Activity Summary
Friday 3rd November - Day 395 (continued)
Travel to Valparaíso
Saturday 4th November - Day 396
Valparaíso walking tour
Sunday 5th November - Day 397
Viña del Mar
Monday 6th November - Day 398
Luke:
Travel to Mendoza, Argentina
Nicola:
Viña del Mar day
Tuesday 7th November - Day 399
Nicola:
Travel to Santiago
Summary
Valparaíso
Small town with nothing much to sing massive praises about. It was cheaper to stay here than Viña del Mar however.
Viña del Mar
The nicer beach coastal town.
Transport
Valparaíso
Santiago bus terminal
Bus to Valparaíso
Local bus to hostel
Viña del Mar
Local bus
Accommodation
Valparaíso - Hostal Tricontinental
Number of nights - 3
Price per night per person - £15
Positives:
Private room
Kitchen
Negatives:
God damn squeaky bench
Recommend?
Yes
Diary
Friday 3rd November - Day 395 (continued)
It was an easy bus to Valparaíso, an 1hr and a half tops.
At the bus station Luke decided not to purchase an onward ticket to Mendoza which was a bad decision as he would have to make the journey back and their open items are whack. A 2 hour lunch break between 1-3 is a pain in the ass.
Outside the station we tried getting an Uber but that failed miserably so ended up getting a bus up the road. Turns out these guys drive like nutters and have no chill. We had zero change on us so tried breaking a large note, got confused with change and Luke had a challenging back and forth with the driver for change while carrying all our bags on a full bus.
Once checked into our hostel we hit the supermarket, cooked and wound down for the evening.
Saturday 4th November - Day 396
Turns out there isn’t much to do in Valparaíso when the weather is not peachy but figured a walking tour would be a way to see the town and make it a little more interesting.
The 10am meet started with drizzle and was fairly cold, in complete contrast to the day before. Our tour guide was a nice guy and had pretty decent delivery so it was interesting the whole way despite Valparaíso not being quite so captivating.
Pl. Aníbal Pinto
Centro ChileAtiende del IPS - giant building with some paid for wall art
Monument to a cave horror myth that just ended up being thieves killing passers by
Ascensor Concepción - P300 for the funicular ride up
Views over the city
Hotel Brighton
Catedral Anglicana Saint Paul
Piano stairs - one for the insta but actually wasn’t at all impressive.
Lots of murals and wall art
Mural ‘We are not hippies, we are happies’
Downtown
Car on a roof
Post the walking tour we had lunch on a park bench and then went over to Plaza Sotomayor.
Luke went back to the bus terminal to get his Mendoza tickets (quite a faff) and the rest of the day was less than exciting, a combination of shopping, cooking and job applications.
Sunday 5th November - Day 397
After a late start we checked Nicola into her next hostel when Luke departed to Mendoza the next day and got a bus to the next town along, Viña del Mar. Nice and cheap at CLP500pp but the drivers were absolutely nuts.
We spent the morning / early afternoon walking around:
Flower clock
Wolff Castle
Estuary
Coast and beaches - final time we would see those in sunshine and any resemblance of heat. Didn’t look pleasant to lie on.
Vergara Pier
Museo de Arqueología e Historia Francisco Fonck
Quinta Vergara for lunch
Coffee and cake at Fika Coffeeshop Arlegui
Plaza México
With little else to do we got the wacky racers bus back to Valparaiso and had a chill rest of the day.
Monday 6th November - Day 398
Luke story time:
The early start wasn’t quite so pleasant, opting for a 6.30am rise in order to walk to the bus terminal for 7.50am. It was the right decision as there didn’t seem to be any buses or taxis around, despite being quite a distance.
Turns out the bag guys for the buses in Chile and Argentina don’t get paid by the bus companies so rely on tips. Personally, I hate this system and I refused but I also didn’t have any cash.
Bus to famous Argentinian wine country, here I come.
Nicola story time:
I had a lie in before catching the bus back over to Vina del Mar. A trip to the bank, mall didn’t entertain me for long. So I headed to the park with a fruit tart to enjoy the view and people watch.
Heading back to my accommodation I got chatting with a nice Canadian couple whilst cooking dinner. They’d been travelling for 7 years, working and travelling and had some really interesting stories. They planned on buying a load of land and running a campsite/self sufficiency farm on the return from their travels. I was rather jealous but I realise Canadian land is somewhat cheaper than that in the UK.
Tuesday 7th November - Day 399
The next day I headed back to Santiago, checked into my hostel, and headed out for Ramen and a walk around Bella Vista. I headed to the Zoo, with an ice cream and enjoyed learning about some South American animals. Patagonia here I come!
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