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.