Valparaíso

We're all here for ten weeks total. Peter and I used our first two weeks settling in, meaning we only have eight weekends left to explore the entire country. Therefore it's imperative that we pack as many things into every weekend as possible. We had our fill of action-packed action last Thursday, so decided to take it slow this weekend. Instead of hiking across the desert or running up a volcano, we went to Valparaíso. For those of you who want a sixty-second summary, Valparaíso used to be a major shipping port. Then the Panama Canal opened and ruined the city. Now it's awesome again. We could get some amazing views and history, but more importantly could get there and back for about 10 bucks. We could also tour it and its sister city Viña del Mar in about nine hours. These proved to be the deciding factors.

Chile has a rather excellent country transportation system called Tur Bus. If you're willing to pay the nominal fee and spent several hours sitting still then it can get you to pretty much all of the tourism spots. Our trip took two hours, most of which I spent fiddling with my camera. I took a couple of countryside shots, but they didn't turn out that great.

One of the few good ones.

At Valparaíso we were given a map of the city by a pushy tour guide. Being a stingy crowd, we opted out in favor of walking everywhere. This made the first leg of our trip slightly tricky.

Valparaíso is a city built from hills. Everything from the houses and trees to fruit markets on the sidewalks tilts on the edge of collapse. Walking one way feels like climbing a million sets of stairs and walking the other way feels like running down a slide. We started up the first hill and half an hour later were still walking. We go up, and go up, and go up. Along the way we see houses balanced on pins and walls giving way to rock faces. The sidewalk thins out and eventually disappears altogether, and we are left walking on a single car road. When one comes by we balance ourselves on the low cliff guards. We will not reach the very top until afternoon. Even so, we still reach a point where the houses aren't blocking the steep fall and trees aren't concealing our view. There is still miles of hills ahead of us. But there is also miles of city below us.

Pictures of the city take up a quarter of my memory card. I spent a long time and dozens of shots experimenting with settings, angles, locations. Never thought I'd become a photography buff. Everybody else shoots scores of pictures too, and the ones who didn't bring their cameras are cursing their mistake. The city is staggering, and we still aren't in the best places to capture it.

Valparaiso is also an artist's city. Even the graffiti is beautiful.

Eventually we reach Pablo Neruda's house. One of them, anyway. If we managed to walk to any of the Nobel Laureate's other two places we'd have broken several marathon records. I'd love to talk enthusiastically about all of the things we saw and revelations we had, but that's not not happened. We saw the price of touring and left. Tito managed to change my position on being photographed while we were there, though. Guy's that good.

Alex, Arthur, and Tito.

On the way down we stop for pastries. Tito and Alex are kind of obsessed with them. They're becoming the focal point of their stay. In their defense, they are good pastries. The path provides us with some more great landscaping chances, chances we gleeful take.

I wasn't kidding about the graffiti.

Headquarters of the Chilean Navy

Statue to Aturo Prat, navy war hero and face on the 10k bill

There's an everburning flame and inscription at the base of the statue. It translates roughly as "this symbolizes the spirit of Prat and of the heroes who offered their lives for the glory of Chile."

We ate lunch, probably one of the more frustrating lunches I've had here. People in Santiago are pretty welcoming of foreigners. If you have say a word wrong, they'll correct your pronunciation. If you have trouble understanding them, they'll try slow down or try different synonyms or whatever. One restaurant owner even found an English speaker to translate some slang and explain restaurant etiquette. The waitress here, on the other hand, found my incompetence almost enraging. It generally made the overall eating experience very unpleasant. At the same time, it emphasized how friendly I've found Santiago.

After lunch we take a bus to Viña del Mar. Why we do care about Viña del Mar? This is why:

Yes, that is a working clock.

Oh, and we would get to see a Moai. The only other way would be to spend one grand on a boat to Easter Island, so... In order to get there, we pick a path that takes us past the beach. I think people wanted to go swimming. Unfortunately none of us packed swimsuits or towels... in any case, I've started looking for a more proper beach. Even so, the view is incredible.

I feel like this is almost a crossroads moment. A little bit of threshold, a bit of triumph, and most of all a realization just how far I've gone. This is the first time I've ever stood on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Twenty years of East Coast and Midwest and finally, finally, I'm in a new place. A place on the other side of the world. I'm not free, because being free implies that in Chicago I was trapped. But in this moment I feel I'm on the verge of another phase of my life. Not now, not soon, but it's in sight. And just as quickly the feeling passes, and I'm staring at a vast and empty ocean.

Half an hour of walking and we finally reach the Maoi!

Huh. Smaller than I expected. We look at it for all of ten seconds then get bored and find gelato. It's way more popular here than ice cream. On the way we pass a massive three story McDonalds. It was pretty upscale.

With that, we head home. Get back by 11:30, after the Metra had shut down. We end up taking a bus back. I'd love to end this with a pithy saying or deep reflection, but I blew that on the "seeing the Pacific" thing. So day over day up and all that jazz.