Old House

On Saturday I had to go to Valparaiso for the day (or rather, for about 3 hours), to show this property for sale. It's a bit of a hike from Colchagua but as I was invited to the Los Vascos Jazz Festival I had to get back by 6pm.

I had about 15 minutes in between meetings so went to take a look at my old house. The new owner completely re-renovated the house (you can see my own total rebuild process here and by clicking back through 'older posts') and has just had it freshly painted. The renovations he did weren't really necessary, but the changes he made inside look great anyway. Here are a few exterior shots. I really, really miss this house and wish I hadn't had to sell it...but without the money from the sale, I wouldn't be able to own the properties I have in Santiago and Colchagua. Trade-offs and all that.

Photos Of Valparaiso From Cerro Alegre

I really have been neglecting this blog of late. I've been meaning to update for a while now, but just never got around to it. Anyway, this is just a very quick post with a couple of photos of Valparaiso taken from the top floor of a house on Cerro Alegre, last week. I've been back 3 times to Valpo in the last month, looking at a project there with various investors and architects. I won't say any more right now, but if it comes off, I'll be spending a fair bit of time back in my old home city over the next 18 months.

I've certainly missed the views...

That's my old red house in the middle of the photo. I love the way the colour makes it stand out so much. The new owner, an architect I bumped into in the Peruvian restaurant in Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley, is currently undoing all of the interior renovations I did to put his own stamp on it...you'd think I'd be annoyed, but I don't get emotionally attached to the properties I own. Plus, he loves the house and is doing a really interesting job with it. I'm looking forward to the house-warming party.

Interested in real estate in Valparaiso? Chile Investments can help you find exactly what you're looking for. Feel free to get in touch.

Another Old Photo

Just to keep you interested in this exceptionally slow moving blog...

Looking up towards Cerros Alegre and Concepcion to the left and Cordillera to the right. The photo is from around 1875, I reckon.

Valpo For A Day

On Saturday, I went for a very quick trip to Valpo for a friend's housewarming party. He bought a place on Cerro Mariposa, not an area I'd recommend for buying property in Valparaiso, to be honest. But his renovation job was awesome and the views of the port and the Pacific from the house are amazing.

Things seem to be changing in Valpo, but at the customary snail's pace...and it's almost all private investment that's happening. It's clear the Municipalidad isn't really doing anything at all to improve the city. I hope that'll change some day, but I really doubt it.

It was great to catch up with friends still in Valpo. Hopefully, I'll be there longer next time so I can see the friends I missed. Here are a few photos from the trip. Enjoy.

View from the top of Valparaiso after taking Camino La Polvora:

Views from a friend's house on Cerro Alegre:

That's my old house. The person who bought it decided to completely renovate the freshly renovated house, at great expense. He's currently completely ripping it apart...It's going to be lovely, I'm sure, but he's clearly crazy...

Looking up towards Lautaro Rosas:

View from Cerro Mariposa:

That's a giant fish...

Views from the deck, at night:

Plaza Sotomayor

Here's a photo of Plaza Sotomayor from the 1880s, looking towards where the big blue Naval building now is and also up to Lord Cochrane's house.

New Year Valparaiso 2010

First post in ages, I know but I've been busy recently having been to France and England for Christmas, back to Santa Cruz for a day then back up to Valparaiso for new year. And then I spent 2 weeks solid finishing off all the little details in my new house in Santa Cruz (updated photos on Colchaguino are coming soon if anyone out there is remotely interested).

Anyway, I spent my third new year in Valpo with this one being the Bicentennial celebrations. I was expecting more this year than before but the display was 3 minutes shorter than in previous years and the finale wasn't as long or loud. On the plus side, there were far more fireworks around the bay up to Con Con than before and it was all syncronised. Very impressive. And we got the second full moon of the month- a blue one no less- to make things even prettier...

Not so impressive were the Amazon sized rivers of urine running down the streets, the thousands of broken bottles and piles of vomit everywhere. Perhaps the council should think about spending some of the fireworks budget on portaloos and high-pressure water hoses to clean the streets the next day. The aftermath really is disgusting and doesn't give a particularly great impression to tourists...Just a thought...

Valparaiso: Sunrise From Cerro Concepcion

HMS Manchester in Valparaiso

On Monday the Royal Navy's HMS Manchester docked in Valparaiso. A few weeks ago, one of the crew had contacted me after finding this blog and asked about organising a wine tour for some of the guys (and girls) on the ship. As this was a large group, I sent them over to Michael at Wine Tours Valparaiso who organised tours over two days for junior and senior officers. By all accounts, they had a pretty fantastic time. After being stuck on board eating, quiet frankly, awful food, a gourmet lunch and wine tasting tour was apparently the highlight of their journey so far.

