find a nice cafe while Regan slept.  The late afternoon sun was glorious.

We only stayed in Temuco, which has about zero to do, long enough for Regan to sleep.  Then we went south to Puerto Montt.