ConCon, Vina del Mar, Valparaiso, Chile--April 13

Today was another beautiful, sunny day.  We have been blessed with perfect weather this entire trip.  The only concern today was that last night a tremendous fire broke out in Valparaiso, making international news.  More about that later.

We drove the 65 miles from Santiago to the Pacific coast stopping first in a little fishing village called ConCon. 

Since this was Palm Sunday, not many people were out and about.  What you did see a lot of  were pelicans…on the sea walls, on rocks, on roofs. 

 
I had to have a photo of me with my pelican friends.  I have a history with pelicans which I will tell about sometime.

 

ConCon is a typical little fishing town.  I spied a man making his nets.

 

This little restaurant that serves empanadas, a Chilean favorite (but it is not as good as the Cuban ones, in my opinion) was typical along the main street.  There were also  a number of seafood restaurants, of course.

Saints can be spotted around town like this statue of Saint Pedro in a cage.

As we proceeded along the coast, we could see the high rise buildings of Vina del Mar.  This is one of the most famous and popular resort cities in South America.  The city was founded in 1874 as a week-end retreat and garden residence for the wealthy elite from Valparaiso and Santiago.  It offers all the amenities of a resort city: luxury estates, including the summer home of the President of Chile, waterfront hotels, parks, gardens, social clubs, a municipal casino fashioned after the one in Monaco, sports facilities, golf, tennis, horse racing.  It is sort of the Palm Beach of South America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing up the coast, we could see smoke filling the sky above Valparaiso.

 

Overlooking precipitous cliffs onto a wide harbor, Valparaiso is Chile’s principal port.  The port area is flat, but the many homes of the poorest people are built on 17 hills that tower above the bay, unlike in America where the most expensive homes are built on the hills with a view.  It is here that the fire started and is still burning . 

Twenty-two percent of the city’s population lives below the poverty line.  The national average is 14 percent.  In 2003, the UNESCO declared the city a World Heritage Site.  It is also a cultural center in Chile.  Nobel Literature laureate Pablo Neruda built one of his three houses here, and it is the site of the National Council of Culture and the Arts.

It has been the seat of Congress since the return of democracy after the 1973-1990 dictatorship, when the old legislature in Santiago was replaced with the new building in Valparaiso to decentralize the branches of government.

Yet Valparaiso is the city with the most slums in Chile, and the region is home to one-third of all family income of the poorest 10 percent of the population is just $270 US dollars, while the monthly income of the wealthiest 10 percent averages $7,200 US dollars.

The hills are densely populated with brightly colored wooden houses.  The fire spread from forested areas at the top of the hills down into poor neighborhoods of wooden slums.  I saw burned areas in the hills as we descended to the coast.

 

As we drove through city, we saw hundreds of people gathering at a school.  Some were bringing clothes, diapers, food for the victims. 

 

Others were calling for help.

Firemen, all of whom are volunteers, came from all over the country to help fight the fire.

The army was present and helping as well.

 

Some people were going to mass because it was Palm Sunday. Vendors in front of the church were selling articles made of palms.

 

Ash was in the air as we took a hundred-year-old funicular to the top of one of the hills to our restaurant.

 

The restaurant was open despite the fire.  It was a quaint place overlooking the port.

 

 

 

We filled the little dining room as we were served a delicious meal.  This was the first course.

 

I was seated next to a window and was visited by this curious seagull.

 

We could see the smoke from the window as well.



 

After lunch, we walked around the cobblestone maze of winding streets, hidden plazas and steep stairways before boarding our bus for the trip back to Santiago. 

The day and the visit to Chile ended with this glorious sunset over the Andes which is viewed from my room.