Valparaiso, Chile, Mile 233

Happy Thanksgiving from Valparaiso, Chile's principal port.  I had hoped to be at a bar watching the Redskins' game right now, but could not find one showing the game anywhere, so, being VERY tired anyway, came back to my hotel to write this.

I got on the road a little late this morning, having to wait for the laundromat to open and retrieve my clothes.  Once everything was packed into my saddlebags, I set off from Catemu on a rather in poor repair bunch of back roads.  I set off on Route F-301, which more or less paralleled Autopista 5 and headed towards Hijuelas, a small and insignificant place.  Passing through, I crossed Route 5 and took F-300 in a very small place called Villa Prat.  Ten miles later, I entered La Calera, yesterday's destination.   From La Calera, it was about ten miles to the next town, La Quillota, and it was all urbanized, with a great deal of traffic.

I was now exactly midpoint between Catemu and Valparaiso, so I got on Expedia and reserved a hotel in Valparaiso. With the luck I've been having, I wanted to be sure I had a room.

I then set out on Route 64, a good two lane highway towards Con-con.  Now the fun started.  As I approached the coast, the temperature dropped,  which was nice, but I picked up a strong headwind, which was not so nice.  Then the highway started to climb.  The Valparaiso/Viña del Mar area is a small coastal plain ringed by (relatively, these aren't the Andes) mountains.  I had to climb over them, into the wind.  By about mile 50, I was reassessing my life choices in coming on this trip.  Then I got to the top, I thought, seeing Viña del Mar ahead in the distance, and rocketed downhill a mile or so, past a cool looking aquatic park, and...encountered the worst climb yet, a mile and a half straight up.  This was followed by two miles straight down, at which point I hit 45MPH on the speedometer and at the bottom, I was in Viña del Mar.

Viña del Mar is the Punta del Este for Chile and western South America.  All the beautiful people come there to see and be seen.  It is a collection of luxury hotels, condos and high end restaurants and clubs.  It also contains the first Pizza Hut I've seen in Chile, and I actually had a desire to get one.  Outside of Brazil, pizza is not a Latin American strong point...  Viña del Mar is about six miles north of Valparaiso, and the two cities couldn't be more unalike.  Viña del Mar is all about ostentatious wealth, and the flaunting thereof. Valparaiso is the largest port in Chile, is solidly working class, and is much cheaper, albeit much grittier and a bit more dangerous than most places in Chile.  I rode the coastal boulevard between the two cities, thankfully did not encounter any more hills, and rolled up to my hotel having ridden a total of 61 miles in about six hours.  The hotel has a cafeteria at the entrance and I got what was probably the best lemonade of my life upon arrival.  Or maybe I was just that hot and tired.

Once in my room and cleaned up, I looked for an Italian restaurant on the internet.  When getting this much exercise, pasta is a good food to eat.  The previous nights, I was unable to find any and ate red meat.  Which is nice, but contains no carbohydrates.  In Valparaiso, I found a highly recommended place all of 0.2 miles from the hotel.  Curiously, Google Maps said it was a 7 minute walk, or a 30 minute drive.  I shortly found out why.

The "street" I headed up to the restaurant was not a street.  It was a flight of stairs.  The coastal hills are so close to the water, they defy belief.  I would guess I walked up enough steps to climb somewhere between ten and 15 stories.  It reminds me of Lisbon.  Halfway up those stairs, I passed a bar.  How do they get deliveries?  Where do the beer kegs come from?  Who knows...  Reaching the top, I discovered an immense, beautiful view of the city.  So beautiful in fact that even though I was ravenously hungry, I spent a while wandering around looking at everything.   The upper city (for that is what it amounts to) is an eclectic collection of youth hostels, bars, restaurants and cafes mixed in with houses. It is very obviously gentrifying, and I have a feeling the original residents aren't going to be there much longer.  I found my Italian joint and ended up ordering two lasagnas (I was so hungry I almost ordered three), and enjoyed them immensely.

I took a different route back down, involving switchback stairs and passed, of all things, a bunch of Communist Party of Chile propaganda posters.  Really?  Chile is overrun with Venezuelan illegals who are not, to put it mildly, fleeing capitalism.  I guessed Pinochet missed a few when he was in power.

A couple of observations. I would estimate the population of Catemu to be between 5 and 10% Haitian.  All working, including the administrator of the hostel I stayed at.  I haven't, on the other hand, seen a single Haitian here in Valparaiso.   On today's ride, I crossed a couple of sets of railroad tracks. They did not look right to me.  I finally realized why, they looked too wide.  So I looked it up and discovered Chile uses a 5'6" gauge, while standard gauge in the US and Mexico is 4'8 1/2".  The things you learn on the road.

I may stay an extra day here tomorrow, just to explore the place.  We shall see.