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Published: July 21st 2010
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Ian's most attractive face We got on the bus at 2pm for what would be our shortest journey so far, only about 5 hours south down to Valparaiso. We got to the bus station and while we sorted ourselves out ready to find our hostel, a dodgy dude came up to us asking for a cigarette and then hung around shiftily for longer than was necessary. At this point, a friendly bus driver told us to watch ourselves as these guys are renowned for running off with travellers bags. It’s common sense of course but still very nice of the guy to look out for us and gave us a good feeling about Valparaiso immediately. We found the hostel only a few blocks from the bus terminal and entered a marine inspired world with life-jackets and rings, captain’s hats, bugles, big ship steering wheels and oars strewn about the place. I guess the word Marino should have been a clue! Marisa, the lovely hostel lady, showed us to a great room, with high ceilings, the most comfortable bed ever (which we found it hard to get out of most days!), cable TV (necessary as it was the start of the World Cup) and wifi. We
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Our lovely room at El Rincon Marino couldn’t have been happier and all for the bargain price of just under £10 a night for the 2 of us. Sweet!!!
The next morning we were up early and lazed about for most of the day as it was raining, grey and pretty miserable. But we had our lovely room to cocoon ourselves in and we whiled away the hours on the Internet, reading or watching football. As the rain subsided and hunger started to bite, we went out for a wander to find some food and stumbled across Tutto Beno, a good, cheap place to eat - a pizza for Ian and Caprese salad with potato gratinadas for Lisa, all washed down with a beer. With the taste for beer in our bellies, we headed to Bitacora for a few more, a cool bohemian bar playing good tunes and apparently the meeting place for young Valparaisan artists and thespians. After that we went off to an Irish bar - El Irlandes - that we’d read about, to find out if they would be showing the England - USA game the following day. Not the best move we’ve ever made as not only was there no TV in
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Check out the high ceilings! the place (what kind of Irish pub has no TV?), but the beers were super expensive and they only had fruit beers, which Ian hates. (What kind of Irish pub only serves fruit beers???) We should have stayed with the cultural crew at Bitacora. So it was back to the hostel with some much cheaper, supermarket bought beers and empanadas for a midnight snack.
The next day we just couldn’t drag ourselves out of bed as it was just too damn comfy! So Lisa’s idea of going to do some sightseeing before the footie evaporated and it was up and straight out to find a place to watch it where we could get some food too. The night before, in the Irish pub, we’d asked one of the waitresses who told us the best area to try, and after checking out a few different places (menu, atmosphere and price all being important), we decided on the most bizarrely decorated restaurant of them all. The upstairs was normal, with booths and a few TVs, nothing special at all. But downstairs you entered what appeared to be the inside of a lung....or was it a volcano? The walls were painted red
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El Rincon Marino, marine inspired hostel and the texture of them was all lumpy and bumpy, making it really difficult to tell what look they were going for, and what with the dragon’s heads sticking out of the walls, I guess it might have been something completely different to our impressions. The staff were extremely friendly though and we got a good table just in time as the restaurant started filling up about 5 minutes after we arrived. I plumped for Chorillana as I’d seen it on all the menus in the city and wanted to try the local speciality - turns out it is a huuuuuuuuge plate piled high with chips, 3 different kinds of sausages and the most succulent chicken, all topped off with fried onions and melted cheese. It was bloody good but I hardly made a dent in it. And this was the individual portion!! Most other people in the restaurant were sharing an individual portion between 2 or 3 of them though so I must have looked like a right little fatty!! No wonder the waiter warned me about the size when I ordered it! Should have listened to him. But it tasted great and was probably the best place to
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Loved this spiral staircase at the hostel try it as almost every table had ordered it. Ian had some chicken and chips and we watched the game drinking beers and shouting at the screen. Most of the diners seemed to be supporting England and the waiters were asking questions about the team and players, but even with all that support, we buggered it up and drew. So it wasn’t to be a day of celebrating, but at least this meant we could go and discover some of the city.
Valparaiso is a UNESCO site, with Chile’s main port situated there as well as being its naval base, and the city climbs up from the flat coastline to the colourful cerros (hills), providing great views over the city. The best and easiest way to get up to the cerros is to travel on the funiculars, of which there are about 12 still in use (although there used to be over 30). They’re cheap and make for a unique transport experience. We went up on Ascensor Concepcion, the oldest funicular in the city, which takes you up to Cerro Concpecion, a colourful residential area with what we imagined would be amazing views over the port and city if
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Parque Italia it wasn't such a cloudy, grey day. There is a real art vibe up on the cerros and lots of people selling their wares, small boutique style stores, museums and galleries and funky little cafes and bars. Definitely the kind of place we could live. (Just another to add to the ever growing list then!) As we were wandering around we kept bumping into 2 police officers who were running around obviously trying to find some naughtly monkey, so employing our best stalking skills, we followed them around for a while in the hope of seeing an arrest or chase in progress. No such luck though and we all eventually gave up in the end.
We wandered around a little longer, ending up on Cerro Alegre, where the buildings were beautiful, so colourful and bright, and the narrow winding streets a joy to walk around. We headed back down to the El Plan (flat part of the city) on Ascensor El Peral and walked over to the huge Plaza Sotomayor, where you can’t tell when the pavement ends and the road begins - a dangerous proposition when you have cars, trams and buses all rushing around amid a throng
of people. It was then a tram back to the hostel and a dinner of takeout pizza in front of the telly.
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