Valparaiso, Chile - March 14, 2016

The first half of our cruise ended here in Valparaiso.  We docked at the shipyard, surrounded by Chilean navy vessels, tankers and container ships.  With about 60% of the passengers leaving the ship, there was a big turnaround day.  In order to go ashore, we had to take the shuttle bus.

There were several geocaches we could do here, but we quickly realized that in order to do them, we would have to take taxi's and go to some rather shady areas of town.  All passengers had been advised to be very careful in this port city.  Instead we decided to take the shuttle bus out of the port area and walk to the "mall".  Actually, we were interested in checking out the Chilean wines.


(from Wikipedia) ....  Nicknamed "The Jewel of the Pacific", Valparaíso was declared a world heritage site based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture. In 1996, the World Monuments Fund declared Valparaíso's unusual system of funicular lifts (steeply inclined carriages) one of the world's 100 most endangered historical treasures. In 1998, grassroots activists convinced the Chilean government and local authorities to apply for UNESCO world heritage status for Valparaíso. Valparaíso was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. Built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Valparaíso has a labyrinth of streets and cobblestone alleyways, embodying a rich architectural and cultural legacy. 

Somewhat hazy photo of the harbour with city and mountains in background

Part of the Chilean navy

Apparently anything you do in this country turns out to be an adventure.  Just walking to the mall from the exit to the port area proved to be a huge challenge.  Stop signs are just a suggestion and the pedestrians simply walk where they choose.  Being obvious tourists, we left anything of value, including our big camera on the ship.

Our quest was to have a look at the Chilean wines of which we have a good selection in our local liquor stores.  We really did  hit the jackpot here but of course we could not bring any on board the ship, so we just looked and went "ahhhhh".  Had to take some photos though as this was a really nice store.

The prices on the wines were incredibly cheap.  Just do a conversion from the Chilean peso to Canadian dollar and see.  We actually did buy two large boxes of Chilean carmenere and chardonnay.  We could bring these aboard the ship safely through the scanner.  Interestingly, when we cashed out, we used our US dollars and the poor girl got so confused (just like us) that when we got back to the ship, we realized she had given us a double conversion.  Now we REALLY got a good deal!

On our next port, we did a winery tour where this wine was produced

This city could stand another visit from us.  We just did not have the time to do it justice at all.  Valparaiso has a curious mixture of buildings old and new.  There are also many stately buildings reminiscent of London.  The British have had a strong influence in Chile for well over a century and there is still a sizeable British community.

Tall ship, part of the navy

It was actually quite interesting to walk around the ship and watch all the activity in the port.  Also, our balcony on the port side, gave us a nice warm sunny afternoon to relax with a nice glass of Carmanere  and a good book.