That’s not a hill!

On the road, but nearly wasn’t, as I picked up the hire car for the next few weeks from the Santiago airport, and began the drive to Valparaiso about 1hr and 45min east. The car was a piece of Chinese crap - a Cherry. The motor is so tiny it’s top speed is about 90km/hr. But what was more serious was that the petrol tank was almost empty. So the gauge started flashing just as I went past the last servo on the tollway for 100km! I arrived in Valparaiso with 8km left in the tank.

The town itself is unbelievably hilly. Valparaíso played an important geopolitical role in the second half of the 19th century when it served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Straits of Magellan. However with the opening of the Panama canal it's fortunes decreased and a lot of the wealth left the city. But it is an interesting city and is weirdly known as "The Jewel of the Pacific". Valparaíso was declared a world heritage site based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture, but to me it seems to be a lot of old badly built tin buildings painted in a huge number of different bright colours and mostly covered in graffitti! (which is called street art today!).

I will spend tomorrow exploring the town, but once again I have to say that the Chilean food is sensational. Tonight was a huge bowl of Tuna ceviche followed by scallops with a parmesan cheese sauce!