2nd Jan: 10am start, heading down into Valparaiso city centre to check out the central market. Lots of colour and activity, evidently people are stocking up after New Year's celebrations. See some interesting stuff, especially very large bright yellow pumpkins. A guy shouts at me, telling me to move my small rucksack onto my front. I follow his advice, even though there isn't anything of real value in it. I am trying to tell myself that I don't want the mugging to make me feel on edge and over-weary, but it isn't easy to be relaxed. I can now appreciate a little how some people feel uncomfortable around strangers after being mugged/attacked. We go upstairs in the central market and find that it is all cheap little eateries, very much aimed at the locals. If we were hungry we would have tried some of the food.
We then move across the road to a small fish market and watch a couple of the stallholders in action, skillfully dealing with fish and shellfish. It is a great smell and there are some strange looking fish. Sometimes it is so easy to forget what a fish looks like in its entirety as we are so used to being served fillets. Mind you, in this case, there are some I don't even recognise from my scuba diving guide books. We walk back along Aveninda Brazil, which turns out to be one of the smarter thoroughfares in Valparaiso, with some govt buildings as well as large car showrooms.
Get back to the port area and get the ascensor up to Conception. Try to find a cafe to grab a bite but most are closed and the few that are open are heaving, so we grab some bits from a minimarket and head back to the B&B. Chill out on the balcony for a little while before getting our stuff together to head to the airport. Lucia and Juan-Pablo are kind enough to offer us a lift to the bus station as they are going into town. Only have to wait 15 mins for a bus, amazing that there is one leaving every 15 mins, and that is just one of 2 bus companies that do the journey. These are pretty comfortable coaches and we have front row seats. We travel along at a fair speed, without it being uncomfortable. As well as people getting on the bus at a couple of stops, a couple of vendors get on. One is on and off at the stop, the other stays on until we get to the toll booths, a few miles down the road. I wonder if she heads back in the other direction or continues jumping on and off all the way into Santiago. As she gets off, she hands the conductor a sample of her cakes, seems like a good deal.
We get to Parajito, where we change buses for the short ride to the airport. It is quiet at the airport a we are a few hours early. Having checked in on line, the process is pretty painless. Into the departure lounge, where I have a few hours to finish reading my book. No point in trying to find a camera as there is only one shop, which is selling mainly food and wine as well as a few tacky gifts, think stuffed alpacas etc.... We have a 2 1/2 hour flight form Santiago to Puerto Montt in the lake district. The flight is pretty uneventful, well apart form the beautiful sunset shortly before we land at 10pm. We then grab a cab to Casa Perla in the middle of town. Where we meet Perla, the landlady who explains the times for breakfast etc before letting us crawl to bed.
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