Bohemian Valparaiso

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Day 94: Wednesday 1st October - Arty Valparaiso

Have a frustratingly long walk to my hostel after getting off the bus. Its in Cerro Conception, one of the hillsides that are the trademark of Valparaiso. First its a deceptively long walk along the main avenue in Valparaiso before I miss the entrance to the lift up the hillside and have to trudge up the next road leading up their on foot. Once in Cerro Conception I can't find the hostel, and walk up and down the street for a good 10 minutes, passing the entrance to the lane where the hostel is on a few times! After viewing an alternative choice I end up going with my original which is up a colourful lane and is a large turn of the century house, part of which has been converted into a hostel. The family still lives here too, so it has a homely feel. After freshening up following my mammoth bus journey, I take a short walk around the colourful neighbourhood. All the houses are painted different vivid colours which I later discover is a trademark of Valparaiso. On my walk around the neighbourhod I find a cafe to get lunch. My Lonely Planet guide recommends the hot chocolate....could this be the same cafe that James, the Aussie I met in San Pedro was raving about having the best hot chocolate he'd ever tasted?? Well I would say that it was the best hot chocolate I've ever had..so velvety, I'll have to come back its that good!

After my late lunch I set off to explore Valparaiso. There's not much in the way of sites, the fun is just strolling up and down the colourful streets and catching the lifts up and down the hillsides to explore. Valparaiso has a very arty feel and is laid back once you get away from the main street. It doesn't take that long to walk around the main part of the city, after all its quite small and is home to around a quarter of a million people making it just about Chile's second city after Santiago. I head back to the hostel in the late afternoon where I spend a few hours sorting out the next couple of months of travel plans on the internet (I've booked a ferry to travel down the coast of Chile in 3 weeks, sort out refuge bookings for a trek in Torres Del Paine National Park later this month, and then get frustrated in lack of dates to book the Milford trek in New Zealand). Eventually get sick of staring at a computer screen and go out looking for some dinner. The area I'm staying in has a number of upmarket restaurants where the middle classes of Valparaiso seem to hang out but they are so expensive. I'm looking at around 10 pounds for a meal and decide against it as I'm not that hungry and get a few snacks from the corner shop instead.

Go back to the hostel and decide although it screws up my New Zealand plans I really must book the only remaining place on the Milford trek for the 5 weeks I'm in New Zealand, otherwise I risk missing out altogether. The trek is limited to 40 places per day, and its coming into high season. An Australian guy had tipped me off in Cusco on the rafting expedition that you needed to book early....I'm glad he told me this or I would just have turned up, but wish I'd looked into it 3 weeks ago when he told me....nevermind. Regardless, its going to mean I will have to fly to the South Island from Auckland and then back again as the only date is in late November (near the start of my arrival in NZ) and I have booked other things to coincide with my plan to travel North to South at the cost of an additional 200 pounds or so.....rubbish, but at least I've got a place on one of the premier treks in the world. Now all I need to do is rejig the rest of my plans for New Zealand......

Day 95: Thursday 2nd October - A cloudy day on the beach at Vina Del Mar

Its a lethargic start to the day for me, hardly surprising after catching up on sleep following the bus journey. I'm going to go to the beach at Vina Del Mar (the next city along the coast), but as its a cloudy start to the day I'm not that motivated to go. In the mid morning make a move, first exploring another of Valparaiso's colourful hillsides on the way to the metro station. Get my bus ticket for Santiago tomorrow on the way too. Finally get to the metro station around noon, just as the sun threaten's to make a belated appearance. Must take a further 45 minutes to get to the beach between the 5 mile or so metro ride and walking a mile from the centre of Vina Del Mar.

It remains cloudy for the majority of the time on the beach and the sea is freezing......it is only the beginning of spring and yesterday's hot sunshine must have been a false dawn. I was looking forward to a lazy day on the beach in hot sunshine, but after a couple of hours decide to move on. Catch the metro back to Valparaiso and stop off at the cinema to have a look at what's on. Unfortunately all films are in spanish so decide to go back to the same cafe as I went yesterday for another hot chocolate and a late lunch. Spend the early evening trying to sort out internal flights in Argentina which have increased exponentially in price from when I last looked months ago. Sort out one of the three with the Argentinian Air Force!, but I'll think about the other two as its going to cost 300 pounds more than I thought.....making an additional 500 pounds on flights in 2 days which I hadn't budgeted. I don't think I've that much choice as the alternative...bus journey's will run into multiple days....time I don't think I've got if I want to spend a decent amount of time in Buenos Aires.

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