Cool Valparaiso

Colourful.  This is the one word I would use to describe Valparaiso.  We arrived early in the morning following a swift coach journey from Pucon.  After finding our hostel we were treated to a warm welcome and the best hostel breakfast we had had in the whole of South America.

Following a recommendation from our friends we had booked a hostel in the hills area of Valpo.  This is the bohemian quarter and wherever you look the walls are adorned with graffiti.  But not the kind of graffiti you see recklessly sprayed on walls lining the route to Waterloo station; most of the grafiiti in Valpo were bonafide pieces of art.  Add to this that every property was painted a different colour to it's neighbours and hopefully you start to get the picture.

In the afternoon we jumped on a bus for a hair raising ride to the nearby coastal town of Viña del Mar.  Valparaiso is a busy port town without a beach, so the Valaparisians head to Viña for beach time.  As it was a Sunday the long beach was jam packed, busier than Brighton beach on the hottest day of the year.  On returning to Valpo we found a supermarket and then used one of the historic ascensors instead of walking the steep and winding roads back to our hostel.  The ascensors are much like a modern lift on the side of the hill, except they work in pairs as a counterweight, and are very rickety.  But great fun!

The following day we strolled around Valpo.  In contrast to the hills we didn't find the main part of town that interesting but we were in search of a hairdresser as I desperately needed a haircut.  Eventually we found one and I had a fantastic haircut and got exactly what I wanted without being able to communicate with the hairdresser beyond miming, pointing and the odd spanish word.  That evening we walked up to a viewpoint and watched the sun go down over Valpo whilst drinking one of our Mendoza wine tasting purchases and toasting South America and the adventures, friends and fun she had given us.  We then treated ourselves to a gorgeous meal of authentic Chilean cuisine in a quaint Chilean restaurant.  A perfect end to our three and a bit months in South America!