It's a Wrap- Last Post of our Trip

Thursday March 28 started out cloudy, but for the first time in five days the sun came out in the afternoon.  It was really lovely- high about 18C.  We headed down our hill and took this photo of the store where we bought our wine.  It is in a small unpaved alley just down from the Naval Museum on the path we take to get to the flat part of the city.  It has a sign that says Vinizio-Wine and Stuff!  They have a good selection of Chilean wines.

Venizio- Wine and Stuff!

We passed more of the freshman looking particularly gross and covered with goop.  Definitely old-school hazing is still practiced in Valpo.

Lots of freshmen roaming the city with no shoes and lots of paint and goop

We saw a sign for a tall ship gathering in early April in Valpo.  That will be awesome as the port is so large and can be seen by everyone living on the hills.                                    
       

We walked by this lovely library with the names of all the greek philosophers at the top of the windows.

We also saw a number of heavy-duty police wagons in a few locales downtown.  We had heard yesterday from one of the students staying at our B&B that there had been a demonstration at his school where students had lit fires in cans and which the police broke up with tear gas.  Don't know if these trucks were on call, or just parked.

Our early afternoon destination was the Monument for the Detained, Disappeared and Persons Executed for Political Reasons in the Region of Valparaiso ( Monumento a los Detenidos, Desaperecidos y Ejecutados politicos de la Dictadura Militar de la Region de Valparaiso), which was erected in December 2008.  We walked along Avenida Brasil, which had a large boulevard containing a number of monuments to heroes of Chilean independence, and other important generals.  The monument we were seeking was also on this boulevard.

General Jose de San Martin- one of the heroes of Chilean independence

The monument was on the boulevard between two buildings of DuocUC, part of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.  Both of the university buildings were quite interesting.  Unfortunately, the monument was covered in dust and students were sitting on a part of it.

Long view of monument on boulevard (below).

The monument consists of a base with the names of 177 victims of the dictatorship from the Valparaiso region (September 11, 1973- March 10, 1990).  The top part of the monument represents a wave and is made up of 86 sheets of iron at various heights.  It represents the sea as a source of life and a fragment of time.  It is a powerful monument, but was in desperate need of a good cleaning.

There is a plaque on the back of the monument with an excerpt from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In front of the monument- names covered in dust from the boulevard 

After our visit to the memorial, we stopped for a coffee at Puro Cafe, where we had a coffee yesterday.  I took a few more pictures of details of the murals inside the Cafe- Laurel and Hardy with Puro Cafe hats. We noticed a plaque with the artists name.

Laurel and Hardy- Cine Valparaiso

Mural's artist- place of pride

We paused at the Plaza where we had met the Free tour, to enjoy the sun.  There are always stray dogs hanging around- most well-behaved and often sleeping.  This dog was also enjoying the sun in front of the fountain.

We then took the Queen Victoria funicular to Cerro Alegre.  We had decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants in the 'hood.  Vinilo (Vinyl) has been in business for about 15 years.  It got is name because the restaurant always plays vinyl records (usually jazz).  When we were there, an old Oscar Peterson trio album was playing.  It was about 2:30 p.m. and we were the only ones in the restaurant.  It was clear that it is more of a dinner place- but we have been wary of walking up our hill at night, so decided it would be lunch out on our last full day.

In front of the restaurant

Highlights from the menu

The bar at Vinilo

We chatted with our waiter, who pointed out a drawing on the wall.  It was done by a client who had now moved to Argentina and is a famous artist.  His pen name is Beto, which is his nickname (real name is Alberto).

Beto

We had a wonderful lunch of ceviche and a Chilean salad.

Ceviche and our Chilean salad (fresh tomatoes, onions, parsley and cilantro)

Generous portion of ceviche in a large glass

Enjoying our last lunch in Valpo

We walked back down the Cerro Alegre hill, seeing more street art along the way.

Birds over the water

Another pic of Valpo- the sea, the hills and the colours

We then walked back through the city, up our hill, and took this picture near the Naval Museum which we pass each day on our walk back to the B&B.  It was great to get a picture with blue sky.
Valpo in all it's glory!

View from the top of our hill

Because the sun was still out, we decided to stop at the outside table of Cafe Republica near our street and say good-bye to Luis, the owner.  We had fresh pineapple juice from the pineapples he had just bought at the market.

In his window and many others in the neighbourhood were signs in support of saving the ascensor Artilleria, the funicular that is presently broken and which normally connects the Cerro Artilleria (the hill we are staying on)  to the flat part of town.  The sign says "we will not let our elevator die."  It is really important to fix the funicular, as the steps that we take up and down the hill are a bit dodgy at night and also difficult for some to climb.

We sat in the sun for another hour at our B&B and had a late dinner of salad, salsa and empanadas.

