Sorry for the late upload. I have been busy writing some awesome new blogs that are coming soon.

On the 26 of Feb in Buenos Aires we woke up at 4am to fly to Santiago. From Santiago we got on a bus to drive 2 hours west to a beach side city called Valparaiso. When we finally arrived in Valparaiso from a big day of traveling our accommodation notified us that they double book themselves and that they can no longer accommodate us. So, there we were in the bus station with no accommodation and all our stuff. We managed to find a café to get all our stuff together, eat something, regroup and find new accommodation.

We found a place at short notice, an eclectic multistorey apartment hotel with roof top / bar breakfast area. This happened to be a blessing in disguise because we ended up meeting the owner of the property. His name is Freddy, and he is an amazing person with a big heart as well as a phenomenal host. He took us on lots of outings, helped us with things like setting up sim cards and told us places we should visit. Freddy also has a cat named Guliano. Who is the friendliest, funniest cat I have ever met, he loves pets, ham and bouncing of the walls. Guliano has an endless amount of energy and at night he goes especially crazy. Freddy and Guliano are the cutest little pair.

On our first full day in Valparaiso Freddy gave us a wonderful introduction to the city. He took us on a tour of the harbor where all the cargo ships are and many other hidden gems of the city. We got to ride our first ascensore or funiculars (Elevator or cable railway – these are renowned in the Valparaiso area). Accessors are situated on the side of very steep hills, so people don’t have to climb up by foot to get to their houses. The Funiculars in this city are very old, the first one was inaugurated in 1883. There are up to 30 ascensores in this city but only 16 of them remain operational.

We got the opportunity to meet some friends of a friend who live in Valparaiso. We met them at a restaurant and chatted for a while. One of them is Australian and the other is Chilean, so we clicked very well with them.

Then on Wednesday my mum and I went on a free walking tour in the city and got to go to some art museum and see some of the street art. We saw one of the street artists who was wearing a mask to stay anonymous. That day Freddy and my brother went to play tennis in the city.

Thursday the 6-march marked a week since being in Valparaiso, Chile. Unfortunately, this is the day we moved out of Freddy’s place, but this is not the last we see of Freddy more on that in a later one. We moved to an apartment in Reñaca which is still quite close to Valparaiso its around 30 to 45 minutes on the bus between the two.

Valparaiso is a beautiful and colourful city, full of life. We were lucky to have met some of its wonderful inhabitants, and even though we have only been here for a short time I feel like we already built a little bit of a community.