Since Friday we have been in Valparaiso, a two hour drive away from Santiago. We've had a relaxing three days here, and much preferred the ambience to that in Santiago. It's a really cool, characterful place, with cobbled streets, brightly painted corrugated iron houses and lots of little cafes, restaurants and bars. There's also stunning views down to the port, out across the sea and over the many hills, covered with colourful and individual housing.

We got to Valparaiso at around 11.30, but the hostel we'd pinpointed to stay at was closed for renovations until July! We had a pretty awful search up and down hills and stairs, in an attempt to find somewhere else, with our huge rucksacks on our backs. We eventually found somewhere and, after dumping our bags, we set off for lunch. It was at this point that we got caught in an almighty downpour. Obviously the drains and sewage infrastructure couldn't cope with the amount of water, and we had streams running down the hills, in the middle of roads. Puddles really deep and really large, literally covering whole streets, ensured our feet got soaked through. We were drenched and really needed lunch to be good to lift our spirits. Luckily it was! 'Casino Social J Cruz' was an atmospheric place covered in paper graffiti from former diners, and they served only two dishes in sizes big enough for two. We plumped for the humongous 'chorrillana', chips covered in onions, egg and beef. Just what we needed! Our afternoon, however, was something of a disappointment as England once again let us down by drawing with Algeria in their second game of the World Cup. What made it worse was that watching it were just us and three Germans! Jo got especially infuriated when one made snide remarks after the final whistle. She can be feisty!

Yesterday, we agreed to join an American chap who was helping at the hostel on one of this walking tours of the city. The wandering gave us a real feel of the place, and it was an awesome day (after Fridayś soaking!), with only the odd puffy white cloud. We got some astounding and beautiful views over the cerros (hills), down to the port and huge ships and across the twinkling blue ocean. After going up the Ascensor Reina Victoria, one of the fifteen funiculars built to get up the hills between 1883 and 1916, we got plenty of photos of the graffiti that's everywhere and is encouraged, and got the lowdown from our guide on the city's history, geography and what's been happening since the earthquake a few months ago. We finished up at the Museo a Cielo Abierto, an open air gallery of abstract murals painted on houses etc by local art students. The walk had built up a healthy appetite for us, and lunch was a large affair, lasting two hours. As well as the cazuela (a stew like soup with a hunk of beef, potato, sweet potato and sweetcorn) we unexpectedly also got a salad to start and (a pretty gruesome) pudding. The food generally however, was excellent, nice and hearty and filling.

Today has been more of the same. We wandered around the cerros again this morning and went into the local cemetery, where the tombs are huge statuesque monoliths for different family groups. Each is decorated really intricately, often whitewashed, and some even had stained glass windows! Other, older graves were in a more tumbledown state, but it was pretty atmospheric. After visiting Pablo Neruda's residence in Santiago, and enjoying looking around it, we decided to have a peek inside his house in Valparaiso as well. The house wasn't as exciting in our opinion, being less quirky, but the views from every floor out to sea were beautiful on another sunny, perfect day. In the afternoon we visited the port area of the city, and tried to go up a funicular to a cerro with great views over the ships and cranes. Unfortunately it was closed! The port is known for being a bit dodgy, so we were being extra careful with our camera...Jo took it to extreme levels, almost to the extent of acting like Matt Damon in the Bourne Identity on a covert mission. She even got scared when a pigeon flew at her face! (I ducked as well!).

Tomorrow, we've got a long journey up north to San Pedro de Atacama, which sounds really cool. We won't arrive until Tuesday morning, but we have three days up there to enjoy the town and its surroundings.