A Few Rooms Ocean View

We returned to the coast after lunch, stopping at Pablo Neruda's Valparaiso home.  He wanted a place to escape from Santiago to study and to write in peace and quiet.  He wanted a view, but privacy.  Friends of his found him a place begun by a Spanish architect who had built five floors on a hill overlooking the ocean.  It was a bit of a rabbit warren--the whole third floor was designed as a birdcage!  But the architect died before it was finished, in 1949, and Neruda remodeled it.  Quirky and interesting, tiny stairwells linking the floors but each with spectacular vantage points.

The Mazda 2 on Avenida Ferrari, a two-way street, with parking, at about 17 per cent grade.

View from the living room

The most interesting thing in the house, for me, was a map of the world, from 1689, by a French cartographer, which had California as an island stretching from Mexico to Washington.  Don't have a picture of that but there were other maps and curios that were absorbing and you had to wonder how he came across them.

Fourth floor.  Of five.

On this map the cartographer mistook the Chilean people for the spice

In the end I asked SS: Ever read Neruda?  And he said no and I said that I didn't think I'd ever met anyone who has...

We retired to our terrace for some sun and after our mega lunch just took a club sandwich in the hotel mid-evening.

Lunch in the Country

Dawn from our deck, Valparaiso in the distance

Pelicans on a rocky outcrop about 30m from the hotel

The Casablanca valley lies between Santiago and the coast.  Most of the finest wines in Chile are grown in the dry, hilly valley.  We decided to explore a bit.  Rather than visit a number of vineyards we went to one which was a restaurant, representing several small producers.

Casablanca Valley

Casa de Vins

If you compare Casablanca with, say, Australia, France or South Africa, I'm afraid they all come out ahead.  But it was still scenic, albeit with a freeway running through the centre...

Casa de Vins had a really welcoming dining room and deck

Cream of lentil soup with truffle oil and house made ricotta stuffed ravioli

Ceviche.  Not my thing but SS said it was excellent

Lobster and prawn risotto.  In a half pound of butter.

An SS favorite: Seared tuna on couscous

Our lunch was superb!  Except for SS's dessert: A wonderful orange ice cream and raspberries but on a homemade granola bar.  What's that all about?  Are we at a spa?  This is supposed to be a holiday!

We had a lovely stroll around the grounds then drove back to Valparaiso and spent a long time at Pablo Neruda's house.

Funiculi, Funicula

It was overcast first thing.  I thought we´d left the sunshine in Buenos Aires.  We walked 10 minutes to Starbucks for coffee, then picked up the car and drove into Valparaiso, where the sun came out and we enjoyed a gorgeous day.

 

Valparaiso is hilly.  Reall, really, really hilly.  Think San Francisco then double it.  There are basically two towns: The port town, which during the day has government and military personnel and a busy working port including navy frigates which go out into harbour each day for what seems no good reason.  But it´s also dodgy and dangerous at night and you can get a clear sense of that in the light with the graffiti, buildings in disrepair, people living in flats with broken windows.  Then, high above, there is a lovely, peaceful, colourful village-like town, with awesome views and narrow cobbled streets with clumps of palms and bougainvillea. 

Downtown

 

The UNESCO Heritage designation ensures nothing gets torn down...

...and well kept government and military buildings sit next to

...the shells of the once great port which, ever since the Panama Canal was built, has suffered

This is, I kid you not, the Arbutus bus from 1973.  Identical.  Down to the vinyl seats.

 

It´s like a scene from Oliver Twist

The busy downtown streets are abuzz during the day.

But heritage buildings like this, with half the windows broken or missing, laundry pegged on shutters, and doors on hinges, speak to how little UNESCO actually means to the average person.

There is also nowhere to park and the driving is criminal.  I asked at the hotel where they recommended parking in Valparaiso and they didn´t recommend driving, let alone parking.  But we persevered; it´s better to fail than…  We did in fact find underground parking in the centre and walked most of the old town. 

 

To get from the port to the “top” there are various funiculi, some of which are still in operation, that spirit locals up for about 50 cents.  The first we took, Artilleria, was old, built in 1893 and, from the look and sound of things, not updated since.  The floorboards creaked and had gaps where you could see through.  It jolted and shook.  It rose at a grade of 30 degrees for 175m.  I started the journey standing but, when it seemed like we might not make it, I took a seat, which jiggled when I sat as if to collapse.  But we did make it, up and down, so that was reason of course to try a second funicular!

 

One was painted with Jesus on top, the other with Mary.  I guess that would offer solace when you pummeled 175 meters down

 

Original 1893 turnstile

I was 34,290 on the day we took this ride.  But how many times has the meter lapsed over the last century and some.

