Today was my birthday. A day of celebrations. Emma seemed to think that this also made it her birthday too. It's quite odd spending your birthday on the other side of the world. After a slow start to the day we decided to go out and explore Valparaiso. First things first, we had to try and find a specific bank - Scotiabank. It's the only bank that we've found and been recommended to use that does not charge you to withdraw in Chile. It's just a shame that it was over 2km away! Nevertheless, that was in the area that we wanted to head to anyway and we picked out a restaurant that we could aim for after the cash point.
We got our money without any troubles before we headed up countless steps, up the hill towards our projected lunch spot. After passing many works of street art we arrived at the restaurant. Error - we were told by a rude waitress that it only opened at 1pm... We arrived there at 12.15! Surely we could have been allowed to wait there and have a drink or something until it opened? But no, none of that. Without any hesitation we decided that this was no longer where we wanted to go for lunch.
We clambered right back down the steps that we had pained over to get up and back to the main area. A name on the map took our interest; bar ingles. We decided to check it out.
As we walked in it seemed a bit posh. There were serviettes on the tables contorted into different shapes. All over the walls we pictures of classic British bands; the who, the Beatles, queen. The doors to the toilets were in the design of a red telephone box. We decided that this could do.
What a good decision this turned out to be. The waiter brought out some free canapés. Emma exclaimed that these were nicer canapés than the ones that she served at the five star hotel that she used to work at. They brought out our mains; steak for Emma and beef for myself. The meals were insane! Emma's steak was unbelievably tender and cooked perfectly. This was a better steak than most steak houses in England. My beef was very nice too, but nothing can really beat steak. This was followed up by a perfectly made berry cheesecake. The filling of the middle of the cheesecake had the perfect texture. We left the bar ingles in a very good way.
We headed down to the port to try and find a boat journey around the harbour. A man approached us selling us the exact thing we wanted. We got onto the man's boat and within 30 seconds we saw a sea lion swimming around. The boat took us towards a buoy that was filled with sea lions resting in the early afternoon. One of the sea lions must have been around 9 foot long. He was an absolute monster. We continued around the bay towards the navy fleet. The navy ships numbered six quite large battleships with guns afixed to the front. The next stop in the harbour was the giant cargo ships, carrying thousands of shipping containers heading for Germany. It was an interesting way of seeing Valparaiso from another angle, albeit cut quite short.
The shortness of the boat journey allowed us to race to a nearby square to go on a walking tour of Valparaiso nevertheless. As we waited for the tour to begin we recognised some people who we had met in La Paz and gone to the cholitas wrestling with. How bizarre. They were only on a day tour from Santiago before they jetted off to New Zealand the following day. The chances of seeing them with the timings were remote to say the least. Maybe they were following us...
The tour was an enjoyable 3 hour walk around Valparaiso, getting to know the stories behind some of the street art (mostly just graffiti) and buildings. Another strange discovery was over the hometown of where two girls from England were from - the same place as where I live! A very small village in the commuter belt of North West London. Emma and I thought of the chances of that occurring to anyone and thought it similar to the chance of being struck by lightning.
We had the sudden realisation that we needed to find wifi in order to book our airbnb for the following night in Santiago. We found a cafe and ordered some drinks. Normally you would think that ordering tea with milk would be a safe option... not in this cafe. It came out as white as white could be. Emma simply refused to drink it. There was a slight taste of tea at the bottom, but still a very bizarre drink. My mint coffee was delicious though.
After the coffee we headed onto a bar that had been recommended to us by the tour guide. We had been told that it was jazz night to Emma's delight. A small jazz band set up in the middle of the bar area and played on and off for the duration of our stay. We ordered a meat platter - beef, chicken and pork. It was fantastic and went well with our several beers that had been brewed on site. Just as we were about to leave we received a message from our hosts asking if we were still alive. I appreciate the concern but it was hardly necessary. It was no later than half past 10! Thus finished our day. Not too bad a birthday to have.
