19 December 2009

Picture of the day: looking out over the town of Punta Arenas and the Strait of Magellan.

Blogmistress note: The pictures of the day for 20 December through 23 December will not be posted until we land in Ushuaia on the 23rd. They should be stellar, though, so stick around to see the penguins!

Blown away by Punta Arenas

After a week of roasting in the sun in Valparaíso and Santiago (we have the sunburns to prove it!), we flew down to Patagonia on Friday. Punta Arenas is the southernmost city in Chile, a town of about 130,000 sitting on the Strait of Magellan.

The Strait of Magellan as seen from the edge of town.

Punta Arenas is definitely a port city, but also has some cool architecture, courtesy of families who made it big during the wool boom. (Yes, you read that right: sheep estancias were big business in Patagonia a century ago!)

The Sara Braun mansion, right in the center of town.

It is not as cold as we expected here--probably in the 60s--but it is seriously windy. You get very tired walking around just from leaning into the wind. We have been told to expect this throughout Patagonia, which means hiking with our packs on should be... interesting, to say the least. Also, the sun never sets! We were dead tired after waking up at 6am for our flight, but just could not go to bed when the sun was still so high in the sky.

The streets of Punta Arenas at 10:00pm--just about time for sunset!

18 December 2009

Picture of the day: statue of the virgin Mary on top of Cerro San Cristóbal.

17 December 2009

Picture of the day: enjoying the fountain at the park on Cerro Santa Lucía.

Simmering in Santiago

After a nearly unbearable 1.5-hour, 90-degree bus ride from Valparaíso (have we mentioned, it seems like the fancy new technology of air conditioning does not exist yet here?), we arrived in Santiago, the capital of Chile. We spent our first day sweating: our bags are too small to fit our boots in, so despite the 93-degree weather, we traveled in long pants, wool socks, and full leather boots. This would not be so bad, except we had to navigate from the bus station to the metro to our hostal, all while carrying our 35-pound packs. Yikes.

We climbed up Cerro Santa Lucía in the middle of the city, and got some great views that are only partially obscured by the layer of smog. (Notice the small, white statue on the hill to the left--you'll be seeing her again later.)


Today, we were lucky to have a slightly cooler (85 or so) day. We put on shorts and sandals and walked around the parks near our hotel.


Santiago was built around a river. I imagine that it looked a bit better a few hundred years ago...


Tomorrow we're off for Punta Arenas. Given that it's a 4.5 hour flight directly to the South, we'll definitely be in for cooler weather there.

16 December 2009

Picture of the day: 2-headed lamb (born 1950 in Chile) on display in the Museo Tonck.

This museum is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you ever make it to Viña del Mar and like really weird things. They also have a moai from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) on display, plus an exhibit on shrunken heads (real shrunken heads from Bolivia, plus step-by-step instructions on how to shrink heads, included!) and all manner of stuffed dead animals. Freaky.


Note: We´re headed to Santiago today, then flying down South on Friday, and our access to computers is a bit unknown at this point. We´ll try to keep a relatively frequent posting schedule up, but we make no promises. Thanks for the comments, we´re definitely reading them!

A day at the beach.

After spending the day climbing the hills of Valpo, we needed a more relaxing pursuit on Tuesday. We caught the commuter train to Viña del Mar, only 3km north of the city but a world away in terms of mindset. It´s one of the most popular tourist destinations for Chilean tourists, but there are almost no foreign visitors there. Why, you ask? Why would foreign visitors not want to come and visit the beaches?

Because the Pacific Ocean is really, really, really cold.

We walked along the boardwalk beside the ocean, enjoying the salt spray. At the top of the boardwalk is a beach, where we rolled up our pants and dipped our toes in the frigid water.

We also walked in the beautiful, manicured parks of Viña. No trash, no graffiti, no walking on the grass... it´s definitely different from Valpo!

Other highlights of our day:

• Visiting what may be the coolest museum in Chile.... pictures to come.
• The best Pisco Sour yet, on a veranda overlooking the waves.
• Seeing the inside of a Chilean tattoo parlour! (Calm down, Mom(s), it was just to buy a new nose hoop.)

15 December 2009

Picture of the day: waves crashing on the rocks at Viña del Mar, 3km north of Valparaíso.

14 December 2009

Picture of the day: view of houses on the hill from Cerro Panteón.

We put the fun in funicular!

Today, we walked around (and up, and down, and up....) the city. The best part was probably riding the funiculars: a cross between a streetcar and a gondola, they pull you up the steep hills when your feet hurt too badly to walk up yet another set of stairs. Most were built in the late 1800s, and while they have probably been updated at least once since then, you can definitely see the tracks below through the cracks in the wooden floors.

The entrance to the funicular Ascensor Concepcion (built in 1883--oldest one in Valparaíso).

The Ascensor Artillería in action, with the port in view beyond.

13 December 2009

The picture of the (yester)day: graffiti in the pedestrian alleyways on the way to dinner.

First impressions of Valpo

First impressions of Valparaíso:

• There are a serious number of stray dogs here! On one street corner last night, we counted *nine* dogs in various stages of repose. The dogs seem well-fed and friendly, but not so clean.
  
• The city is beautiful, more vertical than horizontal, and also gives one the disconcerting sense that it´s crumbling down around one´s ears. The graffiti is everywhere, but it seems more like art than vandalism.
• NOTHING IS OPEN when the presidential elections are going on. The Chileans take democracy seriously... they have to vote or they are fined. Oh, and they can only vote in the city where they registered the first time as young adults, even if it takes all day to get there.

And now, for some pictures.

The view of the sea from the hills near our hostel in Cerro Bellavista.

Up, up, up...

We made it!

We're in Valparaíso. It's beautiful here. Only downside? Everything is closed today because it's national presidential election day...