Chillin' in Chile

Arriving in Santiago was like being welcomed in from the cold - quite literally as this country actually has central heating - hoorah!  Aside from providing the modern conveniences that we had craved in Peru (like toilet paper for example), Santiago could be a city anywhere in Europe or North America; smog, the hustle and bustle that accompanies a commercial district and the easy hours of student homelands.  We stayed in the Hostel International (to try and get some return on the HI cards we had purchased before travelling) but in contrast to Peru was a whopping 20GBP and seriously lacking in style and soul.  We wanted to make the most of our one day in Santiago city so braved the Metro (same standard if not better than London and at 30p a journey, definitely cheaper!) and headed downtown.  Unfortunately Chile was experiencing freak weather on that day and it wasn't so much raining 'cats and dogs' as 'lions and bears'!  We definitely got our quota of rain that we have been missing in England since we left.  We took refuge in the National History Museum but as all the explanations were in Spanish we left absolutely non-the-wiser! 
 
In the evening we met up with Caroline and Pat whom we first met at Iguazu Falls in Brazil almost 5 weeks ago (has it been that long?!).   We had a lovely meal complete with 3 bottles of Chilean Merlot wine and at the bargain price of 6GBP per person, we hope you are not all choking on your expensive dinner bills ;)  It was really good to see familiar faces and as we are travelling the same way around the world, we will hopefully meet up with them in Asia again.
 
The only benefit of all that rain was that the following morning, we witnessed one of only (reputably) 10 days they get a year in Santiago - clear skies, no smog and a view of the landscape that deservedly makes it a beautiful city.  Shame it isn't like that every day.  We headed 2 hours west on a bus, destination: Valparaiso.  Unfortunately, Beth's cold had by now developed into fully blown flu so much of this report is through a haze of flu!

Valparaiso is an incredibly beautiful city boasting a mixture of colourful architecture dating from the 1850s and spread across 24 hills.  The area has been marked as a UNESCO sight of outstanding beauty and alledgedly the group have $50million to contribute to the city for maintenance and development.  They will not release the funds until Valparaiso pay off their existing debts, which has resulted in severe cost cutting exercises across the city, making it a little tatty around the edges.  But this just adds to the character.  The guide books dub it as 'The Venice of South America' - we haven't been to Venice but it's definitely the Salvador of Chile!  We climbed through streets lined with houses in every colour and style under the sun until we reached 'Luna Sonrisa' (Moon Smile)  - our home for the night.  To our delight it was as lovely inside as out and owned by a Londoner who wrote the Valparaiso section of 'The South American Handbook' - our bible!  What a job and one Beth would love when she grows up!

We took a local bus that took us through the hills and despite fearing for our lives during the rollercoaster journey, it was charming to see the clusters of brightly coloured houses winking in the sunlight (or was that Beth just hallucinating?).   We left early and checked back into the Hostel International in Santiago (where it had finally stopped raining, praise the Lord) before our 6 hour bus journey to Mendoza, Argentina, the next day.

Click here to view all our pictures from Chile.