Chile

Rise & shine. Nice and early. The world was dark & quiet when we left at 7:30 to head to the bus station. 

I consider the mountains an unexpected gift. I didn't know we'd be seeing them on this trip and everytime I see them I am surprised by their majesty. I think of the Bible verse where even the rocks will praise God. These rocks are glorifying Him. No doubt. We passed through 3 different types of mountains. 

The green

The red:

And the snowy:

The road through the mountains was windy. Probably the worst motion sickness I've experienced and the best balancing act while in the bathroom. I'm thankful the heat had been turned on in the bus. 

This was our most extensive border crossing. Even the bus was searched & all of our luggage was taken off & scanned. Even our hand luggage was scanned to make sure we were not bringing illegal items (fruit, veg, meat, honey) into Chile. There also were families sledding just pass the border. And the steepest (and longest) chairlift I've ever seen. A ski resort just past the border. Who knew? This chairlift was steeper than 70 degrees as it climbed over the road. 

Our bus had quite the characters. My first thought: please don't let us be trapped with this group of people. Please not this group. I slept the rest of the ride and woke up in beautiful Viña del Mar. I thought I was back in Orange County with the well maintained streets. But we were bound for Valparaiso. We passed the Pacific Ocean (twice in one year). We arrived an hour later than anticipated (another time change). A taxi took us to the Brighton B&B-a splurge of the trip. 

Valpo is an eclectic city. It's the first city since Cuzco that has charm & personality. The streets are lined with colorful houses made from recycled shipping containers but the houses have Victorian style/charm. Our B&B is next to a look out point. Since we arrived just before sunset, we managed to snap a pic. 

Since we hadn't had a true meal all day, we headed out to eat. The streets are windy and hard to decipher. The street we needed to take was a two story staircase up a hill. It was easy to hike without packs on. Tomorrow I'm sure we'll snap many more photos of this charming town. 

Already we've decided to spend more time in this city. It has character which we like. We sat done for dinner at Fauna at 6:15...but they were not serving dinner until 7 pm. Longest 45 minutes. We watched the sun set over the city. Looked at maps. And I had a Chilean pisco sour. 

 

We ordered dinner. Our placemats were placed "upside down" but with the topographical markings (or jet streams) we realized it was placed correctly. Maybe they look at the world differently down here. 

I had the catch if the day-fresh salmon with risotto. Chris had a filet with potatoes. Our tummies are happy. 

I sat through most of dinner with my hat on and a blanket on my lap. Our B&B does not have heat. Why the lower hemisphere doesn't require heat I'll never understand. I'm on the count-down for the 5 star in BA. It would be a bit much to backpack with a space heater. I think I'll restrict our travel to warm months. Chris would like to note the large number of smokers.

And I found a giant slide on the way home from dinner. Just had to try it out. 

Our B&B also has a restaurant which hosts live music starting at 11:00. I forgot to mention our room at the  B&B is underneath the restaurant. Should be interesting. 

 We are very thankful to have made it to Valpo and are looking forward to roaming the streets tomorrow.