So Far

So, internet connection has been spotty so far, but Mary Beth and I have been on the road from Santiago for four days now. Our first stop was Valparaiso, Chile, about an hour and a half bus ride from Santiago. We'd booked a place to stay on hostelbookers the night before leaving, and had decided economy over comfort - we went for the 4000chp a night place. Turns out we got what we paid for. Here is a list of my top five memories of Valpo (which, I might note, we ended up leaving a day earlier than planned... just sayin'):
 
5. Going to a local futbol game - Before leaving Santiago, I noticed on Facebook that a friend of ours from high school newspaper was studying abroad in Vina del Mar, which just so happens to be about 10 minutes from Valpo. So on our second day in Valparaiso, we met up with Taylor and went to a futbol game for the Valpariaiso club team, the Santiago Wanderers. They also happen to be the oldest club team in Chile (and maybe in South America?) and the game was fun, not just for the soccer, but also for catching up with Taylor and sitting in the constantly singing and cheering and flag-waving crowd. Getting there was also tricky, as MB and I knew we'd have to take a micro (small hop-on hop-off busses) but had no idea how the system worked and which to take. So we looked for groups of people wearing green Santiago Wanderers jerseys and followed them onto a bus, off the bus, and right up to the stadium.

4. Pasteleria Stefani - On our first day in Valpo, we arrived from the bus station hungry and a bit disillusioned with our hostel (more on that later) so followed the book ("the book," which I will refer to a lot, means my copy of Rough Guide: Chile) to a recommended pastry shop, Pasteleria Stefani. Not long later, we were sitting in the park with a mini raspberry tart, some sort of cake, a cream filled donut and a manjar filled donut. Good though they were, that much sugar was too hard to finish and we vowed no more sugar for a few days. Chy'a.

3. Graffiti - Besides typical (fairly) big city graffiti on doors and walls, Valpo was also full of really interesting street art and murals. We felt artsy and took "candid" photos next to many - me mostly next to ones that depicted cats. Typical.

2. Cafe Vinilo - Also recommended by the book, but we actually found it first without knowing this. An adorable cafe we walked into on Cerro Concepcion on our first day looking for wifi. It had an in-house beer (delicious) and we downed two bottles each to start a nice buzz for the evening. Also made friends with a guy who worked there - Ivan - who chatted with us for a while on where we were traveling, what we should see, and what countries in the world make the best lace. We ended up returning to Vinilo the following night as well for dinner and more chatting with Ivan.

1. Casa Evelyn - Before I describe our lovely hostel, I should clarify what I meant before by "top" memories - not all the "best" ones, just the one's I will remember most. And when I think Valpo, this will be my first thought. As I said before, we decided to go for economy, and at 4000 pesos a night (per person), Evelyn’s will probably be the cheapest place we find all trip. And as expected, we got what we paid for. Evelyn was friendly enough, and the place was really close to the bus station, unfortunately, that meant it was in one of the worst parts of town notoriously dangerous, especially at night. Our room was two beds and a table - no windows, and a door that we locked with a padlock (onto a hinge held on by one screw). None of the bathrooms had toilet paper, and the showers were made for midgets. Still, all bearable. Until that night, when we power-walked home from dinner so as not to be in the "dangerous" part for two long. We made it back to the casa ok, except as we were opening the street door a sketchy guy came up and rang the doorbell next to us and then walked away. Once up the stairs we felt a little unsure the hook-and-eye lock on the inside of the room would prevent anyone from entering. So I put my suitcase in front of the door, not because it would do anything helpful, but at least wake us up if anything happened... but in a room with no windows, nowhere to go I guess. From my sunken-in mattress I could hear every single person that came up the stairs to the casa and then shuffled around (loudly) outside our door down the hallway. That wasn't too bad, but the crying nino at 2am didn't help. He cried and whined and played a toy piano and blabbered loudly... all accompanied by the hushed voices of two women pleading with him to keep quiet. He lasted a few hours, during which time MB and I were both awake and quietly discussing ways we would like to break his toy piano. Or him. Mostly the same thing the second night, except we put MB's suitcase in front of the door instead of mine. We ended up deciding we'd seen enough of Valpo in two days and so got a refund for our third night we'd booked at Evelyn’s and hopped a morning bus to La Serena.