Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

We arrived in Valparaiso in the afternoon (Mendoza-Valparaiso 7hrs bus journey). We checked in at the "La Casa Aventura" only to find out by accident that the family that runs it (half German-half Chilenian) are friends of the Canadian girl (Kathleen) who shared a dorm with us in Buenos Aires when we got robbed. Kathleen gave me the address of these guys so that I would have a safe address to send my new credit card to. However, I later decided to have them sent to the embassy instead. And now, 2 days before picking up my cards from the embassy, we are accidently staying in their hostel. I cant believe it! What a coincidence!

Valparaiso is just 1,5 hours north of Santiago and very different to any other Chilean city.
The coastal city held a strategic position, being the first port of call for all those ships that had journeyed around Cape Horn from the Atlantic, heading for the Pacific islands, and which needed to stock up on much-needed provisions.

Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, poet who held this city so dear to his heart and even had one of his homes here, offered the following deliberation: "She's very close to Santiago, separated only by the jagged mountains, on whose summit rise up, like obelisks, great cactus, blooming and hostile. Nevertheless, there is something so infinitely indefinable that distances Valparaíso from Santiago. The city of Santiago is a prisoner, besieged on all sides by walls of ice. Valparaíso, on the other hand, opens its gates to the infinite sea, to the cry of the streets, to the eyes of the children."

When we arrived it was very foggy but the next day was gorgeous: Blue sky, not one single cloud and hot! After cold Patagonia and chilly Bariloche we were overwhelmed by this hot autumn day.

Throughout the city you can find so-called "Ascensores", lifts that bring you up the hill. We took 4 different ones, most are like funiculars but Ascensor Polanco is completely vertical, like an elevator.

From up the hill we had gorgeous views over the city which is so colourful!
All the houses on the hills are painted in different colours: green, deep blue, yellow, pink...so fresh and bright.

It somehow looks like the favelas in Rio with the difference that some of the houses here are huge and very beautiful.

We also visited Pablo Neruda's home which was converted into a museum. Its decoration and furniture is really beautiful with many antique pieces from all over the world (tables from France, plates from England and paintings from Vienna, Kirchengasse).