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Valparaiso was my next destination. It is one of Chile´s main harbours and the place where the congress holds its official sessions. Pablo Neruda said once "Valparaíso, how absurd you are ... you havent't combed your hair, you've never had time to get dressed, life has always surprised you". I wanted to see it.
Going from Mendoza to Valparaiso also ment crossing the argentinean-chilean border for the secod time in this trip. The road climbs again high in the Andes reaching a maximum altitude of 3.200 meters above sea level. Leaving Argentina went quite fast, however entering Chile took again nearly 4 hours. This is the main boarder point between both countries and was full of argentineans going to Chile for the long weekend. In addition I heard the road was closed the day before "for safety reasons" as the heavy rain we had in Mendoza was falling here as snow (but I couldn´t see any). Anyway, we had to wait and the bus drivers from Andesmar were very helpful and calm helping everybody wanting to pass the control point.
From there the road goes downhill, loosing altitude very fast. There was also some maintenance work taking place and we had to stop a few more times.
We arrived to Valpo (Valparaisos´s nick name) around 7pm and had time to look around. I stayed at a german-chilean hostel called Casa Aventura and found it clean and well located.
Founded around 1526, Valparaiso stayed as small village until Chile´s independence from Spain in 1818. Years later it became Chile´s main harbour. Since then, Valpo has been a place for sailors, dockworkers and prostitutes, and at the same time home for poets, painters and philosophers or those who think they will become one. It has a clear harbour character but its steap hills, nice bay view, narrow and winding streets give it a character that is often compared with San Francisco.
One can see it's a city with a wider european influence, more than the traditional spanish one, "Münnich".
In the hostal I met a german group that was starting a 6 weeks motorcycle tour through Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Most of them were from Munich. We had some wine, exchanged information about places to visit and accomodation in the route.
Up in the city hills, towards the end of the Calle Alemania, there is a house called La Sebastiana, with an imponent bay view. This house belonged to Pablo Neruda and was remodeled and decorated by himself. It is now open as museum offering an incredible view over the see, reminding me about a little place I know in Spain near Barcelona.
Very close to Valparaíso is Viña del Mar, a place that cannot me in more contrast to Valpo and where the high society of Santiago likes to spend their summer days. Moving between the two neigbour cities is quite easy and can be done by minibus or with the metro.
In summary it was a relaxed stop with sunny weather, lots of seafood, a few minor earthquakes (I didn't feel any of them) and a failed shoe repair. I finally had to through the old shoes away and buy new ones.
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