Valparaiso

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We left Santiago for Valparaiso. Pato directed us to the right tube stop - 3 stops down for the bus station. Would have been so simple, had Cecilia not directed us in the wrong direction. With both of us already scratching our heads about how heavy our bags were, the pain was just prolonged......After catching an evening bus we arrived to find our hostel was a traditional Valparaiso house (Unesco protected city). The owners were a local couple and asked us out for the evening. After a quick faff we ended setting out at around 1230. Not that that's a problem in Chile. After we got acquainted with the local music we danced the night away until 0530 - because Cecilia was the stick in the mud complaining of leaded shoes. Being very un-English we decided to set off on a walking tour of Valpo in the midday sun. With the city being very hilly and the walk lasting about 8 hours (detours inc) it wasn't the best time to start! But with a reputation of 'South America's Venice' the city didn't disappoint. The hills of the city are connected by mechanically driven 'ascendors' or death-defyingly long vertical concrete steps (30-40m not uncommon), but the views of the harbour and the ornate coloured houses (for which the city is famed) were very impressive. For our last morning in Valparaiso we caught a 'collectivo' to Vina del Mar. If Valparaiso seemed slightly grubby to be compared with Venice, Vina demonstrated where the money was directed! Vina is Valpo's rich, clean, little sister and where Chile's rich and famous come to holiday and live. An attraction for us was the Rapa Nui museo (Easter Island museum) where they have one of the island's famous stone heads. Normal people would have brought a map with them, or at least would know the name of the museum - not team gringo! We found Vina to be larger than first expected. So after aimlessly wandering around for an hour it dawned on us that we weren't going to stumble across the museum. We even questioned 'does this place exist!' after none of the locals had even heard of such a museum. After giving up we headed back to the Plaza where we were dropped off, only to find the tourist information booth - meters away from where we were dropped off.......So now we could get a map, directions and confirmation that the museum DOES exist! Great! Couldn't be easier! Emm well after following the map we entered the wrong museum. Continuing on, and still failing to finding the right one we had to ask the local police, who directed us to the right building. After paying an entrance fee that was 3 times the normal price for Chilean admission we were determined to seek out this head! After a disappointing whip around a very small and mediocre collection we were left asking the museum staff 'where is that head?!' We were eventually directed outside, where the 'head' was on full display, in the afternoon sun, on the main street, with no need to enter the museum......... After heading back to Valparaiso, we said our goodbyes to the hostel owners (who together with Pato from Santiago have set ridiculously high standards) to board the ship which we'll be on for two weeks as we are Antarctica bound!
Full Photos on Flickr

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