valparaiso

     
art de rue -------------------- notre auberge Luna Sonrisa

      
------- plage de vina del mar

   
toujours vina del mar -------------------------art de rue

   
petit marché de rue -----------------

    
nouveau concept de maison --------------------le banc en S

   
la sebastiana (maison de Pablo Neruda) et sa terrasse avec vue sur la baie

   
les funiculaires de valpo (si si ca devrait tenir)

    
maison coloniale

    


    


  
fish and wine = happy karis ----- intricate house arrangement on the hill

   


    
one of those really steep streets w view on the bay

  
colorful streets ------------everyone can fly

  
-----------karis sur le départ (retour à la maison)


after the mammoth bus trip from buenos aires, we were more than ectatic to reach the coast again. we had heard such great thing about valparaiso, so we just had to check it out...save the best for last kind of thing -

we stayed in a wonderful hostal (which i would definately recommend) called luna sonrisa; an old converted home, with wooden floors and high ceilings. oh! and the best breakfasts in the world. at last, not (hard) bread and powdered coffee!! rye and white FRESH bread, salted butter, homemade jams, real filter coffee and fruit. aaaah. this is a great way to end it!!!!

we perused the streets taking photos of the many artistic squares in the steep streets, the multicoloured homes and the spectacular sea views. a downside to this town is that there is no real beach nearby. the first one we came across had tankers perched not too far from the odd (and must be local) brave bather. 

we skipped the idea of being caked in oil and other lovely substances and took the metro-train to vina del mar - quite an upmarket town with a nicer beach, which was absolutely packed with people. 

so whilst we played our last game of bat and ball, ate our last oily empenada and babbled off in spanish, hopefully not for the last time, our last day around the world came to the end. 

like i said before, a great way to end it all...until our next "tour du monde", that is -

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Quelle bonne suprise en arrivant sur Valparaiso (valpo) avec le coucher de soleil. C'est notre dernière destination et la ville est accueillante, les gens vraiment relax et surtout on peut sentir l'air de la mer (qui nous a bien manqué à Buenos Aires).

La ville est très artistique, avec des fresques murales à chaque coin de rue. C'est ici qu'a résidé Pablo Neruda dont la maison 'la sebastiana' avec vue sur toute la baie doit faire des envieux. La ville est construite sur les montagnes et les rues sont donc très pentues, si bien qu'il faut souvent utiliser les funiculaires d'époque pour s'éviter une pénible remontée. L'aventage, c'est que d'en haut, la vue est magnifique. On peut voir le port, la baie et les plages de vina del mar, la cité balnéaire voisine.

La encore, on aura l'occasion de retrouver un bon ami de voyage Chris rencontré en coup de vent a Nasca au Pérou et qui a fait le déplacement pour nous dire au revoir. Lui continue sa route vers le sud et ses parcs naturels avant de remonter par l'argentine. Ca fait un peu mal au coeur de devoir s'arréter là et de s'imaginer ce qui l'attend en Patagonie...

On profite une dernière fois de l'été et de la plage avant de retrouver le grand froid parisien. Après 7 mois de tongues, short et t-shirt, le retour va etre plus que difficile....

santiago

an arb home in the brazil area ----------- seb at the concho y toro fountain

some street art along the way to the metro



las vacas gordas (the fat cows...which are eaten) restaurant --- an abandoned home


the cerro san cristobal ----------------- and the view

we didn't really know what to expect of santiago, and what we encountered was great. capital cities can sometimes be rather disappointing but this one was positive. we arrived midday-ish on the 1st day of 2009 with hardly a soul in the hectically littered streets. it was pretty clear that quite a party was had in this town!

we opted to stay in the brazil quarter which was recommended in the guide books, and seeing that those are like the bible to us, we followed it's advice. having not too much time to waste, we walked the city flat (taking advantage of it's calmness whilst everyone else was recovering) to the cerro san cristobal, which offers a lovely viewpoint over the entire city and surrounding areas.

the second day we visited the concho y toro wine estate which was magnificant...for the price, one would expect so. it is really quite a business with an introductory video of the estate and the wine making process, followed by a tour to the once-home of the melchor family, nearby vines and to the cellar, where we were told a story behind one of their most famous wines - casillero del diablo. i can't forget the wine tasting which took place in two different locations on site; on a shaded balcony for the chardonnay and in the chilly cellar for the cabernet savignon. ot too kak, at all. in the evenings we apéro-ed and dined on the plaza brasil which was lovely.

just as soon as we arrived, we decided to take a little trip (of 20 hours) to buenos aires. why not, right!

