December 9, 2017

  The morning was crisp at a temperature of 49 F (9 C) clear sky and little wind. We walked to the San Antonio bus station before breakfast to buy our tickets to Valparaiso for later this morning and then returning next Thursday.  We were gone less than 45 minutes. There was a bit of miscommunication for the return ticket since the agent originally gave us a return ticket for today, but it was corrected easily. As we walked back to the hotel we could see the marine layer cloud coming in toward the land.  By breakfast the sky was cloudy, but started to clear later as we walked to the catch our bus.

   Breakfast was served in a room of about seven tables set for two, with a great view of the harbor and the marine layer of cloud hovering just outside of the harbor entrance. After breakfast, we followed Jan and Doug down the hill to the bus station. We stopped at the Totttus supermarket for a 1.6 liter bottle of water. We are taking the same bus to Valparaiso at 10:55. The bus trip took about 95 minutes.

   The scenery was woodland on hills and in valleys, at first interspersed with some fields. As we accessed the highway outside and above San Antonio, we looked to the coast and could see the marine layer cloud, but not the ocean.  From the highway, you could see the foothills of the coastal mountain range. As the bus turned from the highway to go into the town of Laguinillas, the large roundabout center had a circle decorated with three wine barrel piles. The next town was Casablanca, where the bus made at least six stops to pick-up people.  Around Casablanca, vineyards could be seen on either side of the highway. Some of the grape vines looked young.

Back on the highway, we passed a church which may have been the site to where pilgrimages travelled on Friday, judging from the sudden appearance of litter scattered for several miles.  Traffic was slow once we arrived on the outskirts of Valparaiso, but the bus station was within 10 minutes of the city limits. We said good-bye to Doug and Jan and found the information kiosk to get advice on how to get to Waddington Loft, where we are staying. We had picked it three months ago, before the cruise ships changed their port to San Antonio. It was a little over one kilometer from the passenger terminal, however it was more than six kilometers from the bus station on the other side of Valparaiso.  We were told where to find the bus stop for bus #510 and to others that would drop us off within 100 meters of Waddington Loft.  The stop was less than five minutes away and we had a short wait to catch the bus. Twenty-five minutes later we were at our destination. The cost was 400 pesos each (80 cents Canadian).

   The Waddington Loft is situated on a busy street near the intersection of Great Britain Avenue and Errázuriz Street in the Playa Ancha neighbourhood.  It is a large house that has been converted into four compact apartments. It was built in 1909 and declared a historic conservation building in 2004. The renovation did not replace the 100 year old single pane windows or sound proof the walls and floors between units. You can even hear bare feet on the floor above, let alone the leather soled shoes. We have earplugs. You can hear the conversations of people walking past the living room window. Luckily the bedroom is in the back.

    After unpacking we explored the area and walked to the top end of the Artilleria funicular cable car 175-meter route, which is across the street from the Naval Museum. This 1893 built funicular is one of 22 funiculars in Valparaiso. It originally carried staff from the naval school up to the building now the museum.  We had great view of the harbor from the route we walked and at the viewpoint by the museum.  There were many Chilean Navy vessels moored in the harbor.  We found a stairway (escaleras) leading down to the Plaza Aquana, a street away from the cargo port and close to the cruise ship passenger terminal. Descending the stairway, we had a view of the avenue Errázuriz which runs along the port fences.  We heard honking and a procession of 30 or 40 buses and cars with green and white flags was going somewhere.

   We walked around the area and found Plaza Sotomayor, where a walking tour leaves from several times each day.  There is a monument to the wars that Chile fought in the late 19^th century. One side commemorates the Battle at Arica at El Morro in the town of Arica that we visited early in the week. We walked over to the pier where there were stalls and souvenir stands and found a larger Information center and got better maps and advice on how to get to Viña del Mar by bus. We felt very safe walking around. We found a bar and ordered a Pisco Sour and a Chilean beer, Cristal. We had walked 12,791 steps (about 5.5 miles). Then we walked back to the stairway by the funicular and back to the apartment, but did not find a supermarket just several convenience stores.  We stopped at one and bought a few items for tomorrow’s breakfast.  The temperature was about 67, but felt warmer in the sun.  The sky was mainly sunny.

   After we put away our purchases we looked at the tourist information and compiled our list of comments for the Celebrity Infinity cruise survey that was emailed the day we left the ship.

   For dinner, we walked a block away to a tiny pizza restaurant and ordered individual pizzas.  When they arrived, they were 10-inch pizzas! One was chorizo sausage, tomato and cheese while the other was chicken, mushroom, corn, green pepper and lettuce.  We each took half back to the apartment and we have tomorrow’s dinner in the fridge.  The beer to go with the pizza was another Chilean one called Royal Guard Black Label.

  We returned to the apartment and read and worked on the blog.  Total steps today 16,713.