Valparaiso - Goodbye to Esther - 11 Feb 2003
Fun in the Funicular city
And so itís Hello again Santiago and Goodbye to Esther
Foot note
We landed in Valparaiso in the dark and the area around the bus station did not seem too nice. Weíd booked a room for the night just around the corner as we knew weíd be arriving late. I wondered whether weíd done the right thing as this involved a short walk and there seemed to be some odd folk around. Maybe staying further away and taking a taxi would have been a good idea. We were expected at least and the room and beds seemed up to scratch. It was slightly more down at heel than the places we had been staying and I felt a little bad ëcos I had mentally planned to up-grade a little for Estherís birthday and we were on a down-grade instead.
This bothered Hippy more than it did me ñ the place had a certain charm ñ see later. Hippy bravely nipped out and bought a bottle of wine which cheered us up no end and brought upon the sleepy state that we all needed. The offy nearest the bus station in most towns has its collection of resident drinkers hanging around and this place was no different. I had the expected nonsensical conversation with a drunk who I am sure was as unintelligible to the Spanish speakers. But a sweet couple helped me out in trying to explain that I wanted a bottle of ëmuy seco vino blancoí.We woke to the sound of birdsong on this warm sunny morning, what a lovely welcome to the day.
On the way down to breakfast I noticed a rabbit on the corridor and was quite prepared to put down to the wine the night before but it clearly was a rabbit. I tried to usher ëThumperí back onto the roof terrace that seemed to be its home (judging by the piles of shit around and about) only for the bugger to leap at me and try and bite my finger. Oh, well, more like the nasty one out of Watership Down.Breakfast was nice. As it was Estherís birthday, Iíd nipped out for a bottle of bubbly and some orange juice as Bucks Fizz seemed in order. The orange juice was very poor so we stuck with the fizz. One of my favourite ways of starting the day. I had noticed that Pat had been out of the room for some time before breakfast ñ I had put it down to his bowels but clearly he had trudged off to find fizz. I was delighted and touched that they had gone to so much trouble. Now warm with fizz we got the giggles when we returned to the room and the rabbit was bouncing in and out. As it boinged around the room and we tried to chase it out and it kept coming back I was only glad that I have never been enticed into taking hallucinogenic drugs, or this would have been very confusing.
The plan was to wander for the day, take an evening boat ride around the harbour and dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the bay and that is just what we did. After checking out the availability of boat trips we headed for the funiculars. Never been on one before myself but always struck me as a good idea. The guide books suggested that these were the preferred mode of transport for hill dwelling pedestrians but it did not seem so to me. There wasnít a queue at any of them. Indeed, half the time we had to wait for the chap running them to decide that they were full enough to set off. The most important one to our plans was, predictably, out of order awaiting repairs.
For some reason I had thought that Valparaiso was a pretty sea side resort ñ in fact it is a port town and naval base with all the chaos that that implies. We saw the mausoleum to Arturo Prat, the national hero ñ not to be confused with Bernardo OíHiggins! ñ who challenged the Peruvian iron-clad navy with his wooden ship and was predictably killed (this in 1890 or so). The graves were pretty plain but Pat was delighted to find several shipsí engineers marked out in glory. Otherwise central Valparaiso was full of buses, drunks and dodgy areas, but the hillsides and the views were magnificent.
Lunchtime arrived just as weíd topped out on one of the prettiest parts of town so far and so we took in a quick beer and a churrasco (in sliced bread instead of a bun, tschh) I donít think we have filled you in on the churrasco thing, itís the national sandwich with avocado, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise and layers of freshly grilled slice beef, much the best snack. Although they were doing nothing for our waistlines. We did not grumble about the price of this chapís non-standard churrasco offering as he turned out to be a charming and slightly eccentric chap. His mother was from Manchester and his father from Croatia, so we let him off. Itís getting pretty odd the number of second/third generation Chileans who are of English extraction. One of our favourites was a certain SeÒora McLeod down in Puerto Natales. She was several generations divorced from a kilt wearer but seemed to know an unfeasible amount about Dunvegan Castle. She even had a photo of it on the wall of her travel agency.
After weíd wandered around the tops of the hills for a while amongst the charming old houses we stopped for a cup of tea in one of the restaurants that the guides had suggested. It was entertaining to listen to the banter between the restaurant manager and the guy who ran the nearest funicular about when it was going to be fixed. It was a real maÒana moment. The hillside next to this delightfully positioned gaff rattled to the sound of skateboarding kids. If they were real stunt merchants, this place would be absolute heaven. As it was they contented themselves to sit on their boards and break with their feet on the ground. Wimps. This is somewhat unfair ñ there were two of them aged about 8 and 6. I thought they were pretty brave even trying the slope. We pondered our options of restaurants for dinner and settled on the eccentric guy of English descent. When we returned to his restaurant to book for the evening, the young man behind the desk pointed out that our guy was not in fact the owner but another minion who frequently tries to pass himself off as the boss. So what? We still liked him.
There was a feeling of faded grandeur about the whole of Valparaiso. Once beautiful buildings with cracks and peeling paint. An earthquake and a volcanic eruption did nothing to preserve its heritage either. Those buildings that had undergone face lifts gave a feel of the city that once aspired to be the capital of Chile.
