Santiago & Valparaiso

With assistance from our helpful hostel owner at Hostal Nico, we caught a micro bus (the only option due to the proximity to the Chilean border) on the side of the highway in Puente del Inca and headed for Chile. The ride was supposed to take 3-4 hours, but took 6, because of the hold-up at the border and construction on the other side. We were glad we did the crossing in the day time, however, since the scenery was great. The border crossing was at the top of the mountain pass, and the way down the other side to Santiago included the Uspallata Pass (a.k.a. Los Lenas pass/ Paso Libertadores); a stretch with countless (we think about 30) switchbacks (visible in the bottom left corner of the photo below).

 

We also drove though a few long, narrow, and hazy tunnels (it´s always a good sign when your driver crosses himself prior to entering the tunnel... right?). We arrived in Santiago around tea-time (6pm) and were sufficiently starved, having missed lunch. We headed for Hostel Santa Lucia (in the center of Santiago) and had a snack of home-made guacamole and multigrain pita bread. Yum! (The avocados here are to die for). Later that night we enjoyed our first Sushi in 2.5 months... a true delight. 

The next day we wandered around the city, and visited Santa Lucia Park; a wonderful little hill in the center of Santiago (and conveniently right across from our hostel) with numerous staircases carved into the rock leading to the top. 

 

You could also take an elevator up there if you wanted; the ¨ascensors¨ are famous landmarks in the city (seen below).

Prices have risen sharply in Chile. A dorm room now costs us about $14 -$20 a night (still not bad, but a drastic change from $4-$10 that we are used to). Hostel Santa Lucia was at the bottom end of the price range ($16) but the fabulous beds, down comforters, location and cozy living room made it worth it.

 

We  were on a mission to cook a seafood feast so we visited the central fish market. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. The abundance of fish and the fishy smell didn´t bother us, but we could have done without the constant cat-calls and verbal harrassment from the stall owners. We left the market to make our decision and came back, decided to purchase our shell-fish from the stall who harrassed us the least. We bought some shrimp, some scallops (in shells) and some mystery clams (¨MaCha¨). We fixed up a feast of shellfish steamed in a white wine and butter sauce, with vegetables and mushroom risotto. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a shellfish disaster. After much debate (and opinions from fellow travellers and hostel staff), we decided the scallops were dead (and therefore unedible), so we ditched them. When we cooked the shrimp they shrunk to about 1cm, but were tasty enough. The clams however, were inedibly sandy. Our new Aussie friends, Adrian and Chris (left and right in the photo below), laughed at us while we attempted to eat the clams, as they could hear the sandy crunching and soon we just gave up on the seafood altogether. The sauce was tasty though!

 

On Saturday we headed up to Valparaiso with Chris, Adrian and Dewey. We had a hostel in mind, but it was booked up when we got there so the owner showed us to a cute new hostel  (Hostel Casa Fischer) around the corner. 

 

  

Hostel Casa Fisher is the cute building on the right with the flowers. It has only been open for 2 weeks, and by the time YOU visit it, the flower-graffiti will take up the whole front face of the building (it is a work in progress). 

 

It turned out to be probably our favorite hostel of the whole trip. The owners were so helpful and friendly and welcomed us right in, they even treated us to wine, fruit, sushi, and anything else they were making. They introduced us to Cherimoya fruit, and we ate it fresh, and stewed in white wine (as a drink). A good hostel breakfast is a sure way to our heart, and they had it bang-on with  wonderful fresh bread,  jam, fruit salad, juice, tea and coffee. The hostel had a resident cat, who at the time had 4 adorable kittens... could it be any better? We didn´t think so. 

 

We absolutely LOVED Valparaiso. It is popular place for travellers but lacked the annoying touristy-vibe (we even struggled to find postcards!), so we really loved that. We ended up staying there for 3 days, and could have stayed a lot longer. The city had a good feel to it. There were lots of stairs and brightly colored houses, friendly stray cats and dogs everywhere, quaint little restaurants and cafes, and a great ocean view. 

 

Great company made it that much better! Our favorites were Emporio La Rosa (an amazing gelato place with unique flavors like orange-ginger, raspberry-mint, pistachio, rose, spiced chocolate... the list goes on) and Cafe Con Letras (a cute cafe/ bookshop which makes a mean smoked salmon salad with avocado, roasted mushrooms and mixed greens). 

 

One of the coolest parts about Valparaiso was the graffiti. It wasn´t the stereotypically irritating graffiti, but rather colorful, creative and fascinating. It was absoutely everywhere (sidewalks, wall, building, stairs...). We took a few pictures (haha). Here are  some of our personal favorites, but you can see more here.

 

 

 

The five of us set of on a self-guided walking tour of Valparaiso, but were convinced (probably falsely) by a bus driver that it wasn´t safe to drive, so we hopped on and got a city tour for $3 each. It was interesting, but as is unfortunately typical around here, the male driver was terribly machistic, and almost unbearable. He tried (at least 5 times) to talk us into going back to his house with him. We finally just asked to get off (and thank goodness we had 3 guys with us). At least we got a good view!

We continued to wander around on our own, making our way to the street market on the other side of town. The market used to be housed near the center, but the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in February of 2010 destroyed the building. Fortunately, despite the magnitude of the earthquake, we saw very little obvious effects of it (unlike the lasting effects of recent earthquakes in Peru and Bolivia).

 

The market was huge and sprawling, covering many city blocks. It included an antiques market, a new & used clothing market, a flower market (we bought flowers for the hostel), and of course produce & fish. 

Speaking of change, Argentina and Chile couldn´t be more opposite on the matter. While change was next to impossible to come by in Argentina, it seems to be a plague here. We try getting rid of change by, say, handing a 5000 note and 150 in change for 4150 purchase, but instead of getting a 1000 note back, we get 1000 in change (10 coins). It is heavy change too!  (F.Y.I. 1 Canadian Dollar is roughly 475 Chilean Pesos).

On Sunday night (yes... Sunday... not sure what we were thinking) we ventured out for some drinks and ended up at a dingy hole-in-the-wall, singing Spanish Karaoke (well... mostly Chris) with some locals. It was highly entertaining.