VALPARAISO - travel in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, Chile

Cruise Travel, Sept, 2000

Historic Port Offers A Warm Welcome To Chile --And The Seaside Resort Of Vina Del Mar

Valparaiso--or Valpo, as it is known--is linked at the hip, and the beach, to Vina del Mar, the lush, upscale resort and playground for Chileans. Port lecturers, guide books, and locals all encourage visitors to take in both Valpo and Vina. The former shows its age--Valparaiso was founded in 1536. Vina, on the other hand, has a certain sparkle. Where Valpo has a wealth of history to offer, Vina simply has wealth--plus the famous Casino Municipal, where the wealthy come to be separated from their pesos.

Valpo's streets, along the port, are lined with warehouses long past their usefulness--buildings that once entertained ships' crews with gambling, booze, and bawdy houses. The waterfront of Valparaiso speaks volumes of seafaring history--of the days when Valpo was the link to the rest of the world for most of South America. But Valpo was a long time evolving into an efficient port; it was not until the late 1800s that the port built docks. Prior to that, ships anchored offshore, with all loading and unloading done by brutal, back-breaking manual labor, with longshoremen sometimes standing in water up to their chins.

Valpo's atmosphere is "old." Dating to the 1800s, La Nave, an appropriately named tavern, still draws the local fishing industry. It's located in the heart of Customs Square, the center of the seaport activities. So enticing was this "scruffy" part of town that one could find--and occasionally still can find--legislators and writers among the usual mix of merchant mariners and sailors. The cigarette smoke hangs heavy, the beer and wine flow freely, and the conversation runs from serious, emotional politics, to grousing about the lack of skills of certain soccer teams.

The city itself sits on 45 hillsides. To combat those hills, Chileans developed a system of funiculars, scattered throughout Valparaiso. The small cable-car contraptions have their own history--the oldest operating one has served more than 130 years. But before embarking on a ride to the top, visitors arriving at the city dock should get out their cameras and begin capturing the harbor. Colorful boats are skittering everywhere, taking locals and visitors on 30-minute tours of the commercially busy harbor.

The Valpo harbor is also home to a detachment of the Chilean navy. Here, on September 10, 1973, the navy fired the first shots announcing the military coup--the beginning of the junta lead by the now-infamous Augusto Pinochet. A word of caution: Passengers aboard the tour boats are warned not to take pictures of the naval vessels. Oddly, the navy holds frequent open houses aboard these very same ships, and there is no restriction on taking pictures from the shore.

Walking the streets of the hills is a history lesson. The stylistic mix of Spanish, English, and "cluttered" offer excellent photo ops. On Concepcion Hill the nearby squalor gives way to some of the luxury of the past. The British penchant for expanse and views is evident in the construction of still-handsome and elegant structures. The architecture of the downtown area coupled with the European complexion of most Chileans gives Valpo a very London look and feel. The famous Blue House is one example of the city's awareness of "style" amid the fatigue of an ancient port. There's even a castle--imposing, colorful, and definitely an echo of Valpo's rich history; once owned by a European man of means, today it is home to the Santa Maria University.

Almost any neighborhood will have a small shop where visitors can indulge themselves in a Chilean tradition, the empanada, dough rolled and baked with chopped beef, cheese, chicken, or other delicacies inside. Taken along with a beer, an empanado break is as Chilean as it gets. Don't be afraid to try humitas, the corn tamale; or lomo a lo probre, a big chunk of beef topped with a couple of fried eggs and a mass of chips. Then there are parilladas, a feast not for the faint-of-heart--the dish contains the innards of cows and is served with a heavy blood sausage. The exotic curanto--a dish of fish, shellfish, chicken, pork, beef, lamb, and some potatoes--takes some getting used to, but it beats the blood sausage.

Chileans frequently top off their meals with a pisco sour, made from the muscatel grape. The pisco brandy is mixed with lemon juice, egg whites, and some powdered sugar. You have to like muscatel--and egg whites. What Chileans do not wash food down with is coffee. It's virtually impossible to find a real cup of coffee in all of Chile, so successful has been the brain-washing of the Nestle Company. Chileans believe Nescafe is a real cup of coffee. Even in the toniest of establishments, a request for a cup of coffee will bring out the jar of powder. The closest thing to real coffee is cortado, or espresso, and of course that's a powerful cup of joe.

September 18th is Chile's Independence Day, and Valpo, like other cities, becomes one big festival. From October through February, Sundays in Valpo are turned over to the children. A square mile of the city is set aside for a festival with and for the children that ranges from plays, puppet shows, singing, games, dances, and contests, to just about anything else to honor the younger generations. Perhaps that is one reason Chilean children seem to always smile at strangers.