After going out for drinks with some of the crew on Tuesday, we were invited aboard the ship on Thursday morning. I actually thought it would just be a quick half hour walk around the boat but the guys gave us a complete tour of pretty much every part of the ship. We even had lunch in the mess hall (which is how I know the food is rubbish...). And on top of this, they gave us a huge bag of tea, bacon and sausages. I love the Royal Navy :)

What I found interesting is that on board life reminded me so much of going to boarding school. The banter between the people, the smell of the living quarters, the food, the atmosphere, the drills, the punishments for stepping out of line, the respect shown to superiors and also to each other...It was all so similar. The difference is, obviously, that these people are adults. I loved boarding school as a kid. But going to boarding as an adult would be a nightmare...

When US Navy ships have come to Valpo in the past, I've always noticed a rather large increase in referring traffic to this blog for Google searches for ladies of the night. This time, not a single search of that nature. I found that interesting.

In fact, the British sailors were all remarkably well behaved...with one exception. Two crew members made national and international news after stealing a Ronald Mcdonald statue, throwing it in the harbour and getting fined about 300,000 Pesos for their troubles. Whoops.

Our fantastic guide and his living quarters (along with another 30 guys).


The RN still press-gangs children into active service.


But I'm not sure this should be encouraged. Children and machine guns are not usually the best combination.

Then again, the same could be said about adults with GPMGs and SA80s. I should probably add that I'm really not a fan of guns and if this thing had been loaded I'd have almost certainly run away terrified.



This Lynx helicpoter comes from Westlands factory in Yeovil. Yeovil is one of the most unpleasant towns in England. The service crew who live on base at Yeovilton when in England all agreed with me. When back home, I live in lovely Sherborne, just 5 miles from Yeovil but a world away in terms of quality of life.


School dinners!


These three boats are all old Royal Navy vessels sold to the Chilean Navy. Britain and Chile maintain strong naval ties and many Chilean officers are sent over to Portsmouth for training. The Manchester would have been a candidate for sale a few years ago but is now so old and in such poor condition overall, the crew all seem to think it'll just be scrapped. It was built in 1978 and is showing its age.

The RN is a very welcoming bunch.


The boat to the right is from the Brazilian Navy, also in Valpo for a few days.

Sunset...

...was pretty spectacular tonight.

The Esmeralda-Comings and Goings

The other day, the Esmeralda left Valpo with a cargo full of lucky new Chilean Naval Officers on a round the world jolly. They get to sail a tall ship to far-flung destinations for 9 months or so. Not a bad life...

So here is the Esmeralda arriving in Valparaiso last December (in time for New Year when it is beautifully illuminated).



And leaving again.

View from Cerro Artilleria, Old and New

It's now impossible to get this view from Cerro Artilleria- there's been quite a lot of construction since this photo was taken sometime, I'm guessing, in the 1860s or so.

If you look very closely (click on the image to enlarge), exactly half way up the very far edge of the right hand side, you can just about make out Lord Thomas Cochrane's house. A little bit in and you can see an unbuilt upon bluff (it's got a white line running down the middle of it). This is where the Palacio Barburriza was built and the hill which Ascensor Peral services...the only really flat part of Cerro Alegre-Paseo Yugoslavo. And just to the left of that is Cerro Concepcion. Or 'home' as I prefer to call it.

The best views I could find...mix the first two together to get the actual equivalent of the old photo.


The Palacio Baburriza

360 View From The Roof Of A House On Abtao, Cerro Concepcion

As you might have guessed from the title of the post, here's a series of photos forming a 360 degree view from the roof of a house on Cerro Concepcion. That's real estate in Valparaiso Chile or perhaps a house in Valparaiso Chile or perhaps a property in Valparaiso Chile or maybe just real estate in Chile and property in Chile. I'll let you decide which description you prefer. Personally, I prefer real estate in Valparaiso Chile but, hey, that's just me.

If you want to buy the house with these rather lovely views then click along to real estate in Valparaiso.

The quality of the photos isn't all that great as I only had my iphone with me but they're not too bad...you can click on them to make them bigger.

Looking out towards Viña. On completely clear days, usually only in winter, you can see all the way to the snow-capped peaks of Aconcagua and the surrounding mountains.


Looking towards the port and the naval ships...


Looking down Calle Abtao with Cerro Artilleria and Playa Ancha far off in the background


That's St Paul's Anglican church in the foreground on Calle Pilcomayo. In the background is the hideous tower block that ruins the views for many people living behind it. It does actually serve one quite useful purpose, however...as there are no other tall buildings in the area, it's a great landmark for picking out Cerros Alegre y Concepcion from afar. You can see it in this photo from the top of Cerro La Campana. Through binoculars from there, I was able to find my house.


Just behind the house on Abtao is the Ex-Colegio Aleman, now Colegio del Mar or something like that.


Behind the school, you can see Cementerio Numero II


And here you can see Cementerio Numero I


And to finish the 360 tour, two photos of the Iglesia Luterana on Abtao.