Bike About South America with Stuart and Anita

Vina del Mar / Valparaiso are something quite different.  Valparaiso boomed in the early 1800's as demand for Chilean wheat grew and its port became Chile's financial powerhouse. Geographically the city is interesting as whilst the roads on the flat terrain there is a regular gird system, up on the hills they are a maze of cobblestone and random intersections carved by terrace houses and high barb wired fences.

The lonely planet describes 'Valpo' as having two style of charm: 'the macho rough-and-tumble port that has turned grey and dirty; and its more feminine rolling hills, grand mansions and poetic cobblestone alleys.'  We saw the extremes of them both.  Probably one of the most memorable is the mish-mash of boldly coloured houses and shanty towns covering the hills.  Everything is chaotically placed, with no sense of order.  Each place has its own individual character.

On the first day in Vina del Mar (literally Vineyards by the Sea......we didn't see any though), we caught the bus to the south end of Valparaiso port and took one of the ascensores up the hill. The views were great however the hills were hidden by the city fog that seemed to never lift before late afternoon.  Curious we were, so we wandered the streets looking across the hills and down the valleys into the back gardens and homes of hundreds of thousands of homes.  Curious eyes peered from beyond the curtains and I grew ever so much more concerned as Stuart flashed away with the new camera. The area did not feel right.  As Stuart and I continued to roam the streets looking for a way out, a car pulled up beside us with an old man with a sort of hare lip indicating to us to watch out.  He was pointing to his eyes and then pointing behind.  We soon came across him again and warned us the same.  I was glancing with eyes out of the back of my head and I could see all these people watching us from their homes.   It was like walking into the wrong LA 'hood!  The old man led us down to his general store and his family hid us in his shop. We exchanged some Spanish and all we could make out was that this place 'malo, muy malo'....hand actions indicating the beating action of 5/6 men to a gang. The old man called the police and told us to stay put until they came.  Another local came by and watched the streets for us.  Eventually we called a taxi and got a 2 minute ride to safe ground. Phew!  What an intense moment!  It was quite clear that the old man and his family who owned the local general store had seen a thing or two in his life.  Part of us were wondering if it was a lot of hype over nothing another part of us was telling us to listen to his advice, it was not really a place to challenge it.  My instincts were telling me so this time. 

So we escaped unharmed and lived to tell an uneventful-could-of-been-eventful tale. 

Stuart and I then took some advice on some safer neighbourhoods to visit and again headed up the hills to the famous Chilean Nobel Prize winning poet, Pablo Neruda's, house & museum.  Now this was interesting architecture. Sadly we were a little rushed as we got there on closing but if you are ever in Valpo, I'd recommend a visit to La Sebastiana, named after the builder. The house was full of nooks and cranny's, quite fitting for a house in the middle of Valpraiso.  The house was full of interesting collections from all over the world and many of the fittings/windows came from houses that were being demolished – this seemed to be important to Pablo – not sure if it related to his being a strong communist/socialist or not....

I have noticed that a lot of owners give tribute to the designer of buildings by placing a plaque with either the builder or architects name on it. They aren't necessary significant places, often just the common home, however it is nice to see the credit given there.....perhaps something Australia could adopt.... ;^)

The following day, after I recovered from an acute but swift case of Giardia we headed back to Valpo to see some of the more charming areas of the city.  At times I left the city was delightful and at other times it was charmless, cold and foggy.  

Stuart and I left Vina on our bikes and heading 50km north to a place call Quintero. For the first 15 km the road followed the ocean and we saw the resemblance to Australia's 'Great Ocean Road.' The headlands were interesting, we saw seals playing the water and there was an excellent bicycle path for 'ciclistas'. The following 25km of ride turned into the same repetitive landscape we become familiar with – dry, dusty and noisy.

We did finish at a rather lovely motel overlooking the sea in Quintero.  Maybe Chile's answer to Bannisters in Mollymook but maybe not quite even 3 stars.... the sunset was glorious with an amazing set of waves (lefthander) being surfed by about 5 surfers.  It was a very nice finish to our last night on the pacific for many months to come.

Anita (and Stuart)