Valparaiso - getting lost and practising spanish

  Valparaiso, Chile
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Night view of the harbour, on the way to dinner

 

Dinner with my new Aussie friends

I met up with a few Aussies at the hostel last night and after sampling some Chilean beer we wandered down the cobblestone streets to find dinner. We settled for a place with pizza called 'Ritual'. None of us knew much spanish and the restaurant owner didn't speak much english. We tried to order one of the things on the menu that we didn't know what it was, so we could find out, but they'd run out of whatever that was. Instead my new friend Yoko and I got a Tropical Pizza (hawiian). The restaurant was jammed pack, which was surprising because the pizzas were not good. They were barely warm when they arrived at the table. After dinner we popped across the road to a bar that had 'fiesta hora' (happy hour) which was from 8pm-11pm. My Pisco sour was incredibly strong, almost as strong as Yoko's vodka orange which was over 50% vodka!


Today I woke up in time for a massive free breakfast at the hostel - bun with cheese, bun with egg, bun with jam and orange juice. Unfortunately after eating all the breakfast I started feeling really sick. Instead of heading out to look around the city I crashed back in bed for another few hours.

Once I managed to get out of the hostel I walked to the bus station to sort out my seat for the trip to Santiago tomorrow. I managed to explain in spanish that  had a ticket and needed to book a seat. I wandered back towards my hostel. There were street vendors everywhere selling yellow underwear (apparently good luck?), jewellery, masks, fireworks...

Valparaiso's neighbourhoods

A vieww while wandering around Valparaiso

View over Valparaiso, near the hostel

I took the wrong turn-off trying to get back to the hostel and got to see a whole new part of Valparaiso. There were dogs everywhere (a lot better looked after than in Vanuatu) and many different coloured houses.    Eventually I got back to the flat part of the city and found a part I recognised.

Cherries for only 500 pesos

The walk back to Patiperro hostel

I found some stored selling cherries for less then NZD$2 a kilo and couldn't resist. 

Back at the hostel its almost time to get ready for a big New Year's night.