VALPARAÍSO - City of Dog Poop

Accommodation

For the first time, our accommodation in Valparaíso was with a so-called Superhost, Renato. Renato is a beer brewer and his entire equipment for the production of canned beer "Viejo Divino" is distributed throughout the flat. When you wander through the house, you are constantly accompanied by a hoppy smell of barley and malt. In the kitchen, there is also a draft system where you could tap one beer for 3000 pesos or two beers for 5000 pesos. The house, like so many other coastal cities, is in the tsunami danger zone and does not have heating and windows with single glazing. Staying with Renato was very cool and we had dinner with him and his son on the last day. The only two weaknesses were the shared bathroom and a missing shelf in the bedroom. All in all, the houses in Valparaiso can be described as functional, because now and then you even see tin huts and some of the "houses" are also built directly on the slope.

SIM card

We were able to continue using the SIM card from Santiago.

Sightseeing

Here too Pascal had to work a lot and, unfortunately, he got sick again. That's why I explored the area a lot on my own. You had to pay attention to every step because the numerous dogs that roam freely in the alleys left ENDLESS dog piles. Really annoying.

Transport

The two possibilities were (1) train and (2) so-called Micros, or small buses. According to Renato, the train ride is very pleasant, but since you have to buy a separate card for it and it is also a bit more expensive than the Micro, we decided against it. In another kind of pleasant way (or not) are the buses, because the bus drivers are very rabid and fast on the road. So you get shaken up decently and have to be careful that you don't fall out of the sometimes open door during the ride.

Food and Drink

Here you can eat a lot of fish because it's a port city. Pascal and I ate starter (beef soup or ceviche) and fish in a spelunking restaurant (we unfortunately didn't find the name) for 6000 pesos each. My choice was Merluza (hake) - and it was sooo delicious! Our thriftiness was unfortunately ruined by the two fruit juices I accidentally ordered for 4500 Pesos each - oops! Furthermore, we went for coffee and ate Frutilla de Chilean (strawberry fruit sticks) on Playa Caleta Portales beach. Pascal also bought two different types of fish at the market, which we prepared at home with salad and fried vegetables. At the Naval y Maritimo Museo, we ate our first Completo for 2500 Pesos - a hot dog with chopped tomatoes and avocado cream. What we noticed in the local fruit and vegetable shops is: The stuff looks just like foodsharing. Very confusing?! Why does a shop that specialises in these foodstuffs sell such bad goods? Some of the laid out things were really already infested with mould...

Cafes and Restaurants

Unfortunately, we could not find out the names of the cafés and restaurants afterwards.

Plants and Animals

At the beach you could discover both pelicans and seals (Lobos). These were also waddling along the beach promenade once looking for fish leftovers. My goodness, really huge, these animals...

Number of Germans in the City

2 observed cases at Cerro Alegre.

Contact with locals

Here too, you are warned by grandmothers about mobile phone thieves. Renato said that he does not like to stay outside his house in Valparaíso in the evening, as it is not particularly safe.

People met

Renato, Renato's son, Renato's roommate Hans (also spoke English), a young couple from Santiago and a young skateboarder at the pier, French couple (the woman kept dropping everything)

Expenses

On site we neither bought souvenirs nor other nice things, only food and drinks.

Standard stand offer

Fruit and vegetables, plastic Christmas baubles and kitschy tablecloths, children's toys for Christmas, fairy lights, artificial Christmas trees

Laundry

For 5000 Pesos we were able to wash our laundry (washing machine at Renato's was broken).

Unsolved Mysteries

At the beach there are super many people selling Frutilla con Chocolate (fruit sticks with chocolate coating, 2500 Pesos), Helado (ice cream) and Mojitos (2500 Pesos). Moreover, a gentleman offered us a foot massage, who allegedly has a "certificate" in it. When we declined, he also offered us "Happy Cookies" - wonder what was in there?;) According to Renato (our host), all these beach vendors, as well as those who have fruit stalls at the market, are immigrants from the surrounding countries who do not have a residence permit and therefore are not allowed to work officially.

Currency

Still Chilean Pesos.

Bus to Lebu

For the route Valparaíso - Concepción we paid a total of 26000 pesos. The ride was with Condor. In Concepción we arrived at 20:00 and had to wait until 3:00. In the bus of the company Pullman we then had two Cama seats (bed, more comfortable than Semi-Cama) in which we could sleep the rest of the ride. The second part cost 20000 Pesos. Our new host Héctor picked us up with his dog Polo at the bus station at 5:45.