Santiago, Valparaiso and finally home...

---

After our snowboarding adventure, we stayed in Santiago for a few days before heading down to the coastal town of Valparaiso. The city has quite the history to tell, peaking at the time of the Californian Gold Rush as it was an important port for ships going around Cape Horn. The town unfortunately saw its demise when the Panama Canal was opened in 1914, and the majority of ships were no longer passing through, but still left behind a melting pot of immigrant cultures and their architectural influences.

The town is built on numerous hills in a natural amphitheatre overlooking the ocean. It has the most gorgeous cobbled streets and brightly coloured corrugated iron buildings, all packed together literally on top of each other. Some of the hills are pretty steep, and once again the building regulations look a bit dicey! But, apparently they have fairly strict building codes in this area of Chile, especially because of the frequency of earthquakes – the last big one occurring in 2010.

We enjoyed walking around the narrow hilly streets taking in all of the bohemian sights and sounds. We were particularly amazed by the profusion of graffiti art that decorates nearly every street-level wall. It definitely seems to be a common pastime in the town and adds so much to the town’s character, especially as a lot of the murals are expressive pieces about society and politics, with some general fun thrown in between.

We particularly liked the El Pollo al Treladore, or “The Chicken by the Nightstand” mural, which depicts a rather provocative scantily dressed woman and refers to those bosses who leave work for a lunchtime liaison with their secretary, a supposedly common occurrence in this city.

We decided to ‘treat’ ourselves to the local favourite cuisine of Chorrillana, which was supposedly made famous by one particular restaurant in Valparaiso. Chorrillana is a mound of fried chips, topped with stirfried beef, fried onions and an egg. How very delicious! Needless to say, we weren’t feeling the greatest after consuming that gallon of oil!

Our last two days we explored a few of Santiago’s neighbourhoods (enjoying the freedom of a fast and inexpensive subway system!) and enjoyed the springtime warm weather, before finally boarding the plane that will eventually take us home!

It is really hard to believe that this is the end of our three month adventure! We have had an absolute amazing time, exploring and getting to know another part of the world. At times it was difficult and tears of both happiness and angst were shed, but we got through it all and came out the other side, a whole lot stronger and more inspired to do what makes us happy. Our experiences and memories will last us a lifetime. Thanks for following us and until the next adventure...Hasta Luego!

---

Photos

Steps of Fire
Wish that vernacular still worked!

Drama drama
Dont know what was happening across the street..

Cheers
That's a traditional drink - sweet peach juice with grains at the bottom

Comments

[Chelle]

what an exciting adventure! what a way to start the next chapter of your lives together ;)

[trish]

Hi, only just got round to reading your last blog. You really should take up writing a novel, Toni, you have such a lovely way with words. Welcome home and back to reality. What an amazing experience you have had, the memories of which will be with you for life.