South America: Brazil, Argentina and Chile with Easter Island
Day Ten – 26 June 2016
Weather: sunny 14
Steps: 9000 (6.1 km)
Well, my legs were restless all night and I had to get up at two to stretch out all the aching muscles and then managed to sleep to seven. The breakfast selection was pretty good though the croissants were not heated. I’m getting spoiled.
Felipe picked me up at nine and we headed west. The smog was a little better today and I was hoping to see the mountains around the city on my return. As we left the city, the smog became fog. Felipe said it was good for the wine industry as it gave it a lot of morning moisture and then clears by midday.
On the way, we spoke about education which has both a public and private system but neither is free. The public is controlled by municipalities which means poorer municipalities don’t have the quality of the richer municipalities. And in an odd twist, the public university is a better system than the private one. So, he says that what happens is that you get students from the private school system entering the public university system and their better schooling ensures they get a spot in the cheaper but better public university system. Meanwhile, students from the public school system end up having to go to the private university which costs more and doesn’t give them the education that employers are looking for. Felipe noted that some will go through resumes and have two piles – one for private universities and one for public. And they will choose an employee from the public university pile.
He said it’s a bit crazy but that reforms are coming to make the system more equitable.
We pulled into Valparaiso around 10:30 and our first stop was the home of Nobel winner for Literature in 1971, Pablo Naruda.
Naruda was the pen name for a diplomat named Ricardo Basoalto who lived from 1904 to 1973. He wrote in a variety of styles and preferred green ink.
As a diplomat, he was a supporter of the Communist party in Chile and left for Argentina when the party was outlawed. He returned after Salvador Allende was elected and was a close advisor. Naruda was suffering from cancer when Allende was killed in the coup by Augusto Pinochet in 1973. Days after the coup, Naruda left the hospital after he suspected he was injected with poison by one of the doctors on Pinochet’s orders. Naruda died six hours later. An autopsy performed on his remains in 2015 could not rule out foul play in his death.
He had three homes and the one in Valparaiso was where he did a lot of his writing. He had told a friend he wanted a home there with a view that he could fix up and he was shown this home. It certainly had the view.
He rented the bottom floor and occuped the top floors which are quite small. He would say that he got the raw end of the deal as the tenant got the space and he got windows and stairs.
Felipe showed me to the entrance and I got an audio guide that showed me through the various rooms. I couldn’t take photos. It was a compact house with the old wood floors that creaked. The hallways were narrow and you had to turn sideways to get into the bathroom. He had a small bar next to the living/dining room and there was a bathroom there with a door that you could see through. It must have been a lot of fun when he had friends over for a night of drinking. There was a map of the world from 1698 on the top floor that shows California as an island.
After checking out the house, I took a few photos outside and found a cat.
No, he’s not giving me the finger. He’s giving me four.
I walked out and hooked up with Felipe and we went for a walk through the streets.
Valparaiso was never really founded on a specific date. It simply started as the port for Santiago in 1530. It was named Valle del Paraiso or Valley of Paradise. It grew into a major seagoing port and was a major waypoint for ships moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific as they had to go via the Straits of Magellan before the Panama Canal was built.
It’s location also made it a major destination for immigration into the 20th century. The loss of the shipping traffic due to the Panama Canal was a major blow to the port but in recent years, the city has seen a resurgence as artists and businesses have set up in the city and it has become a major tourist destination. Today it is the second largest city in the country, a major seaport and educational centre.
And just yesterday, the Panama Canal opened its new, wider canal which they feel will rob the port of more traffic.
As we walked, Felipe admitted that there is a lot of graffiti but before long, that graffiti turned into more street art.
Some had great messages like this one saying ‘do something good today.’
Or this one daring people to use the bike.
Some were in English.
And of course, there were cats.
And more cats.
And live cats.
We came to one alley and Felipe said he hadn’t been down that ally before so we decided to be adventurous. What we found was some of the best street art around.
There was even a spot where we stopped as a girl was getting her picture taken and then she slide down the right hand side.
Some of the art by more reputable names is quite large and takes up the full side of buildings.
We came to one lookout that has a few coloured houses.
But overall, there wasn’t the colour throughout the city like I see at home or in places like Burano. The view is pretty good though.
There are more than thirty hills in Valparaiso and each of them has a name. The one we’re on is Concepcion. We eventually make our way down to the port and he showed me the naval headquarters that used to be right at the waterfront but that is now a good three hundred metres away.
There is a memorial in front of the building that is dedicated to the heroes of the Battle of Iquique which took place on 21 May 1879 during the War of the Pacific between Chile, Peru and Bolivia.
