Crowded Punta del Este Brava beach

Crowded Punta del Este Brava beach
Allan and Larry loved body surfing here

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Vive, Vive, Chile




We arrived in Santiago (pic right) at 2 am and were surrounded by taxi cab drivers and hoteliers telling us where we should go and where we should stay. It did not help that Chilean Pesos are 502 for every US dollar. It's so confusing when you pay out 13,000 pesos for a cab ride. On the other hand, if you want your march to millions, Chile is the place for you. So after one night in a better than usual hotel for us, we explored a bit of downtown before taking a bus to Valparaiso.

Valparaiso is on the coast (pic above on right). Together with Vina del Mar the towns comprise about 800,000 people and is Chile's second largest metropolitan area. Valparaiso was a thriving seaport in the Americas before the Panama Canal was built in 1914. It is a UNESCO site for it's series of acensors (elevators) that climb the steep hillsides on which the neighborhoods are built. It is a bit bohemian. Grafitti/ art is everywhere. Galleries and old brightly colored houses perch on cliffs, including our B&B. We stayed at Casa Amarillo for three nights with Lisette (Chilean) and Martin (Australian), wonderful hosts. For New Years Eve we gathered for Pisco Sours and potluck dinner representing Canada, Germany, and the US. One of our mutual guests was celebrating her 50th birthday that night; her husband went all out by cooking for us and opening the wine. Of course, champagne and fireworks topped it all at midnight. Coordinated fireworks from about 6 launch sites from Vina del Mar down the coast filled the sky and hundreds of thousands (plus 2) filled the streets. (Read the next post for NYE highlights.)

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