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Published: July 31st 2008
The bus from Mendoza headed off into blue skies meaning that there was no fresh snow on the pass into Chile. The road takes a beautiful route through vineyards before it starts to climb towards the distant snow capped mountains. After more stunning views and passing a couple of small ski resorts we finally arrived at the border crossing. Despite driving past a huge queue of lorries waiting to pass through, we still had a long wait and it was probably another hour before we were allowed to get off the bus. And this was just to hang around outside the bus in the icy cold but finally we were called through to passport control for both countries. From there it was back on the bus, drive about 20m into a large shed and off again to go through customs. This involved us all standing in two lines behind our hand luggage on a bench while the customs staff watched us - felt like we were naughty schoolchildren. All the large luggage was pulled off the bus and onto a conveyor belt through a scanner and a few were pulled out to be searched. Once these were loaded back onto the
bus we had to put our hand luggage through and after about 2.5 hours we were finally allowed to continue the journey.
The road back down the other side took a number of hair pin bends past families playing in the snow and the odd skier. It wasn't long before the snow melted away and the road continued through flatter plains, some with vines, into the outer shanty towns of Santiago. The bus arrived well over an hour late into the bus terminal and, very tired, we hopped into a cab to take us to the other end of the city to our hotel. Just round the corner from the hotel we were excited to find a vegetarian restaurant serving some Indian dishes - we really are tired of meat and potatoes. While the food was not bad, it didn´t quite live up to our hopes and we left dreaming of our favourite Indian restaurant in Leeds....not long now!
The following day we had to do some final sorting to take us to the end of the trip and booked a hotel in our next destination and then went to book some later nights in the hotel we
were staying in for when we came back into Santiago. To our disappointment the hotel was full for the second period we wanted to stay so we spent some of the morning trailing around local hotels trying to find something else but not having much success. We thought this was supposed to be the low season here (it´s certainly cold enough) but it seems that hotels get booked up with people going up to the nearby ski slopes....
After not much success we abandoned that for a while and headed out of the centre towards a large shopping mall which had been recommended for getting some ski gear that we needed. The mall was absolutely enormous and soul destroying in its design but, by luck rather than planning, we found a couple of places and I now have the new ski trousers that I have been meaning to buy for a couple of years. We also found a rather good asian restaurant and had some different flavours and plenty of vegetables finally.
By evening it was very cold again and we couldn´t face going far but we found even more good food in a tapas bar across the road
from the vegetarian one...maybe Chile is going to surprise us after all!
When we finally got going the following morning we took a cab to the bus station and got on a bus to Valparaiso, the countries second city and once a major port. The city is built across many hills looking out into the bay and we were staying at a B & B on one of the outer hills with views straight into the container port - interesting during the day but very pretty at night with the lights. The B & B was a lovely traditional wooden house with high ceilings and wooden floors but we had a rather small room with separate bathroom and all without heating...oh dear! It was the coldest 3 nights we have spent anywhere for some time. Saying that, we had lovely warm duvets so once in bed it was ok but, despite a small electric heater, the bedroom never really warmed up and the bathroom was icy. The main part of the house was open to use by guests and there was a smaller room with wood burning stove but even that never really seemed to warm up. By the
last night I was reduced to carrying around a hot water bottle kindly provided by the owner.
The owners of the place were lovely and very helpful, giving us advice etc. The city is rather down at heel and seedy in parts, particularly at the bottom of our hill where the fish market was. This was surrounded by slightly tatty looking but excellent fish restaurants though and despite the wandering drunks, we never really felt uncomfortable.
The hills are accessed by incredibly steep and windy roads - not a city I would like to drive in - but there are also a number of aging, decrepit ascensors or funiculars dating back over 100 years. These are wonderful little wooden waggons dragged up creaking rails by a huge winch, most only taking 4 or 5 people but very popular when the only other option is to walk.
Our first day there we took the train out to a nearby seaside resort, Viña del Mar. It was a cold and grey day and we wandered the town popping into cafes and restaurants to keep warm before walking along the sea front watching a few children playing on the beach.
It was very like any seaside town at home, except maybe for the number of large apartment buildings, many looking rather tired. The cold drove us inside for a bit more shopping and H managed to find some gloves for skiing before we headed back to the beach. It seemed to have warmed up a bit although there was only a small bright patch of sky on the horizon, surrounded by deep blue brooding clouds. It certainly looked pretty miserable in distant Valparaiso. Still, the weather didn´t seem to have affected the visitors and the beach and footpath were crowded with families. Its school holidays here and the cold doesn´t seem to stop people going to the beach, just like at home really!
The sky was burning red as we sat on the train back to Valparaiso but unfortunately we did not make it back up the hill in time to catch the sunset. The queue for the ascensor was rather long when we arrived so we had to hike up the hill too - good training for skiing of course!
