Sunday, December 17, 2006

Valparaiso, Chile

Arriving Valparaiso in the early morning, we disembarked from our cruise ship, hoisted our fully-loaded packs for the first time, and headed into town for a more intimate experience of South America.
"Finding ourselves" in Valparaiso. "Aha! Here's where we are! Now where are we going?"

An "ascensor" to take us up the steepest parts of the city's geography. "Valpo" is built on multiple hillsides over looking the bay & port below. The earliest ascensors were steam-powered and, except for the steam engines, remain in use today.

More uphill, but no ascensor! As we trudged onward, I started to think, "What's in this pack I can send home?" Unfortunately, not much!

A view of the bay where our ship had just docked, leaving us to explore the inlands of Chile.

Having toiled up steep and seemingly endless streets, we found our "digs" for the next few days, Hostal Luna Sonrisa. This is our first hostel stay, and we're discovering a vagabond kinship with folk from all over -- Brazil, London, Germany, USA.

Our clean and comfortable room for a very reasonable US$15 per night per person.

1 comment:

Case and Jolene said...
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