My Day in Valparaíso

One weekend I didn't have much to do, so I decided on a whim to go to Valparaíso. I'd picked up a leaflet a couple of weeks earlier about a company called Tours4Tips who give walking tours in different cities in Chile. I liked the sound of the "Highlights of Valparaíso" tour that takes place every afternoon, so off I went!

The bus was quiet and comfortable, and the journey only took about an hour and a half. The ticket was cheap too. One drawback is that the bus station is quite a way out from the city centre, a couple of kilometres away from the Plaza Sotomayor, where the tour starts from. However I enjoyed walking through the city, seeing different sights on my way in...

When I arrived in the Plaza Sotomayor, I was impressed by how big and grand it was.

The first thing we did on the tour was to go to the harbour at the end of the square. Here we learned about the history of Valparaíso as one of the most important ports in South America.

Then we took a ride of one of Valparaíso's famous funicular railways. The views were great, and it reminded me of the film "The Motorcycle Diaries" which I watched at university last year, and which was partly set here.

At the top, there were many opportunities to take photos. There was also a really nice gift shop which I made the most of!

I also met this adorable poorly dog! Just like in Santiago, there are a lot of street dogs in Valparaíso. However, there are kennels left out for them and they are well looked after. But it still makes me sad that they don't have a home to go to and a human to love them!

Most of the tour took place around Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción, the two most touristic areas of the city. This is where you can find a lot of the amazing street art there is here. I really enjoyed looking at all the paintings on the walls and stairs. It actually reminded me a bit of Bristol, so I felt quite at home.

And at the end of the tour, there were more great views over the city and the ocean.

For me, the tour was a great and authentic way to explore Valpo (as they call it here). It was also nice that we got free homemade alfajores (chocolate biscuits filled with dulce de leche) halfway through the tour, and an alcoholic drink at the end! As the name Tours4Tips suggests, you don't have to pay for the tour, but you're encouraged to give a tip at the end if you had a good time. I think it's a good system, and I was very happy to give a decent-sized tip.

I actually felt a bit sad that I'd booked a return bus ticket for that day, as I would really have liked to have stayed a bit longer in Valpo. It's definitely one of my favourite places I've been to on my Year Abroad. However, I will certainly try to go back there during the last two months I've got left in Chile. There's another walking tour which takes place every morning - this one is to see the less touristic attractions of the city. So that's what I have planned for next time!

Algarrobo

In April, I visited Algarrobo and had a great time. My friend's family have a house there, so a group of us went for the weekend. It's a very picturesque town by the sea, and I was really excited to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life.

The day we arrived, we chilled out on the beach and watched the sunset.

On the Sunday we went to San Alfonso del Mar, one of the largest swimming pools in the world, at about a kilometre long. Unfortunately, only people who live in the apartments next to the pool are allowed to swim in it, so all we could do was take pictures! It was impressive to look at though.

There was also a nature reserve near the swimming pool, where different species of birds live.

After that, we spent the rest of the day at another beach.

Overall, it was a really fun and relaxing weekend.

The next trip I took was to Valparaíso a couple of weeks later, which was totally amazing. So that's what the next blog post is going to be about!

Cerro Manquehue (One of the Most Insane Things I've Ever Done...)

About a month into the semester, the UDD Global Ambassadors organised a hike up Cerro Manquehue, the highest peak in Santiago (1638 metres above sea level). Initially I wasn't planning to go, but my friend persuaded me, telling me it would be easy. Spoiler alert, it wasn't!

The first problem was that for some reason we started hiking at 16:00, the hottest part of the day. And on that particular day, it was at least 30 degrees Celsius, which is not at all pleasant weather for walking uphill. The second problem was that when we started climbing up the mountain, it soon became clear that my trainers were not up to the job, as they have no grip whatsoever. This would have been okay if it were possible to walk the whole way up the mountain, but there are several parts of the hike where you literally have to climb. I just about managed by holding on to rocks and trees to support myself. Unfortunately, at one point I grabbed onto a "tree" without looking at it closely enough and realised all too late that it was in fact a very sharp cactus... Definitely not an experience I want to repeat!

However, once we reached the top a couple of hours later, it all felt worth it. The views were incredible. I could see the Costanera Centre and it looked so tiny!

These are the photographs I took up there:

After that, I thought it would be quite a quick and straightforward climb down the mountain. I never thought that it would take twice as long as the way up! But that is exactly what happened... A group of about twenty of us took the wrong route, and ended up getting just a little bit lost. To make matters worse, the problems with my trainers were even worse going downhill and I ended up falling flat on my back (well... actually on my backside, haha). It hurt so much and I had horrible bruises for a week!

There were people who were going to pick us up in their cars at the end of the hike, which was supposed to finish at 20:00. However, by the time we got to the bottom, it was about 23:30 and they'd already left. In the end, 11 of us found ourselves squeezing into a five-seater car, going against everything I've been taught about road safety!

The hike was hard and painful, there were moments when I wondered if we'd ever get back down again, and sitting down the next day really hurt... However, I feel really glad that I did it. It gave me a sense of achievement, and weirdly, I actually had a lot of fun. It was definitely an experience I won't forget!