1/21/2008 Valparaiso, Chile

From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Jan 21, 2008 2:18 PM
Subject: 1/21/2008

1/21/2008

Valparaiso, Chile

That means valley of paradise. I don’t think so. I don’t think they quite got that one right. It is nice but, someone had to be very drunk when they gave it that name.

It was far nicer then we expected. It was a little foggy and overcast this morning. It was also about 59 degrees. It was chilly. Maybe that’s why they call it Chile? To get to the port terminal we boarded a shuttle bus at the bottom of the gang plank. It was at least a three or four mile ride.

Once through the terminal building, we got on a small twenty passenger bus. It was a brand new Mercedes. The seats were leather or a good copy. There were 14 of us.

First we drove along the waterfront. Things look a little rundown but there was no debris laying around. Most of the buildings were of no particular architecture here. Just early box.

Next we went to a funicular. That’s a cable car to some. This was supposed to be one of the most picturesque. It was built in 1902 and looked like nothing had been done to it since. It was okay, but if this is the prettiest, I don’t need to see the ugliest.

We walked up a flight of stairs into an old building and waited for a car to arrive. We were allowed to have 10 per car. After a short ride, almost straight up, we arrived at a boardwalk that looked like a wooden pier. It was made of slats placed so there were small open spaces between the boards. Bobbi loves that. She followed last and then froze and wouldn’t move. I wouldn’t help because she left my jacket at home. That will teach her. Now I think she is waiting for her chance when I am not looking. I think she is planning to kill me.

From there we walked a short way in what looked very much like a European neighborhood with quaint old houses on a narrow winding street. The bus was there waiting for us.

We then went to an octagon shaped platform that was an overlook of the dock area below. Near by were some stands selling alpaca clothing items. A man arrived with an alpaca colorfully dressed and wearing a hat. He wanted a dollar for taking a picture with the alpaca. We didn’t know this and had taken a picture while he was climbing a path to the street where we were. Actually Bobbi took that picture. That wasn’t nice to cheat the old guy out of a buck. I will tell her that as soon as she is talking to me again. Just don’t let her know I told you on her.

Just up the street is a Navy museum. The key word here is, up. It was about three quarters of a block uphill, then there was a whole pile of stairs. I don’t do up hills real well and stairs? Forget about it. So I did about half a block uphill and then saw the stairs. I told Bobbi to get me a picture and I walked back down the hill.

We drove around up there for awhile. There were many narrow, winding, twisting streets. There were houses of many different styles. The people who built this city came from many different countries in Europe. They brought their building styles with them. There were different areas named after different countries.

Next we drove down to the downtown area. Running on the streets there were electric trolley car buses purchased from the US in 1952. They looked like and were still the color of the old CTA buses from Chicago.

We saw some but not many modern type stores but most were small local businesses. There were several nice squares. There were also some nice well built and pretty European looking buildings. There were also some very modern, large government buildings. The navy had large buildings and training centers all over town.

Our last stop was at funicular number 2. There are about 18 in the area. This one looked even older. We were only allowed 8 per car in this one. At the top was an old house that was now a fine arts museum. It was built by a Yugoslavian that built much of the area. When he died he left this huge mansion to the public. Of course it was closed. First the guide said it was because it was Monday and later he said it was under construction inside. Never believe much of what these guides tell you.

There was also a restaurant here. It was our pee break. They had only a single person washroom for men and another for women. So that took forever. Another couple sat at a table outside with us. It was starting to warm up a bit now and the view was very nice. They brought us drinks and empanadas. It was a little bigger then a slice of bread. The outer shell was like a pie crust that was pinched together around the outside and filled with mystery meat in spices, onions, one olive with pit in, and I think potato or maybe a cooked caterpillar? Who knows, but we ate it and it was good and we are not dead yet, I think.

That was it and then back to the cruise ship terminal. There were a few small stands inside but not much. We stopped at one stand where there was a lady that spoke pretty good English. She had some beautiful stuff. She had one gorgeous blanket made of the local wool. It is much softer then what we get at home and it was natural and not dyed. Later in the room we find that it is made in Uruguay. I suppose that’s close enough to be called local.