Santiago & Valparaiso

(4 – 6 Feb)

On the evening of the 3rd Feb, while we were still in Peru, the owner of the hostel that we’d booked for our trip to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) sent us a message to say that the weather conditions in the Atacama Desert were terrible, and that huge amounts of rain had caused widespread flooding. Most of the attractions and sights that we were planning on seeing were closed and the forecast did not predict any improvements by the time we were to arrive. Therefore, he advised that it might be better if we could change our plans.

Great! The world’s driest desert decided to flood as a welcome to the rain makers (our new self-appointed title).

This happened to be almost the only part of our trip that we’d booked in advance so a change of plans would mean changing flights, accommodation and car hire.

Since we had already paid for accommodation and couldn’t change the dates too much, the best option seemed to be to squeeze in a 4 day trip to Bolivia from San Pedro to escape the bad weather and then return to San Pedro for the remainder of our ‘pre-paid’ nights.

This change meant a last minute visa application in the half day that we had in Santiago, yay! You can imagine how excited we were following our unsuccessful Colombian visa experience.

Our flight from Cusco to Santiago landed at about 3am, so we decided to book an apartment at the last minute fairly close to the Bolivian embassy so that we could have a nap and a shower before attempting to get the visa.

Our arrival was not uneventful. We’d decided to get an Uber into town as it was less than half the price of a regular taxi. The first Uber went to a different location and then bailed on us thanks to the communication struggles. But luckily we managed to connect with the second one.

We eventually arrived at our accommodation around 4:00am. Or at least where we thought the apartment was, but there was no name or sign up.

Our driver was very sweet and after doing a lap around the block to try find the correct place, he came with us to the reception to make sure that it was correct.

It was, thankfully, except that the doorman did not have a record of our booking. This is all a bit frustrating at 4:30 in the morning. A few phone calls later and they finally let us in.

Just enough time for sleep and a shower.

In order to apply for the visa, you need a fair amount of paper work. You can either apply at the border for 100USD, or at an embassy for free. As the requirements are the same, we decided to attempt the free option.

At least then we would also be sure that we would have the visa.

We headed off to an internet Cafe to start arranging all the documents we needed – luckily we came across a South African blog about the process at the embassy so we managed to get the necessary paperwork printed.

We then rushed off to the embassy. Once there we learnt that they had two application slots for the day – an early slot (8:00 – 13:00) and afternoon slot (16:00 onwards). If you submit your application in the early slot you can collect your visa during the afternoon slot already. But if you submit in the afternoon you have to wait to the next day.

We got there just after 12:00, grabbed a ticket and then sat holding thumbs that we’d make it for the early slot. It wasn’t looking likely as we were about 40th in the queue and service was slow.

As the time got closer to 13:00 our chances looked more and more grim. But as luck would have it, it seemed that many people had left as they saw their chances of being helped disappear. The official called off a string of numbers from about 4 to 10 (we were number 38) without anyone coming forward. So we jumped up and asked if we could go.

Success! He agreed to help us ahead of a few other people there. So we got our application in. We walked out the office at 12:57. What luck.

It seems we were the last applications for the morning slot, and they had an express option for 30 USD which meant we could collect our passports again at 4pm the same afternoon! We went and collected our bags and then headed to a mall close to the embassy to have lunch and sort out a Chilean Sim card.

At 4pm we collected our passports, with approved visas (phew!!) and headed off to the bus station to go to Valparaiso, our first destination in Chile.

We’d been using Uber all day, but it was interesting to learn that it’s still not fully legal in Chile. So the drivers ask that one person sits up front with them to try and avoid the attention of the police.

The bus ride to Valparaiso was only about 2 hours and we arrived around 7pm. Luckily the sun sets quite late.

We planned to spend two nights in Valparaiso – one in a hostel with shared facilities and one night in the Winebox Hotel, which is made up of shipping containers and seemed like an interesting option (and another use of the gift from Wilson).

Valparaiso, or Valpo, is a coastal town that is known for its street art and steep hills.

Our first night at Hostel Casa plan, was at the bottom of the hills, fairly close to the center of town. Our host was extremely friendly and informative and gave us a map detailing his suggestions for food and self guided art walks.

The old building is beautiful and the rooms are spacious. All the bathrooms are shared, but fortunately this was never a problem.

We decided to go for dinner at one of the seafood restaurants he recommended and had our first glimpse of the streets.

There literally is graffiti everywhere! Most of the artworks are really cool, only a few boring tags here and there.

The weather that evening was lovely and we enjoyed the walk to find the restaurant.

The next day, we dropped off our laundry and headed off on our self guided tour. The weather wasn’t as nice as the day before, quite overcast, but not cold at least.

In addition to the graffiti, the buildings on the hills are also quite interesting. Many have corrugated iron sheet cladding and mostly not higher than double storey, almost typical of what you might expect from an old fishing/port town. Many houses were quite small and cramped on top of each other and tucked into the nooks and crannies as dictated by the hilly topography.

There are a series of feniculars across the town which our host recommended, to avoid the very steep hills. They’re cheap and offer good views, so we were off to a good start!

We spent the rest of the morning admiring all the art and stopped at Fauna Hotel for a drink on their terrace.

Then it was time to check into the Winebox!

Perched on a corner near the top of one of the hills, the hotel was created after the kiwi owner got inspired by the container construction used in New Zealand after the earthquake in Christchurch.

We were quite intrigued by the hotel as container construction seems like such a good idea and we’ve seen a few examples at design shows over the years but never actually experienced it ourselves.

The hotel is very colorful and our room was nice, although we felt the layout could have been improved – a big part of the main living space is a kitchenette but considering that it’s a hotel not a hostel, we’re not sure how much this would actually be used. A more comfortable lounge would have been better.

We headed up to the rooftop to figure out the finer details of our trip to Atacama and enjoy our welcome drink.

The view was magnificent and the weather had improved significantly.

The welcome drink turned out to be more like a welcome taster of wine, but luckily it was happy hour so we ordered a proper glass after the freebie.

There isn’t a restaurant at the hotel so we decided to head out for burgers at another place suggested by our previous host. The burgers were better than the seafood of the previous night and we managed to get a table outside! Winning!

Overall, our night at the Winebox was fine, but not as good as we’d expected. It felt a little bit like they relied too much on the novelty of staying in containers instead of going the extra mile to make it really cool and practical, which it could be.

Upcycling is great but there are certain comfort levels that should be maintained at a hotel, especially within their price bracket. It’s not exorbitant but certainly more than a hostel and yet the facilities aren’t much better.

We really enjoyed our short visit to Valpo. It’s such a colorful city, literally, with good food and drinks in between, but the time had come to see what awaited us in the desert.