Louisa, Tom, Kim & I took a bus to Valparaiso. Our initial impressions are of a dirty and smelly town and we were not at all impressed by it. The town has a busy port; the lowlands stretching along the coast represents the commercial and governmental distrcit, and the highlands are made up of many hills housing a mixture of colourful homes (both mansions and slums), churches, and shops. There are 16 ascensors (funicular railways) spread across town which provides foot access between the cerros (hills) and the lowlands.

We ascended a couple of these hills by foot and by ascensor to take in the colourful views of what is otherwise a dirty, stinky town. Everywhere we went the streets and buildings smelled of pee - it was awful!

We took the 15 min train ride to Viña del Mar (9km north of Valparaiso) - a seaside resort which gave our noses much needed reprieve. It is probably a popular weekend resort town for the Santiago crowd - it is pleasant enough as a weekend getaway, but I thought it was a rather bland place otherwise.