Valparaíso

Valparaíso is famous for its colourful houses, steep hills and many funinculars going up and down and all over the place.
We arrived here at the second attempt, having overslept the previous morning. It almost happened again after a few too many Piscolas (pisco and coke) the night before, but we managed to drag ourselves onto a bus.
It is a port city in a bay full of huge container ships and some Chilean navy boats almost as big.
Seeing the queues for the first funincular we came across, we opted to walk up the hill. It was tough going, especially with our hangovers, but worthwhile to see all the funny little houses and a great view of the port from the top.
Back down the hill again and we had a wander around the centre and went tweezers shopping, don't ask. (I can explain why! Tom lost my whole toiletry bag a couple of days before :p - Vera) We also met a couple of student types whose job seemed to be to help lost looking tourists with hangovers, ideal! They directed us to 'the world's oldest funincular', not sure about that but it was certainly terrifying. At the top of that one we found more great views, lots of street art, lots of postcard sellers and Beethoven Street, complete with piano staircase.
After a spot of tea we hopped back on the bus to Santiago.

Unfortunately our fuzzy morning heads had meant we had managed to bring the camera without its memory card, rationing us to only a dozen or so photos for one of South America's most photogenic cities, bugger. It also means those few photos are stuck on the camera until such time as we can find a cable to fit it. Watch this space.Read more