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Un petit séjour par Santiago afin de régler les pbs de carte de séjour de Karis nous permet de découvrir cette ville sympatique malgré sa réputation. La ville a beau etre polluée, les rues sont larges et les belles batisses coloniales lui donnent un certain charme. On a l'occasion d'aller sur le cerro san christobal d'ou le pape a béni la ville alors que la ville était en protestation contre le régime politique. De la haut, on apercoit qu'effectivement, on peut apercevoir la cordillère des andes et ses cimes enneigées.

On visite également le domaine viticole de Concha et Toro, une superbe propriété aux alentours de Santiago et des hectares et des hectares de vignes. C'est ici que se fabrique le fameux casillera del diablo, ce vin chilien qu'on trouve partout dans le monde.

Enfin, on profite de la ville pour retrouver qq bons restaurants (notament pour moi le fameux restaurant "la grosse vache" ou les steaks sont délicieux) et qq apéros dans des cafés sympas.

On se motive aussi pour une dernière folie: une escapade de 3 jours à Buenos Aires (20h de bus) ou l'on va retrouver nos amis belges rencontrés au salar d'uyuni en Bolivie, Morgan et Natarcia...

pichelimu

"home" for five days ----------------- contemplation


the buying of fish and seafood --------------------- the feeding of the pelican


pichelimu beach -------------------------------- and sunset



sundowners with marie and ludo



punta de lobos (great surfing spot)




our christmas eve apero on the balcony ------------ the first fireworks of 2009


what a great spot to land up in after endless days of travelling! it made it all worth while. pichelimu is a quaint fishing village where one is able to buy fresh fish and, or seafood off the boats that perch themselves in the sand. we aren't the only visitors as there were numerous dogs (as per usual in chile), seagulls and pelicans who try to chance their luck.

we witnessed a rather tame peli getting fed by a fisherman which was awesome. almost at the same moment, a dog also tried to get a treat which unfortunately ended the show. good bye peli and salty snack for the dog too.

ludo, marie, seb and i rented a little flat one road from the beach with a kitchen, which was ideal for the five days that we would spend there. marie treated us to a few cakes (good pastries are hard to come by in this hood). unfort. they left on the 31st (and partied into the new year with airfrance) and we stayed on to share the pichelimese festivities.

these were quite...different. plastic clown hats, colourful masks and lumo flashing tubes. oh and i can't forget the bottle of "champagne" (we all know that only the REAL champagne comes from france) in hand. unfortunately, there was no countdown and not having a watch, we decided to celebrate a few times. why not, right?! to make up for it, there was a fireworks display that was pretty impressive. that is when we discovered where all the people had got it - the beach was lit up with each explosion and there were thousands of folk in their plastic hats and champagne bottles (empty mostly).

an unique new years eve, just the two of us. that reminds me of a song...that i won't sing or attach as a video. lucky you!

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Pichelimu est un petit village de surfer sur la cote chilienne; un endroit parfait pour terminer les vacances de Ludo et Marie tranquillement apres ces 3 jours de route. On loue un petit appart en bord de mer et on passe les journées a la plage ou alors a manger les délicieux gateaux préparés par Marie.

Pour le nouvel an, on assiste avec Karis en solo (Ludo et Marie nous ont quitté, préférant passer le nouvel an dans l'avion, leur spécialité) au feu d'artifice sur la plage puis on va se méler à la foule qui célèbre ce nouvel an avec champagne et chapeaux de clown. Un nouvel an spécial donc mais vraiment sympa et différent des autres années.