03-05/09/24

I. Love. This. City. It’s gorgeous, or at least, the small historical area in which we stayed is gorgeous… didn’t venture all that far. It’s eclectic, bohemian and… well, extremely hilly, but that just adds to the charm!

We only spent two days here but it felt like the sort of place I could happily potter around for a few months. Not working, mind you, just… pottering.

We arrived on the bus after an easy journey from Santiago and got an Uber to our hostel. Wacky Races style driving definitely in evidence once more as our driver wove in and out of the traffic and bombed it up narrow cobble streets. We arrived, walked down a pedestrian only alley, and into our hostel with a cheerful receptionist. After discovering that the hot water didn’t work (again) we asked about it, and the confused receptionist had a hurried conversation with a colleague that sounded like the washing machine had used it all up and they needed to put more money in the metre. Cool. Still, it worked! Hurrah!

We went out for a celebratory Completo… Chile’s answer to the loaded hotdog. This had sausage, onion, tomato, avo, mayo and, surprisingly, sauerkraut. Choice of sauces, we went spicy, it was delicious!

We then went to bed. The following morning dawned bright and sunny; it’s spring here now and it felt like one of those perfect spring mornings that don’t exist anymore. Breakfast was on the balcony and the scrambled eggs didn’t taste weird like they have done in so many places up until now. I think it’s what it’s cooked in. Also we got given some v nice spicy pepper flakes to put on top which were an excellent addition. Anyway after that and a quick sort out of our stuff, we spent the morning wandering the streets, avoiding local school trips (of which there seemed to be hundreds, seriously was it national school trip day or something?) and other tour groups in various languages.

As I said, it’s just a beautiful area that has a really eclectic mix of building styles… a nice change from the unfinished air brick and concrete structures of the Andes. We just explored, taking it all in, enjoying the funiculars which have UNESCO status or something similar, and had a lunchtime ice cream. I had dulce de leche and harina tostada… basically toasted wheat. It was like sugar puffs in ice cream form and, or so I was told, “very Chilean”.

Later in the day we went to a beer tap room that seemed to be exclusively patronised by emos and goths… so emotionally at least, we felt right at home. Based on outward appearances we stuck out like sore thumbs. But we had decent beer and some cheesy chips as a late afternoon snack. We then decided we fancied an Italian restaurant for dinner where we had some bloody good bruschetta and tapenade followed by some average pastas… both of us had a filled pasta of some type, both of which were just a little too al dente and definitely from frozen. Ah well! Wine was nice.

The following morning followed much the same pattern, with the plan of heading to the bus station in the afternoon. More eggs and toast on the balcony in nice weather, although no nice spicy pepper flakes for our eggs this time.

Once our bags were packed and ensconced in the office, we went out to explore a slightly different area with very much the same vibe: lovely.

We then had some pretty bloody great sandwiches for lunch in a highly rated cafe that did proper coffee and an excellent chai latte.

Then it was time to head back, gather up our bags and head to the bus station to return to Santiago for the next few days.

Loved Valparaíso, would highly recommend to friends and/or family members and/or complete strangers, and would have happily spent longer here!