VALDIVIA

February 27, 2013March 22, 2013Leave a comment

Arriving in Valdivia it was noticeably cooler as we were now 12 hours south of Valparaiso. We found Airesbuenos Hostel but could not check-in to our room so instead walked down to Feria Fluvial where large sea lions wait behind the fish markets for any left over scraps that may be fed to them. I am not sure they need the extra scraps – those things are huge! We stopped for lunch before boarding a cruise through the various rivers that surround Valdivia. It was a bit of a tourist gimmick but the weather was nice, as was the scenery. I can’t say we reaped the benefits of the informative talks as they were in Spanish but we enjoyed it all the same. We stopped at some small river side towns and visited some old Spanish forts. One of the highlights was towards the end of the trip when afternoon tea was served and the staff put bowls on the table for tips but Will thought the bowls were for putting our used tea bags in much to the amusement of the Chilean ladies sitting opposite us.

The next morning we took a bus out to the beachside town of Curiñanco and more specifically to Reserva Punta Curiñanco, a small national park located at the end of the road and accessed after paying a 1000 peso entry fee to a local family. Joining us were some others from the hostel – Paula from Switzerland, Itimar from Israel and Pawel from the States. At first the path we hiked was rather enclosed, dense forest but then it opened up exposing hundreds of tall trees and through the trees, the ocean beyond.

It took around an hour and a half to walk through and afterwards we walked down to the beach, initially most of us with the intention of going for a swim but the combination of cool Chilean wind and the temperature of the water were enough to deter most – although Pawel braved it. We had intended to catch the 2:30pm bus back to Valdivia but by 3:00pm it was apparent we had missed it. On asking another local, they acknowledged the bus came at 2:30pm but then mentioned you had to be there at 2:00pm in order to catch the 2:30pm bus – no idea how that works but we were told similar for the next bus – 6:30pm but be there at 6pm. We took that as potentially 5:30pm and therefore waited from 5:00pm – just in case!! It was quite the anxious wait to see if the bus did actually turn up and we could actually get back to Valdivia! On the way back we stopped quickly at Niebla, another small beach town before arriving at Kuntzmann Brewery which is probably best described as Disneyland for beer drinkers. It was pretty tacky but we enjoyed a tasting of all of their 12 beers and had some German inspired meals before returning back to our hostel to bed.

ODE TO VALPARAISO by Pablo Neruda

February 25, 2013March 21, 2013Leave a comment

Valparaiso,
What nonsense
You are
What a crazy
Insane Port.
Your mounded head
Disheveled
You never finish combing your hair
Life has always surprised you
Death woke you
In your undershirt and long underwear
Fringed with color
Naked
With a name tattooed on the stomach
And with a cap
The earthquake grabbed you
You ran
Mad
Broke your fingernails
It moved
The waters and the stones
Sidewalks
And seas
The night,
You would sleep
In the ground
Tired
From your sailing
And the furious earth
Lifted its waves
More stormy
Than a tempest
The dust
Covered you
The eyes
The flames
Burned your shoes
The solid
Houses of bankers
Trembled
Like wounded whales
While above
The houses of the poor
Leapt
Into nothingness
Like captive birds
Testing their wings
Collapse

Quickly
Valparaiso,
Sailor,
You forget
the tears
and you return
to hanging your dwellings
to paint doors
green
Windows
Yellow,
Everything
You transform into a boat
Your are
The patched bow
Of a small
Courageous
Ship
The crowns nest
With foam
Your rope lines that sing
And the light of the ocean
That shakes the masts
And flags
In your indestructible swaying

Dark star
You are
From far away
In the height of the coast
Shining
And soon
You surrender
Your hidden fire
The rocking
Of your deaf alleys
The naturalness
Of your movement
The clarity
Of your seamanship
Here ends this ode

Valparaiso
So small
Like a cloth
Helpless
Hanging
Ragged in a Window
Swaying
In the Wind
of the ocean
Impregnated
With all the pain
Of your ground
Receiving
The dew
Of the sea, the kiss
Of the wild angry sea
That with all of its power
Beat the rocks
It could not
Knock you down
Because on your southern chest
Is tattooed
The struggle
The hope
The solidarity
And the joy
As anchors
Resisting
The waves of the earth.

VALPARAISO

February 24, 2013April 7, 2013Leave a comment

We arrived in the coastal town of Valparaiso after a short train and bus ride from Santiago. It could have been slightly shorter had we not hopped off at the wrong train station in a panic (nearly leaving camera bag on the train as the doors were shutting!) We had been advised to get off the train at Universidad de Santiago but then five minutes into the trip we heard what sounded like our stop and in a panic rushed off the train only to realise we were at Universidad de Chile (rather than Santiago) station and we had to wait and pay again for the next train to get back on!

When we did arrive in Valparaiso we were dropped at the hectic downtown marketplace where we took a quick trolley bus ride further into Valparaiso to take an ‘ascensor’ (inclinator/funicular) up one of the numerous hills where our hostel was located. We walked to the nearby ascensor only to find out that it was closed (as were many others) and we would instead have to take the stairs – probably wouldn’t have been too bad without our backpacks but that was a serious climb!

We were staying at Hostal Caracol, located in the Bella Vista neighbourhood, a pretty area of Valparaiso with a panoramic view over the town. Once we had recovered from the walk up to our hostel we decided to walk back down and explore some of the other neighbourhoods. Walking through Valparaiso at the city level is quite the contrast to the vibrant neighbourhoods located on the hills. The streets were dirty and mostly associated with petty theft yet as soon as you climb the hills you are surrounded by brightly painted buildings and cobble stone paths leading to restaurants, museums and galleries. We walked through the Concepcion neighbourhood, an older area of Valparaiso where we took Valparaiso’s oldest ascensor (built in 1883) back to ground level.

On our second day we first walked to the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s house – a 4 story masterpiece located high on the hills of Valparaiso with what he believed to be the best vista, looking over the city he loved. His house was incredible, one of his passions was collecting various eclectic pieces for his house. From every floor and room there was a view to rival the last.

We were fortunate enough to have arrived on the weekend of the urban downhill mountain bike race ‘Cerro Abajo’ which was fantastic to watch. Mountain bike riders from around the world compete in time trials from the top of a hill in Valparaiso and through the streets, riding down stairs, between buildings and on purpose built jumps throughout. The riders do not know the exact track until the day so have only a few trial runs before the main event. As they ride, they dodge energetic locals and a few stray dogs doing as much as they can to avoid incident.

After a long day in the sun we climbed the stairs once more to get our backpack before a taxi ride to the bus station for our night bus to Valdivia. Arriving at the station, a quick check of our belongings would find that the laptop was not with us! I didn’t have it in the back with me and Will couldn’t remember if we had it in the cab or at the hostel so he jumped back in a cab and sped off to the hostel leaving me with the rest of the bags at the bus station. Waiting for Will, it became apparent that perhaps it wasn’t at the hostel either as a good 20 minutes had passed without his return. 5 minutes before our departure time and he comes running into the bus station, laptop in hand – he had gone back to the hostel and on not locating the laptop realised it must have been left in the cab! In what can only be described as very good luck, the cab driver that drove him back to the hostel was the brother of the cab driver who had driven us to the bus station and within minutes they were searching the streets for each other, driving through the curvy roads on the hills and meeting just in time for Will to make the bus back. Relieved but exhausted from the stress, we boarded our bus… perhaps it takes a while to get back into that ‘must check all belongings always’ frame of mind.