I love a city that can stand out from the rest. Instead of the classic central plaza with a cathedral, Valpo was 42 hills of never-ending colors, chaos, and crap (on the streets from the copious amounts of stray dogs). Once a crucial shipping port, this UNESCO site has been largely ignored government funds since the construction of the Panama Canal. The deterioration and neglect is heartbreaking for locals, yet wild for exploring travellers.

 

Getting There

From the north, buses from La Serena were $10, 7 hours. I took a brutal 10:45pm overnight with Condor to save on lodging. I didn’t need to book in advance.

To and from Santiago, there’s constant buses for $3-7 depending on the time of day. I used Romani for $3.75, 90 minutes.

The Valparaiso terminal offers luggage storage for $1.50 per day.

Accommodation

The two times I ran into backpackers near La Serena who were coming from Valpo, both parties had stayed in Angel Hostel on Cummings Street. Centrally located within the tourist area, it offered breakfast of cheese sandwiches (panini press available!), milk, cereal, oats, cookies, coffee, tea. Hot showers, computers, wifi, $12 for dorms.

I was messed up from the night bus per usual, and so relieved that they answered the doorbell before sunrise.

I was uncomfortable when the staff later overreacted to a couple of backpackers who were waiting in the lobby for their CouchSurfing host to be ready, with a third friend who was staying at the hostel. They were cutting bread in the kitchen and ended up being cussed out and kicked out. Hostel Po sounded like a good alternative.

The second night I stayed with my own CouchSurfing host, Will, who went out of his way to meet me at the bus terminal, offered a mattress with the coziest zero-degree sleeping bag, and made delicious Colombian coffee for breakfast. A positive first experience.

 

Eating and Drinking

The food and drink highlights were much the same as in Santiago.

The most famous dish was the Chorrillana, or as my guides from two different tours each called it, a heart attack on a plate. Fries topped with fried beef strips, fried ham sausage, fried eggs, fried onions, and melted cheese. Best shared in a group, $12.

Similarly, “a la pobre,” or “of the poor,” is a phrase of many menu items which refers to the food being topped fried onions and fried eggs and maybe cheese.

Sopapillas, deep fried sheets of orange dough made from pumpkin, and a variety of empanadas frequented the street food options.

Mercado El Cardonal, two blocks from the bus terminal, has loads of fresh fruits and veggies on the first floor including pomegranates, persimmons, and avocados. The second level was seafood restaurants which had set lunch menus for around $5 with enough grub for two. I had reinata frita, deep fried buttery fish (think a giant slab of tempura), with giant lemon wedges, a ton of vegetables, a basket of rolls, and oyster soup. Beware, the servers actively seek your business as soon as you show up.

There are certainly lots of cafes and restaurants in the touristy hills of Alegre and Concepción including vegan and vegetarian options, I just avoided them. Located in the middle of an alley in this area was Alfajores Artesanales, a popular stop for cheese and salmon empanadas, as well as alfajores, or cookies filled with dulce de leche (also called manjar) that may feature chocolate.

Alchohol talk: the tipico is the terremoto, meaning earthquake because that’s basically what’s happening when one tries to get up after they drink it. Far from classy, it’s got the cheapest Pipeño white wine, pisco, and a scoop of pineapple ice cream. My friends ordered this along with chorrillanas midday at Bar Liberty, the oldest one in town. Chinchón is another mixed drink of the working class. There’s always happy sour, when bars offer BOGO’s of the many varieties of pisco mixed drinks including chocolate sour, banana sour, mango sour… They say the best beer in town is at Casa Cervecera Altamira, which features biweekly jazz nights.

 

 

See and Do

Everyone does the free walking tours to get a feel. However, the more of these I did in South America the more I realized they recommend and even expect $5-10 per person for each tour. Tours for Tips does the historic east side at 10am and the fun, more touristy hills at 3pm with guides called “Wallys” each wearing a red and white striped shirt. Valparaiso B Side sports green shirts, and does the historic side at noon. Both meet at the Heroes Monument in Plaza Sotomayor.