 

This funicular, no longer in operation.  Thankfully!

The second ride we took was to a more touristy area of boutiques and cafes.  The Concepcion funicular was shorter, faster, but much steeper; it took about a minute before you could see the track and when we reached the top it was like crashing into the arrival pod.  Just don`t look down, just don`t look down…  We took lunch at a lovely bistro called Pastis where we sat on their patio and ate onion soup followed by salad and quiche.  Or, I should say, that´s what SS ate.  I thought  I was getting the same when instead a chicken pot pie arrived.  Excellent, exceptional actually, but another example of how the language fails us.

 

Facade only.  Thanks UNESCO?

Afterwards we retrieved the car and drove to Pablo Neruda´s house.  This was no easy feat.  The “two-way” street went at a steep grade akin to the funicular.  The Mazda wouldn´t go up in second, so we floored it in first.  When we made a wrong turn the only option for a u-turn was at the end of a dead end street where a pack of dogs barked at the car and chased us off.  And when we finally found the house it was closed on Mondays!

Concepcion is actually older, 1883, but has been "renewed" over the years.  The gradiant is 44.5 degrees over 60m.  I wouldn´t walk a hill this steep.

 

Back at the hotel it was sunny and hot and we relaxed on our huge deck and watched pelicans group on the rocks and fan their wings then took a light dinner at the hotel.

EZE to SCE LanPeru J Class

We were up very early for our morning flight to Santiago.  Although akin to flying Vancouver to Calgary, it`s an international flight and they are apparently strict on check-in; not strict on fluids, of which it was easy to pass through with, or ID, which they only checked once, just particular on early check-in....  Our cab picked us up at 6:15.  You would think at that hour the city would be just waking up.  In Palermo, it was just shutting down.  Clubs go to, apparently, 5:30, and there were kids teeming through the neighbourhood, piling two, three, four to a tiny cab.  Club kids on the street, on the sidewalk, everywhere.  It was a madhouse.  Once we cleared Palermo, and the throngs, the cab decided to avoid one of the two tolls en route.  Since it´s a flat rate I guess it was his prerogative, but let me tell you: The detour he took, the side streets, dingy poorly lit avenues and questionable turns, were a little unnerving.  But check-in went smoothly, we hit the LAN lounge, which was beautifully designed with Macs and docking stations and both had a Nespresso.

I had tried for months to get this flight on points, in economy, and failing that had one day on a whim tried business, and scored.  So we were taking a two hour flight up front.  It seemed like a bit of a waste but I was hungry for the breakfast and, being especially bumpy over the Andes, grateful for the lie flat bed.  I watched the Modern Family where Mitch builds himself into Lily`s princess castle and can`t get out while Phil outfits the old stations wagon for a family picnic at which the car goes down a cliff (best line is when Claire gets angry, then apologizes, and Phil says lovingly “Don´t apologize, I love it when you`re human.”)  In Santiago, for the privilege of entering the country, Canadians pay $132.  Americans pay $160.  Mexicans pay $15.  Albanians also pay.  Go figure.  We paid.

By speaking English loudly and pretending to understand Spanish we picked up our rental car.  I had reserved a VW Golf and got a Mazda 2—and you know how we both feel about Mazda!  Anyway, despite the language barrier, which is huge in Chile, and the “driving” we successfully navigated our way to Vina del Mar.  We have four nights on points at the Sheraton, which sits out on a promontory, a half circle, with rooms having expansive harbour views which arc around the bay.

Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are sister towns on the Pacific, NW of Santiago, sitting on a huge harbour which at night in twinkling lights resembles Vancouver in many ways.  I knew that Valparaiso, a very old port town, and current seat of government, was going to be large and with an industrial feel.  That was correct.  But I thought Vina del Mar would be its smaller sister, sort of like Fort Langley is to Langley, and it´s not.  It´s big.  Sure, it has the feel of a resort town, but the relationship is more like New York boroughs than Monterey and Carmen.

 

The pics below are the view from our terrace, left is Valparaiso, right towards Vina del Mar (which you can´t see!) 

We were exhausted after our travel day, but still took an hour walk into town.  Being Easter Sunday there were a lot of families and holiday stuff including giant sand castles and pony rides.  Back at the hotel I took a sauna (they have a great spa here, dry sauna, steam room, whirlpool, gym, indoor pool, outdoor pool), so I made use of the facilities and then we had a decent dinner in the hotel with a view across the harbor to both towns. 

We both needed to sleep but Game of Thrones was premiering on HBO so SS stayed up but I crashed.