We will become art and wine connoisseurs

After our quite exciting ascent of the Villarica volcano, we expected a small town by the sea in our next stop Valparaíso. If we had looked a little closer beforehand, we would have noticed that this is a city of considerable size where vibrant life takes place. Due to our somewhat unrealistic expectations, we were initially not so pleased with our arrival: the neighborhood around the bus station greeted us at 8 o'clock in the morning with a strong smell of fish, dirt, garbage, and shady characters. The consequences of the uprisings are also visible everywhere - sometimes even stronger than in Santiago. However, a few hours later we were totally fascinated and spent three great days in the city of hills by the sea.

A big part of this was our hostel, which is located in a particularly well-restored old town villa - the probably largest and most beautiful shared bathroom of all times was a real highlight. I (Tabea) have to say that we have had a lot of success in finding accommodations. As a rule, we look for hostels and book a double room with shared bathroom and kitchen. In the evenings, we often use this time for corresponding research in order to find a nice temporary home far away from home.

Valparaiso is a mecca for artists and art lovers. There are not only countless studios and shops with handmade things, but the city itself is a work of art. Street art and especially architecturally exciting and very colorful houses line the various hills. The easiest way to get to them is with the so-called Ascensores - lifts on the slope, in which a gondola is lowered and a second one is raised in the opposite direction. This is how we enriched our city walks. All of this is combined with great cafes and restaurants and an overall very relaxed atmosphere. We found it simply super pleasant. Our host mother in Pucón had warned us in advance that crime in Valparaiso is particularly high and that we should not go there at all. So, we took extra care of our belongings, but we couldn't find anything particularly threatening.

Nevertheless, we took a half-day trip to the countryside to experience a little bit of Chile's wine culture and cultivation in the Casablanca Valley nearby. So far, we had only been able to taste Chilean wine for dinner with our host parents. With the public bus and short taxi rides, we went to two different wineries. In the first one, we were told how cultivation works in Chile's only organic winery (even alpacas have a share here). We tasted plenty at both addresses. In short: we were already quite tipsy for the second time early in the afternoon, so it was a successful and, well, cheerful :) outing.