Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

Our first day in Santiago was not actually in Santiago.  We had planned long before arriving to go to Valparaiso for a day while staying in Santiago.  It came recommended from several different people.  It was also our public transport day.  After sleeping in (finally!) we hopped on one of the many buses that criss-cross South America and rode for about 1 1/2 hours to Valparaiso.  It turns out the long distance buses here are really nice because the trains are terrible and the flights are so expensive.

A very helpful tourist office worker marked up a map for us upon arrival and we took a rickety furnicular up to the top of Cerro Alegre (Alegre Hill) and walked for hours around there and Cerro Concepcion.  This cute city sits between the Pacific Ocean and the hills.  The port takes up almost all the real estate along the water, and the houses climb the hills around it.
Combine lots of hills with Valparaiso's tradition of painting their homes bright colors and you get some colorful vistas!  There was a ton of graffiti, with a lot of it from really talented artists.  We even found a great place for lunch called Fauna, where we got really good Pisco sours (Peruvian style) and good views of the surrounding hills.

A view of the surrounding hills

Graffiti everywhere!

In a colorful town, the graffiti
is even more colorful

There are some really talented
artists here

The local buses were a bit of an adventure

Then, we hopped on a local bus to head up the road to Vina del Mar, which was a bit of an adventure.  The beaches themselves are pretty and narrow.  They were also packed!  According to the guidebooks, half of Santiago empties out to these beach towns in January.  Unfortunately it was cloudy by the time we got to the beach, so we only spent a couple hours there before heading back to Santiago.  It was still a very late dinner by the time we got back.

Beachfront views

Beaches in Vina del Mar

Next Stop: Back to Santiago