Day 4 - Santiago, Chile to Valapraiso, Chile (Thursday 22 March 2012)

Day 4 – Santiago, Chile to Valapraiso, Chile (Thursday 22 March 2012)

This morning we woke up and got everything organised to head to Valparaiso.  We found the bus station and buses left for Valparaiso every 20 minutes.  It is about 2 hours on the bus and it cost us CH$2.100 each (about NZ$6).  This was our first bus ride on the trip so we were unsure how the system worked.  Apart from the language barrier, it was pretty smooth.  The bus ride was fine but the scenery was very average, and to make it worse there was alot of rubbish on the side of the road!  I noticed alot of road tolls on the bus trip.  This could be because Chileans do not pay income tax (learnt this on the Santiago tour on day 2), so I guess the government has to recover the cost of the roads somehow!

When we arrived into Valparaiso just after lunch, we checked into our hostel (Hostel Licanantay).  We were shown around the place by this American fella and in hindsight Ann and I think he was constantly on the old wacky backy.  He was very relaxed (Valparaisians are not allowed to be called lazy, they call lazy people “relaxed”) and in his own world really.  The hostel is, in simple terms, a piece of sh!t.  The rooms are old and smelly, the kitchen is dated and the bathrooms are scummy.  I’m even considering not having a shower here as I think not having a shower is more hygienic.  Anyway enough about the hostel, I guess that is what backpacking is all about....

We then went for a wander around the city.  It reminded me alot of Wellington with houses all over the hills leading down to the city centre on the waterfront and port, and also trolley buses roaming the streets.  It is however about twice the size of Wellington and the buildings are older.

We then picked up some dinner from the supermarket and headed back to our “earthquake safe” (jokes) hostel.

Tur Bus - https://www.turbus.cl/wtbus/indexCompra.jsf
Valparaiso, Chile - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valpara%C3%ADso
Hostel Licanantay - http://www.hostallicanantay.cl/