The battle took place off the Peruvian city of Iquique. The wooden Chilean corvette called Esmeralda battled the Peruvian ironclad Huascar for four hours but was defeated. Her captain, Arturo Prat, was killed along with three-quarters of his crew.
Chile would go on to win the war and gain a good portion of its northern territory from Bolivia and Peru.
We walked toward the waterfront and on the way I saw churros for sale and finally decided to try one. Pretty good.
Then I saw another penguin hat but this one had longer ear pieces that could be wrapped around as a scarf or you could put your hands into the pockets at the end of it.
Yeah. Sold.
We walked around the area and he showed me where two puppeteers had little boxes in which they could perform a puppet show using wires while the one observer is watching with the blanket over their head.
We walked around the line of shops and I got my Valparaiso fridge magnet and then Carlos picked us up to take us to Vina del Mar. Felipe said I’d notice a difference between the two cities and that was quite apparent. Vina del Mar is more developed and modern. The streets and sidewalks are in great shape and the buildings overall look newer.
There’s also a great promenade.
Our first stop is the flower clock which is very similar to the one in Geneva.
And there’s a globe in front of it surrounded by flowers we couldn’t really identify. They look like kale.
We went back to get aboard the van only to see all the vans that had pulled over had left. A police women who had said we could stop had made them all move and Carlos said he was stuck in traffic, so we decided to walk.
I like being able to play it by ear. I wouldn’t have seen the funkiest soft drink bottles ever.
We walked along the waterfront, careful not to get soaked by the pounding surf.
And to think a bit of surf would turn out to be the least of my worries.
Felipe pointed out the Wulff castle on the water in which the owner had the tower built so he could look down on the waves.
There were pelicans everywhere.
And a rock with my name on it.
Well, I don’t see that everyday.
We got to the municipal casino and walked through back to the promenade. Felipe said that a hide tide event had inundated the coast, ripping concrete benches that were connected to the sidewalk with rebar right off their foundation and throwing them across the street. Cars were overturned and driven to the other side of the street and one restaurant was completely smashed.
The waves are crashing just below the same restaurant. I wonder if the staff gets nervous on days like this.
Little did I know that I should be the one getting nervous.
As we walked along the promenade, he pointed out the horse drawn carriages called Victorians which are being phased out due to stronger regulations to protect the horses.
I noticed an artist selling mini-paintings. Perfect for tourists! It included the easel stand.
We walked around the restaurant to the beach and Felipe suggested we take a walk along the beach while we waited for Carlos. So, we headed down close to the water and walked along the edge of the wet sand. After a few steps, we both noticed a stronger wave coming and it went beyond the wet sand, so we skipped to the side only to realize a second mini-tsunami was coming behind it. Before I knew it, my feet were soaked and the water was up to our ankles. We both turned to get inland and we both tripped and fell into the water at the same time.
I didn’t mind getting wet.
I did mind my camera going underwater. LOL
Luckily, the body is fairly well sealed. It’s one of the reasons I decided on that model. However, the lens doesn’t appear to be and isn’t talking to the body right now.
It’s not a big issue. I did bring my wide angle with me and I had planned on using that at Easter Island anyway. My point-n-shoot can take care of anything that needs a little zoom. In the end, the lens started working again after I got home but I had both the body and lens professionally cleaned on my return to ensure the salt still in spots doesn’t corrode anything.
The immediate problem, however, was getting back to Santiago with jeans soaked up to my knee on one side and up to my thigh on the other as well as sneakers so wet, they made squishing sounds. We laughed ourselves silly all the way back to the van. Carlos didn’t seem to know what to make of us.
I took off my sneakers and sat on my fleece for the ride back. We made a quick pitstop and got back to Santiago by four thirty.
Felipe and Carlos headed off for a night of soccer as it’s the final and Chile is facing Argentina.
And they have to pick me up at 4:30. Poor guys!
I told Felipe that if I didn’t see him by 4:45, I would take a cab. He assured me that wouldn’t be necessary. LOL
I got back to my room and changed out of the wet jeans and sneakers and wondered how dry I’d get them before I had to pack them in the morning. I headed over to the Costanera Centre to get something to eat. Taco Bell won out. I haven’t had Taco Bell in like ten years.
Then I picked up a couple of Cinnabons for tomorrow. I got back to the room and sorted out and then sat down to watch the finale of Game of Thrones on HBO which Felipe assured me would be in English.
The clips at the beginning from previous episodes were in English. The episode was in Spanish.
Well, you wanna see my jaw drop.
So, I turned back to the soccer game and fell asleep before anyone scored.
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