Day 200: Napping with Cats

Vina del Mar – Valparaiso – Vina del Mar, Chile

Valparaiso, a neighbouring town of Vina, is actually the more famous one between the two. Besides being the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, Valparaiso boasted a massive collection of graffiti art. Perched on multiple hills, Valparaiso’s houses are charming and colourful. The buildings are mostly really run down and not well kept, yet, they possess a certain kind of charm.

We saw from a local map that there were quite a few funiculars that bring people up the top of the hills but most of them ended up not working. We had to hike up instead. Luckily, we picked the right hill and ended up on the hill La Sebastiana. This is where the famous Chilean poet and Nobel Peace Price winner, Pablo Neruda’s house can be found. Neruda was quite an eccentric. While he couldn’t even swim, he had a fascination with the sea and everything marinal. His houses were built like ships, both in their exteriors and interiors. His house in Valparaiso is now a museum. It was such a interesting house and it has a sick view of the city and its port. Being in the house did feel like I was in a cabin of a ship. Too bad picture-taking wasn’t allowed in the museum; only the view outside from the windows.

Later on, we wandered around the city taking photos, doing silly things and taking photos of us doing silly things:

We got back to Vina del Mar rather late but we still had to move out from Antonella’s grandma’s place and relocate to our new Couchsurfing host, Sergio’s apartment. Took us a good 45 minutes walking to reach his place. I was so tired as I was still not feeling too well. It was great though to meet Sergio. He’s a calm and friendly guy. We found out that we’re into the same sort of music and art. He told me that that night Morrissey was playing in Vina del Mar but tickets were sold out! What a bummer! It would have been brilliant to get to see Morrissey. Also, as we were chatting about graffiti art in general, I showed Sergio this piece that I read about on the site Wooster Collective and told him my disappointment of not finding it. Sergio told me he knew the exact location of it and could show me the next day. Alas! I already booked my bus ticket leaving tomorrow noon to La Serena. It wasn’t meant to be. But hey, Valparaiso is only two hours away from Santiago and I’m bound to be back in Santiago. Perhaps it’s not impossible after all :]