So I didn't really know much about Valparaíso before going there. Just that it had been recommended to me by a couple of really nice Chilean guys who I had met on my Machu Picchu tour. So I recommended it to Mum and Dad for our two weeks together and they liked the look of it.
In the above you can see the bit of town where the naval museum is and Mum and Dad's first bed and breakfast. They then stayed in another flat in Bella Vista before moving to the cerro Barron where we met and spent a wonderful 15 days in total, including 2 when I slipped away for a break from the yoga farm, just before they left Valpo.The church below was about 5 mins from the flat, on the way to the beach.
The sea lions were an unexpected bonus. Amazingly they had learned how to jump out of the water onto this leftover of older times at the industrial port. We would walk past this on the boardwalk down to Portales beach or when I went out for a run in the morning (yes, I'm back in training, triathlon here we come!)
And here are the guilty parties :) Huge thanks to Mum and Dad for putting me up and putting up with me for two weeks! Had a lovely time, like this day, walking around bella vista and the surrounding hills. And having the beach 15 mins walk from the flat really changes the feeling of a city. The fresh breeze for the hottest part of the day, and sun until 8pm!!! Wonderful.
This give you an idea of just how steep the streets were!! And the woman you can see half way up was carrying shopping bags!!
There were some real architectural treats in Valparaíso, built before the opening of the Panama Canal turned it from bustling port to a place in ever increasing decay, along the lines of Liverpool really. Difficult to see whether Valpo has been able to turn the corner like Liverpool and Manchester. There was much more obvious poverty than in either Viña del mar (the little brother that has outgrown its once mightier neighbour) or Santiago. Gave it an interestingly "edgy" atmosphere, but ...
There were plenty of beautiful views and colourful street art though..
Lots of street art!
Nice views from up the hill.
This was the view from the 13th floor flat where Mum produced the usual succession of stormingly good food and one or two glasses of wine were drunk, even by me!
So on or around the 12th of Feb, we went to the naval museum, passing by this main square where the tourists get tipped off the enormous cruise ships. Sadly people come from far and wide to try to rob the tourists and Mum had been robbed a week before I arrived. Very unfortunate, especially as Mum had already been robbed once in Buenos Aires and had only just got round to replacing many of the things. Ladies with enticing looking bags in foreign cities, beware!
We didn't go up one of the few actually functioning lifts to the naval museum as the queue was far too long. So we had a look round the museum which was extremely interesting. Surprisingly enough the first admiral of the Chilean navy was an Englishman and his improbable victory over the Spanish at Valdivia all but sealed Chilean independece. More about the surprising amount of history between the two countries can be found in the excellent book, "Pinochet in Piccadilly"
Was a great pleasure to see Mum and Dad as it really had been a long time and, of course, I hadn't been home since seeing them in Oaxaca, Mexico.
And had to include this photo from the beach where we had so many nice afternoons!!
And this will probably be my last blog from South America, as, with a bit of luck and a following wind, I fly from Buenos Aires to Madrid to spend a month in Spain before I come back to the UK.
Am really excited I will be able to see some of you in May. Obviously I shall be totally skint, so can't promise anything at this stage, but will do my very, very, very best.
Lots of love,
Steve
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