Valparaiso May 4 - 7

Valparaiso is Chiles principal port´and naval base, aswell as being known for it´s nightlife amongst the Chileans. The journey to Valparaiso was only a couple of hours, so we arrived with a hostel in minded but after realising it wasn´t the greatest area we set off for Cerre Concepcion (the UNESCO Heritage site of the city). Realising that it was at the top of a hill we set about climbing the steps with our backpacks.

At the top of the hill a guy kept hollering us, but after being used to ignoring the men in Santiago we blanked him and continued walking to find a place to stay. Everywhere looked really nice and cute but was either too expensive or had no other guests. We wanted to make some friends so headed to an area known for a large backpackers hostel.

Enroute we spotted some fellow backpackers who led us to the ´Casa´they were staying at. Basically a ´casa´is like a hostel but the owner also lives there and they make you a great breakfast! On arrival we found out that the guy who owned the place was also the guy that had been hollering us in the street to see if we needed a room! oops! Luckily he found it funny and was a nice guy so we laughed it off. At least we knew his casa was the best at this point.

We settled in and started drinking with some kiwi girls and some English, Irish and Dutch guys. We initially planned a couple of casual drinks, but a couple of bottles of wine later we found ourselves heading to a local bar after trying to avoid the vast number of dogs that took a liking to me and ordering Piscola´s. They went down a treat at the time, but not so much the next day! Note: It taste´s much nicer with Sprite!

There were ten of us in the bar and we were probably the only ´gringos´there, yet some Spanish dude came and sat next to us so I moved my cardigan and he proceeded to call me racist. After explaining with the language barrier and with some help from fellow travellers that I was literally letting him have more space and changing the subject to football all was fine!

A few more piscola´s and we managed to find a club in another room and danced the night away, getting to bed around about 6am. Needless to say that the next day was pretty much a write off as the piscola was not good to our heads!

Luckily the weather wasn´t great and the guys we were out with weren´t not feeling great either so we all chilled out in the hostel and Zara and I felt a bit sorry for ourselves!

After finding some energy we enjoyed some mexican food which cured the hangover and then chilled out for the night. We also had to say goodbye to our new friends as they were moving on in the opposite direction. Goodbyes always suck especially when they are a decent bunch, but that´s travelling for you! The evening finished with free Pisco Sours (try them if you haven´t as they are amazing, it includes pisco, egg white, sugar,lemon juice and sometimes angostura bitters), of course this helped us fall asleep for the night!

The following day we felt fresh as a daisy and headed out to finally explore the city! We wandered around concepcion where we were staying, then the port, spotting some important people having a police escort into the Naval Base.

We then found ourselves in Pablo Naruda´s house at the top of San Cristobal Hill. Pablo Neruda was a Chilean Poet and politician who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971. He owned three houses in Chile, each of which reflects his quirky tastes. La Sebastiana was built in the shape of a ship at the top of a hill, this meant that Pablo would sit in his arm chair, look out to sea and pretend he was in a boat. There was many interesting aspects to this house, including an awesome bar, some cool old maps he collected on his travels and a wooden horse from a carousel! Asides from this, the views of the city, up the hills and out to sea were spectacular.

After this we wandered down hill, taking in the bohemian culture and admiring the amazing murals painted on houses and steps. Strangely there was also a cast of a pregnant lady which had a foetus painted on it. See my pictures if you don´t believe me!

We ended the afternoon by heading over to Vina Del Mar to check out the beach resort. The weather wasn´t good enough for bikinis , but we thought we´d see what the fuss was all about as it is renowned for it´s beaches. Having said that, we definitely preferred Valparaiso and beaches in Oz and Asia are much nicer! Another quiet evening was had after this as there weren´t many people left in the hostel and we had an early bus to catch the next day!

Overall, we loved Valparaiso, this was helped by the fact that we met some awesome people but we would definitely recommend you to visit!