5-2
Panchi had just come into some money, bc, sadly, her father had recently passed away. With the money, she bought a huge mansion type house overlooking the ocean in Valparaiso. It´s giant and really cool. Throughout the day, we were making plans of how to make it into the coolest hostel around.
Panchi, who is going back to school for another undergraduate degree (in mathematics) went to school, so Carola and I roamed and toured the hilly streets of the port town of Valparaiso. Valparaiso is composed of the port, the flat area off the port, and the 43 cerros (hills) that rise up steeply behind it. Multicolored buildings and mansions are all built densely up on the hills and are connected by steep roads, winding staircases and ascensors (funiculars aka cable cars) that lift people up the heights to the houses and buildings. From Panchi´s mansion, you get a sweet view of the port and the city and its hills wrapped around it. You can see all the brightly colored houses clinging to the hills and the churches speckled around each Cerro. It´s fun to try and explore the city bc you have to navigate through the maze of streets and stairways connecting the cerros as well as find the correct funiculars to ride. Carola said that it´s a famous expression in Chile to say that "the girls in the port have the best asses" because of all the steep hill and stair walking they have to do each day between the markets and the houses. Down below on the flat area are street markets filled with super cheap fruits, vegetables, and of course fish. Valpo is famous for its art, music, and philosophy...a very bohemian place. There are loads of wall paintings all throughout the city, most of them quite amazing. The entire city is actually a UNESCO world heritage site. It's had quite a crazy history as it's been built up and destroyed several times (by pirates, by the spanish, by earthquakes, and economically by the building of the Panama canal which made its importannce as a port city for the USA less important as the ships no longer had to pass through). It has all the traditional things associated with port cities from rough sailors to prostitutes to gypsies.
We also walked through el Museo de Abierto Cielo, the open air museum, an area with especially good wall paintings. Walking around the city is truly spectacular bc you get great views down to the port and then just a different cool and unique brightly colored street of houses around every corner. Some of the coolest houses are the really narrow ones with streest going around each side.
For lunch, we met back up with Panchi and had fresh fish empanadas, mussel soup, and fresh grilled fish at the market. After that we went back to her place and went to the very top of her mansion where she has a little room on her roof completely surrounded by glass which has great views of the city. From there we drank some cream pisco and talked more about making the hostel. Carola is very serious about it and wants to do it.
After that we drove back to Santiago (Panchi lives with her boyfriend most of the time in a flat in Santiago). Carola had yoga class, so I spent some time catching up on internet stuff and then we had a tasty salad from her sister´s garden and some steak.
Panchi had just come into some money, bc, sadly, her father had recently passed away. With the money, she bought a huge mansion type house overlooking the ocean in Valparaiso. It´s giant and really cool. Throughout the day, we were making plans of how to make it into the coolest hostel around.
Panchi, who is going back to school for another undergraduate degree (in mathematics) went to school, so Carola and I roamed and toured the hilly streets of the port town of Valparaiso. Valparaiso is composed of the port, the flat area off the port, and the 43 cerros (hills) that rise up steeply behind it. Multicolored buildings and mansions are all built densely up on the hills and are connected by steep roads, winding staircases and ascensors (funiculars aka cable cars) that lift people up the heights to the houses and buildings. From Panchi´s mansion, you get a sweet view of the port and the city and its hills wrapped around it. You can see all the brightly colored houses clinging to the hills and the churches speckled around each Cerro. It´s fun to try and explore the city bc you have to navigate through the maze of streets and stairways connecting the cerros as well as find the correct funiculars to ride. Carola said that it´s a famous expression in Chile to say that "the girls in the port have the best asses" because of all the steep hill and stair walking they have to do each day between the markets and the houses. Down below on the flat area are street markets filled with super cheap fruits, vegetables, and of course fish. Valpo is famous for its art, music, and philosophy...a very bohemian place. There are loads of wall paintings all throughout the city, most of them quite amazing. The entire city is actually a UNESCO world heritage site. It's had quite a crazy history as it's been built up and destroyed several times (by pirates, by the spanish, by earthquakes, and economically by the building of the Panama canal which made its importannce as a port city for the USA less important as the ships no longer had to pass through). It has all the traditional things associated with port cities from rough sailors to prostitutes to gypsies.
We also walked through el Museo de Abierto Cielo, the open air museum, an area with especially good wall paintings. Walking around the city is truly spectacular bc you get great views down to the port and then just a different cool and unique brightly colored street of houses around every corner. Some of the coolest houses are the really narrow ones with streest going around each side.
For lunch, we met back up with Panchi and had fresh fish empanadas, mussel soup, and fresh grilled fish at the market. After that we went back to her place and went to the very top of her mansion where she has a little room on her roof completely surrounded by glass which has great views of the city. From there we drank some cream pisco and talked more about making the hostel. Carola is very serious about it and wants to do it.
After that we drove back to Santiago (Panchi lives with her boyfriend most of the time in a flat in Santiago). Carola had yoga class, so I spent some time catching up on internet stuff and then we had a tasty salad from her sister´s garden and some steak.
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