Up reasonably
early so no competition for the bathroom. Made myself a cup of coffee and enjoyed it on the terrace, very pleasant in the morning sunshine. Clear blue
sky again and still quite cool. Breakfast of ham, bread, cake and fruit was
served in kitchen. Only two of us and the other guy's English was similar level
to my Spanish. At ten I joined the "Tours for Tips" walking tour in Plaza Sotomayor. Our leader was Paula a young student of only 20 but quite
brilliant, self-confident, charming and knowledgeable. She was assisted by Yasna
who was a bit more subdued but still very good. We were a large crowd of over twenty, many of whom were "Americans" on a cruise. In our Spanish class last week Jo was explaining that Chileans felt that they were just as entitled to call themselves Americans as people from the USA but that the "formal" word "estadounidense" was a bit of a mouthful. "So we just call them "Gringos".
We walked west into the older
part of the city where Paula explained some of Valparaiso's history. It became
very prosperous in the 19th century as the southernmost major port on the West
coast of the Americas. It was the first port of call for almost all ships
travelling from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Which was the fastest route from
the East coast of the USA to California until the completion of the transcontinental
railway. Valparaiso thrived with large German and British communities among
others. But in the early 20th century Valparaiso was hit by two disasters, an
earthquake that caused much damage and the opening of the Panama Canal. It
declined rapidly, the people with money left and it never fully recovered.
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| Plaza Sotomayor with Chilean Naval Office |
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| Faded Glory. This was once a luxury Hotel |
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| Liberty. Claimed to be the oldest bar in Valparaiso |
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| Built when Valparaiso was Prosperous |
As
we headed into the Plaza Eschaurren Paula advised us not to come here alone and
that homelessness, drunkenness and petty street crime were major problems. She
reckoned the large number of stray dogs was due to people buying cute little
puppies and then abandoning them as they grew bigger. After seeing some of the
oldest part of the city we took a small regular bus for a roller coaster of a
ride up and down hills until we reached Plaza Bismarck along Avenida Alemania.
Great views over the city.
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| Another Ascensore |
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| View over the City |
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| View over the City |
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| Houses rising up the Hillside |
Then walked down to a cultural centre in the grounds
of an old prison where Paula told us some of the later and darker 20th century
history of Chile and Valparaiso. Interesting that she believed Chileans are
still very polarised. Continued walking down hill past where I am staying and back
towards Plaza Sotomayer where she took us into a formerly palatial but now very
run down mansion for a drink of Jota, bad wine diluted with coke, and a brief
plug for other tours. I thought she did a brilliant job.
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| Faded Glory of once Palatial Mansion |
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| DIY Electrics |
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| Paula and Yasna |
Had lunch in a
cafe called Mastodon, Paila marina, a huge stew of mussels and clams in a tasty
broth.
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| One of the Smarter Streets in the Downtown Area |
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| A Call Centre? |
Back at the hostal spent ages trying to book my flight to Punta Arenas.
Expedia, Sky scanner etc are all quoting me in excess of US$500 one way with
Sky and another airline but booking direct with Sky the price is half that! So
much for comparison websites; never had that problem before. But either the Sky
website is useless or the internet connection is awful. Took me four attempts,
having to go through the whole booking procedure before it finally accepted my
payment and issued a ticket. Took well over an hour. Later on found that Punta
Arenas accommodation is booked almost solid. In Santiago there seemed a good
range of options but in both Valparaiso and Punta Arenas there seems a shortage
of mid-range places. In the latter there isn't much between several hundred $ a
night in an upmarket hotel and a bed in a hostel dormitory. Eventually managed
to book two nights in one small hotel/ guest house and two in another. After
doing that headed out up one of the other hills Bellavista and then walked
along Avenida Alemannia until I reached Plaza Bismarck where we were this
morning. After Cerro Concepcion I felt that Bellavista was rather less
colourful although it does live up to its name with great views over the city
and the bay.
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| Street in Bellavista |
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| Cruise Ship and Chilean Navy |
Walking down the hill I found a band playing to a large crowd at
the cultural centre by the prison. The woman singer was Pascuala
Ilabaca
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Pascuala Ilabaca
|
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| Dancing to the Music |
Great music and
obviously very popular. Stayed for a while listening to them until they
finished. Continued down the hill and had a Greek salad and beer at one of the
cafes in the square. Service was even worse than the last place but did give me
a chance to meet the town drunk who was drinking his way through a whole jug of
beer. Luckily his English wasn't much better than my Spanish.
