Valparaiso is the beginning of the third leg of our cruise. 570 passengers disembarked the ship and another new group of passengers boarded in Valparaiso(60 mi. from Santiago) to go to LA, California. From the beginning of the second part of the trip in Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, we traveled a total of 3,729 nautical miles.
After having breakfast in our room, Larry and I walked off the boat to catch a shuttle bus to the marine terminal....this commercial area was too busy with big container ships, 18 wheelers, and cranes moving containers for passengers to be walking around.
At the terminal, Larry exchanged US money to Chile pesos and we headed for the train station. Valparaiso was described to us as basically a poor working man's city. Vina del Mar was described as an internationally known resort with municipal casino, elegant hotels, restaurants, flower bedecked condos, homes and villas with wide beaches along a scenic rocky coastline. We decided to go to the resort town , Vina del Mar. Using our best Spanish we bought tickets from the attendant and boarded a train paying about $6 (3,200 pesos) for the round trip for both of us. We rode the train five stops and got off at Vina Station.
. Here we walked up a flight of stairs to a city of tall high rised buildings, a historical cathedral, and a busy highway. Taking the city map, we wandered away from the traffic to the nearest city park called Quinta Vergara where we spent the good part of an hour touring the grounds of the Vergara Palace (built in 1901). This romantic home with unforgetable botantical plants and trees was having a 1.5 million dollar facelift. The building showed the age of several earthquakes with cracks within its walls. Enormous trees surrounded the palace with many floral gardens. It was some joint in its day but was surely in need of some TLC.
The weather was in the 60's and cloudy...perfect temps for walking about town. Where was the sun? Both Valparaiso and Vina del Mar were covered with a dense fog most of the day. The sun finally came out about 4:30 when we discovered that much of the fog was smog....the hillsides remained covered with a thin smoggy layer while the sun was shining.
On we walked through a upscale neighborhood of fabulous homes that backed up to the palace to the Plaza Vergara and did some shopping. Larry enjoyed talking to some store owners about some electronic gadgets and also looked at a small travel style guitar. He loves to practice his Spanish skills with the area locals. We visited the local post office, a beautiful old hotel, and then walked across the Quinta Bridge. The streets were lined with colorful floral hanging pots.
Amazingly, we spotted a large number of big dogs roaming around everywhere...many were sleeping on the sidewalks...we actually had to walk around them...Apparently there is no leash law.
We moved away from the heavy traffic areas to a quiet side of the town walking toward the beach. Exclusive condos, villas, and gated homes lined the streets. Horses clip-clopped pulling carriaged riders from the ocean into this fashionable area.
We passed the Casino Vina Del Mar stopping to have lunch in a local park. After lunch we walked Marina Avenue along the waterfront taking in all the gorgeous views of the Presidential Palace, Brunet Castle, a wonderful ship-shaped condo/ restaurant,
an unusual castle built by a German immigrant built right on the sea,
and the Clock of Flowers (Reloj de Flores).
The scenery was magnificent with waves crashing against jagged rocks and two surfers trying to catch a great wave by running from the beach to meet it. They were fun to watch!
We caught the train back from Miramar Station and got off at our stop to head back to the ship just meeting our 5:30pm on board time.
We attended the mandatory fire drill before heading to the back deck to watch our ship leave the port. A heavy fog engulfed the city before we made it there making it hard to capture our sail away...with no possibility of a sunset picture that night.
During the evening we read and enjoyed getting ready for our final day of exploration in Chile in the town of Coquimbo.
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