Most of the words in the title are not mine, but a paraphrased quote from Priscilla, my Tours4Tips guide in Valparaiso. This tour was one of the first things I did upon arrival, and it oriented me to the city as well as gave me lots of ideas of what to do with the rest of my time there. I highly recommend it!
I went to Valparaiso mostly because there was not a single person who heard I was going to Chile and failed to recommend this beach town. So with a laundry list of recommendations for food, hostels, and activities, I hopped on a bus in Santiago and took a trip to the coast. With help from some pre-Google mapping, I found my hostel (Hostel Casa Valparaiso - I also recommend this place!) and settled in.
Throughout my stay I sampled many Chilean and Porteño (meaning "from Valparaiso") specialities, including:
Chorrillana - a huge greasy plate of potatoes, meat, onions, and cheese made for 2-3 people; I ate it alone...
Un completo - a hot dog covered in cheese (I think), tomatoes, avocado spread, and mayonaise
Chichon - chicha, in Chile a drink make from stepping on grapes, + young white wine
Alfajores - a cookie sandwich with manjar (dulce de leche) in between, entirely covered in chocolate
Pisco - a very suave ("smooth") liquor that is often served as a "sour"; I had it with ginger ale
A very inexpensive Chilean beer that I cannot remember the name of
Wine - 6 different vintages from 2 different Casablanca Valley vineyards; these get their own blog post
Valparaiso is a really cool city because the isolating geography of the cerros (hills) makes each neighborhood very distinct and unique. Cerro Concepcion and Alegre are full of hostels and tourists and are considered to be pretty safe; Cerro Polanco houses the commissioned, legal graffiti from a festival a few years back; Cerro Bellavista is well know for el Museo a Cielo Abierto and one of Pablo Neruda's homes, La Sebastiana. And by the way, there are 44-45 cerros in Valparaiso...I only visited less than a half-dozen, and I was occupied for days. There is also the "plan", or flat region of the city along the coast and port, which is more of a comercial area than residential.
I also went to Valparaiso's clean, organized brother, Viña del Mar, for a day. In this beach vacation town, all the roads are at 90 degree angles and have creative names like "14 norte" and "1 este". The beaches are a great place to relax and read or nap, but otherwise the city doesn't have too much to offer for tourists like me. There are plenty of expensive hotels and restaurants, as well as malls and a casino, but most of these were not in the budget plan, so I just took pictures of them and wandered on. Definitely good for a beach day though.
My hostel was a great place to meet people, and the people of Valpo, as it's affectionately called, are the best characters. Due to a large fire about 1.5 months ago, my hostel was also home to some porteños working to get back on their feet. So not only did I meet colombianos, franceses, argentinos, brazileños and australians, I hung out with some locals and listened to their stories. There was a great family atmosphere, everyone hanging out together at the end of the day, talking about what they did and saw, and giving suggestions/making plans for the following day. Traveling alone, it was great to hang out with a bunch of other young travelers on a budget, and just experience the city together.
So, just like everyone who recommended it to me, I recommend Valpo to any travelers passing through Chile. It's definitely worth the stop!
Book finished in Valpo - Cien Años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in Spanish this time)
I went to Valparaiso mostly because there was not a single person who heard I was going to Chile and failed to recommend this beach town. So with a laundry list of recommendations for food, hostels, and activities, I hopped on a bus in Santiago and took a trip to the coast. With help from some pre-Google mapping, I found my hostel (Hostel Casa Valparaiso - I also recommend this place!) and settled in.
Throughout my stay I sampled many Chilean and Porteño (meaning "from Valparaiso") specialities, including:
Chorrillana - a huge greasy plate of potatoes, meat, onions, and cheese made for 2-3 people; I ate it alone...
Un completo - a hot dog covered in cheese (I think), tomatoes, avocado spread, and mayonaise
Chichon - chicha, in Chile a drink make from stepping on grapes, + young white wine
Alfajores - a cookie sandwich with manjar (dulce de leche) in between, entirely covered in chocolate
Pisco - a very suave ("smooth") liquor that is often served as a "sour"; I had it with ginger ale
A very inexpensive Chilean beer that I cannot remember the name of
Wine - 6 different vintages from 2 different Casablanca Valley vineyards; these get their own blog post
Valparaiso is a really cool city because the isolating geography of the cerros (hills) makes each neighborhood very distinct and unique. Cerro Concepcion and Alegre are full of hostels and tourists and are considered to be pretty safe; Cerro Polanco houses the commissioned, legal graffiti from a festival a few years back; Cerro Bellavista is well know for el Museo a Cielo Abierto and one of Pablo Neruda's homes, La Sebastiana. And by the way, there are 44-45 cerros in Valparaiso...I only visited less than a half-dozen, and I was occupied for days. There is also the "plan", or flat region of the city along the coast and port, which is more of a comercial area than residential.
I also went to Valparaiso's clean, organized brother, Viña del Mar, for a day. In this beach vacation town, all the roads are at 90 degree angles and have creative names like "14 norte" and "1 este". The beaches are a great place to relax and read or nap, but otherwise the city doesn't have too much to offer for tourists like me. There are plenty of expensive hotels and restaurants, as well as malls and a casino, but most of these were not in the budget plan, so I just took pictures of them and wandered on. Definitely good for a beach day though.
My hostel was a great place to meet people, and the people of Valpo, as it's affectionately called, are the best characters. Due to a large fire about 1.5 months ago, my hostel was also home to some porteños working to get back on their feet. So not only did I meet colombianos, franceses, argentinos, brazileños and australians, I hung out with some locals and listened to their stories. There was a great family atmosphere, everyone hanging out together at the end of the day, talking about what they did and saw, and giving suggestions/making plans for the following day. Traveling alone, it was great to hang out with a bunch of other young travelers on a budget, and just experience the city together.
So, just like everyone who recommended it to me, I recommend Valpo to any travelers passing through Chile. It's definitely worth the stop!
Book finished in Valpo - Cien Años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in Spanish this time)
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