Stephanie and Ryan: Valparaiso

We woke up early this morning and got our own breakfast together in order to catch our bus to Valparaiso for the day. We made it to the bus station and successfully bought our tickets and hopped on for the 90 minute ride to the port town.

We had another "Tours for Tips" walking tour that met at 10am in the town square. By the time our bus got into the station and unloaded it was 10! Thanks to a really friendly cab driver we made it to the square by 10:05 and our tour was just ready to get started. The driver had CCR playing and I tried to sing him the lyrics in spanish. "Quiero saber, miria la lluvia?" haha!

Anyway, Sydney, a girl from Atlanta was our guide and we took us down to the water first to learn about how the city formed. The port itself was built on landfill that had pushed the shoreline farther and farther back.

We then walked over to the town court. She told us about a statue of lady justice and the meaning behind the posture and props the statue was holding. We took a picture and will remember the story to tell Ryan's Dad, we think he'll enjoy it.

The rest of the tour was spent exploring the city itself. We had fresh cookies a local man was selling, rode an incline to the top of one of the hills, and sampled a pisco sour at the end...All the while surrounded by the most colorful street art! And yes, 2 dogs followed us during the tour, one the first half until the incline, and the second from the incline to the end!

After the tour we had lunch in a small bar/restaurant. I had fried fish again and Ryan ended up with spaghetti and meat sauce. He was in a bad mood because his hamstrings were feeling really tight and somewhat painful but the loosed up by the end of the day.

After lunch we had lattes and dessert on a patio. The cafe had wi-fi so I took advantage and uploaded some pictures. We were fat and happy after our snack and spent the afternoon wandering around taking even more photos.

Our day in Valparaiso ended with a lancha (motor boat) ride into the port to see some of the giant ships up close. We even saw sea lions sitting on some kind of bouy. The guide spoke rapid spanish the whole time to a group of mostly native speakers, 2 other whities, and the token teenaged lovers.

We then grabbed a cab back to the bus station andcame back to the hostel for a minute before heading to dinner. Dinner was at Baton de Inca right near our hostel and was so good! Yucca and grilled fish with rice for me (more fish!) and tacu tacu with steak and fried banana for Ry. Superb!