On the second day we visited Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, and I have to say I wasn’t happy about the experience as a whole. I agreed to go with a group tour because a) I don’t drive (and later learned that drivers need to pay tolls all over the country and cities, adding to the price of rented car and petrol) and b) My mother asked for it, in order to be more “organised.” We got to Valparaíso and stopped at the city’s port, not passing even close to Pablo Neruda’s house and the trademark colourful houses on the hills.
The closest we got from the hillside houses of Valparaíso.
Houses in the background, I wish we had gone there…
This is a church that suffered damage during the 2010 8.8-magnitude earthquake. (The top is cracked and lost some parts of the structure)
Valparaíso, Chile
Monument of heroes at Plaza Sotomayor, Valparaíso.
Valparaíso, Chile.
Monument of heroes of Iquique, Valparaíso, Chile.
Main square in front of seaport. Starting to look pretty pissed off upon realising the we were NOT going to go to Pablo Neruda’s house…
Porto of Valparaíso, Chile.
Port of Valparaíso, Chile.
Some of the city’s architecture, which I hope to experience with more time in the future.
And the tour guide scared us into not being late to meet at the bus, but two Brazilian couples — it had to be Brazilians… — were late after taking photos by Viña del Mar’s flower clock and the guide just took off. He did, however, come back for them, driving very slowly around the block, but it was definitely a way to say, “I will leave you here next time.”
Viña del Mar Flower clock at the city entrance.
Viña del mar, Chile.
Viña del Mar, Chile.
So, I had great expectations for Valparaíso, and they were highly unfulfilled. I will have to go back some day.
Then, Viña del Mar. It kind of reminded me of Sausalito, across the bridge from San Francisco. It looked really nice and clean, safe. All buildings and houses without any iron bars around them. The ocean-front buildings are all constructed in weird angles and different positions (not side by side or one behind the other) because, by law, a building cannot obstruct the ocean view of another building, so you see different shapes, sizes and heights. Also, the most expensive apartments there cost around US$ 160,000, about the same price we paid for MY flat in Porto Alegre, but the difference is that I don’t have an ocean view, a safe street and tonnes of space as they do.
Viña del Mar, Chile.
Viña del Mar, Chile. Beautiful day out.
Viña del Mar, Chile. More of the beautiful seaside.
Viña del Mar, Chile.
Viña del Mar, Chile. More and more in love with the nature.
Those are the buildings that, according to the guide, are worth less than US$ 200,000. Not too shabby… Although, it strikes me as odd that flats are more reasonably priced than water and tea – read post Chile (3).
Viña del Mar, Chile. Wouldn’t you like to live in one of those?
After lunch we went to a place that, according to the tour guide, groups rarely go. Unfortunately, I don’t recall the place’s name, but it almost made up for the whole Valparaíso fiasco. It’s a very steep cliff, with very shoddy protection bars throughout. The views were gorgeous and the waves breaking on the shore made everything feel so peaceful. There was a couple sitting on a rock that stood in the middle of nowhere, without any visible pathway to it. How they got there was unclear to me.
Viña del Mar, Chile. They say it doesn’t rain much in the region.
A little reminder that we are in the Ring of Fire zone. The guide said “if you hear a loud siren, just run! Run towards the highest place you can find.”
View from the unknown cliff, Viña del Mar
View from the unknown cliff, Viña del Mar
Unknown cliff. One of my favourite spots. The rock formation is just incredible…
Unknown cliff, Viña del Mar, Chile.
This is the view from the cliff…
… and this is what’s behind it, weird sand dunes.
Me and the dunes…
This is such an incredible place… I could have stayed here for hours…
A couple sitting in the middle of the rocks. It’s not possible to see it in this picture, but the rock they’re sitting on is in the middle of a whole. I’m sure the pathway they used is on the other side, but I still wonder how they got there.
Common buildings on the beach in Viña del Mar.
All in all it was an okay experience. This was the first and probably the last (not counting the one we did the day after, in Santiago) group tour I take. Usually organising the logistics yourself is hard, painstaking and time-consuming, but it’s worth it in a sense that you can change plans, spend more time in one place and ditch another. Or at least they should fully disclose what the sightseeing route will be so I can decide if it’s worth it or not.
-- Never too many beers -- 