Monday--February 14--Valparaiso

Monday--February 14--Valparaiso

Wow, Valparaiso is great.  

I walk upstairs to breakfast.  The first thing put before me is ham and cheese sandwiches in a basket with other bread, a plate of fruit and yogurt.  Of course I need my coffee.  Chilean’s don’t drink coffee like Europeans, Turks or Israelis.

I tell the nice lady that I don’t eat meat and could I have solo caso.  No problemo.

She returns a few minutes later with a basket of cheese toasted sandwiches.  They made like panini’s, but cut in triangle shape.  I think I can eat more bread if I’m walking these hills.

First order of business after breakfast is to find somewhere to do my laundry and the LAN office to try and change my ticket to Punta Arenas.   I’d like to see if I can fly earlier--even a day.  When I made the reservation for the South American LAN pass, they told me I couldn’t fly before Feb. 21, but I thought I’d try to change anyway.

Andre, one of the men who works at the hotel, told me where I could go to get my laundry done, or they could send it for me and where the LAN office is.  He also asks me if I am interesting in a tour to Isla Negra, one of the Pablo Neruda houses.  A couple from Argentina were interested and Andre was trying to put a group together.  I said, “Yes, I’m interested and you should ask the Canadian ladies if they want to go as well.”

“O.k. I’ll see what I can do and I’ll let you know later”, he said.

First I’ll try the LAN office and worry about the laundry later.

I find the LAN office and ask the lady if she speaks English.  That’s always my first question, especially if I need something important.  

“No”, she replies.  

So I attempt in my terrible Spanish to explain what I need.  She actually understands me and calls somewhere to see if it is possible to change my ticket.  (I always tell people I speak Spanish like a 5 year old, maybe a 2 year old.)  

She tells me “Yes” I can make this change for $30.00 and leave Santiago on Sunday instead of Monday. Sounds like a deal to me.

I’m happy I can change my flight.  Before I am able to do this though I need to contact the hotel in Punta Arenas and make sure I can arrive one day earlier.  I tell the airline lady that I need to check with the hotel before I can do this.  I can’t find the phone number on my phone and need to return to the hotel to get the phone number from my computer.

One caveat--the two women (Jenny and Sandra) from Canada, I met at breakfast told me that just stayed at the hotel I’m planning to go to in Punta Arenas and that they had a fantastic time.

I’d been corresponding with the hotel and all replies had been in English so I was surprised when I phoned and asked if she spoke English and was told No.  

Well I was able to ask if I could come a day earlier and she said yes.  I’ll send an e-mail to confirm.

Later the women from Canada tell me the women at the Ilia Hotel don’t speak English but are able to translate all their emails.  Oh.

So feeling confident that I could stay at the hotel one day earlier I walked back to the LAN office and changed my ticket.

I decided I would let the hotel take care of my laundry and not spend the time trying to find the laundry place myself.

[Note to self--practice Spanish.  However, I have been able to get basic information across and understood.]

Metro to Vina Del Mar

It’s about 11:00, the weather is a bit foggy but not cold and all the museums are closed because it’s Monday.  I decide I’ll take the Metro to Vina Del Mar, the “beach” town 15 minutes north of here.  All I keep hearing is how “new and modern” Vina is compared to Valparaiso.  

I don’t really know where to go or what to do but it’s a small town so I’m thinking it will be easy to figure out. 

I walk down to where I’m told the metro is, near the port, but I don’t see a “train”.  It takes my asking a few people before I figure out the metro is inside a building and you can’t see the “train” from where I am.  I understood that I would be able to see the train from the street.

I try to buy a ticket and the woman says for 4,000 pesos (too many zero’s in the money here) I can have a card.  I don’t really understand what she says but she hands me a credit card like thing as my ticket and off I go.  I figure it’s good for a ride there and back.  

The ride on the metro is great, it goes along the beach until it get’s to Vina Del Mar where it goes underground.

It’s not the best beach day but I’ve packed my bathing suit and towel just in case the sun decides to come out while I’m there.  I have high hopes.  (unfortunately they never materialize.)

Vina Del Mar Flower  Clock

When I get to town one of the first things I find is the flower clock.  There are many tourists taking photos of themselves in front of the clock, I wait my turn to take one without any people.  I continue walking along the street that is next to the beach.  I had heard there was a “castle” on the beach.  I walk by the Sheraton where I see they are setting up a stage.  

Next Sunday the big International Song Festival begins here in Vina del Mar.  

known as the “Garden City”, Viña del Mar is considered the tourist capital of Chile, due to its strategic geographical location, very close to the capital of the country. Seat of the International Song Festival, Viña del Mar lies 120 kilometers from Santiago along Route 68 and 9 kilometers away from Valparaíso along the coastline road.

It’s a huge music festival and Sting is the headliner. 

Because it’s a lousy day the beach is not very inviting and I’m not really impressed with the beaches.   Having grown up in California it takes a lot to impress me with a beach.  

Not far from the Sheraton is the “Wulff Castle”.  

