Back to Valpo...

Talor: After much deliberating, we figured life is short, and though buses are far more economical and eco-friendly, we gotta do what we gotta do... soooo, we decided to take a 4-hour flight from Santiago to Lima rather than spend a week traveling by bus before getting on a plane for home. That meant we only had 6 days left in Chile... doh! How to spend that time... how about a weekend in Valparaiso? We loved it back in August, so we thought it's gotta be even better now that it's Spring and not so cold. Weeeeell....

Took an overnight bus and 14 hours later, we arrived into a city shrouded in fog. Somehow things just don't look as pretty when the sun's not shining. Casa Liesel, where we stayed at before, was full, so we settled into a comfortable enough room with a shared bath at Rincon de Valparaiso. And soon enough, the fog burned off and we set out to visit our favorite places...

First stop, of course, was Kanibal for a completo grande (humongous hotdog topped with sauerkraut, chopped tomatoes and smothered with guacamole). Went to say hello to the cicerones (street dogs) by the bus stop, but they were all too busy napping in the noonday sun. So we grabbed a couple of mini-pies and went to say hello to Maria and Miguel at Casa Liesel. Then in the evening, went to the historic Cinzano's for drinks and the music stylings of old men in formal wear. Had a nice time chatting with Nick, a young British traveler, and Carlos, born and bred in Valparaiso. But the place never filled up with raucous revelers dancing and singing like the last time we were there... o well.

Walked around the next day trying to shake off the hangover, but felt uninspired. Blame it on the piscos the night before or blame it on the fog that didn't burn off until about 3:00 in the afternoon, but for whatever reason, the city just didn't have the magic that we felt the first time around. Maybe it was going from the loveliness of the quaint little towns in the south to a large city, or the comfort of a 3-bedroom cabana to a double with a shared bath. Even the cicerones didn't seem interested in guiding us through the city. Maybe they sensed that we already knew our way around? Don't know, but the next day, the sun never came out so we decided to leave and spend our last few days in Santiago. Ironic, huh? Back in August, we loved Valpo and hated Santiago, but now in December, it's the other way around... who woulda thunk?

Erik: I had my trepidations about returning to Valpo – things you really love the first time around, whether places, food (dare I say people?), are rarely as nice the second. I didn't want our nice memories of valparaiso tainted by a bad visit, but I don't think they were. The city just wasn't new and exciting anymore, which is understandable. The fog didn't help either. Anyway, I still had a good time. The winding-down/return home parts of trips are always the most difficult, and now we have to accept that we'll not be seeing any new places for a while. But man am I looking forward to seeing family, friends and having a slice of NYC pizza...

Valpo round 2 pics:

Valparaiso (2), Chile

I left my heart in Valparaiso

Talor: On our 6-month anniversary, it felt apropos as we boarded a bus from Uspallata, Argentina, for a 6 1/2 hour ride to Valparaiso, Chile. Without a guidebook this time (oh no!), we didn´t know what to expect, and as the bus rolled into the terminal, it was the usual hectic ugliness you see everywhere... sigh. Split a taxi with two young Asian Americans we met on the bus and headed to Cerro Concepcion to look for accommodations for the evening. The scenery around us was pretty much the same ole until we got to the hills, then I fell in love immediately! Valparaiso is so many things...

... it is a place where art is everywhere you look... in the parks, on the sides of houses and buildings, outside shops and restaurants, even the garbage cans are painted! Up on the hills, there are a million little alleys and sidestreets to explore with delightful surprises with every twist and turn. On top of that, the views from the hills are simply gorgeous!

... it is a place where we found THE perfect shower! After spending our first night in a hostal, we were lucky to find Casa Liesel in Cerro Concepcion, a hospedaje (family-run guesthouse), where our warm hosts Maria and Miguel, kept everything absolutely spotless. We got a very comfortable, very large room with high ceilings, and though the bathrooms were shared, the showers were heaven... the perfect combination of heat and water pressure. Throw in free coffee/tea all day, a hearty breakfast of nice crusty bread, ham and cheese, butter and marmalade, plus fast free internet, and the place was a bargain. I knew right away it would be hard to leave.

... it is a place where you can get a cheap meal of fresh seafood at the mercado (market) while being serenaded by a man and his guitar; eat pizza topped with seriously yummy curry chicken; or go for the most popular Chilean snack, the completo, a fluffy toasted hotdog bun stuffed with a long thin viennese sausage, sauerkraut (not too sour, just the way i like it), fresh chopped tomatoes, guacamole and mayonnaise... mmm... mmm... MMM! Order a completo gigante (foot-long), and you´ve got yourself a meal. Plus there is salsa ahi (hot sauce) everywhere! After going through weeks of spice withdrawal in Argentina, we put it on everything!

... it is a place where you can spend an evening at a restaurant/nightclub called Cinzano, an institution packed with locals, old and young, who are there to be entertained by the stylings of old men dressed up in tuxedos; drink piscos (like vodka, but made from grapes); and dance and sing national tunes at the top of their lungs.

... it is a place where you find the coolest artesenal stuff. Ever since we left for our travels, Erik had been searching high and low for a ring. In Valparaiso, we came across a guy who makes jewelry out of recycled flatwear.... ha! Who woulda thunk?? After choosing one out for Erik, of course I had to have one too! It´s only fair, right?

... and finally, it is a place where the street dogs act as cicerones (city guides)... i´m not kidding! As soon as you say hello to one of them, he/she will follow you around and show you the way to whatever sight you ask them to... seriously! However, it seems there are invisible borders they cannot cross. When one reaches a border, another one takes his place. We had one chaperone us to a very cool, ex-prison, which had been turned into a cultural center filled with wonderful art. He waited for us as we walked around, then escorted us back home. Never asked for anything in return, but we thought he deserved an empanada for his troubles. Afterwards, he thanked us with his eyes, and was on his way...

What´s not to love?

Erik's entry:
Yes, definitely one of my favorite places as well. "valparaiso" is short for "valley of paradise," and it's not a bad name. It's beautiful and gritty at the same time - a bit as I'd imagine San Francisco in the ´30´s. Steep hills studded with brightly-colored houses fan down into a picturesque bay. But unlike SF, the houses are dilapidated, often built of corrugated tin, and the bay is the main working port of Chile. Breathtaking and just a little edgy at the same time - a perfect mix.
The people were very nice as well, not really caring one way or the other that we were tourists or that our spanish was sub-par. They just enjoyed meeting people and were happy to help out if you were lost or needed advice.
We spent most of our time walking up and down the hills in search of nothing in particular, but always finding something beautiful and interesting around most corners - a playground made of brightly-painted used tires, a small park done up entirely in mosaic tiles, or just some very imaginative graffiti on a building wall. There are tiny, winding passageways and staircases everywhere, most of them constructed by the inhabitants themselves. We spent about ten days in this enchanting port town, and felt that we'd barely scratched the surface. Our rather extensive photo gallery for Valpo attests to its facinating, photogenic nature:
http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/ValparaisoChile#