El Plan y Los Cerros

Valparaíso (or 'Valpo') has two parts: 'el plan', the flat part of town that extends out into the sea by way of reclaimed land, and 'los cerros', the steep hills up which the multicoloured houses climb higgledy-piggledy.

After a huge breakfast of bread (pan), egg (huevo), avocado (palta), fresh cheese (queso fresco), tomato, fruits, and yoghurt, we hauled our full bellies up the hill to join Avenida de Alemania.

View from Av. de Alemania

This flat road skirts along a cutting in the hills and offers a wonderful view down to the port, the sparkling sea, and out to neighbouring Viña del Mar.

Naruda

We passed the house (now museum) in which Pablo Naruda entertained guests to the rather more ill-defined 'museo del ciel abierto' (museum of the open sky) - a selection of outside colourful murals on the sloping streets of Av. Héctor Calvo.

Art nouveau garage door

Up here, where the dogs fear to climb, is where the cats hang out.

Valpo cat

Descending from the hill, we found ourselves back among the sailors and fishermen of el plan, who our guide yesterday told us speak an incomprehensible combination of fast Chilean Spanish and port slang. We queued and took a 'colectivo' boat ride along the harbour front, slipping out between the container ships and frigates to get a panoramic view of the hills.

Valparaíso from the sea

The small boat was crammed to capacity (42) and the boat operator maintained an impassioned patter for the entire journey, of which I understood approximately 0.01%, but which got a few laughs from the Spanish-speaking crowd.

Cobra pose... begin

In the afternoon, we took the bus back to Santiago for the princely sum of 4000 Chilean pesos. Arriving a couple of hours later, we found everything shuttered - restaurants, cafés and shops. Sunday closing must be strictly observed here, but we wondered how anyone managed to take their mothers out for dinner on this, el día de la madre.

La Starria area came once again to our aid, as all the businesses there were not only open but doing a roaring trade, and a number of street performers and artesans were hawking their wares. Choices were limited for vegetarians at El Biógrafo, but we managed to tease a pizza and salad out of the kitchen to accompany a couple of decent beers from local 'microcervezería', Kross - a Maibock and Lupulus (an ESB).

Lúpulo: Spanish for hops