After a punishing 11 hour flight filled with whisky, wine (doubled up as Ana ensured I got hers too ;) ) and good grub, we arrived in South America at Santiago de Chile airport in the afternoon.
We had decided where to head roughly a week before we arrived in Chile so all a little bit on the fly!
Re-united with our bags we headed through to arrivals and took the bus to the nearest tube and hopped off into the metro system of the city. Our stop was Bellas Artes and our hostel - Santiago Backpackers- was only a short stroll away.
The hostel was recommended to us by Alondra as it is run by an old friend of hers (Alondra of Nepal trekking and Byron bay Australia - remember?) it was a really interesting place, huge rooms and good quality with shared bathrooms. Old fashioned decor but had character and was a good place to stay - certainly to be recommended for the price.
We headed out into town to explore the landmarks and sample a few local delicacies.
That afternoon, a little peckish after our long journey we headed out to explore the city centre and found some local delicacies - Empanadas (basically a pasty with assorted fillings). I got a chance to try out my best Spanish and made myself understood.....to begin with. After I ordered I was asked something and as I didn't understand, I just said yes and stood there like a lemon. Apparently I was asked if I wanted anything else and proceeded to stare blankly at the staff having a good chuckle at the English speaking foreigner. Need to pick up some of the lingo!
Back to the hostel for a bit of R and R and then back out into town for some grub (bit of a theme to these pictures isn't there?), quite a shock to the system as in NZ we would be in bed at 10 but that's an early dinner time here!
The next morning we were up early doors to a basic but good hotel breakfast and off out to meet our walking tour guide in the city centre by the Cathedral.
After the tour we hit the town for a good slap up meal at a restaurant strongly recommended by Franco on the tour, good recommendation and some local specialties ticked off the list...
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| Ana is hitting the booze hard. Mainly because we only really know the Spanish for 'Pisco Sour' (a local aperitif) right now :) |
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| This is Caldillo Congrillo or Conger Eel Stew, a dish so amazing Pablo Neruda wrote an ode to it (no joke) |
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| Another traditional Chilean dish 'Pastel Choclo' or corn stew. It has sugar sprinkled on top - they love sweet stuff here! |
Next morning we headed back out under our own steam to explore a little more and visit some of the sites suggested on the walking tour.
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| The changing of the guard at the palace - a large formal band, all very formal |
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| Except this guy jammin' with the sax, he is out on his own and freestyling |
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| He really is going for it, he's got a big solo! |
After the sax solo or changing of the guard ceremony, we sought out the human rights museum in the centre of old Santiago town. As we were winging it a bit in South America, we had bought a lonely planet to help us make some plans. If anyone else is using it in Chile, don't use it to find this museum, its somewhere else entirely! After a guy in a car sent us the wrong way and a slightly crazy guy quizzed us in Spanish for 5 minutes we found a pharmacist who was able to understand our broken Spanish and we were on our way!
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| The Museo de los Humanos Dereches or museum of Human rights, recording the history of human rights abuses in the country during the many dictatorships, sadly, its a large building filled with a lot of evidence surrounding Chile's human rights history |
After the museum - it was food time again, we tried out the central fish market which is crammed with small restaurants with all of their fayre on display. In the centre of the market is where all of the hugely expensive tourist trap restaurants are, we followed some guidance and headed up to a smaller tucked away place upstairs - great food and just slightly inflated prices ;)
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| The central fish market - a must for a slap up fish lunch if you're ever here...stick to the smaller places around the outside! |
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| Another good recommendation from Franco, our walking tour guide. Great food and entertainment in a cosy restaurant within the crazy bustle of the central market |
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| I have gone for Conger Eel again, voluntarily! I love it! This time pan fried, its a great dish! |
For the afternoon we took a stroll out to Cerro San Christobel, a local hill with views over the city. I got my way and we headed up the hill on the train to save our (my) legs!
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| The funicular rail up Cerro San Cristobel |
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| Great views over the city on rare pretty clear day! |
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| A sunny day for it, mountains a bit hazy but a beautiful view, city's not bad either ;) |
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| The statue of the virgin Mary at the top is quite impressive close up, you are supposed to be quiet and there is piped choral music to add to the atmosphere |
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| Ave Maria.....etc |
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| Los Andes |
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| Great day! |
Down from the hill (on the train again, result!) time for a drink so we hit the studenty part of town to try out another local specialty, the 'Terramoto' or 'Earthquake' which is a cheap way for Chilean students to get hammered! Half a pint of cheap white wine, fernet (a black, liquorice flavoured liquor) some fruit juice and a scoop of pineapple ice-cream for those sweet-toothed Chileans! Hmmm...
