Real coffee and Christmas Drinks.

Mmmm......the smell of real coffee (Slightly burnt but better than Nescafe) has greeted us at the gate. We've just arrived at Pablo Neruda's Valparaiso house for a look see. What an amazing house. I think if I lived there, I'd never leave. I would sit in the living room all day, if I'd managed to drag myself out of bed that is, and read a book and look at the view. Maybe I'd get up and go to the bar and make myself a Pisco Sour if I was feeling slightly energetic in the afternoon or if some friends dropped by. The views across Valparaiso from both his bedroom and living room are stunning. The study at the top of the house would make a nice litle get away if you wanted a change of scene, but I'm not sure how much study I'd get done there either.
Valparaiso is a refreshing change from the grided streets of most of villages, towns and cities we've been to so far. The ramshackle colourful houses give the impression of tumbling down the hillsides into the port and you wonder how, in an earthquake zone, they've manged to stay stuck there for so long. There seems to be an art community exisitng healthily on those hills as well for almost every door and quite a few walls are covered in some amazing murals. Looking up the steep stairways, you sometimes glimpse some creative illustrations and it takes a double look to realise that you aren't looking at a real scene.
Back to the coffee. It suprises me considering how European I'd imagined Chile, or Santiago at least, to be, at how shite (Sorry about the swearing but it really is) the coffee is. It's not even the 'water dressed in brown' filter coffee that you sometimes get served in cheap hotels. It's Nescafe and 'con leche' means you get dished up some Coffee Mate. Mmmm, delicious. So on the rare occasion you smell real coffee, its time to stop and have one. And this is how we met Collin and Gill, two ex-UK now Canadians, backpacking through South America. Stopping at the cafe at Pablo Neruda's house, we get to talking. Before we know it, we've been taken under the wing and guided down to the posh area of Viña del Mar. Collin and Gill have rented an apartment for the Christmas and New Year period with views of the beach, a balcony and a kitchen. After a glass of rather delicious red wine (I guess you can forgive them for the lack of decent coffee when they do produce some fantastic red wines) we're invited to stay for dinner. If the truth be known, I think Gill is keen for some English speaking female company and Collin is just keen to talk. Mike's happy to have a bit of company other than me I suppose and I'm keen to cook in a somewhat clean kitchen. Don't worry, I was also keen for some female company and between us, Gill and I run the risk of talking the hind leg off a donkey - just as well there were none in that posh neighbourhood.
Sitting of the balcony drinking Pisco Sours, eating roast chicken and vege, with chocolate coated strawberries (Thanks to Katie for showing me how to make them all those years ago) for pudding, it was hard not to get in the Christmas spirit. And it was rather sad to leave. It was very tempting to stay on in Valparaiso and join Collin and Gill for Christmas day. But it was time to get going again.
By the way, we did make it to Santiago for a day but after a rather long walk down a road that was lined with tool shops, we quickly became rather jaded. The highlight of the day, apart from buying a 14mm spanner at the first tool shop we came across, was lunch at a fish shop in the central mercardo. Highly reccommended but if you catch the bus into Santiago like we did, it's best to then catch the metro up into the city centre rather than spending two hours walking on the same straight road. Dull, dirty and very busy with people. Get me out of the city.