Feliz Año - or Happy New Year - from Valparaiso: part 2



Origami birds, Valparaiso

We had agreed with the lady at the hostel that Nic would be allowed to sleep on the floor of the single room that we had booked, and when we moved into it, she happily showed him a piece of foam mattress that he could use to sleep on. It was only half size but would at least support his torso, and was better than just the floor. All Nic could focus on though was that it had childlike pictures of cats and mice on it - for some reason he found ths especially amusing and had to take a photo of it. In the end, we both squeezed into the single bed for the few hours sleep that we had, but it was good of her to try to help.

We spent some time in the hostel in the morning working out where we were going next and looking up the fire in Torres del Paine, which I have already posted about. We found a late lunch in a little place that looked a bit down at heel initially, but where the food was actually quite nice. It had lots of little origami birds hanging from the ceiling, which we assumed were supposed to be pelicans as we think that was what the name of the restaurant was.

New Year's Eve fireworks, Valparaiso

We were supposed to be going of to sightsee for a bit after lunch, but as Nic for some reason was finding it impossible to keep his eyes open, and as we were expecting a late night for New Year's Eve, we went back to the hostel so he could take a nap. When he resurfaced, we went back up to Conception.



Our meal that evening was in a restaurant called Cafe Vinilo. As is almost always the case for me, I couldn't eat the appetizer and starter on the set menu, but the guys were very helpful and made me alternatives that I could eat. And each course came with wine, so we were well looked after. The fact that the main course came with a bottle of red to share, which meant that Nic had to drink that himself while I bought an extra bottle of white was obviously most unfortunate, but we coped! As we sat in the restaurant, we could see all of the locals gradually making their way to find somewhere to sit and watch the fireworks, most taking with them food, lots of the with a big cool box presumably full of drink. We finished at about 11:20 pm and walked in the same direction the locals were.

New Year's Eve fireworks, Valparaiso

By about twenty to twelve we found a suitable spot to watch the fireworks down a side street where we could see down across the harbour and along the seafront. Nic accidentally walked in front of a few people trying to take a photo, which immediately prompted them to get us in the photo too and start a conversation. There was a group of about seven people, some of whom were already a bit worse for wear, but all were friendly and chatty. As usual they were interested in where we were from and where we were travelling, and we soon had some new, albeit it only very temporary, friends. One of the guys who had definitely had too much was very keen to share his drinks with use, so we had a few from a coke bottle that definitely had some alcohol in it, but not sure what, and some beer. We drew the line at the joint though!



New Year's Eve fireworks, Valparaiso



As we got to midnight, the countdown started, then the party poppers went off and the bubbly was sprayed, and everybody started wishing everybody else Feliz Año. Lots of hugs later, we settled into watch the fireworks. They were supposed to be the best in South America, and they probably were. There were certainly a lot of them, as they went on for almost twenty five minutes and huge numbers were set off at once. There was no attempt to put them to music or anything like that, and they focused on the big starbursts, but there was a nice variety of big bang ones, pretty glittery ones, ones that looked like planets and so forth. It was also good to be able to see along the coast, because as well as the ones right in front of you, you could see the neat round bursts of other displays in the nearby towns too. You really got the impression that there  were fireworks everywhere and I guess that was true.

We said goodbye to our new friends and set off back to the main bar area, expecting that although everywhere had closed for everyone to go watch the fireworks, they would now reopen. But nowhere did. So we slowly made our way back down the hill and through the town back to our hostel, watching the revelry as we went. We did manage to pick up some additional drinks on the way as the bottle shops were open, so we still ended up staying up until pretty late.



New Year's Day cake, Valparaiso



Obviously New Year's Day was a late morning, but we were given breakfast by the lasy at the B&B.  She was clearly very happy to be sharing breakfast witrh us, including the traditional , and rather sickly, New Year's Day cake.  Not sure it's the best thing after a night drinking, but we appreciated it nonetheless.



New Year's Eve leftovers, Valparaiso



After buying our bus tickets for the next day, we went back up to Cerro Conception and found a nice German cake place for a small late lunch, and just chilled out until our dinner booking at a French place that we hadn't been able to get into the first day.

