Day 82 January 30th 2007, City Lights - Puerto Montt to Santiago, 1016km

Its hard to believe that mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and lakes can loose their appeal but after almost 2 months in Patagonia the bright lights of the city were calling us. So much in fact that after the 1 1/2 hour flight from Puerto Monttt we jumped straight on a bus from Santiago to Valparaiso on the coast, only stopping for about 20 mins in Santiago.

Pretty much everyone we spoke to who had visited Santiago described it as a concrete jungle so we decided to spend some time at the coast instead. Valparaiso is a port town to the West (obviously) of Santiago, about 1 1/2 hours by bus.

I wasn't quite prepared for the size of this place expecting a small little port town, a beach and a some pretty cafes. Instead we were greeted by a bustling port town and Naval base with buildings covering the hills above the town as far as the eye could see, home to over 250,000 of the city's inhabitants.

The attraction of this place is immediately obvious, the building's on the surrounding mountains, mainly houses and restaurant's are all painted in a vast array of different colors, with their streets resembling more of a maze of ally ways and steep roads. Some of which have their own lifts called funiculars.

A view from the bottom of one of the funiculars

The city lends itself to some easy exploring, whilst walking through the streets in the hills there is something interesting on every corner. The more we walked it soon became apparent that the city could be described as one huge open air art gallery with hidden treasures everywhere you look. For example I was surprised to find that one of the many foliage covered fountains had tropical fish swimming in its basin.

Shelley by some of the citys fountains

We also spent some time exploring the port area of the city with its Admiral house, a large memorial to a Naval War hero called Prat, many of the streets in Chile are named after him. Prats first name is Arturo and as a result there are plenty of signs pointing to A Pratt.

I think the best way I can think to describe Valparaiso is a cross between San Francisco, Venice and Seville. During our wandering we came across a great little cafe overlooking the city where we we served with the most ridiculous G&T, there was hardly any room in the glass for the tonic. I heard a story from a fellow traveller that upon ordering a G&T in Chile he was given one full glass of Gin and a separate glass of Tonic, whats shocking is that there was no sign of ice or a lime.

Some of the city's transport was a little outdated

Highlights: Wandering through a city sized art gallery