Jim & Barbara Burton Travel: February 2014

Quintay, the Botanical Gardens and Vina del Mar

During our stay in Valparaiso we also went to Quintay (pronounced kintay), the Botanical Gardens located near Vina del Mar and Vina del Mar itself.

Quintay is a small fishing village which lies south and slightly west of Valparaiso. However, although on the same coastline there is no road to connect it along the coast as it is very rugged. It is necessary to first drive inland and then swing back to the coast. As we did not rent a vehicle in Valparaiso we elected to travel by collectivo. Collectivos in Valparaiso are not vans as we have encountered before in other countries but essentially a yellow taxi for four people which does not leave until the vehicle is full. This works well for keeping the cost at a minimum and they travel only between Valparaiso, Quintay and Casablanca. The collectivos leave from a point close to the main bus station along the street where the main market is held. As it was Wednesday we also saw the market in full swing. It is absolutely huge and you can buy anything there from clothes to household goods, fruit and vegetables, antiques etc.

We found our collectivo with one lady already waiting. We were joined shortly afterwards by a gentleman and we were on our way. The trip took around 45 minutes and was very inexpensive. Quintay was a former major Chilean whaling station and thriving community but fell into decline after Chile signed the world whaling agreement. It has since become a tourist spot and a place for wealthy Chileans to own second homes. It is a quaint place and while we were there they were reconstructing the sea wall, a major project. The economy now relies on fishing, tourism, diving and recreational water activities. It is now possible to see blue whales in the shallow waters, whose numbers counted 250,000 and declined to 400 before the whaling ceased. Thankfully they are now on the increase once again. While we were in Quintay and waiting in the main square for our collectivo to return to Valparaiso we watched a volunteer tending to the street dogs. See the one being groomed. Like Valparaiso they are all very good natured but their numbers were much fewer.

We travelled by the number 203 bus to the Botanical Gardens which was a very pleasant experience despite waiting at the main bus stop in Valparaiso, for half an hour only to discover that they had changed the location. Once we found the correct location, just three blocks away, luckily a bus was waiting. It was a pleasant ride and once alighted, it was a very short walk to the gardens. The gardens were the former home of Saltpetre magnate Pascual Babaruzzi and are quite beautiful with many indigenous species.

Vina del Mar is a very chic, bustling seaside town with modern hotels and apartment buildings, in stark contrast to the historical buildings in Valparaiso and accessed by a very efficient light rail transit system. The promenade stretches for many kilometres and a variety of sports are played on the beach including a free drop in Zumba. There are some spectacular sand sculptures and beautiful gardens. You can take a horse drawn carriage ride, with the most well fed horses you have ever seen. When they are not transporting people they are constantly eating from their nose bags.

See you in Santiago..................

Quintay

Pretty House in Quintay

Fisherman - Quintay

Quintay

Having a much needed haircut - Quintay

Botanical Garden near Vina del Mar

Botanical Garden

Barbara at the Botanical Garden

Flower Clock - Vina del Mar

Vina del Mar

Pelicans - Vina del Mar

Wulff Castle - Vina del Mar

Bridge over the river - Vina del Mar

Horses & Carriages - Vina del Mar

Del Mar Hotel

Sand Sculpture - Vina del Mar

Jim manning the Anti-aircraft Artillery

Free Zumba - Vina del Mar

The Rock at the end of the Promenade - Vina del Mar

Valparaiso, Chile

Valparaiso, Chile - Jan 19 - 24, 2014

We sailed into Valparaiso early in the morning of Sunday, January 19, 2014. It was an awesome sight for both its vibrant colour and steep hills.

Valparaiso is located almost 70 miles northwest of the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It is one of the most seismically active places in the world and a very important and vibrant port city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a city of hills, around 45 in all. We felt by the time we left that we had walked nearly all of them, some several times.

Our B&B The Hostal Morgan was at the top of one of these hills, elevation probably 1 in 2 and once you had walked down to the port in the morning you had to walk back up in the afternoon, after walking around all day. They say that the girls in Valparaiso have the best legs in the world and I would not contest that.

The Hostal Morgan was a wonderful place to stay. Maria, the best host ever, treated us like family and her home baked breakfasts were wonderful. In fact her two sisters and 90 year old mother arrived for a few days and they treated us like family too. They were all so nice and the mother was incredibly sharp, quick witted and fit and scaled the stairs in nothing flat. Maria speaks perfect English.

Valparaiso was a major stopover for ships circumnavigating Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan during the last half of the 19th century, until the opening of the Panama Canal, which enabled ships to pass more safely between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. However this was disastrous for Valparaiso. Although being superseded by the nearby port of San Antonio for commercial tonnage, Valparaiso is still a very important part of Chilean culture. Many cruise ships stop here and during its golden age sailors referred to it as Little San Francisco, the Jewel of the Pacific. It has also long been a magnet for European immigrants. At the beginning of the last century, investors from the Italian community constructed a five star hotel right across from the port, but sadly it never opened as it was completed just after the Panama Canal became operational. It is now pretty much in ruins and uninhabited, albeit for one elderly Italian lady who is a descendant of one of the original investing families. This would have been ocean view property but land from this point to where the port now stands has since been reclaimed and several more streets are now between it and the water. Restoration of the buildings in Valparaiso is a very difficult process, being that it is a world heritage site and must meet strict regulations for reparation and rebuilding, using original materials etc., and therefore in most cases too costly to accomplish.

On our first full day here, Monday, we took the 3 hour walking tour of the city which was not only very enlightening but very, tiring as it was extremely hot negotiating all of those hills. For the first part of our tour we were joined by a street dog, who accompanied us until we took the funicular railway up to another level. I think he would have come too, if he had been allowed on. However, at the top we were joined by another street dog called "nails" due to her very long claws. There are many street dogs in Valparaiso and they are all extremely smart. They use the crosswalks or wait with the people for the lights to change and then cross the street safely. Many have been neutered due to funding from the World Heritage Fund and they are all well fed. There are also street cats, not so many as the dogs and a group of ladies feed them daily too. The only problem with so many street dogs is there is a great deal of fecal matter to avoid.

The walk took us up hill and down dale, through narrow passages and up and down many external staircases, all of which were painted in various themes and colours. Valparaiso is famous for its murals and to a lesser extent its graffiti. After completing our walk we were treated to a Pisco Sour, very nice but too strong for these cowboys. We left the tour down near the port and walked back to our accommodation, stopping for a refreshing milkshake on the way.

We also enjoyed the food in Valparaiso and ate excellent meals each evening. It was a good job that we were only there for five days as they did not help the waistline, despite walking all the hills. The last day we were there it was hot again and we were both very grateful that we had walked up the hills for the last time as we were having dinner in a restaurant around the corner. Not to be. We had a cup of tea and went to take a shower and there was no water in the whole neighbourhood due to a water main break on the other side of the city. Needless to say the local restaurants had to close and we had to walk back down the hill again to the port and then up again for absolutely the last time.

Whilst in Valparaiso we also went to Vina del Mar, Quintay and the Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of Vina del Mar which will be covered in the next blog...........