Valparaiso/Santiago, Chile – more

There is a lot to say about Valparaiso and Santiago, Chile. Jenni wrote a blog and I am doing my own. We had a really interesting day traveling with a guide for nearly nine hours as we went cross country to Santiago and listened to Max’s wisdom. Interesting guide with some good insights about socialism and privatization, the things that work and the things that don’t work. I also liked the comment about, “in South America you don’t ever lose a war, you just come in second.” This was by way of explaining why border disputes never go away even when their are agreements between the parties.

We started from the heart of a container shipping port in Valparaiso.

We drove through wine country into the big valley where Santiago rests against the 18,000 ft Andes mountains. We got dropped off right in the middle of the city, walked past major buildings and shopping malls and got back on the bus at a distant square.

We went up a hill for the panorama shown at the top. Then we went to an upscale mall for lunch followed by a trip to a craft fair.

The Chilean Navy was parked behind our ship and the container port next to us.