Thursday 5th February
Valparaiso, Chile
We have arrived at our last Chilean port, Valparaiso. This city is built on about 45 hills and rises steeply from the water's edge. This is a container port and we were berthed close to the town centre. You could see it from the ship. Unfortunately we had to take port buses to the terminal which was almost 2 miles away. Once outside the port area we had to walk all the way back to the town centre. We visited the National Heroes Monument in the Plaza Sotomayor. It was a bit strange in this square as it was hard to decide which was road and which part was for pedestrians. It didn't feel that safe as cars whizzed by. We got some local currency and set off to explore this part of town. To travel up some of the many hills there are a series of funicular railways around the city called ascensores. We went on the oldest one - the Ascensor Concepion. It went up almost vertically. You get into the cabin (this one was quite small ) which is just like a very basic garden shed and then it just lifts up into the air creaking as it goes. It was a short journey and took us to an area with some hotels in and lots of colourful houses. Most of the buildings in this city are painted in bright colours. We walked around at this level before stopping in the Casa Mirador for a coffee and a sandwich looking down to the port. After this we decided to walk further up the hill. We found a very Bohemian street, it was very steep as most of the roads are, with steps each side. These steps were painted in various colours and the houses were not only brightly coloured but many had colourful murals on their walls. No cars came up this street as there were lots of flowers growing haphazardly in the middle of the very uneven cobbled road. At the top there was several very wide steps where you could sit. They were decorated in mosaic letters saying 'We are not hippies, we are happies' . Although not the neatest road we really loved it. We did a bit more wandering before returning to Ascensor for the trip down. After a quick visit to the supermarket for some Chilean wine we took the long walk back to the terminal. When we set sail this evening we will be at sea for about 9 days going into the tropics and sailing past Easter Island and Pitcairn Island.