Valparaiso.....

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I was just looking quickly over other blogs & can´t believe that I´ve been to some of these places. It seems surreal. You forget how beautiful the places were & the photos only capture a fraction of it. Anyway next stop was Valparaiso,a Unesco world heritage city. Again we were met by a fella at the bus station that pointed us towads a great hostel, right in the centre. Valparaiso is a hilly city & has lifts for those of whom the climb is a bit of a struggle. We were based right beside the 2nd oldest lift.....the Cordillera lift but I can confirm that we never took the lift, despite the 163 steps to our place & the rancid smell of urine...both human & animal on the hike up the steep steps.

We arrived there on a Wednesday & stayed there til Saturday. As cities go, it takes a bit of getting used to. The buildings are nice, if not in need of some TLC in places. Thick overhead cables line the streets & the odours everywhere challenge the senses, requiring a strong stomach at times. There are stray dogs everywhere & the dirt that comes with them but despite all of this, it has its charm. The cobbled streets, the hills with cafes & restaurants dotted everywhere, the misty port concealing the massive ships, only revealing them at around 1pm; when the sun finally breaks through!! Not far from Valparaiso is a Viña del Mar which is like a cleaner version of Val. It is super-clean & much more touristy, with a nice beach & loads of ice-cream parlours. We spent 2 days out there, wondering the city & park & hoping to get some sun. The sunbathing was fruitless between the cloud & the wind but nevertheless, Viña is worth a visit. The plaza is impressive.

Ok & for the higlight of Valparaiso, Le Filou de Montpelier. It´s a French restaurant that does a set lunch everyday & couldn´t but please the tastebuds. We hung around in the city everyday until lunchtime just to eat there. I think we´re due commission at this stage because we´ve been telling everyone we meet to go there & to the hostel where we stayed.

It was a nice few days in Vaparaiso. Relaxing. From here we went back to Santaigo to take a 24hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama. Food supplies in, we´re good to go!!

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