Valparaiso

Finishing work early at 2pm, I headed home to grab my bag and head to the bus station to meet Meera, Joanna, Katie and Amber.  We quickly purchased our tickets and hopped onto the bus for the 1h45 journey to Valparaiso.  Now buses here in Chile aren’t like our rubbish local buses in the UK but more like business class on a long haul flight!  The seats are amazingly comfortable with loads of leg room and plenty of room to recline without annoying the person behind you.  They come complete with blankets if you so wished and on-board toilet and mini bar (this is the standard class bus- there are two/three more classes above this).  What’s more is that tickets are dirt cheap just around five pounds one way- BARGAIN.  Arriving in Valpo, we were met by our hosts for the weekend and headed on one of the fast and crazy local micros up Pleasure Hill (where they live) to drop off our bags and chill. Later in the evening our hosts showed us their uni, which they were so proud off.  It was a weird uni.  The buildings resembled old mansions or castles- a bit like colleges at Oxbridge- but yet it seemed really new, almost as though the buildings had a plastic coating on them to make them look older.  After taking several photos of the sunset over the bay we went to a fish restaurant by the beach and had some amazing food- Valpo definitely is the place for fish and seafood lovers!

Saturday, after getting up late morning after a night out, we headed on our epic tour of the town.  We climbed the Cerros (small hills); took funiculars up the steepest slopes you’ve ever seen; ate in a fab café; went on a boat tour; took an old school, Victorian looking trolley bus; and took endless photos of the graffiti everywhere which is amazingly artistic and really brightens up what I think would otherwise be a pretty depressing city.  One thing you notice in Valpo is the stench.  It really is one of the smelliest places I’ve been, at times making me feel quite sick, but I suppose this is all part of the experience.  After a long afternoon, we headed back to the houses to freshen up before going out for food- OR so we thought.  Not long after arriving back there was a blackout. It was weird- I was looking out across the bay when I said to everyone “look, all the lights have just gone out across there!”  Next thing we knew all the lights in a Mexican wave style went off sector by sector around the bay.  Being without electricity hampered our plans to go out, and we soon got news that 96% of the population were without electricity- now that’s what you call an epic fail!  So instead we headed to buy some booze and a slap up meal of bread and butter in the pitch black.  What an experience!  The footpaths and roads aren’t the best in this area and Meera and I nearly fell over several times, and I nearly stepped on a dog sleeping on the footpath- luckily at the last minute a car’s headlights lit up the path.  So in true British style we carried on the party in the dark, and finally after 2.5 hours or so the lights came back on.  We headed out to celebrate Meera’s 21^st birthday to round up a fab weekend.

Overall, it was nice to visit Valparaiso to say I’ve been and although I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t my favourite place.  It was also my first time out of the big smog since being here, and made me realize I should do weekend visits more often.  Time to book Mendoza :D