Up and Down the Hills of Valparaiso

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Backtracing south through Chile, I decided to make another trip to Valparaiso as my previous visit to the city was way to short. Luckily Gladys, the owner of the hostel in La Serena, gave me contact information for her sister's hostel in Valparaiso because every hostel that was recommended to me and that I called from the bus while about to arrive in Valparaiso was full. Quite glad they were full because the hostel I ended up at, El Rincón Marino, was a great choice as I had my own room with television, free internet and breakfast included for 6.000 pesos. Besides that, the people who ran the place were top notch which made my stay there so much better. The owners even offered me some free Piscolas (Pisco + Coke) in the evening... not very weak either.

My first day in Valparaiso, I decided to roam around the city centre and ascend some hills which I did not have the opportunity to on my last visit. El Cerro Artillería has great view of the city including its port and has quite an interesting naval museum. Wandered around Cerro Concepción and Cerro Alegre, the two most popular hills in town for a while enjoying the architecture and the colours. I decided to have a bite to eat in a café and ended up running into two other Canadians who had just been slaving away for a Habitat for Humanity build in the town in Los Andes, northeast of Santiago. The rest of my day was spent talking and hanging around them, before one left for San Pedro de Atacama in the late evening.

The next day, Beth (one of the Canadians from the day before) and I decided to check out the neighbouring city of Viña del Mar. We decided to take the metro train to Viña del Mar and I was very impressed by it. It has to be one of the most modern metros I have ever been on. Viña del Mar was quite the constrast from Valparaiso... not as many hills, beautiful beaches, huge condo buildings along the shorefront... a great place to relax but it just doesn't have the character that Valparaiso has. Spent the whole day in Viña del Mar before heading back to the hostel in Valparaiso for one last night before heading back to Santiago for the last time.

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Photos

Stained glass windows in Naval Museum
I thought this were pretty cool stain glass windows. Not too often that you see stain glass windows that are not in churches.

Fall in Valparaiso
Strange to think that it is summer back in Canada :)