Updated Bloggers In Chile List

I've updated and rearranged the Chile blog list over on Bloggers In Chile. It's a great resource for anyone looking for information about living and working in Chile. If you're on the list, please can you link back to it on your blog. Thanks!

Top 5 Wanders In Valparaiso

• Around Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre.

-Start at the bottom of Ascensor Concepcion on calle Prat and take a ride on the oldest funicular in Valparaiso. Wander along Paseo Gervasoni, past the hotel and then double back on calle Papudo and then take a left towards Paseo Atkinson. Walk along Paseo Atkinson, avoid going into the horribly over-rated and terribly run Brighton and then go right on Beethoven. You'll see the Iglesia Luterana on your right; if it's open go in and have a look, it's worth a few minutes. Walk right out of the church until calle Templeman and take a left past the Iglesia Anglicana (only open on Sundays). Take a right down Pasaje Templeman (there's a silver workshop on the corner) and walk down the steps. Stop at the bottom and look up at the awesome red casa crucero, a house completely renovated by yours truly.

Go left down Pasaje Galvez, down the steps and across Urriola. Walk up through Pasaje Bavestrello and at the top you'll find the other casa crucero in the neighbourhood. Continue down towards the sea to Paseo Yugoslavia and admire the embarrassingly crumbly Palacios Astoreca and Barburizza.

Walk back around and up calle Miramar, taking a left on calle Lautaro Rosas, Valpo's fanciest street. At the end, turn left down Alte Montt and head back down to Cerro Concepcion.

• Along Avenida Alemania to Cerro Bellavista.

Start at the top of Cerro Alegre in Plazuela San Luis and walk left along Avenida Alemania. There's not much to see along this route apart from the incredible views of the port, Andes and Pacific. Do take a look at the clown museum on Plaza Bismark, though. Keep going until you reach Neruda's house, La Sebastiana, on Cerro Bellavista.

• The cemeteries and ex-prison.

An essential walk to get a feeling for Valpo's history. Start in Plaza Anibal Pinto and walk up calle Cumming. After a few minutes walk, you'll find three cemeteries on your left, Numero 1, Numero 2 and Disidentes. Take an hour or more to wander through the graves of Valparaiso's oldest and most illustrious families and look at all the different nationalities who came to make Valpo one of the richest and more cosmopolitan cities in South America.

After the cemeteries, head across the street to the ex-carcel to see some fantastic graffiti and the cultural centre.

• Plaza Sotomayor to Cerro Artilleria

Start off in Plaza Sotomayor and walk along calle Serrano. Poke your head into the awesome Bar La Playa for a quick beer. Just past the bar on the same side of the street there's a huge wooden door- if it's open, walk up the marble steps to see what was once one of the grandest offices in Valpo...

Continue to Plaza Echaurren and take a vistazo in Iglesia La Matriz, Valpo's oldest church. Afterwards, keep walking along Serrano until you hit ascensor Artilleria. Take the funicular up to Paseo 21 de Mayo and pay 500 pesos to go into the surprisingly good Naval Museum.

• Plaza Anibal Pinto to Plaza O'Higgins.

This is a Sunday walk. Wander across Plaza de la Intendencia towards Plaza Victoria. Spend a few minutes in Plaza Victoria admiring the trees and fountain. Walk all the way along Avenida Pedro Montt until you reach Plaza O'Higgins, taking in the Teatro Victoria on the way. Upon reaching your destination, you'll find the stunningly ugly Congress building and a small antiques market.

Terrible Travel Stories

This is part of a group blogging thingy and nothing to do with Valpo at all (it's also a repeat of the post I wrote over on my Santa Cruz, Chile blog Colchaguino.

I've experienced quite a few awful journeys back in the day when lugging a 25 kilo rucksack around in 90 degree heat seemed appealing. But I'll just stick to just the one.

The last really bad trip was in Bolivia. The journey was La Paz to Uyuni, where I would be doing the Salar de Uyuni tour (and as an aside, the Salar and the Altiplano lakes are the most spectacular natural wonders I have ever seen in my life and stomp all over anything Chile has in the north).

The trip started with a taxi driver who, despite my insistence I was late for the bus (I wasn't), insisted on taking me on an unwanted and undiscussed tour of most of La Paz. With the meter running, of course. This, despite the fact that the bus station was 8 blocks from where I hailed the taxi and I knew where we were supposed to be going. All my bags were in the boot of the car so I didn't have much choice in the matter, unfortunately.