The Wulff Castle consists of a double storied building that has an attached tower to it. The monument was constructed by Gustavo Adolfo Wulff Mowle and therefore has been so named as Wulff Castle. Initially this monument was merely a stone built house in German- French style. However later a tower was added to the original monument. Located here in this castle is the Maritime museum, the Museo Cultura del Mar. This museum has in it a collection of items that were used for navigation purpose. These item that the Wulff Castle houses reflect the historical background of the city. 

Chess Anyone?

The building (museum) is closed right it's Monday all museums are closed) but there is a nice view and they have these over sized chess pieces.  

I don’t see a board anywhere just these rooks and knights.

As I continue walking I see a statue in the middle of the road (on a grassy median) and a sign that says Kahlil Gibran.  I cross the road to see it.  The inscription on the statue is so faded it’s difficult to read.  I can see some Arabic writing and some other information in Spanish.

When I’m done, in the middle of the road, I cross back over to the sidewalk and continue walking until I find the casino.  I don’t know why but I’m fascinated (and probably bored) to go inside.  There is a fancy hotel attached to the casino.  I walk through the lobby of the hotel to the casino.  There aren’t many people in the casino, I’m sure due to the early hour of the day, but there are some.

I walk through and see hundreds of “one arm bandits”, being used.  I don’t hear any bells or coins coming out of the machines.  Then I see a woman with a ticket in her hand and decide they must get paid by taking the slip of paper to a cashier.  Maybe they do this in Vegas now, I haven’t been in so many years and I certainly don’t play the slots.

I take advantage of using the “bano” and it is very clean.

According to my map of Vina Del Mar, the road from the casino leads to the center of town.  I head in that direction thinking I will find a restaurant for lunch.  After walking many blocks I don’t find anything that looks interesting, and actually decide I like Valparaiso better and would rather go back and have lunch there.

I take the metro back to Valparaiso.  The ride is only 15 minutes.  I’m pretty hungry when I return from Vina Del Mar since it’s almost 2:00 p.m.  My eating patterns have been extremely different from being at home.  Especially since being in Chile where the restaurants don’t even open before 8:00 p.m. for dinner.  I remember being in Argentina in 1987 and we could barely find a restaurant open before 9:00 p.m.  Do these people work?  Who stays up this late?  The nice German girl from Salon Color told me that last night people were in the restaurant until 3:00 a.m.  She doesn’t usually wake up before 10 or 11 a.m.  

Happy Valentine's Day

I walk back to the neighborhood where my hotel is because this hill “Cerro Alegre” has most of the “gourmet” restaurants.  I notice many restaurants have all inclusive Valentine’s meals on the menus out front.  I wasn’t sure if that was for lunch or dinner.  Not a day I’m enjoying being by myself.  But I get through it.

I find Desayunador--an all day (permanent ) breakfast place.  

This looks interesting.  I order a quiche (torta they call it) with vegetables and tofu that comes with a salad.  I also ask for a cappuccino which the waiter tells me is served with cream not milk.   O.k. I’ll try it.  It was very rich like a dessert.

I sat in this restaurant and wrote for a while while I ate my delicious piece of quiche.  The crust was made from whole wheat and was excellent.  I felt very comfortable sitting here eating and writing.

The rest of my day was filled with photographing the incredible art painted on the street walls and other objects as well. 

I ambled around and discovered more and more interesting drawings painted on the walls.  

I was careful with my camera but it seemed there were just lots of tourists around.  

I walked into an art gallery and had a conversation (in Spanish) with the woman there.  She told me I spoke slowly but it was o.k. she could understand me.  

I found this one house with lots of junk stuck to the outside.  There were three men sitting across the street watching me take photographs.  (I was definitely making up for not taking any photos yesterday).  When one of the men walked into the house I told him his house was “muy interestante”.

“gracias”, he said.

Excellent recycling

I continued walking up and down the streets finding art, churches, 

How's that for symbolism?

preparing to paint a mural

people working and eventually got myself to the bottom of one of the main streets.  

Unfortunately there is a graffiti problem in this town.  People paint graffiti over the murals.  There is a campaign to clean up the graffiti.

Walking back toward the hotel I found one of the ascensor’s “elevators” still working in Valparaiso.

This was the “Concepcion” elevator.  It cost 300 pesos and goes straight up.  It was better than a venicular because it’s attached to tracks and not floating in the air.  It was fun.  When I got to the top there was a small street of vendors.  I bought a short sleeve t-shirt from one of the artists.  He told me it was his photograph on the shirt.  

Because it stays light late it’s easier to loose track of time.  It was nearly 7:00 p.m. before I returned to the hotel.  

When I returned to the hotel Enrico was at the front desk and told me that the tour had been arranged and we were going to be picked up from the hotel at 9:30 a.m.  The Canadian women were going and we would be 5 people and it would cost $70.00.  We would visit the largest pool in the world, Isla Negra, have lunch, and then visit a winery.  Sounded good to me.

typical set of stairs in Valparaiso

At the hotel they have a place to sit outside high up what is nearly the roof which is nearly the roof.  I went to write there for a while.  The sky was an incredible shade of blue.  I wrote for a while then went back to my room. 

I didn’t go out for dinner since I’d had such a late lunch and was still pretty tired.

Hope you enjoy today's photos!