Day 5

A much better night’s sleep had us well prepared for a 9am pick up

We knew it was the same guide that we’d had to take us from the airport so we knew that our ears would be bleeding by the end of the day

Today’s trip was to Valparaiso on the coast, about a 90 minute drive through what we would call mountains although the guide insisted they were only hills

Our first stop was to a place that had one of the statues from the Easter Islands which is about a 4 hour plane ride from here - this was far more convenient

Then back into the car and they took us to the beach for our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean 

I wish I was still filming when Joss went a bit too close to the water’s edge and had to run away as the water hurried towards her, but you can’t have everything

Valparaiso is the hilliest town I’ve ever been to and we drove up to our first harbour view, where the navy could clearly be seen

We also did some cunning souvenir shopping which has really taken the pressure off our day to ourselves tomorrow 

Through all the steep winding streets the houses/walls were decorated with fantastic murals

That shouldn’t mask the fact that there were many houses seemingly held together on the side of a cliff with tape and string just waiting for the next of the frequent earth quakes

At one point we went into a church where the vicar spoke English surprisingly well

We saw our first guard dog - he had some nerve

We also saw a place that reminded us of home

As we turned one corner there was a big crowd and a lot of applause - the woman in the green shirt is due to be the next president of Chile!!!

Then it was time for lunch - we went here

I had an empanada with fries and Joss had fish

Our guide proceeded to put a whole salt pot over her fish - I’d never seen anything like it - still she said her blood pressure was good so who am I to judge

We tried some new beer - lovely

That was it for the tour but it still gave us 90 minutes to fully appreciate how “anti-woke” and Trump loving our guide was. I can’t believe I kept quiet especially when she started on the subject of immigration… I just figured it’s not my country and didn’t want to spoil the day

Back at the hotel and it was time for a mini siesta until 6

Well nearer 6:30 but who’s counting

We got up and ready and went out - we’d already decided on the Peruvian restaurant on the same street as last night

We were first given 6 mini bread rolls that were a mixture of bread and doughnuts along with 2 spicy dips

My tongue was certainly tingling after all of that

We both ordered Pollo Estilo Cordon Bleu - which was chicken stuffed with ham, cheese and spinach, fried with panko breadcrumbs, on an asparagus risotto and topped with a 3 cheese sauce

It looked like this

And it was delicious but so filling neither of us finished it

After that we went searching for a bar

We went in one and sat down only to be told that we had to eat because of their licensing laws

We were too stuffed for that so we went on and found a bar called Pipiolo

We very much enjoyed 2 more beers here before again we were told that we needed to eat

We still didn’t want to so called it a night and the waitress did helpfully point us in the direction of a street with a bar that was just for drinking in - but that was for another night