Santiago
Day 1
Finally arrived in Santiago after a 6 hour delay. LAN airlines was brilliant, great reclining seats, good food, alcohol…… did Naomi see any of it, nope, she was passed out the whole way lol! First good nights sleep since caving last week because of her chest infection! Good for Chris though because he got peace on the aeroplane :)
We took the public bus from the airport into the centre of town, using our beautiful broken and very basic Spanish. Then managed to get ourselves onto the Metro (with our hostel only 2 mins from one of the stops).
Checked into our 9 bed dorm around 8pm and the receptionist said there were free burgers in the kitchen/bar. Great we thought, perfect timing, but there was no one there. So we took a wander up the street in search of quick food, pizza it was :)
When we got back to our hostel, it was in full swing. The bar was heaving with people ready to go on a night out! We settled in with a ginormous beer (at a grand price of £2.60) and chatted the night away, trying to help kick the jetlag! Went to bed just after midnight, Chris slept the whole night, Naomi had a horrible night after 4am, but bar the odd talking and very loud snoring from one of the lads in our room, our dorm was great :)
Day 2
So firstly down to practicalities. We had the bus office, post office and electronics shop to try to contend with today. None of them speaking English, so the jobs taking a lot longer than expected. But we did it! Felt very proud of ourselves. Chris is even speaking some Spanish words now (that goes to show how much English they speak here lol). After almost losing her bank card by leaving in the cash machine in the bank, and a small blind panic and rush back to the bank, we were ready to start enjoying Santiago.
With the weather being 20* in the afternoon and the sun shining down, we thought what a great afternoon to spend in the Parque. It was a nice stroll along the Rio Mapucho (river) and hitting a right into the Barrio Bellavista area of town which is full of upmarket cafes, bars, restaurants and shops, not forgetting the millions of university buildings too. But Pio Nono took us up to Cerro San Cristobal,a large mound/small mountain that towers over Santiago at 870m. It is also home to Parque Metropolitano, the city’s largest open space. But it is either vertical or a 5.5km road up, so we chose to use the Funicular to get us up to the summit, a rickety thing built in 1923! Did the job though.
Apart from amazing views of the smoggy city at the top, there was also a Virgin Mary statue that towers and looks down over the city. Underneath the statue is a large open air church (very Lourdes) and a St Christopher Chapel (much to Chris’s amusement!).
The Chilean flag which was everywhere as 2 weeks ago they celebrated there 200 year anniversary. It was the law that every building had to fly the Chilean flag on a white flag pole on the 19th September!!!
So back down the Funicular to street level, stopped off for a coffee and to go over some plans for the pending weeks! Naomi’s feet were really sore (first time wearing flip flops in ages and walked miles today!) so we headed back to the hostel to have a breather and get ready for the evening.
We sat chatting till late, then Chris went to bed and Naomi decided to stay out and head to the clubs with everyone from the hostel for some Santiago party experience. Going to a Chilean club, you learn to appreciate how chilled English clubs are. Men just letch and try to dance all the time with you, but in a way no man in England dances! Dirty dirty dirty and its soooooooooooo wrong! One of the girls described the dancefloor as a mass sex orgy just with clothes on lol!!! But a lot of English style dancing, cutting shapes and gawping in amazement at some of the sights, and around 3.30am a group of us headed back to the hostel to rest our tired legs! Good fun night :)
Day 3
After a good lie-in, we headed to the bus shop and bought all of our bus tickets to get us to the North of Chile.
Important stuff done, we got on the metro to the centre of town, heading straight for Place de la Moneda, the government square. There is a beautiful old palace building set behind rails and smothered in flags (as they celebrated Independence day 2 weeks ago). Not able to go in the building, we just observed from afar.
We then walked in the direction of the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art (to you and me, that means very very old Inca style pottery and statues etc). After spending 8 months in countries that are barely 200 years old, seeing this art was astounding. Each piece told a different story. The museum was split into the different regions (i.e. North America through to South Andes) and displayed pieces of art from the pre-Colombian era. Most of it was ritual and sacred items that was from tombs or was used for some disgusting death ritual. Some very scary details of items, like the urn that was used to store the bones of a dead person once the skin had been peeled off! Eeek!
Anyways admired this for a little while, then headed back onto the streets and wandered for hours. There is not a huge amount to actually do in Santiago. Most of the older buildings, although still intact are either museums or house shops!
We enjoyed the amazing art and street acts, and the many historic buildings in the Place de Armas and then got on the metro back to the hostel.
We were recommended dinner in a restaurant around the corner from our hostel, but were prewarned that the place is eempty, but the menu del dia (daily set menu) was reasonable and very good. So we had the menu del dia, a mammoth steak, egg and chips (very Chilean I hear you say lol) and neither of us could finish our meals! Felt very rude. But we were placed right in the central window looking over the dead road outside, we seriously think we were the only customers all night long!!!
We took a stroll through the local park after our meal as they have a wonderful, lit up fountain that runs into the early hours.
Then back to the hostel bar for a bevvie and some usual chit chat and book some hostels for later on in the week.
Santiago has been a lovely first stop to our South American adventure. There has not been as much to see here as we would have liked, but it was a nice and gentle way to settle into the Spanish way of life and our hostel was a top class hostel, couldn’t have asked for anymore :)
Valparaiso
Day 4
We checked out of our hostel after saying a sad goodbye to the place, but it was onwards and upwards from here. We had an 11am bus booked to Valparaiso, a coastal city 120km west of Santiago.
