VALPO!

n Saturday morning, Shayne, Simni and I met at our usual spot -- my corner, across from Colegio Emprender where they work. We decided for a not-so-early start, 9 am, for our long weekend in the port city of Valparaiso. Valpo, as it is more commonly known, is a pleasant two hour bus ride from Santiago. We drove in on Saturday afternoon to find the sun shining and the fog cleared -- a rarity. I think Valparaiso liked us -- and we liked it right back. It reminded me of Funchal, for my family who has been there. It's all hills, with colourful houses perched precariously in every empty space. It all slopes down towards the bay -- port, not beach. There are elevators that get you up, not as classy as the ones in Lisbon, more like the funicular in Quebec City. On a clear day, like the ones we had, the view is amazing. We did some sight-seeing: Pablo Neruda's house (the man was a collector, always fun to see his stuff), a museum dedicated to the famous Chilean cartoonist Lukas, the monument to Chile's naval heroes.

As we have discovered, Shayne, Sinmi and I are more what you might call 'culinary' tourists. We live for our meals and the happy discoveries we make in between. Most of our time was spent squeezing fruit in the market, having late-night coffee on a terrace on Cerro Conception, morning trips for fresh bread to go with our tea. The most memorable meal was not quite in Valparaiso, though. On Sunday we crammed into a collectivo (kind of like a taxi, but with a set route -- they take off as soon as they're full) to Quintay, a little fishing town about 45 minutes from Valparaiso. We made fast friends with Felipe, (a 12th grade kid, goes to Santiago College and therefore spoke perfect English) who was kind enough to let the three of us jam our generous hips into the back seat with him. Quintay has absolutely nothing except fisherman and a few ridiculously delicious seafood restaurants on the beach.

We sat on a patio for the better part of afternoon, taking in our shellfish and the sunset, which we saw for the first time (in Valpo the sun sets behind a hill, much to my disappointment). It was a chill weekend, but very enjoyable. I have a lot of fun with Shayne and Simni. We have similar travel priorities and we share a lot of laughter. The only thing is that we always attract much attention. If I wander down a street by myself I don't feel too conspicuous. I'm a little too pale to be Chilean, but I pass. Sinmi, however, is black, and Shayne is Caribbean mixed Indian-African something or other. They get SO many comments -- and people stare. We hear lots of 'me gusta la morenita!!' and such things. At some point you just have to abandon any pretense of blending in...

Julia (the roommate) is spending July in Valparaiso -- she's doing a Spanish course at the Universidad Catolica. Julia, I think you're going to like it...and I'm going to try to squeeze in another weekend trip....