Upon arriving at the bus station, I found out that the bus was delayed. By 7 hours. And no, there weren't any other buses leaving in that time. After wasting time by buying an 11 year out of date magazine and eating typical Bolivian gruel, the bus finally arrived. I got on the bus, expecting to be sitting near the front with all the other foreigners (they usually put travellers at the front). Instead, I was one row from the back, directly over the wheel arch, with about 3 inches of leg space and surrounded by friendly but extremely smelly locals who believed that chewing coca leaving and spitting on the floor was the height of sophistication.

The first 2 hours of the trip were then fairly uneventful. I got used to the constant staring from everyone around me. Perhaps the 20mg of Valium I'd bought over the counter at a local pharmacy helped. After 2 hours, the paved road gave way to one of the worst and bumpiest dirt tracks I've ever experienced. This on a 40 seater bus (it had at least 60 people on) with dodgy brakes and completely shot suspension. And remember, I was sitting over the wheel arch.

By this time, the aforementioned Valium had really kicked in. Even with the Valium I failed to sleep. I sat there for the next 12 hours unable to move, my muscles and brain feeling like they were melting. It was like being in a rather unpleasant dream. I don't actually remember all that many details, but one that sticks in my mind, despite the the Valium brain fog, was driving over one particularly deep ditch which resulted in the 5 foot tall Bolivian man sitting next to me being catapulted upwards and smashing his head against the overhead luggage compartment.

Upon finally arriving in Uyuni after 14 hours, my back was killing me, I'd had no sleep and my brain was still foggy from the Valium. It was about 2 degrees centigrade. Not only that, but I happened to arrive on a day when the town celebrates some saint by having a water fight. We were met off the bus by a bunch of children who proceeded to shower everyone with ice-cold water balloons. I found one of the kids later and threw him in a water-filled ditch, much to the amusement of all his friends. It wasn't meant to be funny.

An honourable mention goes to the 15 hour, overnight bus ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in Thailand which involved the most obnoxious group of Israeli travellers I've ever had the misfortune to come across (and if you've ever travelled in South East Asia you'll sympathise and understand what that really means), bongo drums, faulty air-conditioning, crazy overtaking manoeuvres and a change of drivers at 80mph (the new driver had clearly never driven a bus in his life before).

I'll just link to Bear Shaped Sphere for a list of the other participants as I don't have time to find everyone else.

Plaza Victoria

Valparaiso was so grand and pretty back in the day. It's still incredibly pretty, but in a run-down, nostalgic kind of way. A lot of people think that the city shouldn't be allowed to change, that it should be kept grotty, poor and downtrodden as that's where the city's 'soul' comes from. I disagree. Valparaiso was a clean, well-maintained, wealthy and culturally vibrant city in the past and aspiring to return to that is something that should be encouraged.

Don't listen to the hippies :)

Valparaiso: Sunrise From Cerro Concepcion

The Best Places To Eat In Valparaiso

So as I no longer live in Valpo, I was thinking about the places I'll miss when I'm hungry.

1. Allegretto: Pilcomayo, just behind the Anglican Church, Cerro Concepcion. The best pizzas in town, friendly and welcoming staff and decor and open all the time. If you're ever hungry on a Sunday night, Allegretto is pretty much the only place open. It was always my go-to place whenever I was hungry and there was no food in the house.
2. Pastis: On the corner of Subida Concepcion and Pilcomayo, Cerro Concepcion. Duck to die for, amazing quiches, cute decor. Probably one of the best restaurants in Chile.
3. Mastodonte: Esmeralda, just down from Plaza Anibal Pinto. Best and cheapest lunches in town (2000 pesos for a well-presented and really good carne al jugo con arroz y ensalada chilena and a soft drink). Plus the decor is so unbelievably kitsch that you have to go check it out.
4. Le Filou de Montpellier: Great value French food, entertaining owner. Corner of Almte Montt and Urriola. It's never let me down.
5. Cafe Turri: Next to Ascensor Concepcion. Surprisingly good value and really pretty good food plus fantastic views.

I'll be back with more of my Valpo faves over the next few weeks. If you didn't know, I'm now living in Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley, Chile, where I'm about to go to a two year old's birthday party after taking the dog for a long walk. Isn't life exciting?

How To Get From Valparaiso To Santa Cruz...

...because that's where you want to visit after spending a few days exploring Valpo...

