Feliz Año Nuevo 2015!

Valparaíso stages a major festival attended by hundreds of thousands of participants on the last three days of every year. The festival culminates with a "New Year's by the Sea" fireworks show, the biggest in all of Latin America, attended by a million tourists who fill the coastline and hillsides with a view of the bay. Even though everyone calls it the Valparaíso Fireworks, it is in fact a fireworks display running along a great part of the coast from Valparaíso, past Viña del Mar and all the way to Concón. Just prior to the fireworks they cut off power to parts of the city for better viewing of the fireworks! Wow! Also some interesting traditions involving yellow underwear and luggage! Should be quite the show.

Here in Valpo, we are two hours ahead of Ottawa and Hamilton. If you want to partake in our celebrations, it's LIVE right here (at 10 pm your time): http://www.lavozdevalpo.com/asite/2014/12/22/espectaculo-de-ano-nuevo-se-transmitira-via-streaming-a-todo-el-mundo-desde-vina-del-mar/.

Here's an article from a local newspaper, http://www.southamerica.me/valparaiso-new-year-fireworks-celebration/.

To all our family  and friends, the very best in the New Year!

Thanks for your love and support.

Lynn and Rainer
Headed for the port...

Food and more food

We have tried many restaurants here. Lots of fresh fish so that's what we've been eating mostly, although it's not the only game in town.

Breakfast is easy to whip up here in our apartment (yogurt, eggs, bacon if we can find some, or ham, bread, bananas, avocado).

One restaurant we enjoyed a plate for two (or 5), chicken stuffed with shrimp and mushrooms, a mound of creamy potatoes in the centre, and pork loin stuffed with nuts and cranberries. Photo attached for your viewing pleasure.

When you have lemons, make lemonade, when you have avocados and lemons, make guacamole! That's what we did yesterday. Delicious! Hey Tim, fresh cilantro. Mmmm.

Oh, and I finally found the Chilean equivalent of jello for the traditional festive jello shooters. No one knew what jello was but should have been asking for gelatina. We're back in business...pineapple mandarin in fridge as we speak. Thinking we may head to the sports bar and introduce them to a new trend.

Grocery store notes:

Security at door and will tag your shopping bags or seal them as you enter to deter shoplifting I assume.
Cashiers all sit, and when they need someone to pack the groceries, they hit a button and their cash light turns on and a kid comes from a row of staff just waiting for their turn to pack. There are usually 7 or more in waiting.
They have one staff just weighing fruit and vegetables and another weighing fresh bread and buns.
Everything is double-bagged and bags are free.
When buying at most other stores (butcher, bakery, dollar store, electronic repair shop) you choose what you want, get a chit from the person you dealt with, bring it to a cash, pay for it, go back to the person who just sold it to you, give them the paid receipt and they exchange it for the goods...a long, inefficient process - but humourous.

A few photos.

Art - For all the art lovers

There is some incredible art out there.

My personal fave is the dog with his own portrait. One talented dog.

Route 607

We have evolved into a slow haphazard pace that involves a lot of walking, Valpo has lots of steep streets, twisting pathways and steps everywhere. Learning to use the transit system, metro LRT,buses, collectivos and of course ascencores which are inclined elevators which are shortcuts up the hillsides, worth every penny the 20 cents they cost.

Much of our experiences are trial and error with the inevitable hit and miss routine. An unexpected bus ride ends at a beach at the other end of town with a decent restaurant a block back. An LRT trial ride the first day became a long sightseeing tour into the hills. We bought their version of a Presto card, put some money on for the return ride, and thought we were smart by not getting off the train and returning to the same station thus avoiding the zone fares. Little did we know that they charge the max rate if you return to your departure station (to get the free loaders like us ). Turned out we did not have enough fare on the card to get off the platform.  Made quick friends with their security and he was happy to recieve a Canada pin.

One day took an inadvertent bus ride through a part of town we did not really want be in, decided to stay on no matter where it went. Turned out it was the last run and was heading to the yard/depot out in the boonies, the driver noticed us after the last stop,  to his surprise (uh oh, still kids on the bus), so dropped us at the entrance of the yard where we hung with the bus employees until the right bus was ready to leave.  Turned out this driver who started off calm and slow, (the heavy metal rock tunes should have foreshadowed what was to come), was the Chilean version of Gilles Villeneuve whipping around hairpin curves, over curbs, backing up steep inclines to make the turn so as not to run over a cliff, WHILE giving change, picking up passengers on the fly, just slowing down slightly, closing the doors on the longer stretches as he picked up speed.  If you can do the Mannix roll you're one step ahead of the  game!

