Earthquakes, muggings and other fun things to do in Valparaiso

Valparaiso

We docked in Valparaiso on the January 6 and took a taxi up to the Yellow House, a small bed and breakfast perched on the side of a rock cliff.

Valpo, once the major west coast port of call for ships coming around the horn to supply the west coasts of South and North America, it fell on hard times when the Panama Canal opened and has not really recovered. Due to it's deep water it is now the main port of call for Chilean ship traffic and a cruise ship replenishment port for South American cruises. Really it is a very gritty, dirty, port city that is down on its heels.

The Hood, Valparaiso

We took a city walking tour with two other Canadian couples and visited the fish market, fish fresh off the boat and all shapes, sizes and colors, including little sharks. The highlight at the fish market was when the fishermen dumped the heads and guts off the side of the pier and a family of sea lions stormed in for morning tea. Even though the sea lions were first to the feast, the pelicans were more than able to hold their own and get their share.

Daddy Sea Lion

The biggest contrast in Valpo was the difference between the old port portion of the city, crowded and seedy (really seedy) and the artisans areas perched up on the sides of the hills. Did I mention that the city consists of forty some steep rock hills that they have hung housing off of? The artisan areas, although the buildings are just as old, are newly painted and full of little shops, cafes and hostels. We also visited the Chilean Naval Museum, which was partially in English. A lot of the heros of the war of independence and the war with Peru and Bolivia over the northern boundary of Chile had surprisingly English last names, Cochrane, O 'Higgins, Prat etc. A really interesting artifact at the museum was one of the lifts that was used in the Chilean miners rescue. I think coming up out of the ground in a little narrow tunnel would have been as claustrophobic as being in the ground.

Rescue Cage

The next day off to the market to buy groceries and then back to the Yellow House to take part in a Chilean Cooking Class to make our own lunch/dinner. We made a four course meal, consisting of a mixed salad, queso and carne (cheese and meat) empanadas, salsa, clams baked in the half shell (with butter, garlic and cheese), postal de choclo (this is a meat and corn dish, a bit like a shepherd's pie but with a ground corn topping rather than potatoes). Then for dessert fresh sliced bananas soaked in palm syrup. All this was washed down with pisco sours (pisco is brandy made from distilled grapes and is the national drink), a couple bottles of wine and a digestive. Rather a nice way to spend the day.

Making Pisco Sours

Loreen, Danny, Andres, Mary, Peter, end of class

We took a wine tour to the Casablanca wine valley, with Mary and Peter, our cooking partners from the cooking class. The Casablanca, a beautiful agricultural valley between Santiago and the coast, has colder evenings and as such is known in Chile for its white wine production. The winery, Vina Indomita, with its Hollywood style sign sits on the top of a hill that over looks the valley. The location and the views are superb. Vina Indomita is classed as a medium sized winery by Chilean standards, it produces around 4 million liters of wine per year, most of it exported to Europe. After a tour and a tasting, in one of the nicest tasting rooms I have been in, we finished with lunch and a taxi ride back into town.

Casablanca Vinyards and Valley

Then, as Loreen and I had to get some money to pay for our room we split up with Mary and Peter, about five blocks from our hostel. They continued home and we went to the bank. Even after all the warnings from guide books, websites, the hotel staff - two innocent mistakes and mugged we were. One, we walked down a bad street as we wanted to look at something and two, I took some money out in a little store to buy a package of Halls. Ten steps down the street and I was tackled from behind - while one grabbed my left arm and back, the other grabbed my right arm and jerked it and about $70 out of my pocket. We fought, I even chased the guy with the money down the street, but he got away. Probably a good thing as other than my pride and having the feeling of being violated no one was hurt and they did not get my wallet with about $500 in cash and two credit cards, at least we foiled them on that. All this in broad day light, a street full of people, Loreen shouting "Police", store keepers came out and watched but no one helped. Seems this is common in this area and people are afraid of retaliation if they interfere. Sorry did not have time to get a picture of the muggers:)

We went back to the room, with my shirt ripped half off, to lick our wounds and we just got the door shut when bam-bam, a minor earthquake shook the house. Instant panic mode as we were on a 150 foot cliff and had an apartment building up slope. But no problem, the owners assured us that it was just a little adjustment taking place. Also the buildings anchored into solid rock, were built of stone and wood and built to survive earthquakes. Still I did not sleep all that well and every time Loreen moved I headed for the safe place!

Our last day in Valpo was spent packing up and shipping our cruise trip clothes home to Calgary, via Fedex.

We had a lovely lady, Chantal, make the arrangements for us, she was our Spanish Language guide for the day. After making the shipping arrangements, Chantal took us down town to the bus station where we made arrangements to continue on for the next steps of our journey. Then over to a city called Vina del Mar (they call it Chile's Miami Beach), a really nice clean, modern resort city that borders Valpo. The poor lady was to spend the day with us teaching conversational Spanish, how to get tickets and order in restaurants, etc, but we were totally disengaged. So off to a Museum of the anthropological history of Chile, what a great museum, and then for lunch in Vina. Still nervous, some poor guy walked up beside me to read a menu on the street and I just about jumped out my skin, time to move on.