Happy 2012.


Christmassy garden, Valparaiso



Feliz Año - or Happy New Year - from Valparaiso: part 1



Square in Valparaiso



We decided to spend New Year's Eve in Valparaiso, on the coast of Chile because it is said to have the best firework display in South America and possibly the world. Unfortunately we left the final decision on this bit late, so we had some trouble booking accommodation. We ended up with a double room for 30th and 1st, but only a single for 31st. But we figured we may not end up spending that long in the room on 31st anyway, so we would be OK.



Cerro Conception, Valparaiso



We took a day time bus from Santiago, which only took a few hours, so we arrived at the hostel with time to take a look at the city. We had seen 'marmite reviews' of the place, with some people loving it and others hating it, so we weren't too sure what to expect.

Valparaiso was an important city in its day as a naval and merchant shipping port. The city is built up into th surrounding hills and, like Lisbon in Portugal, it has a series of old elevators to help with the climbs. Though it has an impressive past, Valparaiso lost its importance when the Panama canal was built, and suffered damage and decline after it was hit by a big earthquake in the 1930s. It has never really recovered and although it is supposedly the countries cultural centre, it is a city of faded glories and the highest unemployment rate in Chile.


Cerro Conception, Valparaiso



The flat area of the city, which is where we were staying is not the most pleasant. There were a few nice parks in this part of town, but generally it was not a attractive area. Even the harbour is a industrial looking one rather than being picturesque. Most of the buildings are shabby and a bit grubby, the roads are busy and noisy, and the place just has that kind of perpetually dark look that you get in a town that is run down. In the UK it would be like one of those high streets that has a lot of pound shops and other shops boarded up or temporarily taken over by those people selling knocked off perfumes and 'designer' handbags. In fairness the shops weren't really like that, but that was the impression the place gave me.



Hill in Valparaiso

You also have the main roads full of people selling stuff on the streets. With it being new year, many of them were selling metre long party poppers, silly string, foam, party hats, masks, plastic ties and so forth. There were also stalls selling plastic champagne flutes and others selling cheap sparkling wine. The most interesting ones though were those selling the knickers. Big knickers, little knickers, plain knickers, frilly knickers, lacy knickers, knickers with messages on - all sorts of knickers. But all of them bright yellow. Every single pair, bright yellow. The reason is that Chileans have a tradition of wearing yellow underwear on new years eve to bring them happiness and love in the year. We didn't check whether people really were, but the stalls were mostly sold out by the afternoon of 31st, so I guess a lot must have been.


But back to the city. We made our way up one of the hills to an area called Conception and this was an entirely different story. This area looked like the kind of traditional seaside town that you hope for. Many of the houses have the traditional clapboard facades painted in a variety of cheerful colours, and others are art deco or art nouveau designs. The cobbled streets and interesting little shops and restaurants make it a really pleasant place to wander around. Here you can see why some people love Valparaiso.



Cerro Conception, Valparaiso



We enjoyed strolling around this area, looking in the gallery and generally being touristy. We saw a few nice places to eat and booked one of them for New Year's Eve. We then found a nice little Pisco bar. It was a small place that had a part retro, part modern look to it and most obscurely a little clothes shop to the side. As their name suggests, they only sold drinks made with Pisco, but it wasn't the usual Pisco sours, but rather other cocktails. The bar was empty when we went in and the girl was friendly and helpful in helping us to pick our cocktails - mine a bit like a mojito but with Pisco and celery, and Nic's with honey and ginger - and dealing quickly with the power cut at the same time. The place soon filled up, but we went off to get some food in a bar down the road.



Painted building, Cerro Conception, Valparaiso



The place we ate in was good but at one stage our attention was somewhat distracted by the sight of a man outside who looked just like Father Jack from the Father Ted series. In fairness he was a somewhat cleaner and less gnarled version, but he did have the white straggly hair and the general look about him. The clincher that really made it though was that he was wearing all black, but had just the edge of a white collar peeping out at the neck, which looked just like he had on a priest's dog collar. Nic did try to get a picture but 'Father Jack' went off round the corner for a cigarette and so he missed it.