6 del Marzo - Viña Del Mar y Valparaiso, Chile
Our last day and night in Argentina were fantastic. There was another parade through the streets of Mendoza, with all the reinas as well as a lot of gauchos (cowboys) on horseback. There were little gauchos no more than 5 years old that were dressed in fully authentic Argentine gaucho garb, riding full sized horses by themselves. There were also old gauchos who really looked the part, wearing their high boots, baggy pants tucked into the boots, an old baggy cowboy shirt, with a sheath wrapped around their waist, and a long knife stuck behind their back. All the gauchos wear the same thing, old and young. As we watched the parade we were peppered with more grapes, bags of pasta, plums, large squashes, apples, chocolates, and lottery tickets thrown by the reinas as they made their way to the park for the election. Miss San Carlos won, and she is now proudly Reina Vendimia 2005. They are all queens to us though.After the parade we went to dinner with an older English couple we met at our hotel. They made reservations for the four of us at a restaurant that had a dinner show of singing and tango dancing. It was absolutely amazing. The dancers were great, and they did a lot of funny acting scenes during their dances, and even broke out into an amazing swing dance to ¨Blue Suede Shoes.¨ This ensemble of talent could be found on Broadway, they were so impressive. One couple danced so skillfully and displayed so much emotion that it made Jen`s eyes fill with tears. It was very inspirational, but we didn´t dare step onto the dance floor after that act. It was the perfect way to end our time in Argentina, and a night we will always remember.
The next morning we took the bus over the Andes to Viña Del Mar, Chile. The bus ride is spectacular. It goes high over a mountain pass right next to Mount Aconcagua, the tallest peak in the Americas. Once we got past the mountains, we dropped down into Chile, where we could immediately tell we were in a different country. The landscape was lush, full of greenery and lots of agriculture. The Andes block all of the precipitation from the Pacific, so the climate is much more wet in Chile, and looks nothing like the desert of the Argentine pampas. Chile is also more developed, we have already seen more fast food chains like McDonalds and Pizza Hut than we did in all of Argentina...not that we are happy about it.
Viña Del Mar and Valparaiso are right next to eachother on the Pacific coast, each occupies half of a large bay. Viña Del Mar is where we chose to stay, because it is cheaper and has more options for accommodations, but we are really here to see Valparaiso. We took the bus into Valparaiso this morning, and the town is amazing. It is all built on very steep hills, much steeper than San Francisco. It used to be the main shipping port of Chile about 100 years ago, but has declined over the past few decades, and the city was left in a bit of disrepair. Now it is making a huge comeback, mainly because of its natural beauty, and all the huge, colorful abandoned homes that sit on top of all the hills. UNESCO has made it a natural heritage site, meaning there is a lot of funding for rebuilding old facades, and the city is coming back to life.
The hills are so steep that they have built little lifts (ascensors) that transport passengers up each hill. They are like large elevators, anywhere between 7 to 15 people can fit in each one, and they are pulled up and downhill by a pulley system. We went up Cerro Concepcion and walked around the winding and narrow cobblestone streets, looking down on the bay and Viña Del Mar. We had lunch at a kitschy cafe where we discovered the Menu Del Dia offer, which allows you to feast on a 3 course meal at lunch for a bargain. Many of the houses in the hills of Valparaiso are painted in different bright colors, not unilke SF, and they all overlook the bay and ocean. The houses we walked past were huge, incredibly old, and dilapidated, with so much character. We went on a walking tour of the Museo al Cielo Abierto (Museum of Open Sky), which is a section of town where murals have been painted on the buildings and houses by 20 famous Chilean painters. It is a really cool idea, and along with the bright buildings, hills and blue ocean in the background, it is a site worth seeing. We loved getting lost in the streets of Valparaiso. We also visited the home of the famous Chilean author and poet Pablo Neruda, which is now a museum. His house was incredible, with views from every room to the sea, and beautiful mosaic tile artwork inside the house. We both have a newfound appreciation for his poem THE QUESTION.
posted by The Blaus @ 6:27 PM
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