The Game With Red Bandana Vans

Valparaiso Isla Negra Santiago of February 22 to 28

Our last visit of a very large "city" was in Rio. After experiencing the great outdoors in the South, with a vehicle and not necessarily suited to large cities, it is with (very s) slight trepidation that we arrived at Valparaiso.
Apprehension quickly dissipated as the city quickly turns charming and fascinating.

Located along the Pacific, its port was the obligatory passage of all ships visiting the west coast of American continent before the opening of the Panama Canal. After (or before) the difficult passage from Cape Horn, the sailors were seeking a bit of life and joy (and alcohol) in the hills surrounding the port.
Then Panama abandoned to his fate and the city declined.

we expected in a city abandoned ... it appears to the contrary in full revival. Its inscription as a World Heritage Humanity is probably something.
The hills surrounding the port are covered with low houses of all colors. Some neighborhoods are well maintained, the "Cerros" tourism, other areas remain unsafe and abandoned neighborhoods.

But the overview of the city is striking, apart from the bottom of the port district and a few buildings, the whole town is covered hills with colorful wooden houses. The famous elevator can quickly leave the "lower city" and a leisurely stroll through the streets of "cerros.
This set of colored houses bright prospects of hills very photogenic, a little dilapidated neighborhood, the son ubiquitous power, gives the city a charm with this little bit of nostalgia that makes it lively and engaging.
We loved our 3 days ago that we would have liked longer.

We then a little trip to Isla Negra to visit the home of Pablo Neruda (one of three houses of the poet with that of Santiago and Valparaiso, we also visited ...). This house overlooking the Pacific is transformed into a veritable museum of objects collected by the legendary poet. Poet, successively revered in his country and the world, once banished to the political sympathies, he was exiled in Europe, then ambassador to France under Allende and then literally hedge by the friends of Pinochet. The policemen who were escorting him in his last breath, just days after the coup, he spit up.
short, Pablo Neruda, in addition to his talent as a writer and poet, is in a very turbulent recent history of Chile, and visiting his house-museum is fascinating.

We then take the road to Santiago, 115 km away. Polluted, congested, noisy, between negative feedback from other travelers and guides not really excited, we arrived in the capital of Chile in reverse.
And surprise ... we find the city quite airy, not too noisy or ugly, with a beautiful Plaza of Armas, Cerro San Cristobal a semi-tropical greenery, overlooking the town and allows us to admire his situation ... nestled at the foot of the Andes with peaks over 5000 m, there is still worst neighborhoods in mind "bohemian", lots of trees and vegetation ...
Santiago reveals the strengths that we were not expecting. It

Santiago we will get the parents of Alexander for a small family wagon that arrives well in the middle of our trip before the Northern Highlands ...