Trini, the owner of the B & B recommended a place for dinner that did slightly different
food so we headed out there later that night. The restaurant had a good range of interesting looking tapas though was out of a couple of the dishes we wanted, but produced some excellent, unusual food. The sad thing was that it was Saturday night and we were the only people there...possibly due to the location, possibly because it turned out a little expensive but we were really surprised. Still, we weren´t complaining as the atmosphere was still lovely and it was like having a private chef!
The following morning we hiked around our hill top and away from the town for more views out to sea. It was still cold and grey and the forecast was for rain but it waited until we were down on the coast road watching the pelicans and cormorants before really starting to throw it down. By the time we got back to the B & B there was a river of water running down the road making it rather dangerous to walk on.
When the rain slowed a bit we headed out to get some lunch taking another of the ascensors up Cerro Concepcion. We had seen a small French restaurant
there the previous day and, despite them only serving a fixed menu with two main course choices, it was packed with noisy people and we decided to try it. The food turned out to be superb and we left very happy...and even happier because the rain had stopped. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the hills which are full of dilapidated houses hanging precariously over the edge of cliffs. Many of the houses are brightly painted but many are rusting and crumbling. In one area there is an open air art gallery which we followed around for a while but this turned out to be rather dull in comparison with the amazing graffiti art we found all over the city...definitely something a little bohemian about the place.
Towards the end of the afternoon when the skies had brightened we found ourselves at Pablo Neruda´s house. He is Chile´s best known writer (he´s a poet) but was also an important politician and worked for the Chilean diplomatic service in various countries. There are a number of his houses turned into museums around the country and he only lived in Valparaiso for a few years but the house was
amazing. It was full of the most eclectic selection of things acquired on his travels, made/designed by him or one of his 3 wives. The living room/dining room had floor to ceiling walls looking straight out to sea and across the hills either side to tumbling groups of multi-coloured houses. The bedroom was one floor up with similar views and the study one more floor above. I could´ve just spent hours looking out of the window there.
The following morning I woke up scratching my leg - the only bare bit of skin as I was sleeping in my thermals- and when I looked again there was a bite. I had already been a little suspicious of a couple of itchy marks on the top of one arm from the first night but the discovery of another bite further up my leg made me leap out of bed and hurry off to the shower, keen to get out of the place as quickly as possible.
With a sense of deja vu, all clothes that had been worn in bed were tied tightly into plastic bags and, after the usual lovely breakfast, we headed off in a cab for
the bus station. It´s a pity that we had problems with the cold, and possibly bugs, as apart from that the B & B is lovely but I can´t say I was sad to leave, particularly knowing that we had a nice place in Santiago to go back to. It was lovely to arrive back and get into a warm comfortable room. We made an attempt to see a bit of Santiago in the afternoon but found it a rather uninspiring city - a bit shabby and tired and with few major sites. Those that there were all appeared to be closed on Mondays. We soon gave up when we couldn´t even find somewhere for a coffee that had seats and headed back to the hotel. More tapas before an early and toasty warm night!
Our last day in Santiago we went back into the centre to the Pre-Columbian art museum which had an excellent range of ceramics, jewellry and textiles from all over Latin America including explanations in English (we can understand most of the Spanish now but it does take longer..!). I particularly liked the huge wooden statues found at some burial sites - they looked a
little like Easter Island monoliths but I had never seen anything like them before.
Overall Santiago certainly hasn´t wowed us - it doesn´t have many impressive old buildings (largely due to earthquakes!) and is a bit dilapidated around the centre and seems to suffer pretty badly from pollution. It certainly doesn´t have the style of Buenos Aires and is even more expensive. However, what we have found is a more relaxed city where people are very helpful. On more than one occasion when we have been looking at a map in the street we have been asked if we want some help. In fact, it has been difficult to try to find our own way sometimes! And, although it is not so important for us, a much greater proportion of the population seem to speak reasonable English. It also has a very efficient metro system and better buses. Being in close proximity to both mountains and the Pacific coast are also huge bonuses and I can really see why people might want to live here. Indeed, while skiing (see next entry) we met a British guy who had been here for 4 years and loved it. So, while a
place may not be much to tourists, it can be a great place to live....try Leeds for example!
Anyway, the following morning was an early start for our ski bus...even more chilly in Chile!
Hope it´s been a little warmer (& drier?) at home and you´re finally getting some summer. Or is it waiting for us to get home....?
Lots of love
S + H xx
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jon peacock
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chile sin carne
I remember drawing the rack and pinion railway in Valparaiso in my geography lessons in 1964. Good to know it's still there. Love the pictures of your new friend Muriel.