Valparaiso (Valpo to its friends)

Day 1

Our bus wasn’t until the afternoon so we had a leisurely b/f, packed and headed to the Bus Station around noon.

 

Our destination, Valparaiso, Is a port town around 2hrs away from Santiago. It was the last port before Cape Horn for ships to stock up until the Panama Canal opened and the trade died away.  Today, it’s more famous for its colourful street art, and funiculars that take you up and down the many hills and Barrio’s. So much so, it’s now a UNESCO heritage site (learnt all that on our walking tour). Interestingly, the many cruise ships that stop here don’t get to see the street art and Barrio’s as they are whisked off on pre-organised wine tours etc, shame!

 

I had read that Valpo had a higher crime rate than Santiago so when we arrived at the bus station, we opted for a cab rather than negotiate the streets with all our valuables. It was a good choice too, as it would have been a steep climb to our hostel.

 

We had chosen well, the Barrio we were staying in was really funky, we could see a lot of street art on the way in. The hostel, whist a bit cold, was lovely too. We had a huge room, with an anti-room that led to our bathroom and a patio.

 

We locked up and headed out to explore the streets. We quickly found the funicular that took you down to street level but it was closed so we decided to spend time wandering around the Barrio itself, taking a few pics and seeing some of the remnants of Halloween (check out chuckie hanging from a doorway). We then had a beer and shared a plate of sushi before heading back to the hostel to rest up until the evening.

Evening came and we headed out to find some food. We hadn’t been to an ATM so funds were a little limited. We opted for a cosy little restaurant, sat down, looked at the menu prices, then looked at each other and quickly left. Finding one more in our budget, and still pretty cosy, we had a nice meal and a cheap bottle of wine before heading back for the night.

 

Day 2 - What a Prat!

 

Scrambled eggs for b/f which is pretty unusual in Chile as its typically a very dense roll, jam, and if you’re lucky, ham and cheese is the typical fayre. We had our fill and then headed down towards the meeting point where we would join the free city walking tour.

 

Once again, the funicular wasn’t working so we negotiated our way down long narrow steps, stopping to take some pics of some of the street art along the way.

We found an ATM so that we would be able to pay the guide something should he be good, and then sat in the square to wait. Here’s where we noticed the number of dogs! There seemed to be more dogs in Valpo than there were in Santiago.  I counted at least 14 dogs lazing around in the sun, just in the tiny square we were in!

 

We met the guide who spoke excellent English and were introduced to two other people joining the tour. A lady called Stephanie from France, and another young French fella who’s name I can’t remember, they were travelling separately. The guide also gave us some guidance on the dogs who liked to the follow the tour, there was a usual crowd that liked to take their morning stroll with tourists but we were asked not to encourage or interreact for fear that the dogs would soon outnumber the tour group. So off we set, myself, Glenn, 2 Frenchie’s, a tour guide and about 3 dogs.

 

We headed back to the funicular that took us to the Barrio we were staying in. It was still closed and we were told it was due to government staff striking against pay. It happens the same time every year, funiculars stop, museums close and rubbish piles up on the street whilst workers have a bit of an unpaid holiday, do a bit of lively demonstrating and have a bit of fun until their union negotiate an extra 2%. So instead we opted for the steep climb back up to the Barrio we had come down.

 

At the top, we were greeted by 2 more dogs that regularly waited there to join the tour. The tour guide took us down streets we hadn’t seen, pointed out interesting architecture, and showed how some of the artists incorporated the architecture into the design.  E.g. a chimney would become a nose of a face, using weeds and plants as part of the picture.

We were also told that there was a lot of respect for the various muriel’s and artists wouldn’t paint over each others with tags etc. For this reason, the various hostels, houses and restaurants sometimes commissioned artists to paint their buildings so they could have something arty and not a mishmash of various street tags.

There was one house which was shaped like a boat and remained white, only because the house owner had to regularly paint it and remove the various tags that would appear daily.

 

After descending from the Barrio and another dog joining us (we were now officially outnumbered), we had a break at a shop that served us some free Pisco. I think in the hope that we would purchase some Empanada’s but both still full of scrambled eggs, we opted for the Pisco only. Bit early for alcohol, even for us, but who’s going to turn down a free drink?

We then crossed into another Barrio, again with great street art, winding streets, and a staircase painted like piano keys. We were told the artist came back regularly to maintain it but was arrested as the stairwell was government owned and he didn’t have a licence. There was such an outcry the government had to give in and released him.

The tour ended in the main plaza where we stood beneath a statue of los Heros which held a statue of Captain Prat and 3 sailors. It turns out that Prat captained a wooden ship in a battle over land against Bolivia. Bolivia, having a ship made of steel meant Chile’s chances of winning the battle were slim. Prat decided their only option was to sidle up to the Bolivian ship and then jump ship and take the crew hostage. The time came and Prat shouted the order. Only Prat and 3 sailors jumped, the rest of the crew, not fancying their chances, remained on the ship. Prat and the 3 sailors were promptly killed. The story of their heroism (or stupidity?) soon spread which led to more and more people signing up and Chile eventually winning the war.

 

Now, and I really hope this is true, the guide told us an English linguist joined his tour and he researched the term Prat and confirmed that the story of Captain Prat is how the term ‘you prat’ entered the English language. MAGIC!

 

After the tour, we found a bar to have a quencher before heading to the ferry to take a trip around the port. We sat people watching for an hour, soaking in the sun when the French guy who was on our trip appeared. We had a chat and he explained he’d just come back from the ferry and the trip was pretty lame. So, we had another beer or 3 instead!

Now feeling pretty hungry, and a little unsteady on our feet, we thought it would be a good idea to negotiate the steps to our Barrio before it got to dark. We headed for a restaurant and was eating a meal when we spotted an older couple we had got chatting to in Santiago. Full of beer, Glenn bounded over to them and had a chat, returning to say that he had arranged for us to meet them after for a beer. Now I don’t know whether we lost sense of time and left early, or they wisely decided we were a little bit ahead of them and decided not to show, but we never met up with them and headed back to the hostel.

When we got back to the hostel, we tried to book a taxi for the following morning but the very unhelpful guy said that we would have to wait until another staff member started. We fell into bed (around 7) and Glenn woke up and tried to book again (around 10) but nobody was there. It’s going to be a long climb down tomorrow with our bags. And did I say the stray dogs don’t like anything on wheels and chase you down the street?