That Far Southern Shore

Take one look at Chile and it's no surprise to say that almost the entire country is coastland. Growing up in a coastal town, this is part of what made the country so appealing to me. Yet, I get sent to teach one of the only major inland cities. Go figure.

That in mind, I quickly jumped at the opportunity to join a group of folks sallying forth from Santiago on Saturday to the major port town of Valparaiso and her sister city Vina del Mar. They are more like one sprawling coastal metropolitan region, but the difference in each area is stark. Valparaiso is in decline, as it's port no longer holds the importance it once did. It is built on a series of hills, with houses packed in at all levels, the tops of many being reachable by funiculars built by the French long ago. Vina, on the other-hand, is a rich city full of resorts and tourism money. Both, though, are filled with fishermen and an abundance of delicious, varied, and fresh seafood.

To get there, we simply road the metro and boarded a bus heading west. A round trip ticket cost us what amounts to 7 USD for the two hour trip; and these buses are nice tour buses. It's strange the cost disparity in Chile. Anyway, the first sight we witness as we arrived in Valpo was a crowd of people in the median of one of the main streets selling used clothes.
After de-busing we were approached by a very friendly tour guide who convinced us to take a bus tour of Valpo and Vina for 10, 000 pesos (which is less then twenty USD). She also promised to take us to a good seafood restaurant, which, since none of us had eaten and it was already past 2 in the afternoon, sold us on the whole thing. It ended up being a great decision. Both cities are so large that had we attempted them on foot/metro, we would have never seen a fraction of what we got to see.
By the end of the tour, we had gone from the top of Vina all the way to the bottom of Valpo, hitting the highlights in between such as poet Pablo Neruda's home. The meal we ate was the best I've yet had in Chile and consisted of an amazing seafood soup chockablock with shrimp, mussels, calamari, and stuff I've never seen before. The main course was a grilled Chilean ocean fish called reineta, which I don't think has a name in English. During the day we went to the rich beaches of Vina and Renaca (which has great surf), and rode a funicular to the best view of the the whole Valpo/Vina coast where we arrived just as the sun was setting and the city was beginning to light up and twinkle.

We were there till late evening, and all told is was a wonderful trip. That next morning I had to be packed up and checked out of the hostel by 1130 in preparation for our departure North.

Next post: The long journey through the desert.