An Ode to Valparaiso
(inspired by Pablo Neruda and the city itself)
After a pretty horrific bus journey from Mendoza (10 hours, with an unexpected 4-hour, red-tape entangled border crossing), we arrived in Santiago after midnight. We managed to find a hostel that afforded us a lie-in, then left our bags at the bus station and went to explore the city. We took a turn around a craft market and a park with fountains and a castle-type look-out with great views over the city. Then we tried some coffee from the “legs” cafes, where the waitresses wear short skirts in a hangover from the time of the ultra-conservative dictatorship, when it was…
Click to read on...