Valparaiso – or Valpo to its friends.

Monday, 6th February, 20223

We arrived at Valparaiso around 0800 hours and had all day to explore. Val and I had decided not to sign up for a tour of either Valparaiso or Santiago, but rather to ‘do our own thing’ in Valpo, as it is known. It is certainly well worth a visit, though I am not sure I would want to live there.

It is made up of a lot of cerros or hills, which are so steep there are no fewer than 15 funicular railways or ‘ascencores’, built between 1883 and 1916. It must also rank as one of the most graffiti covered cities in the world. It was everywhere – though significantly not on the walls of the law courts, the Navy headquarters or the churches!! The difficulty is that the city is also famed for its street art, which at the end of the day is an advanced form of graffiti, so I suppose there is a certain amount of tolerance for your average, run-of-the-mill political slogans and general tagging.

That said, Valpo is a UNESCO World Heritage Sight so we determined to seek out what there was to see. This was not made any easier by the exit from the port from the ship and into the city. We were berthed right next to where we wanted to get to, but for some reason we were shuttle-bussed (or is that bused?) along the waterfront, still in the docks to the passenger terminal. This was good insofar as it had excellent Wi-Fi, but the only way out of it was via another shuttle bus which seemed to take us through some very dingy bits of more waterfront, away from the centre of the city.

We were all very mystified as the bus just stopped and we were waved off by the driver, emerging into a bit of wasteland with a gate in the fence through which we went, then over the railway tracks to the main road that runs along the waterfront. We had been joined at this point by some others we knew, Jeremy and Rebecca and a lady who we didn’t know, called Kate who, spotting that we had a detailed map picked up in the passenger terminal, gravitated to us like swimmers to a life raft.

Unfortunately none of us had really been paying much attention on the buses, but instinct told us that we needed to head back the direction from which we had come. We set off and after a while came across an impressive looking mercado, so out came the map and we finally established where we were, which came as a bit of a surprise as it was further than we could believe from where we wanted to be. Never mind, we set off purposely though our party was now down to Val, me and Kate (who is very resourceful and also had a supply of Chilean pesos) and we eventually found our way to the ascensor Espiritu Santo – only to find it was closed!!

However, parked next to it was a car, the driver of which informed us not to worry because he was a sort of taxi who could take us up the hill for 300 pesos each (I know, it sounds a lot, but is only about 30 pence!!), except that his car was full, but another, green one would be along in a minute – which it was. Excellent, we think, even though it was the size of a Fiat Uno and in we get, me in the front and Val and Kate in the back, except that before Kate could get in, a local lady climbed into the middle of the back as well – carrying an enormous cake on a plate. Apparently this is normal, if a bit cosy, so off we went up some very steep and narrow streets where in places there was a man with red and green flags to indicate if we could proceed and avoid the car hurtling down towards us. Very fast and very windy (in both senses of the word!) with the cake in imminent danger of flying out of the window.

We arrived at the top of Cerro Bellavista though and took in the views and the street art in what is called the Museo a Cielo Abierto, the open-air museum of 20 vibrant murals (not all in the first flush of youth, but fascinating nonetheless). This is a small selection – I have plenty more for those who are interested!!!

We made our way to the bottom and then hired another taxi to get us to the top of our next Cerro, this time Cerro Concepcion, with some rather grander buildings including the Museo de Bellas Artes (closed on Mondays!)

We stopped for a drink overlooking the city next to the Museo de Bellas Artes. I would add that the temperature was a very pleasant 24C or so. We found a nearby funicular and descended downwards.

We tried to get back on the ship by walking through the gate virtually next to it, but no, that is prohibido so it was off to get another taxi down the waterfront, over the train tracks and through the dodgy-looking gate and on to the shuttle buses back to the terminal and ship. A good day out. I liked the city, even if it is a bit edgy and again very scruffy, but it does have a lot of character. That said, I would not want to live there!! It was a shame we could not make it to Santiago, but time is limited.

Tuesday-Wednesday, 7th & 8th February, 2023

We now have two sea days, steaming southwards. the temperature is starting to drop a bit. Today, 8/2 we have fog, though the sun is trying to force itself through. I tried walking round the ship on the Promenade Deck, a bit of a struggle at one point against the wind at the pointy end of the vessel, though very exciting when you turned the corner with the wind behind you trying to stop yourself from hurtling to the back. No sign of whales, dolphins or anything else except the odd lonely bird. We are hoping for better fare further south, but I have a feeling they are a bit camera shy. We shall see.

Next stop Castro on the island of Chiloe. Not long before it will be the bottom of South America, Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn and the Antarctic. The thermals will be coming out!