Another Day in Valpo (Wed 3/31)

Stats:
- 2 funicular rides
- 1 lost sock
- miles of walking tours
- 1 scary lunch
- best pizza for dinner
- tomatoes for dessert!

Today was another day of walking tours. We started by taking the funicular downhill to the center of downtown. This particular funicular was built over 100 years ago. They tested it after the big earthquake last month --- they loaded people in it and gave it a spin to make sure no one important was hurt.  Okay, I am joking, but I am probably right. There was a funicular taken out of use after the 1985 earthquake in Valpo. I guess if it gets knocked off the foundation and they can't fix it, then it goes out of operation. These funiculars are both helpful and terrifying. They are steep and rickety. Once downtown, we dropped off our laundry. Arn had a great packing strategy. He brought all the same type of socks plus one spare sock, figuring one would get lost along the way and then he would still have matched pairs. Well, two socks have now been lost, so he is down a pair. And, he has been missing his cotton t-shirt for weeks. Enough about clothes or I am going to start talking about how I tired I am of my one pair of pants and how sick of clothes rationing we both are. 

Back to the walking tours --- we started in the financial district. We went inside the Bank of London building that is now the Bank of Santiago. The stainglass domes and marble work were awesome. We then walked into the stock exchange building --- the oldest in Latin America. The trading pit stands as it was once; however, there are no traders jumping and screaming like at the Chicago Board of Trade.  In fact, they had placed flat panel computer screens to follow the on-line activity. The security guard was very friendly and invited us in to see everything. He is the first person to quiz us about being married and not wearing wedding rings (for safety reasons, we left out rings at home).

Our tour then headed to the square of justice. We saw the oldest firehouse in Chile. Given the long history of earthquakes in Valpo, many countries have donated fire trucks to Valpo. They keep each set of trucks separate and maintain the "feel" of each donor country in the station that holds those trucks. We saw the American trucks and the German trucks. Really, their trucks look nothing like ours. While the fire station seemed untouched by the quake, many of the other buildings in the square had lots of busted plaster, chucks of walls and roofs were missing, and there were cracks and separations in buildings. We walked up a steep flight of stairs to enter another neighborhood. We walled along promenades over looking the city and strolled past cafes and restaurants. The problem remains --- Valpo is filthy. The dog shit is everywhere. There is trash everywhere. And , there is graffiti everywhere --- some of it is art that someone did on purpose and it looks great. Some of it is the work of derelicts that just wanted to tag someone's house with their name and date.  It is both a super cool city and disgustingly filthy looking and smelling place. 

As part of our walking tour, we tried to visit the old cemetaries. We were able to get into the immigrant cemetary. There were people buried that came from Europe and the U.S.  The most common was Europe. The other two cemetaries were closed and blocked off because the earthquake damaged the entry way stone arches. Anyway, the cemetary of the city's well-to-do did not survive the quake as well. 

We took the funicular downhill and found a place for lunch. It was a dive recommended in our book. We ordered the Chilean classic dish for lunch --- "chorillana." Here is how you can recreate this delicacy at home. First, start with a platter large enough to hold a roasted chicken (this is a dish for three people).  Fill the platter with as many french fries as it will hold. Really, pile those fries high. Dice up a cooked steak and scatter the meat on the top. Now, chop and fry two onions. Yep, add those to the pile.  Fry an egg and place on top of the heap. Last, melt some cheese over everything --- it is the glue that keeps it together. It is not as bad as it sounds, but it is a coronary on a plate for sure. 

We hung out in an interent cafe for a couple of hours. We were the only two people not on Facebook. It is all the craze with the younger people in Chile --- same as at home.  We rode the funicular back up hill to our neighborhood. 

For dinner, we tried a pizza place. It was the best pizza of the trip.  It did not satisfy our cravings for our favorite pizzas in Seattle, but it was good. We watched a plate of bruchetta being served to another table.  It was amazing looking.  The pizza was fairly small and very thin.  So, Arn asked how I felt about bruchetta for dessert. Are you kidding?  Tomatoes for dessert?  Of course!  The waiter said it was strange, but agreed bruchetta beats panna cota. The tomatoes were absolutely awesome and it was the best bruchetta ever!