Back at the hotel we downed our second bottle of bubbly for the day. These birthdays have to be taken seriously, you know. The boat trip around the harbour was fascinating. It seemed that the whole of the Chilean navy was in port and they had no complaints about us coming close up to them. In these days of panic and high security, it is nice to know that the odd set of armed forces will let you get close enough to slap on a limpet mine. Our guide (who spoke only Spanish) seemed to know an awful lot about all of these ships and I began to wonder whether there is any secrecy of security at all in the Chilean fleet.
Esther got the spotting badge for the day, by being the first to correctly identify not only a floating dry dock in use in the harbour, but also seeing the tops of a couple of frisky dolphins. I was very impressed at this being arranged for the birthday treat. These mammals were presumably hanging around picking up the cast-offs from the fishermen.
As the lights began to twinkle up the hillside of Valparaiso and reflect in the waters of the bay, the town took on a new romantic feel. All the shabbiness of decline hidden in the darkness and replaced by the starry effect artificial light. It is often rather nice seeing towns at night. I remember commenting as a child that my home town of Cinderford even looked good at night as the lights spread by the hill from the valley. Itís amazing what darkness can conceal. Those of us who have seen ourselves in gloomy night club lighting and thought we looked OK, then are horrified to see the reality of smudged makeup and bleary eyes in a bright bathroom, will know what I mean.
Up the funicular and to our little restaurant, we sat on the terrace overlooking the sparkle below and drinking cocktails with a little hors díoeuvres of a mixture platter of Mexican nibbles. Well thatís a bit of an understatement, the plate was piled high and enough for a family of 6. The sea air was a bit fresh we retired indoors. As sole guests of the restaurant, we were guaranteed excellent service and we enjoyed a most excellent meal. The setting was superb ñ as if at the front (bows to you) of a ship sailing off a promontory overlooking Valparaiso. Best seats in the house. Our ride home by taxi showed what a great idea these funiculars are ñ we wove backwards and forwards across the hills and seemed only to have got 100 yards as the meter rolled over yet again. Still, with a full tummy the idea of marching down the hill was out of the question.
Thankfully our room was free of rabbit shit when we got back. We slept well. And I had had a very memorable birthday, complete with card and lovely present ñ a book of photos and torrid English translation of torrid Spanish prose, about Patagonia. If any of you are getting bored of doing the same old things on your birthdays why donít you join these two ñ theyíll do you a great day!
And so itís Hello again Santiago and Goodbye to Esther
Back in Santiago after an uneventful bus ride we repacked Estherís bags giving her a whole new set of luggage to take home. She seemed quite chuffed with her swanky new back pack. Little did she know that weíd got it for seven quid at the local hypermarket.
We were a bit mean, really and left her to bus off to the airport. Any decent folk would have gone all the way. What nonsense it would have been a complete waste of time to come out to the airport ñ I was quite content to wave from the bus. Itís one of those things though with goodbyes, when do you let go? It was sad to be saying goodbye to Esther.
It had been great over the past couple of weeks to spent time with a good friend who is from my other life in the UK. We meet a large number of lovely people as we travel around, but never really form meaningful relationships with them, because by definition they are short-lived and superficial. The relationships that is, not the people. With Esther we were able to bare our souls and the poor girl has probably returned a little emotionally drained, after having each of us ëcrying on her shoulderí at times. We really appreciate her using some of her limited spare time to see us. Thankyou.
Sheís certainly made us think quite a lot about how we are travelling and living. Having thought about it, weíll probably carry on just as we are! To be honest, though, we may take more side trips without Bertha for a variety of reasons. Some times as we bowl along, I am facing down at the road and reluctant to take in the views. In areas of major scenic importance this seems mad. In other cases, I am reluctant to take the roads as we are so heavily loaded. Also, there is poor Bertha to think of. Sheís passed her 100,000 kms and could probably do with a top to bottom overhaul. Before I left, I only really attended to top end matters when it might have been sensible to do the full works. We shall take it gently until we find a haven from ludicrous taxes and can get the parts and space/tools to work on her.
Weíve had quite a few emails asking who Esther is. When Hippy was a spry young thing (many of us think she still is) she attended that hallowed institution that is Nottingham University. It might be considered inappropriate of me to rake up the exact details of how they came to meet at a party in 1986. They have been friends ever since. Even though poor Hippy ended up married to me, Esther still sees her now and again. What I find odd though is that even though she is qualified as a GP as well as being a consultant in another field, she always shrinks away from examining my piles. Odd that. Some things would be stretching the bounds of friendship.
I was asked to write a ëbeginningí and an ëendí as well as contributing the odd sentence to the middle of the Southern Chile website section. So as I sit in Leicester typing this, how can I sum up the trip? Firstly it was great to see old friends and a new (to me) country, and I was very grateful for all the effort Hippy and Pat put into giving me a good time. Rather like them I ended up thinking about the way I live and travel ñ and our somewhat different attitudes to money ñ an issue which cropped up several times! Itís OK Esther Iíll say it for you ñ these two are tight as Ducksí arses [webmaster] It will make me think a bit harder before throwing money around on massages etc! I never have thought that theyíre taking the easy option by travelling and spending time with them confirmed this ñ they have a different set of problems to deal with and I know that life can get very stressful when youíre doing the type of travelling that they are.
I havenít got endless witticisms ñ but would urge those of you with the travelling ëbugí to think about joining them for a short time. The only sad thing was leaving and having no idea when we would see each other again. Enough soppiness ñ end of my contribution to the travellersí website of the year ñ or something.