Ascensors are funiculars from the late 19th century that are still used by locals and tourists throughout the hills. They often malfunction and the working ones often change, but they make fun memories for just cents each ride!

The noisy port with brightly painted shipping containers galore can be toured from the water in a lancha (small boat) in the afternoons, $5 for around 40 minutes.

Historic Highlights

Day 15

I woke to three Israeli backpackers at my hostel and instantly became friends with Lee. She was 21, the youngest solo female I’ve met.

An aside: The military draft is mandatory in Israel so every kid served after high school, and is 24 years old before college starts, like the ones I met in La Serena. Having already completed her service as a combat officer, training her own soldiers on how to shoot and defend, Lee was clearly way ahead. During her service, every weekend she rotated between working on base, scuba diving five hours away, and going home to her parents. As it turns out, their time between military and college is popularly used to take a shorter trip to Thailand, or a long trip through Latin America. The waves are quite scary, and they reported the stampede was currently in Bolivia. Many hostels straight up ban anyone from Israel (later confirmed by other backpackers with more descriptive stories, to be continued). Lee started in Brazil, then saw lots of Patagonia on both the Argentine and Chilean side, and road tripped up the Carretera Austral with four other Israeli backpackers on their gap year(s). I’ve learned so much about Israel on this trip, and really want to go eat the good food and see the culture.

We did Valpo B Side through the far side of town and got the first of many tastes of the street art. Also notable were leftover buildings from fires. Just two days ago a building was burned, we watched the steam that was still billowing out. I started to understand the city’s unique lack of organization. The government doesn’t care about its historic preservation, every house is painted any color the owner pleases, something that would lead to an outrage in American suburbs.

At the end of the tour we clogged our arteries with the infamous Chorrillana. Lee and Ariel ordered a terremoto which would be unbearably strong without the ice cream.

Our day ended with Paseo 21 de Mayo, a walkway atop Cerro Artillería (ascensor available). Overlooking the city, we passed a military museum on the Wars of the Pacific, and souvenir vendors.

 

 

West Side

Day 16 (am)

Lee and I found the 612 bus, or The ‘O,’ because it was supposed to be fast and scary as it roller-coasters through the hilly city. Our driver was so old he used the brakes just to listen the question we asked him, and never told us when to get off. We were mildly lost on the opposite side of the city, away from most of the tourism.

At La Sebastiana, we liked the view but didn’t like the entry price. Now a museum, this was the house of Chile’s most famous poet Pablo Neruda. He wrote about the sea, and also published many odes to things like onions, socks, and cats. $3 for students, but Lee isn’t one, and $9 could be used so much better elsewhere.

Both of us were okay with walking a lot. We saw a building being constructed out of shipping containers, and I wondered if it was the hostel being built that I had seen on Workaway.

I wanted to see the Wednesday market on Argentina Avenue, which ended up being loads of secondhand goods, as well as the usual fruits and vegetables. In the nearby Mercado El Cardonal in the memorable yellow building, we found the same produce. I tried to not make a mess with pomegranate as we waited for the metro, taking us from Baron back to Puerto, $1.

 

 

Cerros Alegre & Concepción

Day 16 (pm)

At 3pm Tours for Tips took us to a more street art on the two most touristy hills. Unexpected events include the fattest stray dog who joined us and was very aggressive to the other dogs, and the passion of musicians on the creaky trolleys (same route, running until 8pm, flat rate $.50). The tour features samples of alfajores and Chinchón.

I moved to Will’s apartment for the night for a lovely first Couchsurfing experience. He hosted me even though he was sick.

Day 17

Will had to go to his research lab studying ion pumps. I stored my bag at the terminal and went back to the hills for more graffiti and street art. Then I found Lee at Angel Hostel and we got food.

At the terminal we went up to the window and they said we had three minutes before the next Santiago bus was leaving so I ran to get my backpack from storage and we jumped on board. Of course we listened to Romeo Santos.