Two Sides of a Coin
¨Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are just like two sides of a coin¨, Willie, our guide told us as we drove down the steep hills of Valparaiso to Vina del Mar, ¨one is old, the other one new and modern.¨
The tour started at 9 30. We were greeted by the jovian Peruvian, who lived in Korea forfour years since 19, married a Mexican, had two sons, and told us plenty tales about history, geography, and politics. Valparaiso is about 135 kms west from Santiago. On the way, Willie told us that two things came free with Santiago, wander dogs (homeless dogs) and lady drivers (apparently he was afraid of them). He claimed that the street was five lanes all in one way during rush hour because they had to reserve three lanes just for the lady drivers!
We stopped by Curacavi where we took photos of a llama who happily ate the grass Willie collected. Curacavi is an Indian word meaning the meeting of the stones. A lot of Indian chiefs had stone in the name, when the chiefs met in the valley, the place adopted the name of ´meeting of the stones´. Then we passed Casablanca where the vineyards were. The scenary is gorgeous with the mountains as a backdrop, vineyards and villas in the front. Locals come from Santiago to the vineyards for weekend day trips especially in summer season.
Valparaiso used to be the biggest port in the country. It was first discovered by the Spanish in 1541. The city was built on hills. All the houses are colorful and the hills remind me of San Francisco. There are 15 funiculars in the city, mostly built in the 1880s, with a few still in working condition. We took one up the hill. The wood interior is smooth. As the cable car moved up slowly, it made cracking noises. It´s surprising that after 100 years, this antique still works. At the top of the hill, we got a bird´s eye view of the hillside, the sea and the port of ferries, private boats and larger cruises. Valparaiso is a World Heritage place because of its unique colorful hillside houses and colonial architecture. The center of the town has two squares, one is the Plaza de Armas, the other is the Plaza de Sotomayor.
Lunch was at a castle named Castle de Mar. Out of the window, pelicans sat on the rocks or hovered over the seashore. I tried a Chardonay from Casablanca. It was very good. Seafood was superb. We tried Chilean king crab, parmesan scallops, salmon (which was a big export item in Chile) and conger with mixed seafood.
Vina del Mar has a history since 1900. It´s an area built up just for the rich from the old Valparaiso, which the working class live. We went to the piers and the beach. The water has the cold current from the antactic hence it´s always cold. Even in summer when outside temperature is over 90 degrees, the water is still too cold for swimmers. Willie said it had been called the ¨True Love Test¨. To demonstrate their love, men either plunge into the cold water, or go into the castle store to buy their lady some diamonds. Well, my man did neither.
As soon as Mike learned that there was a casino in town, he wanted to gamble. We have gambled all over the world, now we are going to donate some money to Chile. We went to the casino and played half an hour of Blackjack. I doubled up since I hit three blackjacks and had a few more good hands. He made out 15% higher too. So Chile ended up paying some of our day trip!
The last stop was the Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) musem where one of the two original statues from Easter Island could be found in Chile. This stone statue is from Rapa Nui and it was about 4 meters tall. The height of the statue symbolized the social status of the person. For example, the tallest would be 22 meters hence the Chilean president would have had such a statue.
The bad part of the day was my camera lense jammed up. The zoom no longer worked. For the rest of the trip, I will not be able to zoom any more. Too bad...
The tour started at 9 30. We were greeted by the jovian Peruvian, who lived in Korea forfour years since 19, married a Mexican, had two sons, and told us plenty tales about history, geography, and politics. Valparaiso is about 135 kms west from Santiago. On the way, Willie told us that two things came free with Santiago, wander dogs (homeless dogs) and lady drivers (apparently he was afraid of them). He claimed that the street was five lanes all in one way during rush hour because they had to reserve three lanes just for the lady drivers!
We stopped by Curacavi where we took photos of a llama who happily ate the grass Willie collected. Curacavi is an Indian word meaning the meeting of the stones. A lot of Indian chiefs had stone in the name, when the chiefs met in the valley, the place adopted the name of ´meeting of the stones´. Then we passed Casablanca where the vineyards were. The scenary is gorgeous with the mountains as a backdrop, vineyards and villas in the front. Locals come from Santiago to the vineyards for weekend day trips especially in summer season.
Valparaiso used to be the biggest port in the country. It was first discovered by the Spanish in 1541. The city was built on hills. All the houses are colorful and the hills remind me of San Francisco. There are 15 funiculars in the city, mostly built in the 1880s, with a few still in working condition. We took one up the hill. The wood interior is smooth. As the cable car moved up slowly, it made cracking noises. It´s surprising that after 100 years, this antique still works. At the top of the hill, we got a bird´s eye view of the hillside, the sea and the port of ferries, private boats and larger cruises. Valparaiso is a World Heritage place because of its unique colorful hillside houses and colonial architecture. The center of the town has two squares, one is the Plaza de Armas, the other is the Plaza de Sotomayor.
Lunch was at a castle named Castle de Mar. Out of the window, pelicans sat on the rocks or hovered over the seashore. I tried a Chardonay from Casablanca. It was very good. Seafood was superb. We tried Chilean king crab, parmesan scallops, salmon (which was a big export item in Chile) and conger with mixed seafood.
Vina del Mar has a history since 1900. It´s an area built up just for the rich from the old Valparaiso, which the working class live. We went to the piers and the beach. The water has the cold current from the antactic hence it´s always cold. Even in summer when outside temperature is over 90 degrees, the water is still too cold for swimmers. Willie said it had been called the ¨True Love Test¨. To demonstrate their love, men either plunge into the cold water, or go into the castle store to buy their lady some diamonds. Well, my man did neither.
As soon as Mike learned that there was a casino in town, he wanted to gamble. We have gambled all over the world, now we are going to donate some money to Chile. We went to the casino and played half an hour of Blackjack. I doubled up since I hit three blackjacks and had a few more good hands. He made out 15% higher too. So Chile ended up paying some of our day trip!
The last stop was the Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) musem where one of the two original statues from Easter Island could be found in Chile. This stone statue is from Rapa Nui and it was about 4 meters tall. The height of the statue symbolized the social status of the person. For example, the tallest would be 22 meters hence the Chilean president would have had such a statue.
The bad part of the day was my camera lense jammed up. The zoom no longer worked. For the rest of the trip, I will not be able to zoom any more. Too bad...
posted by Koshka at 10/14/2009
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