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Valparaiso, a port town which initially boomed in the 19th century due to the American gold rush, is now a Unesco world heritage sight famed for embracing poets, artists and singers. After our short journey from Santiago we arrived for what was originally planned as a day trip but ended up being 3 days, travelling with Chris, Andrew and Becky, friends we had met in Santiago.
Once settled in the hostel we set off to do the now obligatory free walking tour (tours4tips which we had taken in Santiago). The town is full of cerros (hills) accessible by ascensors or lifts with the oldest being built in 1883. Needless to say it made more than a few suspect noises when we took the ride up. Once in the hill tops, with views over the port and town the tour guide, a local or 'Porteño', led us through narrow graffiti lined streets and buildings with colourful corrugated iron facades. During the Pinochet dictatorship art was censored, so since the reintroduction of democracy, Valparaiso has embraced street art with somewhat stunning results. The town also has kept the old trolley buses similar to those in San Fran, adding to the towns quirky charm.
Following the tour we took advantage of the cheap alcohol prices at an off-licence very aptly named Mr Drunk. After a few aperitifs we headed to a craft beer bar called Altamira, which had live jazz and one of the best burgers I've ever had. We ended the night with a few more drinks at another bar on Cumming street (the party areas of Valparisso). Here, the idea of measures seemed foreign, bit of a throwback to infamous uni quad vod nights.
The next day, awake but a bit fuzzy we took an ascensor up to cerro artilleria which gave arguably the best view over the town. After, we ventured up to Pablo Neruda's house surviving the local bus speeding through harsh bends in the steep hill tops. Once there we took in the panoramic views of the colourful rooftops and port. Pablo Neruda is a very big deal in Chile. If you, like me are not well versed in literature, he is a Nobel price winning poet and is everywhere in Chile and South America. For our last night in what has felt a bit like a holiday, we treated ourself to a restaurant called Fauna, with views over the port town and serving fresh seafood. Flash packing is fun, but not looking forward to the next travel budget meeting.
We spent the last day glued to the phone looking at live updates of Ireland's superb 6 nations victory. Before getting our night bus to a Mendoza we had a mooch around the town. Now onto wine country.
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