Valparaiso, Temuco and Pucon

About an hour south of Santiago, we stayed a couple of nights in Valparaiso (Valpo) an old port town with streamers of brighted coloured houses zigzagging and crowding the hills. Very picturesque. This ramshackle town was fun to explore. Lots of alleys, small corners and out of the way little cafes and shops to stumble across. The area is also very poor and we were not given a warm welcome by everyone on the street but this was more than made up by the hospitality of our hosts, Patricia at the hostel we stayed at, and by our wine tour guide.

The wine tour was great. Our guide was hilarious and worked with a local taxi driver who drove us around the Casablanca wine region for the day. The guide was the only one who spoke english and he described their relationship as ´Starsky and Hutch´. Not sure what that meant...haven´t seen the TV show or the movie. They were obviously close buddies and we all had a lot of fun joking around. We had a great time tasting the different wine varieties and buying a couple of bottles to consume later. Chilean wine is excellent and cheap. A lunch at the nearby town centre of Casablanca was delicous - the best empanada we had in Chile. One of many delicious empanadas we have tried. There is no bean and rice diet happening in Chile.

We also met a guy named Joe, who took us out for our first big night of South American nightlife in Valpo and the nearby Vina Del Mar, a resort town. He was great in showing us around, providing historical background to the region and Valpo city. (photos to be added) In Chile we definitely stick out as gringoes (European or North American looking people) in the crowd of the darker complexions. We get a few stares. Therefore, unfortunately there is no way of avoiding being charged the ´gringo´rates for travel expenses. You know all the Chileans around you are probably paying half the price for travel, accommodation and food in a lot of cases but there´s nothing we can do to receive similar discounts short of radical plastic surgery. So we´ll leave that thought right there.