At one point we could see our apartment over two ravines away (so close, yet so far ) but had no idea where we were or how get home, so hung on to our seats and waited for familiar turf before ejecting onto the semblance of a curb.

The Day of the Boxes, continued...

December 26, 2014, cont'd...

Blogger can be a little wonky so I'm posting my writing date at the top as they don't always want to post when I publish them. All photos didn't finish publishing last night so here you go.

The final shot was taken out of our window...a preview of New Year's  Eve we assume.

The Day of Boxes

Friday, December 26,  2014

Today was going to be a recon day to hunt down a German (Ja, das is richtig), restaurant we had heard of through airbnb.ca, so we left our place shortly after noon, slathered with sunscreen for the day's journey.

The route, via Google maps, is a pleasant 1.5 Km  walk....however in Valpo, their ain't no such thing as a straight road, and staircases are included in maps like roads so a teeny weeny distance on a map could be a 111 step steep staircase (I only counted one), and there were a few. However, it was a super day for wandering and checking new routes so that's what we did.  At one point, we could see the road we wanted to be on but had to be creative to get there.

Short story long, we found it, and figured the best reward would be a cerveza, even if the place turned out to be a dump.  Liked the look and feel of the place and ordered a Navidad beer and a lighter beer, both local brews along with Kässler Ribchen, Kartoffeln and Sauerkraut, all of which formed the second best meal I've ever had....note I added Google Translate to the page!

I had to chuckle as a woman across the street sold bottled goods from behind a closed gate across her doorway and a small poodle-like white dog stood in a doorway next door. When I looked again, the wee dog was in the store peering out of the gate and the woman was in the doorway....

Another guy knocked on our restaurant side window and the owner went to the window,  they exchanged pleasantries, the owner went o the back, opened a trap door to the basement, disappeared down under and came back with a pack of bacon for the guy.

Also had to smile at a street vendor trying to sell his wares to a homeless guy in pink spandex tights...not sure how that went...😆

Pics from a few pitstops on the return and a bit of sangria we whipped up at home with some inspiration from one of those stops!

Christmas Day Down The Coast

We woke up to a quiet world this morning here. Since everyone celebrates Chrsitmas Eve, last evening was a build up of voices, music, Spanish songs, barking, cars, and the din escalated steadily until midnight when it hit a crescendo and died. Our high perch was a perfect vantage point from which to take it all in. 

Last night the family below our window had a tree in their backyard with wrapped presents under it, and spent the evening outside with family, food and musica until they unwrapped things very late into the evening - mostly at midnight, and disappeared into their house for the night.

This morning's calm reminded me of a poem, De Stovepipe Hole, and the first line, " Dat’s very cole an’ stormy night on Village St. Mathieu, W’en ev’ry wan he’s go couché, an’ dog was quiet, too " (Spoken with French accent). Even dogs take a holiday it seems. Our friend on the roof included.

We spent a wonderful day with friends Fabio and Vicky as they toured us around Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, and down the coast to places like Reñaca and Concón where there are endless beaches full of Christmas revelers just out enjoying the day, restaurants, beaches etc. There was no real indication that it was Christmas Day really, just another day.

We stopped for lunch at a place which was a combination of picturesque, quaint and eloquent. We watched as seals jumped in the waves, forcing fish to the top for the patiently waiting pelicanos which would dive bomb for their dinner.

We stopped to stroll along a stretch of walkway and had a drink on a patio before making our way back up the hill along the winding roads to our home away from home.

We called home to Ottawa and Hamilton where our families are enjoying turkey dinners and all that they bring. It's sure a weird feeling to be so far apart on this day, but also nice to see different cultures and how others live and celebrate. Happy and sad I guess.

On to New Years and fireworks we missed at the creek on Christmas Eve!

And to all a good night...

Christmas Eve already...

December 24, 2014 and most of the creatures were stirring today.

The grocery store was a ZOO, but a dog still chose to catch a few winks in the entrance as hundreds marched around him.

We ventured out in search of gold, frankincense and myrrrh - spent gold, passed on the Frankenberries, opting instead for the more sensible fruit market, and weren't completely sure what myrrh was, so went the safe route and bought Chilean wine as a reasonable facsimile.

One minor fox paws, we wanted fresh fish and shrimp for tomorrow so went in search of the freshest....ended up on a trolley, and at a very good, cheap, family-run restaurant where they gave us Pisco and Amaretto shots with lunch as a "souvenir". One of us ordered Paella, which we should have shared, I ordered ray fish, a nice white fish. All was excellent and we have enough leftovers of Paella for about 5 meals so don't worry about us going hungry.

Put on a lot of mileage today...10 miles, by our trusty pedometer. Hot and sunny!