Valparaiso, Chile

It´s been an eventful few days here. Valparaiso is a very artsy, colorful seaside town on a hillside that´s full of cafes, murals and endless winding streets. It's famous for being home to the Nobel Prize winning poet, Pablo Neruda.










Cute old lady cutting her bushes with scissors..... Our hostel was at the end of this row:




Pascale and her fancy new tights:



We decided to walk up to Neruda's house our first day in town and happened on a quiet neighborhood. Pascale paused to take a picture of a pretty blue house so I waited up the block for her. As soon as I turned my back, a teenage boy came out of a side street and ran into her from behind. He snatched her camera right out of her hand as she was taking the picture and took off running up an alley of stairs a block high. Pascale chased after him yelling but when he got to the top, he disappeared down one of the winding streets. It's really easy to hide in these neighborhoods.

People came out to help, and one local woman, Nury, even took us to the police department. The police said someone had already called in a report, but they didn't find the little thief. (Apparently, this happens to toursits all the time here. Teenage boys don't get punished if they are under 16 yoa so they are very bold and prey on tourists.)

Outside the police station with Nury:


After all that was over, Pascale dusted herself off and went on like a champion. Nury came with us to tour Neruda's house and even talked them into discounting our admission because of how we had been treated in their city. She was actually really funny. She pretended to be our tour guide at the house, ¨And this is where Neruda came when he wanted to be inspired to write...¨so she could lead us to his garden to pick figs from his tree. They were delish! We ate them for lunch.






Here we are in Neruda's house. He had some amazing views of the city and the sea from his bedroom:









Nury told us about a farmers market in nearby Viña del Mar so we went the next day:


We even tried some cactus pears. Everyone stopped to warn us gringas about the thorns in the pear's skin, but we still ended up with a few splinters in our fingers. We learned to only eat the center--it tastes like a melon with seeds.


After eating all that fresh fruit, we stopped to buy some chicken for dinner. Unfortunately, we lost our appetites.... and reminisced about our days as vegetarians.






Sorry to be so graphic, but we want to be honest with you. It's not all glaciers and sunsets out here.





Since we're on the subject of telling you how it is, this is how we buy milk now.... in bags or boxes, warm on a shelf:



This is our dorm room that sleeps 10 and costs about $12 per night. (You can see Amy's bed on the right with the sleeping bag.) We shared a thin wall with the owner's bedroom so he lulled us to sleep every night, snoring like a grizzly bear ;)



Another funny thing is toilet paper. You´re lucky to get any in public bathrooms. This nice lady stands outside the bathroom in a major department store and rolls little bundles of toilet paper that you have to purchase for about 25 cents:



Today we went to Pablo Neruda's other house in Isla Negra, about 90 minutes outside Valparaiso by bus. This man was an artist and derived meaning from all his favorite things in life and displayed them in his house. He put seashells in the floors to massage his feet, and collected everything from colored glass to African tribal masks, butterflies and beetles. He wrote only in green ink because it he said it was the color of hope and life. It was fascinating and inspiring, a beautiful home.

He built this house to resemble a ship and even made a writing desk out of driftwood that turned out to be from the deck of a ship. He lived here with his third wife and died here in 1973 at the age of 69. It is said to be his favorite of his three homes.

The graves of Neruda and his wife, Matilde, are in the foreground with the house behind us:

His living room with his collection of ship figureheads from around the world:



Another bedroom with breathtaking views of the ocean:


The tuxedo he wore to accept his Nobel Prize:



He really liked mosaics and glass bottles:

More ocean views from the front of the house at sunset:


We were very excited to get some beach time in Valparaiso. We came prepared with spray tans, pedicures and sunscreen, but it didn't happen. It's winter here and though it was pretty sunny, it wasn't quite beach weather. However, we saw some gorgeous views of the coast and ate some great seafood, even a crab empanada.

More pics: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QcN2TFq0bM8A