Wine, mainly

Wine barrels

Fermentation vats
Thursday 10th January

Having seen most of Valparaiso and Vina, we decided to take an organised excursion to the Casablanca valley and the vineyards. Our guide was an ex-Naval captain from the Pinochet era. His political views were not perhaps the same as ours and he didn’t seem to think much of “leftistas”, particularly women. He explained that one his classmates was now in gaol for atrocities in the Pinochet era.

We were accompanied by four Canadians from Ottawa, who were over for a wedding.

The first vineyard we visited was Vinamar, which was laid out in pristine rows with roses at the end. There was a grand reception building where we eat lunch overlooking the vines and sampling their delicious wines.

After that we visited a Croatian run vineyard, where they make only organic wines. It was built into the side of the hill, and was a much smaller operation. We only stopped for a degustation.

Then it was back to the Hotel Ultramar to await our taxi.

This is the view from the balcony of the hotel - our last of the Pacific for a while, but hopefully not too long!!

Hanging around

Trolley buses

Wednesday 9th January

Today we walked down Independia to visit Ascensor Polanco. The only vertical lift in Valparaiso. However it was closed for renovation. We went past the National Congress building.


Then wewalked along Avenida Brasil, to the market. They still use horses to deliver the food to the market.

We ate lunch at the Poets Café, before going up the hill to try and sort out tomorrow.

The view of the Valparaiso sprawl was amazing.

Poet's Cafe

Funiculars, streets and dogs

Kevin

Monday 7th January

It was quite overcast initially, so we decided not to go to Vina, but to have a ride on some of the ascensors.

On the way down to the sea front, we went through some very narrow streets and had to negotiate the famous Chilean sleeping dogs.

The streets were a lot busier than yesterday (Sunday), and many more of the shops were open.

When we arrived in Santiago, we were sorry to see that there was not the mad rush of buses on the street. However here there are still loads of old buses, that whizz down the narrow streets. There are trolley buses as well.

We caught the Ascensor Artilleria up to the naval museum. Here from a café overlooking the sea, we watched lorries and cranes moving about cargo containers. It was a bit like manipulating a Rubik cube. Also in the harbour was a big cruise liner.

Ascensor Artilleria

Another nameless lift

Back down again, we moved on to Ascensor El Paral, which you go through a building to reach. It took us up to Cerro Allegre and Cerro Concepcion, where you can do a walking tours to see the brightly painted houses. The Palacio Baburizza was the most elaborate, built in 1916 by a nitrate baron.

Ascensor El Paral

Palacio Baburizza

We had a drink at Café Turri, and watched the boats out in the bay.

As time was getting on er descended Ascensor La Concecion and headed to Bambu, the vegetarian restaurant. Unfortunately it was open. We should have known better when half the things we wanted were not available. We both received brown, cold, inedible masses, and Joan got warm water in a dirty glass. We didn’t stay!!

Instead we headed back up to Turri Café, where we ate a marvellous dinner on a balcony as the sun went down.

Valparaiso

Sunday 6th January

We rose early and dropped off the car at the airport.

We then had to wait for the check in desk to open. Unlike the UK, the desk only opens one hour before take-off for internal flights.

Once back in Santiago, we decided to blow the budget and catch a cab down to the coast and Valparaiso. We figured it would be easier than having to negotiate buses and collectivos with big cases.

The taxi driver was a bit stressed out about finding our hotel in Valparaiso. He spent most of the journey on his mobile phone (not hands free) asking for directions. (He didn’t seem interested in looking at our map.) He then decided to take a back route into the city, muttering “oh my God” and “crazy” as he drove around. He stopped every 100 metres or so to ask people for directions, but drove off before they had finished. We had to tell him the name of the hotel and the street every time he stopped. He certainly didn’t like the place.

Admittedly it is quite a labyrinth, spread over many steep hills or “cerros”. In the end we did make it, but we decided it would be best not to book this driver to take us back to the airport in four days time/

The hotel is a italianate building built in 1907 ( that is, the year after the great earthquake that flattened Valparais0.) Like lots of buildings in Chile, it has a plaster façade, with a rear constructed out of corrugated iron. Inside, the hotel has a distinctive style of décor, with lots of black and white tiles, and red walls. You have to pay extra for a view in this hotel, and we therefore got a rear room with a view of a corrugated iron shack.

We walked down (with the emphasis on down) to the front. We saw our first ascensor funicular, the Reino Victoria, one of 15 in Valparaiso.

We came across Plaza Sotomayor which is dominated by a monument to Chilean war heroes, and in particular Arturo Prat.. Like Simon Bolivar and Bernardo O’Higgins, every town and village has a street named after him. Prat is famoua as the Captain of the Esmeralda, a old wooden boat, that came under fire from Peruvian artillery and the iron clad Huascar war ship on 21 May 1879. Despite having considerably inferior fire power, (the Esmeralda had a 40lb cannon whilst the Huascar had a 300lb canon) when rammed by the Huascar, Prat leapt aboard the Peruvian vessel and was killed.

Artru Prat’s tomb, with other heroes of the Battle of Iquique are under the monument.

Behind the monument is the ex-Intendencia de Valparaiso, a grand, grey building that now houses the Chilean Navy.

We then headed to Muelle Prat, the only bit of the port that the public can visit. It was full of peddlers, souvenir shops and boats jostling in the harbour to take tourists for rides across the bay. In the distance a big cargo ship was being unloaded, and on the horizon were the grey ships of the rather fine looking Chilean Navy.

On the front were several fine façades, and the Turri Clock Tower.

Virtually all date from after the 1906 earthquake.



On the side of the Fire Station we saw a badge which confirms Chile’s close links with Britain.


We found the only vegetarian restaurant in town, but it shuts at 7pm, just in time for dinner!!

We ate savoury pancakes in a very nice café, which gave you bits of poems to read with the bill. (Very sad poems).

Climbing up Atahualpa Street back to our hotel, we were glad of our altitude training in the altiplano.

Joan's Birthday

Sunday 16th December

Caught a taxi to the airport. There was some problem with our booking and the check-in clerk wrote our tickets out manually. Security did not like this and would not let us through to the gate, so we had to go back to the Sky Airlines’ desk. They had a word with security and at last we were let through.

Short flight of just under two hours to Antofagasta. On board the plane, we read a local newspaper and it says there was an intensity V earthquake yesterday north of Santiago. The Metro had to shut down for seven minutes and a couple of houses collapsed in Valparaiso. We didn’t even feel it! When we arrived in Antofagasta, we were amazed. Just lots and lots of sand. An empty coast stretching for miles, and, of course, the Andes. No vegetation, no water, nothing. Almost lunar in quality. We picked up our 4WD, and drove down into town. Our hotel is right on the front and we have a lovely sea view with the waves crashing in.

Headed into the centre of town. The shops were so unusual and brightly coloured, a bit like you imagine in the Wild West.

One disturbing thing. We tried to get some money out of some ATMs and we keep being turned down. That means, we are running low on cash. We are going to head into town tomorrow to try and sort the problem out when the banks are open.

Then we drove south to the Ruinas de Huanchaca, an old Bolivian silver refinery which processed ore from the Potosi mine, one of the most important in South America.

Opposite was the old HQ of the Huanchaca Foundation, a military outpost dating from 1898.

We decided the culinary choice in Antofagasta was too overwhelming so we made a sandwich in our room. How exciting is that?

If we sort the money problem out, we are going to drive up the coast road to Tocopilla. Much of the town was damaged a few weeks ago by a big earthquake. We’re not to sure what to expect, but we have a tent at the ready, just in case!