VALPARAISO DAY 2

THE WALKING TOUR

Valparaiso is the city of mural art.  It is absolutely every where and it is really amazing art work.  The piece above was right outside our B&B.  We did a lot of walking today but the sights and views were amazing.  We started off by walking straight up and I mean straight up to about to the halfway point which was a flat road by Valparaiso standards.  We walked along in a complete semi circle around the ridge which provide spectacular views of the harbour and the city below.

The murals were every where you looked, up, down, sideways.  Everyone was different and most likely told it's own story.  All we had was a map so we didn't get any history of the pictures.

Once we finished the upper circle we headed out again only down this time.  Down many many stairs.  When we were about half way down we decided we needed something to eat.  We stopped at a local restaurant and tried out our very limited Spanish.  We do know how to say fish (Piscado) in Spanish so that's about as far as we got because there was no menu, the waiter just recited what was available.  It was a surprise meal.  Very Very good.  We started with a salad and then ended up with a main of rice and tuna steak, with a pineapple drink and a Carmel crepe for desert.  Not bad for not knowing the language!  We then continued on our way to the original area of the murals.

I'm not sure when these were completed but they have not been maintained over the years, which is kind of sad.  The streets were very narrow and wndy but the murals were still very amazing seeing they were as old as I think they were.  The houses were very run down and some were abandoned.

Very Very cool.  When it rains the water just runs down this area, yet it is still very amazing.

When we reached the bottom we took one of 5 original asensors in the city.  This particular one was built in 1902 and is still in operation.  We paid 500AR for two of us to ride up to the top.  Well worth the money!

Because the next level we climbed and climbed and climbed.  I kept telling Bill it was good training for Machu Picchu. 

We were trying to spend another day here to see if we could make it to Vina Del Mar which is the city just north of here.  It is suppose to have beautiful beaches, but I could not cancel our night in Santiago. 

As it turned out we woke up this morning to a blanket of fog and mist so a day at the beach would not have been too enjoyable.  So we had breakfast and our host at our B&B drove us to the bus station to catch the bus to Santiago.  It's suppose to be a 2 hour bus ride so lets hope they are right.

Valparaiso was an interesting city full of great food, wine and artwork.  It is also a cruise port, so if you ever get the chance at least spend the day walking though the city, you won't be disappointed.  We met a couple of kids at the bus stations this morning who were on our bus from Mendoza and they had taken the time to go to Vina Del Mar, in their opinion it was just another big city.  So in hind sight I guess it was meant to be we didn't make it up there.  Santiago is a very big city, very warm, but found a good bottle of wine to enjoy and a great little Peruvian restaurant.  Life is good and the bus ride was only 2 hours long.  Taxi driver was entertaining and informative and the hostel is clean and quiet.  Tomorrow we are going to ride the subway for the first time and go on a walking city tour.  The history is incredible here.

Chow Chow