Blogs from Valparaíso, Valparaíso Region, Chile, South America - page 43

It was no surprise that I fell to the ground from the last step leaving Casa Aventura. After all, it was Valparaiso that broke me only five days before. With nearly a week of Valpo experience under my belt, I was not so much embarrassed or frustrated as I was grateful that I hadn't landed in one of the ever present piles of dog poop found on the streets and sidewalks here. Valparaiso is a unique city with a beauty all its own. It is a port city and because of its Acensores, similar to outdoor elevators, and outrageously mazelike city plan, it was named a Unesco World Heritage site in 2003. Five days earlier I arrived on a bus from Santiago. I had grown accustomed to Santiago and was learning my way there and feeling ... read more

Chile is an exceedingly long country, apparently the same distance from top to bottom as Scotland to Nigeria (thanks Barney), so before facing the long bus journeys again we decided to ease ourselves into it with a short skip over to Valparaiso. The city used to be a major port, used by European and American ships on the route from Cape Horn to California during the gold rush, but went out of favour early last century and fell somewhat into disrepair. However, the city is reviving itself now, as the cultural capital of the country and is certainly a unique place, with the lower town and port area ringed by 42 cerros (hills) crowded with multicoloured houses and beautiful restored mansions, interspersed with more ramshackle dilapidated ones. We'd forgotten that it's also the second largest city ... read more

Seuraavat kaksi kappaletta eivat kerro sitten yhtikas mitaan Valparaisosta, joten jos halusit kuulla jotain fisuista tai Valparaisosta, niin siirry kaksi kappaletta etiapain...Kiitos! Kuten aiemmista teksteistamme olette voineet lukea metsastimme kuumeisesti lisalentoja RTW-lippuhimme, joiden OneWorldin mainoslehdykkaisten mukaan pitaisi olla niiiin helppoja jarjestaa...ei ilmeisesti pade Chilessa, koska jouduimme kaymaan LanChilen toimistossa yhteensa neljana eri paivana viisi kertaa, jotta saimme lisaliput jarjestymaan... ja jokaisella kerralla asia MENI askeleen - pienen sellaisen - eteenpain! - Lopulta saimme kuitenkin lisalennot jarjestymaan, joten kohta olemme Perussa... :) Kun lennot sitten lopulta jarjestyivat, niin ne tulivat halvemmiksi kuin bussi samalle valille...tama kuitenkin ajoi Hannan - joka siis on meista se enemman "organisoitumistarpeinen" - puolisekavaan olotil... read more

This fall I led a yoga course in Villa Hermosa, one of the shanty-towns circling Viña. Although ¨yoga¨ is sort of a mis-nomer, because what I lead is a blend of yoga, stretching, and ab work, with the breathing and mental discipline of yoga. I also couldn´t call it ´yoga´ because the señoras of V Hermosa only wanted something that would help them lose their bellies and they thought that yoga was just breathing and meditating. So I called the course ¨Pilates¨- even though I´ve never done pilates - and since the abdominal exercises are designed for the CU Triathlon team (ie kind of hard), we ended up doing mostly ... yoga. And I was never found out, either, despite the 10-min long meditation at the end of every course. ¨We love Pilates,¨ they´d say. I´d ... read more

The night I got mugged was probably one of the best nights I’ve spent here. Met some really cool people… How did this all start? Mmm… I was doing an architecture project at a friend’s house, up in Jardin del Mar. It’s the really nice suburb of Viña del Mar: his dad is a retired Marine, and even though “El Caballero” (Pinochet) got booted a few years ago, the system didn’t. They live pretty well, shall we say. I spent all afternoon at their house working with Pierre, getting served a bunch of really nice spick n’ span Aunt Jemima-type dishes (Tía Ximena?) by his mama. Unfortunately at 5 I had to take off for my yoga lesson in Villa Hermosa, and so left the comfortable little gated house and got on a micro (bus) up ... read more