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Day 1, Santiago
Chile
Got up very early on our second day as our tour
guide picked us up at the hotel lobby at 8:15 am. We went to Viña del
Mar and Valparaiso, Chile. I pre-booked the guided tour at
Turistik Chile site and pre-paid CLP 36,000/person (CD$62.00)
From the hotel, we were dropped off at a central
Turistik station where guests were divided between English or Spanish guided
tours. It was 1 1/2 hours bus ride from Santiago to
Valparaiso which was
declared in 2003 as a UNESCO World Heritage.
Valparaiso used to be a busy port when the
Panama Canal was not yet constructed. Ships had to go south and made
port at Valparaiso for supplies. Interestingly, colorful houses were built
on hills and there were no distinctions between houses of the rich and poor.
The flat area of Valparaiso was the business district and the hilly area was
residential.
With the guide, we walked around the hills of
Valparaiso for about 1 1/2 hours. After the walking tour, we got back
to the bus and about 30 mins from Valparaiso was Viña del Mar. A
contrast from the former city as the latter is the posh area by the beach.
It resembled the Malibu or Santa Monica beach areas at Los Angeles.
A famous landmark at Viña del Mar was the flower
clock and nearby was the recommended restaurant by the tour guide where we
had our lunch where both Errol and I had a cream seafood stew.
From both cities, we were dropped off at our
hotel at about 4:00pm and made our way to the airport for our evening flight
back to Toronto.
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