Our last photo of the blog is of some great street art, which we think is a wonderful memento of Valpo.  While we didn't always have sun, it did come out for our last full day here.  The colourful houses, hills and street art are truly a heritage that should not be lost.  The portenos we have met have been interesting and those that speak some English always have great stories of Valpo, their chosen city.  The wonderful views of the port and the Pacific Ocean can be seen from almost any house in the City.

Valpo in all its glory

On Friday March 28 we start our journey home.  We'll take a bus to a stop in the western part of Santiago and then transfer to another bus to get to the airport.  Our flight is at 8:40 p.m. and we should be back in Toronto on Saturday March 29 at 6:10 a.m.

We have really enjoyed our trip to Santiago and Valparaiso.  It is a great experience to visit new cities  and learn about their culture and history.  We really enjoy renting apartments or staying in B&Bs and being able to cook and hang out with the locals. We love to explore and walk.  We find this kind of travel keeps the mind active too!

Thanks to all for following the blog.  Hope to see many of you soon.

Museo a Cielo Abierto de Valparaiso (Open Air Museum)

Wednesday March 26 was another gloomy, cloudy day.  We bundled up and headed into town (the temperature goes from 11C to 17C during the day). Our destination was a hill we hadn't explored before- Cerro Bellavista.  We walked to Plaza Victoria and then headed up a winding road into the hill.  We first passed a closed up restaurant /boutique called Besame Mucho, after the popular song.

Besame Mucho    

We also walked by a great sign for a bar and restaurant that dated back to 1893.            

Since 1893!

Close to Plaza Victoria was one of the nicest looking bakeries we have seen on the trip.  Alano stopped for a muffin.  For translation purposes, 600 chilean dollars is $1.20 CAN and $1270 chilean pesos is $2.54 CAN, so you can see how reasonably priced pastries are.  Vegetables and meats are also very inexpensive.  The only thing that we pay close to Canadian prices are our coffees (about $2.20 for an espresso and $2.60 for a small cortado (macchiato))

Window of goodies-- apple kuchen, and cream puffs

Plaza Victoria

We headed up the hill passing a large mural of red-riding hood, located beside a restaurant with the word wolf in its name.

Red Riding hood

Another beauty

The Museo a Cielo Abierto de Valparaiso is an open air display of murals which started in1969 when students of the Art Institute of the Universidad Catolica began to paint their works on the walls of the nearby houses.  Then, in 1990, the idea turned into a project with famous artists participating in creating the murals.  The Bellavista neighbourhood is just below Pablo Neruda's house.  Apparently, artists remember Neruda walking in the neighbourhood and talking to the muralists before his death in 1973.

Signage with artists and mural locations

Almost every turn one made let to another mural among the houses.

Very intricate mural

Mural on Passage Santa Lucia.

Lots of boats

We then saw this little boy in a window alcove beside a picture of a cat.  Couldn't resist the photo.

Real boy and  fantasy cat

Here's the real cat on the hot tin roof.

There also were some interesting mosaic stools outside one bright blue home.

Most of the housing in this neighbourhood is old, weather-beaten and crumbling.  But art is everywhere and the views of the port are magnificent.

The 'hood

Guess you have to say it's awesome!

This next mural was beautifully coloured and drawn with a view of the port.

Some pictures were more current, with tattoos and weird creatures.

We looked into a schoolyard where the students were lined up.  All the high school and younger students we saw in the streets were wearing uniforms.

Schoolyard looking in from hill

Crumbling facade

On Ferrari Street which leads up to Pablo Neruda's house, we passed a few blocks where the houses had tiles on the outsides with verses of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca.  From my sketchy Spanish, it looks like they were placed on the wall as part of a World Tango celebration in Valpo in 2007.

Explanation of plaques

One of many tiles with verse from Lorca

We then arrived at the Plaza de los Poetas, which had three sculptures of Chile's most famous poets- Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral and Vicento Huidobro.

Gabriela Mistral

Alano with Pablo Neruda

Vicento Huidobro

Growl....

We stopped for a sandwich at Sello Verde and sat in the terrace area with a great view of the port.

We descended Ferrari Street until we got back to the flat part of town.  We then checked out a cafe we had heard had good coffee.  It was called Puro Cafe and it had great coffee, as well as having fabulous murals and a real old fashioned coffee house feel. There were many locals there having coffee and cake.

                                                                 The crowd at Puro Cafe

Another fabulous mural

Alano awaits his coffee

We started our trek back to the B&B, passing an archway dedicated in 1910.

Our final photo caught an artist retouching his work--- the famous clock and trolley picture we have passed a number of times.

Artist at work

We headed up our hill to a late dinner at the B&B.  We are now the only guests besides the students who are staying here.  Definitely getting into fall weather here- we are missing the sun that we had the first two weeks of our trip.  However, Valpo is a very unique and edgy place.