The fastest way would be to simply click on Colchaguino for a virtual trip. The other ways would be:

• By car: The long, more expensive (petrol and tolls) but infinitely easier way is to take Ruta 68 all the way to Santiago, connect onto the Costanera Norte and then take the exit to Ruta 5 Sur until you hit San Fernando. Exit in San Fernando following the signs to Santa Cruz Casino. From Valpo it'll take around 4 hours including a short pit-stop.
• By car: The quicker, more complicated way- Exit Ruta 68 at Casablanca and follow signs to San Antonio. Follow the signs to Santo Domingo and Llolleo and you'll avoid having to drive through one of Chile's most revolting cities. Stay on that road for an hour or so, drive past Lago Rapel and then take a right at Cruce Las Aranas where the sign says 'Santa Cruz Casino'. Keep following those signs until you reach Santa Cruz. This way will take a around 3 hours if you don't get lost and it's a really pretty drive so worth the risk.
• By bus: Take a bus to San Fernando, change to a local bus to Santa Cruz. This way will take you over 5 hours.
• By bus and train: Bus to Santiago Estacion Central, train to San Fernando and then bus to Santa Cruz. A more pleasant way to travel.

Colchaguino

On Tuesday we're moving down to Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley, Chile. The move is making me slightly crazed...I'm trying to fit a 200m2 house into a 100m2 house. I don't think it's going to work, to be quite honest.

Anyway, blogging has commenced over at Colchaguino, so please head on over and visit. And if anyone is ever down Santa Cruz way, please feel free to get in touch. I'm always happy to meet up with visitors.

I'm Sure This Should Be Considered Offensive...

...a clothes shop for larger than average people called "Little Fatties".

I'm really not sure why, in the Spanish language, it's considered appropriate to be so rude about people's appearance...but it is...and it's the same in every Spanish speaking country I've been to.

Valpo: Home

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged. I've become a little lazy over the past few months as my time has been more limited due to work and other commitments. I just got back from an entire month in the US on holiday which was pretty great but it's nice to be home again...even if it's just for a very short while before moving down to Santa Cruz, Colchagua Valley (where I can assist you in buying a vineyard in Chile if you wish).

So you already know I was in New York. We spent two weeks in total in the city, upstate and out in the Hamptons and had a fantastic time seeing family and friends. The only downer was getting bitten by a tick in the Hamptons, contracting Lyme Disease and then having my last two weeks of fun in Seattle and San Francisco a tiny bit ruined by the ensuing symptoms of crushing depression, extreme fatigue, headaches, body aches, memory loss, brain fog, confusion, panic, heart palpitations, mood swings and generally feeling all-round rubbish. These were all constants throughout the week in Seattle but were intermittent by the time we got to San Francisco which allowed me to enjoy at least some of my time there.

Actually, I really liked Seattle. The setting is beautiful and there's quite a lot to do. I'm looking forward to going back when I'm not wanting to crawl into a dark corner and cry.

And San Francisco is now one of my favourite cities in the world. So much fun, so much diversity, such a tiny, beautiful city. The food is amazing, the architecture fantastic, the natural setting awesome...I didn't want to leave.

We also spent two days in Sonoma, Napa Valley and stayed with a friend who is a vineyard appraiser. He gave us the scoop on values, who's bankrupt, who's fighting with whom and a fantastic tour of the best restaurants. We had such a good time. It was fascinating to see the Valley- it looks identical to the land around Santa Cruz and also Casablanca. The only difference is that it costs us$650,000 a hectare in Napa and an absolute maximum of us$100,000 a hectare for the best vineyard land in Santa Cruz (the Apalta Valley to be exact). Santa Cruz has a way to go yet...

So here are a lot of photos from the trip.

Cocktails on Sunset Beach, pre-tick bite, now I can't really drink as I'm on antibiotics for 3 months :(

Sunset on Vashon Island, Seattle

Mount Rainier in the background

More Seattle

Napa Valley...

Fancy Yountville dog treats

At the doctor's office proudly holding my (still alive and engorged) tick before it was sent off for analysis. I won't mention where I found it on my body...

One of the prettiest and best maintained vineyards I've ever seen, managed by a US friend from Valpo...

More Napa

But this is Chile...

San Francisco...Alcatraz first

Bay Area

Cool architecture

Chinatown

I'm really not sure I'll have any time in the next 2-3 weeks to blog...I've got so much on at the moment. Probably by the time I have a spare minute to write anything, I'll already be in Santa Cruz, Chile and writing on my new blog, Colchaguino. Corrugated City will be updated on occasion as well- I've got a whole load of old photos to post...