My arrival into Valparaiso - a town one and a half hours away from Chile

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I had a nice and relaxed Peruvian lunch in a restaurant on the same street as my hostel just after checking out. I’d collected two big bags of laundry, changed some money and handed the cleaner and owner of the hostel a little red post box keyring and a postcard which I’d bought in Leeds and thanked them for the wonderful 8 breakfasts I’d had during my stay and for 7 very good nights sleep, apart from last night when a group of people were having a smelly barbecue and a loud party under my window.

I arrived in Valparaiso easily enough, about an hour ago, but I’m suddenly wishing I was back in Santiago. My hostel advertised itself as having lockers which it does but none of the lockers close so I’m now in a coffee shop with all my valuables locked up in my little rucksack and I’m holding on to it tightly wondering what I should do. The streets are covered in graffiti and there is dog poo everywhere. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m so excited about being next to the Pacific ocean, I’ve just bought a new bikini and these may be the only 3 days of my trip where I get to be on the beach, that I’m in a town steeped in history and full of artists and poets and that I have a well-organised list of quaint places I want to visit in this seaside town before I head back to Santiago, I would probably leave right now. I will try and look for another hostel even though it is high season on the coast and they are likely to be all booked up. I will just focus on the Pacific and everything else will find its own solution hopefully..

On the plus side I do love the sea air, the many artistic cafes provide perfect conditions for updating my blog and I feel creatively inspired. Later when I arrived back to the hostel's living room there were people playing guitar, there’s plenty of eastern medicinal courses advertised here such as Reiki, balancing chakras, aromatherapy, herbal infusions and sound therapy which relates directly to the book I’m reading at the moment. Many people here are vegetarians, very bohemian and hippyish. I was trying to convince myself that it’s better to be here than to be in Santiago with a policeman ready to help me on every corner, but in the background someone was playing Metallica on guitar. I looked around at the people’s appearance in the hostel and judgementally thought to myself this Metallica lyric suits everybody I see in the living room tonight ‘wherever I may roam, where I lay my head is home’ This hostel and the people in it didn’t look clean at all, and some looked like they slept rough every night.

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