Santiago and Valparaiso

17-20th August

There was a sadness to arriving in Santiago, fresh off another 24 hour bus, as this would be where we’d be flying home from. Although we still had a couple weeks and a couple of other places to visit before we did, there was the first sense that our trip was approaching its end.

It was perhaps fitting then, that Santiago was the place that most reminded us of London so far. Lots of trendy looking people with edgy haircuts, expensive craft beer and a big buzzing city. On our first night, we found ourselves slightly intoxicated in a bar where the night’s entertainment was a discussion of the new Chilean constitution, led by one of its writers [Melissa edit: this was in Spanish so we didn’t know what he was talking about at the time; the friends we made in the bar afterwards explained it to us]. The unexpected highlight of the night however, was both of our first experiences of an earthquake. Apparently they happen quite a lot around here, and given this was only 5-6 magnitude, everyone stopped talking for a second before carrying on as normal.

We decided to take a day trip from Santiago to Valparaiso - a place highly recommended by many people we’d met on our travels. It seems to be Santiago’s more artistic twin, and after an hour and a bit on a bus, we were walking up and down quiet, secluded streets and narrow staircases set on steep hills. Different styles of street art sprawled out all over the houses and shops, and from every high point there was a new stunning view of the sea and the bay the city is built around. We were also adopted by a very sweet dog who walked around with us for a couple of hours until he found another group of people he liked the look of.

After a quick meal of apparently traditionial chorrellana (a huge plate of chips covered with fried onions, slow cooked beef and fried egg) we headed up to the Concepcion neighbourhood to watch the sun set. As we sat with a drink, the light visibly shimmered all over the city [Melissa edit: and we saw the ISS fly by], and when dusk had settled we headed back to Santiago.

It felt like a very quick stop in two cities with so much more to offer, but in reality we were excited to get to our next destination. Next up, Rapa Nui/Easter Island!