Valparaiso

It takes only 1 hr drive to get to Valparaiso from Santiago.
This town is built on a series of hills which means quite often you find yourself driving on steep narrow roads.
Neruda compares this town to a woman that had no time to comb her hair nor had the time to get dressed. What a splendid image and how accurate.
Many houses are covered in rugged tin panel. The rust gives them a seriously run down appearance.

As you can see from the picture below all it takes to improve the appearance of these houses is to dress them up with a layer of blu, red or yellow paint. Color will make them if not beautiful at least pitoresque.

The whole town is covered in graffiti which once again does not help with the image of Valparaiso, while walking around what they call "the open air museum"we were able to spot a couple of good ones.

It is not easy to walk around Valparaiso as you constantly need to climb up or down the various "cerros" where the town has been built.

To help with that there is a network of lifts and funicolari and we made full use of them.

Inspite of all our efforts in visiting every corner of the town probably we had one of the best views of the gulf from the terrace of our B & B.

Right next to Valparaiso sits Vina Mar.

The 2 towns are glued together however you can easily spot where Valparaiso stops and the "rich neighbour" begins.

Vina Mar is showing off with its casinos, its large boulevard its modern condos and posh clubs and yet lacks the caracter that the poor cousin possess.

If somehow we could mix the tideness and money of Vina Mar with the caracter and color of Valparaiso probably you would get the perfect town.

70 kms south of Valparaiso sits Isla Negra, a place famous for being the holiday retreat of Neruda.

As part of our "Neruda marathon" (yes, we visited all his 3 houses) we went to visit this house too.

The setting is spectacular with the window of the bedroom facing the Pacific ocean.

I guess it is everyone's dream to wake up with the sound of the waves.

Or to sip a cocktail made in your own private bar while watching a storm.

The house is tastefully filled with the poet's private collections, from maps to shells, from bottles and glasses to butterflies.

Unfortunately pictures are not allowed inside the house therefore we cannot show any of the above.