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Published: December 2nd 2007
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The Fenicular
One of the fifteen feniculars going up the hills of Valparaiso. From the top there are superb views of the city and bay. Sunday 2nd December:
All of my coach journeys have been fairly routine and uneventful until my trip fro Santiago to Valparaiso on Friday evening. It started as we were about to depart and we were told that we must change to a different coach because of mechanical problems. We started on our journey and I was seated up at the front. The driver kept slowing down and looking in his mirror. About 80Km into the trip he pulled the coach over to the hard shoulder of the motorway; the conductor got out, went across both carriageways to a police station on the opposite side and returned with three policemen. They boarded and went to the back of the coach. After a few minutes a further five police came and joined the first three. There was a lot of shouting, followed by a youth being dragged off by his hair to the police station. Three more police came on board. One by one they took four more people off, some kicking and shouting. They manhandled them very forcibly, using their battons liberally on them. They stopped the traffic on both carriageways while carrying them across. The people did everything possible both physically
Historic Valparaiso
The city has a history as a powerful merchant port, much of its character is still retained. and orally to remain on the coach. I asked the chap sitting next to me what the problem was but could not understand his reply. I stood up once to see what was happening, noticed that everyone else was sitting rigidly in their seats and promptly sat back down again - I did think at one stage of getting some photos but common sense prevailed. The police would not allow the coach to go any further so they stopped some following coaches and we were decanted on to them. A trip which should have taken less than two hours ended up being more than five and I never did find out why those people were taken off the coach.
´Got a taxi to my hostel, situated on one of Valparaiso's many hills not far from the centre. It was a large rambling spacious building with high ceilings and run by an amiable Dutch couple. I was formally introduced to all the other guests with whom I chatted for a while before going out to get something to eat. Across the street from the hostel was a bar/cafe, where there was live music. I ventured in and asked for a
Pablo Nerunda´s House
Chile´s famous poet and nobel prize winner Pablo Nerunda bought this house and refurbished it so he had wonderful views over the city and bay. It is now a museum. beer; the owner came over to me and told me I was in a wine bar, but said she would get me a beer. She then informed me that it was their opening night and everything was "on the house"! I felt foolish being the only one drinking beer so I asked her to choose a good red wine for me - she did, and had many to follow. The place was packed and very lively; every so often platters of varied food, beautifully presented, were brought out and served to all customers. The live band was very good, so all in all a great night.
Yesterday morning I got up to a hearty breakfast - one of the best I´ve had since Brazil. I had been looking forward to visiting Valparaiso; I had heard many stories about it from my grandfather when I was a child. He himself had been here and had some colourful experiences.
´Went out sightseeing but had a classic scam attempted on me not far from the hostel. I was making my way towards one of the city´s feniculars when down a side street someone threw a load of horrible liquid stuff from one
Murals in The Open Sky Museum
Many houses and walls were adorned with cleverly done murals. of the first floor windows and caught the back of my head, my backpack and T shirt. As I had read and was told of this type of scam with which tourists were robbed, I was immediately alert. A man came across the street towards me to "help", but I gave him a wide berth and quickened my pace. He was saying that it was all over my bag. However I took no notice and kept going until I was a good distance ahead of him. I headed for the main road and found a shop entrance where I could clean myself off. I had my shirt off and was cleaning it when I noticed the same man again making his way towards me again. He made a grab for my bag which was on the ground, but turned and went away when I started shouting at him. I breathed a sigh of relief, as there were no other people around and the situation could have been much worse. 'Found a cafe and used their bathroom to clean up properly and had a cup of coffee.
The rest of the sightseeing day was tame in comparison;´went up one of the
Mosaics on Street Furniture
In the Open Sky Museum they also used mosaics on walls and street furniture. feniculars to the Naval & Maritime Museum. The views over the city and port were fabulous from the top. Looked unsuccessfully for a boat trip round the bay, but found the bustling fishmarket, over which there was a myriad of fish restaurants all vieing for customers. 'Had a lovely meal of local fresh fish - reasonably priced (equivalent to £2.50!) Afterwards I took a bus to the west side of the city and visited Pablo Neruda's home (famous 20th Century Chilean poet). Met up with some people from Dublin there and went with them to the "Open Sky Museum" - an outdoor exhibition of murals and mosaics cleverly done on the walls of houses, steps and street furniture (see photos). I parted with the Irish group who were going back to Santiago and bought some food for an evening meal. Valparaiso has a lot of history and character to it, very colourful with many of its houses painted in bright contrasting colours and still retains much of its heritage of the past. The city is nestled around a bay with much of it spread over a backdrop of numerous hills with fifteen feniculars up to them. The walking around the
Behind Bars
I couldn´t resist this one - down one of the many alleyways in Valparaiso this cat squeezed herself between the window pane and bars to get a better position in the sun. steep hills made me tired so I was ready fo a good meal and bed by the time I got back to the hostel
I have been trying to organise the next stage of my trip towards the Atacama Desert, but all the travel & airline agencies are closed today. However I managed to book a flight on the internet for tomorrow to Calama, which is just over 100Km away from the desert. The only catch is that I have to go back to Santiago to catch the flight! I will use the rest of today to visit the Sunday market and try again to get a boat trip around the bay; other than that I will take it easy today.
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