Susan and I spent a few days in Valparaiso, a Chilean port city. We think we definitely went at the wrong time, as there was a garbage workers were on strike, so the streets were really dirty. Our first day in, it was super windy, which made the trash problem even more disgusting. Also, because it's been really hot, dry and windy, there were a far amount of fires... luckily they didn't make it to our hill. There's more to say about Valpo, than just those unfortunate things though.
The city really is charming. It's similar to San Fransisco in the sense that it's very VERY hilly and is situated on a bay. The houses lining the hills are brightly covered and act as a canvas for beautiful murals. There are lots of cute cafes, restaurants, and boutiques that are really fun, but also dangerous on the wallet. David and Paul, some of Susan's friends from Buenos Aires' friends noted how the people in Valpo are horrible dressers, but I for one, admired there obnoxiously colored jackets and pants, funny designed high tops, and messy hair. They fit quite well with the street art. What was weird though, is that there weren't too many people out and about and the stores seemed to be closed more than they were open... we were continually puzzled as to where they were. It's true that there isn't an enormous amount to do in Valpo, but the streets were fun to stroll up and down (literally) and the views of the port are beautiful.
One unique thing to Valpo is that they use what are like giant elevators to get up and down the hills. They are old and beautiful and on our first day Susan and I wandered into one like moths to light. Before we knew it, the door was shut and we were goin' down, but we had no clue where. It took us to the center of the city and the port area, which again, was pretty (well as pretty as a down town area in the middle of a garbage strike can be) and dead. We walked around for a bit and then made our way back up the hill and to our hostal, stopping at some view points and areas where Frommers suggested we take a look.
Terremotos (earthquake) is the Chilean drink. It's pretty much like a wine float: wine, fruity flavor, a ball of vanilla icecream on top. It's delicious. We were really boggled though as to how difficult they are to find. On our first night, we went out with some of Susan's friends from Buenos Aires who happened to be in the same hostal as us, and the bar we went to did not have them. The next night, we went to bar after bar asking for them and finally found some. It got us to thinking about typical American things that you can't find in restaurants. Here's what we got so far: PB&J and raw veggies with dip. We're sure there's more, so feel free to let us know.
On Monday, we went to Vina del Mar, just a few metro stops away from Valpo. It was really beautiful and they were not in a garbage strike. It was so nice to laze around on the beach for a day, but the ocean was way to cold to get into... we're expecting warmer waters in Uruguay.
Tuesday, we recreated Darwin's favorite day and hiked to the highest summit in Parque de la Campana with David and Paul. Yes, Darwin as in Charles Darwin, said he never enjoyed a day more than they one he spent atop this summit. We made it to the top after four hours of super steep climbing and clinging to anything we could to stay on the mountain at some parts before arriving at Darwin's favorite place. You could see the Andes to one side and the Pacific Ocean to other. Lots of people had graffitied their names on rocks, so now we all know who was there, and that kind of took the magic away from the place and our pictures look more like we're we're in a hood than on top of a mountain. The four hours down were even worse than the hike up and we were so happy to reach the bottom. Throughout the hike, we saw a fair amount of animals: tarantulas, lizards, and some really cute foxes.
From there, we got some completos before getting back on the metro. Paul and David advised up against eating them, but we felt like we had to try them. They are a hot dog with avocado, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and mayo. In other words, heaven on a bun. We can't figure out why we were advised against eating them as they were incredibly delicious. When we got back to Valpo, we pretty much only had time to stop in real quick at our favorite icecream shop, shower, and hop on the night bus to Mendoza, Argentina...
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