The bus ride was lovely. We got to see all of the mountains as soon as we got out of the smog, and it there were lots of green pastures. Valparaiso is a very long beach front city. So when we arrived, as we weren’t 100% sure where our hostel was, we caught a cab. A good 15 minutes later, and up into the steep hills of Valpo and we were at our destination, Hostal Licunantay (sp?)!!!
As we had been sat on a bus and in a taxi for a few hours, we were eager to get out onto the streets and just have a look at the local area. No map in hand, we just wandered the streets aimlessly.
Valpo is a mad port with houses stacked to mad heights along the sea. It is also a Unesco World Heritage Site, although some travellers may disagree. The buildings are a little worn, needing a new lick of paint and there are unused, tangled cables on every street. We felt it just added to the character.
Down on the harbour front and in the city centre, it wasn’t so elegant, but the minute you started heading into the hills, there where this place really came to life!
Because of how steep some of the ascents into the hills are, there are also fantastically old and famous ascensores (elevators) which take you up to the more difficult bits of town.
After wandering for a couple of hours, we settled for a menu del dia in the Plaza Anibal Pinto. The waiter threw a lot of spanish in our direction and we hazarded a guess at what he was offering us to eat, but turned out we did well and ended up having a great, Chilean 4 course meal, all for the grand price of 5000 pesos (£8)!!! Brilliant!
We took the long way back to the hostal, via the cemetery at the top of the one of the big hills, and back via some sketchy and steep stairs. When we arrived back, there were two Argentinean students who help to run the hostal, just chilling in the lounge area. There English was as good as our Spanish, but we managed to have a great conversation with them. At the end of the conversation, they were telling us about a party that was happening at the top of Valpo all weekend long. The party was actually a big festival called the Festival of a Thousand Drums! Naturally we had to go and check it out.
By the time we arrived at the festival (which was being held in a football stadium) the party had been in full swing for a number of hours, so we were well behind. The noise was thunderous, with many different groups performing. Some orchestras, some dance groups, but all with drums and all having the time of their lives!!! It was great because we were the only white people there, like we had found a piece of local tradition that no one else knew about.
We hung around for an hour, but began to realise that all the serious groups and spectators were heading off, and leaving the youngsters (and their alcohol) to continue the festivities into the wee hours of the night!
And that they did!!! There was a party in our hostel that started well after midnight, us and our friends next door had long been in bed by then, but it seemed that was how things were done here, especially as it illegal to drink on the streets. So a very sleepless and noisy night later, meant a lovely lie in the next morning :)
Day 5
It was gone midday by the time we emerged from our pits!!! But we had good reason to get up today, we were meeting one of Naomi’s old school friend’s and her fiance, who lived in the neighbouring town for lunch.
Waiting to meet Natalie and Stuart on the Avenida Brazil next to the memorial, A la Ciudad de Valparaiso la Colonia Britanica!
A few crossed wires and a long street later, we were sat in the local food market having a very good catch up and some fantastic food. It was great to hear about Chile and Valpo from a ‘local’s’ perspective.
After lunch, we wandered around the parts of town that we hadn’t seen yet and Natalie and Stewart showed us some amazing local secrets. E.g. the old part of the port that is now occupied with a small colony of sea lions.
The sea lions and a view of Valpo.
We caught our first locale bus from here into the centre of town. It was our first locale bus as they can be very confusing and we only had the confidence to jump on one because we had Natalie and Stuart with us, and they knew where they were going lol!
From the centre of town, we took the Ascensor Reina Victoria up into the districts of Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion, which are the most well known and typical of the hill areas. Unfortunately, the sun was already setting as we got here, so the pictures are a little dark. But they give you a rough idea of the heritage buildings and arty graffiti that line these streets!
From here we had to say our goodbyes, as we had a lovely overnight bus that evening to our next stop.
Apart from the sleepless night, we had a great time in beautiful Valpo, and a special thanks to Natalie and Stuart for showing us around :)
La Serena
Day 6
A very early arrival into La Serena at 5.30am, a unseemly hour compared to what we have been used to! The main reason we were stopping off in La Serena was because we were not able to book a bus all the way through to San Pedro, but La Serena is meant to be the trendy beach resort that all the Santiagans visit in the summer. Shame it wasn’t the summer though!!!
After a cat nap, we headed out to check out La Serena, completely forgetting that it was Sunday. Everything was shut and it was like a ghost town.
There were some very old churches in the city centre, but as it was Sunday, they were only open at service times!
The only place we found any life was in the local park. The park had a free petting zoo with unbelievable animals and birds in it: from condors to reindeer, rabbits to giant tortoise. This kept Naomi occupied and happy as a child for a few hours!
Ostriches
Eagles and a mahusive turkey
As it was now the early evening, everything except for bars and restaurants were open, so we had another nice menu del dia and then headed back to the hostel as town was empty.
Day 7
Once again we were on an overnight bus this evening which left mid-afternoon, so we didn’t have much time to spare.
All the museums in town were still shut (as things often are on a Monday too, very Spanish)! As we got into the main square in town though, what a difference. We could now see what the busy city that La Serena is supposed to be. The streets, shops and market stalls were all full of vendors and buyers. The hustle and bustle was like any other city around the world.
We spent the day mulling around the shops and markets, buying presents and just enjoying the city atmosphere before our 16 hour bus ride!!!
The weather today was also completely different. It was like a summer’s day and we wished we had the time to head to La Serena’s famous beach :(
Oh well, onto San Pedro de Atacama…….
