Thursday, November 25, 2010

In Viña del Mar and Valparaiso

This morning I took a bus to Viña del Mar. I was told that it's the most beautiful city in Chile. I can confirm that it's the most beautiful city I have seen in the country (in the picture). Situated 2 hours from Santiago, at the seaside (Santiago doesn't have access to the sea), clean, with just fantastic tall palm trees (kind of Las Vegas... I saw on TV), cormorans, beautiful houses, nice plants. I immediately felt happy when I started visiting the town.
In Chile, the first time in my trip, I found cheap shops, kind of Primark in London. It's so ironic - in poor countries of South America these shops don't exist, and in countries like Chile or England they do.
I was invited a couple of times for a drink by some rich men, they spotted me walking on my own and told the waiter to call me. I politely refused but I liked that they didn't have problem doing this, like in other countries where men are too shy.
In the late afternoon I took a local bus to Valparaiso, it takes 20 minutes to get there from Viña. Valparaiso is a port city but it's considered a world heritage site because of its beautiful town centre. Although the city is nice, I felt claustrophobic at times because there are a lot of buildings squeezed in small space.
I came back home to Santiago very late and very tired.