June's Journeys

Yesterday was a travel day. I've been amazed at how well the connections have worked. Mauricio took us to the airport in Punta Arenas after breakfast. We flew the 3.5 hours to Santiago. At the airport we figured out how to get a bus into the city to get a different bus to Valpo, our colorful city by the sea. We paid our fare and, with 5 minutes to spare, boarded the fancy bus to Valpo. Two hours later we were here and by 6:30 pm we were ringing the door bell of our B&B, Casa California, in the Cerro Alegre area of the city. We met Jonny, our host who is from California, and his wife Cata (Chilean)  and sweet baby Max. We were very hungry by then. Jonny recommended a place with a view up the hill. The city is built on very steep hills. Everywhere we walk uphill or put on the brakes going downhill. Houses and restaurants appear to built on top of each other with every inch occupied. There are hidden little patios and gardens beh...

This was our last day of exploring Chile,  so we decided to visit Viña del Mar, a town just up the coast from Valpo. We walked down the hill to figure out which bus to get. There was a middle-aged couple waiting too, so we started talking and asked them which bus to get on. Turned out, their son married a girl from Iowa and lives in Ames! They knew Iowa City, Davenport and Chicago. They ended up walking us to a better bus stop a few blocks away and waited until we got on the right bus. Such sweet kindness! They, like everyone else, warned us to watch our things in Valpo, especially our phones, which thieves like to snatch. Viña is a beach town.  It has a much more modern feel, with lots of high rises and wide boulevards.  We walked the beach and just kept walking. It was 12 kms back to Valpo and the sidewalk never ended so three hours later we arrived back home! We saw people biking, families playing in the sand, kids jumping on trampolines and on ...

A beautiful painting on the streets of Valpo of a dog, representing the many many dogs we've encountered in this country. There are dogs everywhere in Chile.  They belong to everyone and to no one. The community seems to care for them by setting out food and water. One place on Chiloe Island even had a row of dog houses lined up at the end of the street. The dogs seem friendly enough and never bothered us. They are just there, on the streets and on the sidewalks among the pedestrians. I did see several kids on bikes in Puerto Natales being chased by dogs. They seemed to know how to manage the situation. Most look well fed. Some are mangy and some look freshly bathed. Of course, there is dog poo everywhere which grossed me out. This dog belonged to one of our hosts. So it's a combination of dogs with collars and owners, and stray community dogs. I read that Chile has no effective animal control laws so the d...

Valparaiso was an important seaport in the late 19th century when Europeans were rushing to San Francisco for gold. Ships sailed around the Straight  of Magellan and restocked in Valpo. Everything changed with the construction of the Panama Canal. But the city is still an important port. We saw lots of shipping containers on our boat ride this afternoon. Valpo is home base for the Chilean Navy. It was fun to see the city from the sea on our short ride. We did a three- hour walking tour today. The city was a magnet for immigrants in the late 1800s and you can see the European influence in architecture,  food, customs, and neighborhoods.  Valparaiso boasts 4 universities, the oldest Spanish newspaper (El Mercurio) and Chile's first public library. Our tour included riding several funiculars (asensor in Spanish). We also walked a lot of stairs. At the top, the views are always amazing. Everywhere there is art. Some is "teen-age graffiti " Sebatian said. But a lot of it is cr...