13th-14th October: Valparaiso

At the exit from Valparaiso bus terminal, a taxi driver ushered us into his car.  His slurred and slightly random tourist-guide act ("the first Chinese restaurant in Valpo!") suggested that he'd had either a rough night or a well-oiled morning.  We arrived, however, safe and sound at the aptly-named Residence on the Hill.  We dropped off our bags and set out to explore.

View over the harbour from outside the hostel

After a quick stop at Plaza Sotomayor down by the port, where we saw the impressive building of the Chilean navy, we made our way back up the hill.  Rather than walking, we decided to take one of Valparaiso's many aging elevators, the Queen Victoria, dating from 1902.  The ramshackle hut that serves as its entrance did not bode well, but the venerable old queen hauled us up the hill just fine.  Safely arrived on the side of Pleasant Hill, we strolled among the narrow, cobbled streets lined with old colonial houses that seemed at ease with their slightly shabby charm.

Plaza Sotomayor, with the naval HQ in the background

The promising entry to Ascensor Queen Vic

Valparaiso and its colourful houses rising up the hill

Cutting up fish on the street

We walked for a couple of hours, picking up some empanadas for lunch as we proceded, until arriving La Sebastiana, the house of Pablo Neruda.  This quirky old house sat at the top of the hill with a glorious view over the town and all of the bay.  After being told to wait for twenty minutes while a school trip gradually filtered out, we entered and picked up our audioguides.  The house was exquisitely furnished, and each object had an interesting story.  There was even a carousel horse from Bayonne, mounted on one edge of the circular dais as if still spinning merrily.  Downstairs was a brief presentation of Neruda's interesting political career, about which I had known embarrassingly little.

Valparaiso (plus one imported eyesore)

Neruda's house

View from Neruda's dining room

 After an hour or so, we bade farewell to the poet and wandered back down the hill.  Our guide had suggested that we take the picturesque Elevator Florida down.  We decided to take the stairs instead, mainly due to the overgrown bushes and trees covering the apparently (and hopefully) closed tracks.

The Elevator Florida looked a little closed

We arrived in the less-than-inspiring Plaza de Armas, and then looked for a place for dinner.  Macarena had told us that Casino Social J Cruz was fun, so we stopped in there to have a look.  We started with a couple of beers while taking in the fun decor (and keeping an eye out for the huge cast-iron propellor dangling over my head).  Clem had a local lager, while I went for the more adventurous Barba Roja, an amber "burnt" ale that was thankfully not too sweet.  Even though it was early we were tempted into having one of the two dishes on offer, called the Juliana: a huge pile of greasy fries, topped with scrambled egg and stewed beef.  This was not the lightest dish, but was tasty.  We then walked back up the hill to the hostel, picking up an ice cream on the way.

Clem, Juliana, and Barba Roja

The following morning, we woke late and had breakfast in front of the news (in French), while booking our hostel for that night in Santa Cruz and trying to figure out how to get there.  We then strapped up our bags and walked down the hill to the bus terminal (slightly further than we'd imagined) to catch the bus to Santiago, and from there on to Santa Cruz.