Monday, March 18, 2013

Valparaiso, Chile

Overcast and cool

 

What a day! I set the alarm for 6:30, but we got a “wake-up call" at 5 AM as the ship docked - there was a lot of banging around going on in the process. We got up when the alarm did go off, quickly dressed, and headed to the Lido one last time for breakfast. We are in the first group to get off, with a disembarkation around 7:30. Our group was called just about as scheduled, so we said goodbye to our cabin attended Kamal, who has taken such good care of us the last two weeks, and headed for the gangway. We are sad that our cruise is over, but it is easy to get off the ship knowing it is headed right back where we came from, and the weather has little chance of being a good as we enjoyed.

 

The gangway was slick, and I slipped, but caught myself. Debbie wasn't so fortunate. She fell and landed on her wrist, which she feared was broken. Debbie and Jerry fought their way back up the gangway and on to the ship, and headed to the medical center.

 

Marcia and I debated what to do for a while, but ultimately decide to board the bus to the port terminal,  go find our luggage, and look for our guide (who was supposed to meet us at 8 AM). We quickly located both our luggage and the Yunkers’, and by 8:15 I found a gentleman holding a sign with our names. He is our driver, Sergio, and he speaks some English. He told me our guide was in the restroom and would be along shortly. She soon appeared; her name is Lisette, and she is Chilean in spite of her French name. Most importantly, she speaks very clear English. We explained the situation to her and she said they would do whatever was needed to assist us. Marcia was able to text message with Jerry, who ultimately informed us that Debbie's wrist was indeed broken and was being set in a cast. We decided to wait at the port terminal until they appeared.

 

By now it was 9:15. Wi-Fi was available in the terminal for one dollar for 30 minutes. So I decide to buy 30 minutes to post my blog for the first time in many days. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes, Debbie and Jerry appeared. I had just enough time to post my blog and send an e-mail off to Jan Bean.

 

Debbie has a cast on her forearm and wrist, and is wearing a sling, but she says she's not in any significant pain and is ready to carry-on. We had already loaded the luggage into the van, so with the Yunkers now in tow, we are ready to roll. So we head off on our tour of Valparaiso.

 

Valparaiso dates from the1500s, and is built on 45 hills. It was built in the most haphazard manner, with winding streets, and a maze of alleyways, walkways, and staircases. It is obvious city planning was never part of Valparaiso’s past. I wonder how long it takes anyone to learn their way around here. This place makes San Francisco look flat. Numerous funiculars were constructed around 1900 to help negotiate the steeper hills. Most of the flat land near the harbor is fill.

 

Lisette, who used to live here and loves the city, led us on a driving and walking tour. She is a wealth of information, but as Jerry would describe it, it is like drinking from a fire hose. I can’t begin to enumerate all we learn. I will say it is a fascinating place, with brightly colored homes, and many wonderful vistas. Unfortunately, it is rather hazy and we can’t see all that far. But, give the weather we have enjoyed the past two weeks we can’t complain. One curious thing about the city: there are wild dogs everywhere. People feed them, and the city does nothing about them, so they are everywhere, as is their poop. You walk carefully around this city.

 

Around noon we finished our tour of Valparaio and headed for the neighboring city of Vino del Mar. There is no gap between the two cities, but there is a world of difference between the two. Vino del Mar was founded around 1880 as a home for the rich. There are many old mansions here, several of which are now museums. The city is flat in comparison to Valparaiso, and there are many new buildings, apartments, and condos, as well as a beautiful casino and parks.. There is even a fairly nice beach. We stopped at the Easter Island Museum (a former mansion) where outside is one of the eight original stone statues from Easter Island. It is relatively small, only about six feet high.  Then we stopped at a jewelry store specializing in Lapaslazuli, where Marcia bought a bracelet and Jerry bought a gift for an upcoming Lafayette Geological Society speaker. I’d suspect the store caters to American tourist, as all the prices were in U.S. dollars. We drove and walked around the city until it was time for lunch at 1:30.

 

The restaurant Chile for Less had selected was Italian, but the food seemed more Chilean. We were thankful that Lisette joined us, as the menu was entirely in Spanish and the waiter spoke little English. (Sergio stayed in the van to protect our belongings.) The entrée choice was tilapia or beef – the girls chose the tilapia, the guys opted for beef. The first course was ceviche, cold salmon and shrimp in a citrus dressing. It was a large portion and would have been adequate for lunch all by itself. But it was delicious and we ate it all. Marcia said the tilapia was very good, although more than she could eat. The beef was served as chunks with mushrooms and covered in what I believe was a peanut based sauce. It was tasty, but the beef wasn’t as tender as I would have liked, and it was more than I could eat. For dessert we had the choice between a couple of variations of flan. We won’t be needing much for dinner tonight.

 

It was after 3 PM when we left the restaurant. We continued our tour of Vino del Mar for a while longer, and then it was time to head to Santiago. First we returned to Valparaiso, and then turned west and up over the coastal range. We stopped at an overlook for a final panorama of the two cities. The skies had cleared some, but it was still rather hazy.

 

The highway to Santiago is a good road, certainly smoother than the streets of Valparaiso. But Santiago is over 60 miles away, so it took a while to get there. First we crossed a valley known for its white wine production and passed the town of Casablanca. The highway passes through a tunnel to reach the next valley. The land grows more arid the farther inland we pass. This valley is known for olives and avocados. Finally, we passed through one more tunnel and reached the valley where Santiago lies. The high Andes, including some of the tallest mountains in South America lie just west of the city. But there is quite a lot of smog in Santiago and we could barely make out the mountains – a rare disappointment on this trip.

 

We entered Santiago via the main avenue. I can’t tell you its name, because it changes four times. The city has something like 13 neighborhoods, and each one has its own mayor. I don’t know how that works. My initial impression of Santiago is it is no Buenos Aires. But eventually, we reached the east side of town where the wealthy live and things were far more impressive. We finally reached our hotel, The Bonaparte, just after 6 PM. The Yunkers stayed with us a short while after we checked in, and then departed for the airport about 6:30 – Sergio would take them to the airport after dropping Lisette at the subway station. They have been an excellent guide and driver, were with us for about eleven hours. We certainly got a full day tour from them. Sergio is available tomorrow, so he will come back in the morning to take us to the airport.

 

We wanted a little something to eat, so the front desk directed us to the center of town, several blocks away down a lovely, tree-lined street. Traffic is heavy and barely moving, as it is rush hour. We found what can best be described as a fast food empanada establishment (that took AMEX, as we have no Chilean pesos) and ate there. They spoke almost no English, but we ordered something off the menu anyway, not exactly sure what we were getting. It was okay; we probably would have done better if either of us had paid better attention in Spanish classes. Dinner was about $8.

 

We walked back to the hotel and crashed.  It has been a long day. We both used the Wi-Fi to check e-mail and facebook, but I turned out the lights at 10 PM and Marcia was already asleep.