Hello Santiago!
From our hotel window!
Everything is going to plan….so far! All flights were smooth and on time. We checked into our hotel in Santiago on Tuesday at about 3.00pm and were immediately greeted by our guide Jaun Carlos (here in after called JC) who made us feel very relaxed and welcome. JC took Sally for a quick stroll downtown to get a SIM card and some basic toiletries etc while I crashed out for a couple of hours to try to conquer the jet lag!
Hello Tiger! We’ve missed you..
Wednesday, after a spectacular breakfast at the hotel we board the Compass Expeditions truck to Valparaiso to collect our bikes from the customs house where they have been waiting patiently for several weeks. A couple hours of paperwork and we are on our way, happy to be back on the bike. We spend a couple of hours exploring the fascinating port town of Valparaiso built on some very steep hills with narrow, winding cobble stone streets and tiny ramshackle houses clinging precariously to the cliff like hillsides and seemingly piled on top of each other. The town is famous for it’s ubiquitous street art. It is everywhere! Almost every available space is covered in all manner of the spray can artists work. Some is mere graffiti but most is incredibly good.
Valparaiso streetscape.
The 130km run back to Santiago coincides with peak hour so it necessitates many km of lane splitting, curb hopping, going the wrong way down one way streets and generally getting properly lost. It is my first time in traffic that drives on the wrong side of the road since PP (pre pandemic). It is kind of off putting to glance at the car next to you on a freeway at 120kph only to see the person sitting where the driver ought to be, sound asleep or on Facebook on his phone.
The ramshackle houses piled on top of each other.
We have a couple more days here before the tour proper starts so we will try to see a few more sights and sample a little more of the brilliant food and hospitality this place has to offer. Most of the rest of the gang is also already in town and we will introduce them all in due course.
Thanks for following us this far. We’ll post again in a couple of days.
