Good Bye Santiago; Hello Valparaiso!

Poor Patte!  She lost her IPhone, sunglasses, two Clutches and a pen, not to mention her purse, yesterday.  But she took it like a champ and was grateful to have brought her bright, shiny new IPad with her!  And we all agreed—it did not hinder our developing love for this country and its’ delightful people!

We bid a fond farewell to Santiago, Chile, its’ beautiful street art, and its’ “mini Burj Khalifa” and Ubered it two hours to Valparaiso, Chile.



We arrived in Santiago and the REAL FUN began!  Who looked more confused, Mike or our driver?


We drove this way, then that way, then this way, and back that way, trying, oh so hard, to find our boutique hotel, Casa Vander!  Luckily, the street art entertained us along the way (at least for Patte and I)!





We stopped several times to ask for directions, to no avail.   The last time we stopped, our driver left the car to ask where Casa Vander was located.  Would you believe, we were told to get out right where we had stopped, walk up a ramp and an “elevator” (which cost 10 cents per person) would take us to our hotel!  Here’s our Uber driver—he truly had the patience of Jobe!


And here’s John paying the elevator operator the 40 cent’s for the ride of a lifetime!


And, oh dear Lord, that elevator took us up the steepest tracks we’ve ever seen!  Believe me when I say, this picture does NOT do it justice!


But, lo and behold, right after we exited the elevator (and after a quick prayer of thanks that we survived), there she was…our Casa Vander in all her glory!


We had to drag our suitcases up some narrow steps to arrive in reception.


Smack dab in the middle of the smallest reception area you’ve ever seen was the entrance to a bar!  Yup, they cut a hole, installed the tiniest spiral staircase they could find, and voila! 


Oh, and it wasn’t long before we were told, “There is no elevator!”


Somehow we all made it upstairs to our rooms (I need to take pictures—the rooms have no closets and half of a bathtub!  You can’t make this stuff up!  But our view certainly made up for anything lacking!


That little rickety building that housed the elevator that got us up the darn hill (mountain) to our hotel was right outside our window!



Here’s a better view of it! It is etched in our minds forever!


We walked around the area and it was quite the flavorful neighborhood!  It redefined the word “steep” but the street art was everywhere and was beautiful!




We opted for a rooftop restaurant for lunch,


and the view, the food, and the beer was spectacular!





Again, the street art was amazing and it was everywhere!






We made reservations at the restaurant literally next door to our boutique hotel for dinner.  We climbed all those  steps back up to our rooms to chill for a bit (those steep roads—OMG) and clean up before venturing out again.  Suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and our view was something to behold!



Ta Da—our mini tub, in all its’ glory!


Across the road was the restaurant we chose for dinner, Fauna. And were we ever glad we did!


The pisco sours (Mike, Patte and John) were top notch and I enjoyed my new favorite, Carmenere, a Chilean wine.



The food was over-the-top delicious!







It was another amazing meal in an AMAZING country!



After dinner we walked around and Patte discovered a way to get down to the lower level without taking the stairs!  And she took it!





We found the bar that was below our reception area!  It was the perfect way to end a great (and very memorable) day!


The boys enjoyed a nightcap,


before the four of us ascended the tiniest spiral staircase known to man!



BUENAS NOCHES, everyone!

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