Advertisement
Published: November 21st 2010
Edit Blog Post
DONNY
We packed our bags to leave the comfort of our posh hotel (which we barely remember due to excessive sleeping) and set off to start our "proper travelling" in Barrio Bellavista. We were staying in La Chimba, a really laid back hostel which was right in the middle of a pretty cool neighbourhood where locals and travellers alike go to eat, drink, suck each others faces and throw drinks over each other. No joke.
Having checked into our room with its paper thin walls (more of which later), we went for a walk in an attempt to find the public swimming pools in the Parque Metropolitano, a large, tree covered hill near the centre of the city with a statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Turns out that the pools don't open until December, despite the weather being baking hot, a fact that we didn't find out until we had slogged it out all the way to the top and then got thoroughly lost. Still, the view from the top was worth it even though we forgot the camera. While trying to find our way back we nearly stood on a massive tarantula walking across the pavement. I
was keen to keep it as a pet but Sandy wasn't quite so sure. Turns out they aren't that common in these parts so it was either a zoo escapee or we were very lucky to see it.
Anyway, we hung about in Bellavista for a couple of days chilling in the sun and trying to sleep to a soundtrack of loud German lovemaking (hilarious collection of lovebites on the girl's neck at breakfast next day). Next we moved on to Barrio Brazil with its promise of live music, cool bars and party atmosphere. Didn't quite turn out that way- it was dead, probably because it was a Sunday.
That's about all we did in Santiago as we were keen to move on to Valparaiso which had been much hyped by other travellers and the guidebook as the cultural capital of Chile. It is quite cool in the residential areas which consist of thousands of ramshackle houses perched on top of each other at crazy angles. But we weren't that impressed by the main town which was pretty boring. It seemed like the place could make much more of itself as a tourist location if it's coastline wasn't
almost entirely used for industrial purposes. The railway line means that for the most part you can't even get anywhere near the sea. We needed some wilderness away from the city fast.
Happy to be leaving Valpo after just a couple of days, we jumped on a dodgy little bus to Quintero to stay in a little surf hostel called Ritoque Raices. It was such a cool place, with really decent people, loads of good stuff to do, an awesome beach and two amazing wee dogs, Paltita and Rainbow. I learned two big things about myself while we were there: (1) I suck very badly at surfing and (2) I have a better affinity with dogs than with other members of my own species. We had three days there but would have stayed for much longer if we hadn't had a 12 hour night bus to Pucon to catch.....
SANDY
Not much to add really as Donny has pretty much summed everything up...
Bellavista - It was pretty cool seeing the tarantula, cue half an hr of 'oohs & ahhhs' from Donny. It was about the size of my palm and was just crawling along the pavement.
Gutted we didn't have the camera. After the tarantula spotting we ran in to a group of kids who were keen to know where we were from. We said 'Escocia' to which they burst out laughing and started shouting 'futbol'! Nice to know the Chilean's rate our National team as highly as we do back home.
Valpo - Was really disappointing. Our hostel was cool but Valpo overall was pretty dull and unfriendly. We had a few nasty Gringo comments too and being blonde the Chileans love to stare which can be a bit un-nerving. Feeling pretty safe though, with my dad's safety pep talk constantly going through my head - 'valubles spread evenly, day pack on my front, be ready to run with everything necessary on my person!' :o)
Ritoque - I didn't want to leave! From the outset we were craving relaxation, sun and sea. We met some great people, gave a whisky lesson to the other travellers, brushed up on our table tennis and felt right at home. Our room was was a mezzanine which overlooked the sea. What a wake up! With the resident dogs Rainbow (a pup a few weeks old rescued from
the beach) and Paltita, we felt right at home. Donny was an instant hit, as usual, with the 'perro's', which led to the owners warning Donny that he better not steal Rainbow!
Finally - Donny has turned into spanish translater. I'm well chuffed with my basic words but apparently it's rude for me to just say schop, vino, bano, Ingles? I'm having my own wee Spanish class daily courtesy of Doberts but looking forward to enrolling in a spanish school over the next couple of weeks.
Big thanks to mum & dad for 2 things: 1. My backpack - surprisingly VERY comfortable dragging around hobo living style and 2. the netbook - awesome for watching films on the LONG bus journeys (thanks bro), researching as we go and for me updating our budget (yes, v sad I know).
We're now in a very wet Pucon. There's little to do when the weather is so bad but we're hoping to climb the Villaricca Volano tomorrow first thing. Until then, it would be rude not to sample the local vino...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY for tomorrow Trina!
There's not many (yet), but we'll put pics up as soon as
we work out how to.
Adios amigos x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.102s; Tpl: 0.025s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0431s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mum Whyte
non-member comment
Glad to see you are having a great time on your adventure and looking forward to the next instalment.