Cactii and stargazing
Day 225 – Vicuña, Chile Vicuña is a town dedicated to Gabriela Mistral, a famous Chilean poet who was born here. So the main plaza is named for her, there is a museum dedicated to her, and so on. I will have to find some poem to learn more! Vicuña is also in the centre…
La Serena
Day 219-223 – La Serena, Chile La Serena is a coastal city, with a colonial city centre, huge apartment blocks on the outside and a long beach. I didn’t avail myself of the later, but I enjoyed the city centre with its Plaza de Armas, and in particular the Japanese Garden. I especially liked the…
Transit Day
Day 218 – La Serena, Chile I woke almost early today -I had a bus to attempt to catch. My hostel informed me that they couldn’t really call a taxi for me, people were rather using Uber here. Since I wasn’t feeling like installing the app, I decided to catch a taxi at my usual…
Adventures in Valparaiso
Day 217 – Valparaiso, Chile Today was a series of little frustrations. (Well, the breakfast at the hostel was good, so the day started well.) I took out my nap of the city and decided to tour the area outlined as being a UNESCO Heritage site. I went down to the harbour (very commercial, little…
French people in Chile
Day 216 – Valparaiso, Chile I had decided to stay a few more days in Valparaiso to enjoy the city a little more. But I wasn’t going to stay in my expensive hotel -where the mattress is so soft that I woke up with a back ache. So I went looking for a hostel, and…
Happy New Year!
Day 215 – Valparaiso, Chile Happy New Year everybody! I took advantage of the quiet of a morning after a big party to visit the open-air museum, a specific section of Valparaiso known for its murals. The morning after was a great idea, lack-of-people-wise. Not so great, spilled-beer-and-other-unnamable-liquids-wise. Just have to occasionally plug your nose…
End of a year
Day 214 – Valparaiso, Chile I had an interesting beginning today. When I bought my bus ticket, I asked the staff member who helped me where was the bus terminal. She pointed to a metro station which I already knew was a bus terminal. So… I went directly there. With plenty of time because well,…
Seven months today
Day 213 – Santiago, Chile Seven months since I left! I’ll admit to start feeling some travel fatigue -or is it the just the heat? It is Summer here! This morning I innocently asked the staff at the hostel to help me find a bus ticket to go to Valparaiso tomorrow, the 31st. I say…
Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art
Day 212 – Santiago, Chile I was resolved to visit the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art this morning. It is roughly 200m from my hostel, so since I left 10 min before opening time, I decided to detour through the post office to buy a stamp. It so happens that the post office opens at…
Santiago
Day 210 – Santiago, Chile It’s hot out there. I arrived last night without any major fuss. I’m two hours behind Easter Island, so I only have a four-hour difference with France now. Signs at the airport advise to buy transportation before leaving the building to avoid any scam… if it’s officially signalled, I guess…