High temp: 50, partly sunny; Low: 32
We had a leisurely start this morning. The hostal people felt guilty about all the problems we’ve been having with hot water, the Internet, and our door lock breaking (yeah), so they made us coffee and a simple breakfast. (They’re also supposed to do my laundry for me — yay!)
Then we walked around a couple neighborhoods we hadn’t seen yet, including Cerro Bellavista, where Pablo Neruda kept another house. We decided not to pay the admission to go in — it’s supposed to be less impressive than his house in Isla Negra. The fog had begun to clear from some severe storms last night and we got some sweeping views of the harbor.
Along with some typical leftist Valpo graffiti. (And a “lost dog” sign! I feel bad for this person — I imagine it would be hard to find a lost dog among all the street packs.)
Once again, we experienced the stunning contrasts from block to block — from entirely run down to tidy and well-kept and back again. I talked to Paulina today by email a bit about this. She said she thinks Valpo will always be spotty like this, will probably never gentrify widely, because of the huge populations of students, artists and poor people. And unlike in the States, this doesn’t seem to be a point of shame, something to be “corrected.” Yes, Valpo is dirty and chaotic — and maybe that’s OK, because it serves the populations who do choose to live here pretty well.
Some of the photos above are from an area of the city designated “El Museo a Cielo Abierto” (Museum of the Open Sky), which features curated street art on buildings. Honestly, I’ve been a lot more impressed by the less-organized stuff we’ve seen.
Like this. Is this showing what happens when you turn vegan? You need a gas mask?
We took Ascensor Peral back up to our neighborhood. (This is a picture of another nearby ascensor, Concepcion.)
We spent a lovely hour or so sitting at Cafe Peral, drinking coffee, enjoying the sun and amazing views. Dan sketched and I read. One of the best moments of the trip so far.
The day’s big event was a Chilean cooking class, offered at the Yellow House hostel in Cerro Artilleria. It was just the two of us and our chef, Boris (a Chilean, but with a German name). This was a splurge, at about $50 each, but it turned out to be worth every penny. We learned how to make delicious cheese empanadas, sopaipillas (pumpkin-flour fritters boiled in brown sugar and spices), salsa and an incredible Chilean stew of fresh cranberry beans and vegetables. And then we got to eat everything with wine and pisco sours. At some point Boris is going to send us the recipes, so maybe I’ll get a chance to post them.
This was an unabashedly touristy thing to do. There were even themed chef’s hats and a photo session.
And yes, Chef Boris also turned out to be gay, which we had no idea of going in. During our four hours together, he really opened up to us about his past relationships, and what it’s like to be gay in a super-conservative country like Chile. He thinks Chile will need at least 20 years to legalize gay marriage. (Hopefully Ohio will be slightly ahead.)
He was about our age, and talked about the stories his mom told him about living here during the Pinochet years. Apparently her first boyfriend, a socialist activist, was abducted by Pinochet and never seen again, and at one point she was caught in rebel crossfire and still has a bullet inside her, next to one of her lungs. We may hang out with Boris again tomorrow night.
After the class, we ran (literally) to the night’s performance of “Othello” at the puppet theater we encountered on Wednesday. I was so excited about this, because the lobby of the theater displayed all kinds of different puppets, and I thought: “Oh good, crazy marionette heaven.” But the performance itself was post-modern: Two actors holding mannequin heads and costumes. It was well-performed and fast-paced (only an hour long), but disappointingly non-loony.
