Ask anyone in Chile where you should visit while you’re here and they’ll all say Valparaiso – or ‘Valpo’ as the cool kids call it. So we hopped on a bus from Santiago and two hours later found ourselves in this crazy little port town.

Unfortunately we’d arrived on Sunday and it wasn’t so much crazy as sleepy! Nothing was open – so we had a quiet afternoon entertaining ourselves at the hostel before heading out for a bite to eat. In Valpo (yep – I’m now a cool kid) the local specialities are Chorrillana – basically fried potatoes, fried beef, sausage, fried onion and pepper and an egg on top (fried, of course) and Pisco Sours (alright – they’re a speciality all over Chile, Bolivia and Peru. But calling it a local speciality justifies its regular purchase, right…?). Anyway we ordered three of each. Turns out a portion of Chorrillana is best shared between two if not three people! You live and learn, eh…

The next day we headed out early (10am is early, right?) and joined about 20 others for a Free Walking Tour of the town. This was a great way to explore the higgledy-piggledy maze of steep streets and narrow alleyways that make up the old part of Valpo. Our guide, Andrea, is an Architecture student and spoke excellent English. Right from the start of the tour we were accompanied by a pack of wild dogs. They were pretty friendly to us but vicious with each other and regularly and randomly tried to attack people (usually single males) who walked by. Fortunately after about 1/2 hr we caught one of the funiculars up a hill and managed to lose the dogs.

Valpo is famous for its colourful houses nestled in amongst its many hills and the graffiti murals which decorate any and every blank wall. It really comes alive after 9pm when the shops and restaurants are in full swing and the locals come out to eat and party. Definitely a cool place to just hang out and soak up a bit of Chilean culture!