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Kevin and Joannie on tour
We’re spending the last few days relaxing. With hindsight, this campsite is quite
pleasant. Though it’s a bit held
together with string and hope, the landlady is constantly about, emptying bins
and cleaning. She’s also very hospitable
and comes over for a chat. She could not
believe that in the UK we retire at 67.
Chile is 65.
A big group turned up today to use the facilities – perhaps a
family as there was a mixture of all ages.
The women arrived and almost immediately set about firing up the barbie.
There’s a lovely pool here but not heated. The children were squealing as they jumped in. We discovered quite by accident that the
campsite is kitted out with WiFi so we could catch up with the blog and
everyone’s doings back home.
Given yesterday’s adventures, Joan spent some time studying
bus routes to see if we could get to Valparaiso. The buses are really cheap here and the local
buses have a flat rate no matter where you are going – about 40p.
We manged to plan a route.
We wanted to be dropped off at Achupallas to pick up a second bus to
Valparaiso. We explained this to the
driver and he dropped us off at the right stop but what we also noticed, he
used a different route than yesterday!!?? Next we went on a roller coaster of a
ride with a particularly horn-happy driver who rattled us downhill to Vina and
then dashing through the streets of Valparaiso, mountain pavements
maniacally. We dismounted at Aduana, the
terminal by the port and about as a far along Valparaiso front that you can do
by car. There was a funicular railway
heading up to the Armada base and a trolleybus passing by. (We have mixed memories of a trolleybus
journey we took in the Crimea (was Ukraine) from Simferopol to Yalta. The longest in the world and on particularly
hard seats.)
Valaparaiso is crammed onto steep hills around a bay. Its street are narrow, winding and labyrinthine. Despite its glamourous reputation, it’s a
town that has seen better days. There
are some very fine buildings, particularly on Prat, but it also has that
slightly grimy feel that you sometimes find in parts of London. It’s very much a working town with big ships
coming in to the docks.
It was quite late in the day when we arrived. We took the Ascensor Conception, a
particularly steep and rickety funicular, up to Café Turri. We ate here 9 years ago and it has great
views of the bay. However lunch service
was over and its doors were closed.
Since we last visited, there are certainly more cafes and souvenir
shops. Many of the buildings are
covered in murals. We wound our way back down to Plaza Anibal Pinto where we
recalled another great eating place called Café del Poeta that did great
savoury pancakes. We were so pleased to
find it still there and still does them.
The dining area outside was busy and we had to sit in an unshaded bit
until a covered table was vacated. There
was a mural outside the café of Pablo Neruda and inside, he was sat at a table
chatting with a friend.
The afternoon’s entertainment came from the waiters trying
to rig up extra shade on the patio.
There was much discussion and moving things around and tying things
down. We then realised why these large
umbrellas are tied down as late afternoon some very strong gusts of wind
battered the square, threatening to lift everything off the ground.
Next to the Café was an ice cream parlour. The Chileans love ice cream and we have
noticed they often wander about eating it from paper tubs with an inverted
cornet in the top. We’re not too sure what this is about but we thought we
would copy. The ice cream was delicious
but we still don’t understand why the cone is upside down.
Getting late, we made our way down to the front and caught a
bus back to Achupallas. It was heaving,
we were falling asleep and the curtained windows and standing passengers meant
it was hard to see out. Eventually Joan
asked the driver to drop us off at Shell in Achupallas and he indicated for us
to get off. Immediately we realised this
wasn’t the right place, maybe a mile or so early. So we caught another bus to Allessandri and
awaited a 305. We got on and said we
wanted to go to Donde La Cuca. The
driver waved us to sit down but didn’t take any money. A few stops later he told us to get off and
crossover a pedestrian bridge and catch our bus. Buses seem to have their own rules which way
and where they stop in Achupallas!
It was getting dark by the time we reached Rancho Casanova
but at least we made it on public transport.
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