More Chile Pleeeze

So a slight rearrangement of travel plans...
We went to the Chilean coastal city of Valparaiso on Thursday for a couple days in the ¨cultural capital¨of the country. We got in around 11am and had a nice day walking all over town. The rain started late that night, and went on and on and on. It rained for about 30 hours straight, dumping about 4-5 inches. This was the pattern for the whole area, up to the Andes which lead to closure of the border crossing to Argentina. Of course, we don´t have a pager or PDA or even speak the language that well, so we sat in the bus station on Saturday morning waiting for an hour before anyone explained the situation to us. We found a place to stay and buckled down for another day, and then what a sight! The clouds parted, the birds sang, and the stray dogs bathed on the sidewalks in the warm glow of a beautiful day. We then went back again Sunday morning, after our hotel called to verify the bus was a go, but again, the border was still closed. So we went back to the hotel, booked a wine tour, and drank...

In spite of these headaches, the coast has been nice. Valparaiso is an old port city and used to be one of the most important in South America as all the ships going around the tip of SA stopped here. Alas, the Panama Canal and air freight have reduced its importance a bit. However, it is sweet area built on steep hillsides that start within a kilometer of the coast. The hills are a bit like San Franciso, except worse. Picture many roads that look like Lombard Street, except with potholes and rocks and cracks, but with nice ¨old world charm¨.
The city´s claim to fame are the ¨ascensors¨ or ¨funiculars¨, which are little rail cars built on 30 - 60 degree grades on the hills. They sit on rails and are connected by cables and pulleys. As one goes up the other goes down. Most of them are 50-80 years old. They are rickety, but they work.

About 8KM up the road is Vina Del Mar, an up and coming hot spot for the nouveau rich. Very cute, clean, and kinda pricey. If Valparaiso is the touristy version of South San Franciso, then Vina Del Mar is The Embarcadero (or whatever area is nice is SF now). We walked up and down the beach and saw some amazing waves, probably 8-12 feet, breaking right on shore. Scary, and the water is cold, much like Ocean Beach.

We lucked out and there was a wine, chocolate, and coffee expo in town. It was small, maybe 20 vendors, but we got a bunch of chocolate for the $4 admission. Also, we found out about ¨barista school¨in Italy, where you can do 12 hours of certification to become a latte art expert. That will be the next trip.

Alright, we´re going to the bus station again at 7am to see if we get to go to Argentina. More details on coffee and wine, and more pictures next time.