Side trip to Valparaiso

"Round the Cape Horn to Valparaiso..." the Sting song echoing in our minds as we set off for a couple of days at this colourful port 1.5 hrs by bus from Santiago.

The narrow pathway up to our hostel on Cerro Alegro.

Some of the locals.

A visit to one of Pablo Neruda´s houses.

Views of Valparaiso from on top one of the Cerros.

Finally, we got to tangle our toes in this side of the great Pacific Ocean.  Was sad though to see so much debris on the beach, both brought in on the tide and dumped by beach goers. So we decided against taking the edible algae that the Chileans love back home with us...

We found delicious goats cheese in one of the old market areas.

Gino, a very outgoing and well traveled Chileno, befriended us on the bus ride back to Santiago and took us to eat in a very nice Peruvian restaurant in the Bellavista barrio.