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| Terramoto by the pint, its pretty potent and the ground does feel a little unsteady afterwards! |
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| Things start to get a little blurry after a Terramoto! That's our excuse for leaving without paying - oops! In our defense we were distracted by this guy! Ana really looks like Kylie (her sister, not Minogue!) in this photo. |
The next day in a bid to escape the hordes of police hunting us down after fleeing the bar without paying, we hopped on a bus to Valparaiso (or Valpo to the locals) about 2 hours away from Santiago and on the Pacific coast.
Valparaiso is a beautiful seaside town built on a really hilly stretch of coast, this makes any walk around town a proper cardio workout up and down very steep streets, they even have tens of 'lifts' which are really mini funicular railways to help people get themselves and their goods up and down the streets. It's also a nice place to get lost in as the houses and buildings are all pretty cool and even the basic homes are multicoloured and streets are filled with legitimate graffiti art. A cool, hip place, even better, apparently we are heading there just in time for the festival of a 10,000 drums, a huge annual carnival - what a stroke of luck!
Turned up at Casa Aventura on schedule, a highly recommended place on TripAdvisor, incredibly welcoming and pleasant staff, lovely old building, pretty basic room but nice enough and nestled on the steep but packed hillsides of Valparaiso in a quirky part of town with great restaurants and only a few minutes from the main coast road.
We headed out for a stroll and pretty much ate and got our heads down later that evening.
The next morning we got down to breakfast with a group of young-ish French ladies, who scoffed all of the freshly prepared food without us getting a look in - toast and fruit for us then, we'll save the scrambled eggs for tomorrow! They did however recommend a place to eat so we decided to check that out later in the afternoon after the walking tour (our new favorite way of getting to know a new place)
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| A view of the crowded hillsides of Valparaiso (or 'Valpo' if you prefer) |
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| Street art and graffiti is encouraged and is generally really good quality, more artwork than tagging! |
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| The Chilean Naval headquarters |
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| Colourful steps up to the hostel |
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| Some more graffiti |
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| Some a little racy |
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| some a little confusing |
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| and some the wrong way up! |
The recommended little restaurant down the road did not disappoint either with a 3 course lunch including an aperitif (Pisco Sours of course!) a soft drink and nibbles all for £6 - brilliant, and great quality!
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3 course meal, drinks (including booze) £6 woohoo (and yes - Ana is drinking again!) :)
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Next day we headed along to the festival, we passed thousands of people lining the streets on the way arriving on buses and preparing for the parade. Some great impromtu performances en route to get us in the mood and then we made it all the way to the stating point at the beach. This was crazy with tens of thousands of people all huddled on a tiny beach, it was like Brighton beach when the sun comes out for 10 minutes only more crowded!
We got ourselves positioned near the start of the parade and, unsure how long it was going to be, figured that we would move on a little later and catch the parade towards the end too. It became clear pretty quickly that that wasn't going to happen and 3 hours later new performances and drumming bands were still pouring after us just starting their parade through town, it was insane, loud, colourful (everyone was in traditional dress or covered in body paint (in the case of quite a few ladies and some guys this was pretty much all they were wearing). It was a great vibe and great fun to see, a little difficult to put into words so check out the pics below!
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| A drum band having a little warm up |
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| I just stopped to ask directions - honest (actually Ana pressured me to do this!) |
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| Body paints are the order of the day |
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| They seem to be an alternative to clothes - well, it is warm out there! |
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| Colourful traditional dress |
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| Some a little extravagant |
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| And some very contemporary dress too! |
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| Let the parade commence! |
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| No idea what these represent, but they're quite cool |
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| Good luck getting into those portaloos |
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| The drums, the drums (any Ting ting fans out there?) |
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| Towards the end of the parade, this very energetic dancer was very flamboyant |
Later that evening, we headed up one of the hills to check out sunset, on our way up an older guy who was painting the outside of his house called over and asked if we were English! We said we were and he came over and started having a chat, a great guy, he was telling us about his family, his life in the Chilean Navy, his house that he was doing up and adding rooms to. At one point he invited us in and we duly (if a little cautiously) followed and he showed us one of the premier spots in Valpo to see the fireworks at New Years, his hand built balcony. He also showed us to a great viewpoint where we continued chatting, and we took a couple of pics and after his advice not to continue up the hill to the dodgy area we retreated back to town for dinner and an early night before heading back to Santiago the next morning.
Up early to get the bus, finally got some eggs from the French girls at breakfast - you need to be quick!
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