Our hostel Nuevo Horizonte had nice staff and a good location with some of the cheapest room in Santiago. That's about it for the positive parts though. I think the cheap price was inviting all kinds of creeps, most of whom were from the US. One of them, a young man, fitted every school shooter profile with his random fantasies of dictatorship, admiration for Hitler and Stalin plus wishes to see US and Israel destroyed (just to mention a few crazy topics he wanted to share with us). The hostel was also very dirty and well, it lacked atmosphere. But since it was only for few nights, we didn't mind too much!
Laura and Matti were also in Santiago but because of our early arrival, we couldn't reach them yet. So we left to get to know the city on our own: with a great beakfast in our bellies we walked all around the center. For me, the best thing in the cities is just to walk and walk. Museums or sightseeing are not so much my thing but just wandering around in the different neighbourhoods gives me a lot more. We climbed up a beautiful hill with a park and a fortress, bought a backpack full of berries from the market and admired the pretty graffitis in our Barrio. Every now and then we stopped for a coffee or a fresh juice. I liked Santiago - a lot.
We met Laura and Matti in the afternoon at our hostel and continued to exchange travel stories over some delicious icecream and juice. In the evening we went for a pompous meal in a recommended restaurant Liguria. Excellent food even if the service wasn't quite as good. We also found another Finnish member for the group, Julia, who was going to stay in Santiago as an exchange student, like Laura. It was Matti's last day though, he was heading to Rio and then home the next day. The others continued to celebrate with some beers but Chris and I decided to walk home and rest, it had been a long day. We walked at least 20 km that day.
Santiago from high up
Happy Santiago fans 
Taking a rest or dying? 
Laura and Masa and other sweet stuff ;)After the grand mix of natural yoghurt and blueberries and raspberries we left to a bouldering hall! It was quite the walk but what a place it was! Located in a fancy-pants Barrio Italia, it had super nice, clean and modern premises and the best part, of course, actual proper routes to boulder!! IT WAS FANTASTIC! For 3 hours we just enjoyed the climbing until the skin in our fingers just wouldn't take it anymore. Afterwards we took advantage of the fantastically clean showers which were a delight after seeing the moldy ones at the hostel (yuk). I had been missing proper training so much, I even had dreams about it, and to be able to boulder like this, even just for one day, made me incredibly happy! It also made me realize how good it is then to go back home, definitely something to look forward to :) (First month is going to suck though, I'm going to climb in some dark corner where no one can see me :D)
We were so hungry! Fortunately I had spotted a sushi place nearby so there we headed. Sushi is highly popular in Santiago and truly it was excellent. And plenty! For dessert we had some great coffee in a coffehouse called Wonderful Cafe before meeting Laura and Julia again. In the evening we also had a date with a local guy Miguel whom we met in Puerto Natales! Chris had tried his first Pisco Sour drink the night before and now it was time for a Terremoto (earth quake)...strange drinks, with icecream and white wine and whutnot!
Best breakfast ever 
Casa Boulder 
Outside patio bouldering! 
And sushi afterwards 
Santiago graffitiIt was our last day in Santiago so we packed and left to Laura's new place, a pretty cool commune of 14 people, made lunch and then said goodbye! We took an afternoon bus to Valparaiso from a confusing terminal, slept two hours in the bus and then figured our way to the city from Valpo's terminal. Local ladies were so helpful that we were even accompanied to the exact right place to get up on "our hill", to an ascensor or funicular. Valparaiso has a flat part, next to the sea and then a million hills! These hills are quite steep and so there are some old but functioning ascensors, lifts to take you up for a small amount of money.
Every street was full of colorful houses and beautiful decorative graffiti. Well, graffiti or paintings, pieces of art! Small alleys and narrow cobblestone streets with secretive passage ways and staircases leading to other new small paths. How I wish Helsinki decision makers would realize the value of street art and colourful city planning...
Our hostel Casa Aventura was filled with colours too. And Germans! We were the only non-German residents..huh. After the canyoning in Puerto Varas I for some crazy reason didn't actually get ill. But leaving Santiago, a cactus had moved into my throat and my nose was running like Rio Blanco. Walking up and down the interesting streets of Valpo didn't feel too good but we took it slowly and did rest a lot too.
Next: a million pics of street art in Valpo
A famous piece by an artist Inti
Happy Valparaìso fans (happies, not hippies!)We had been in contact with a guy called Peter through couchsurfing about climbing in Valpo but instead of bouldering he invited us to a wine tasting + asado (BBQ) evening at a friend's place. With some little money for covering the costs we could participate and meet a lot of new people. For sure, we were in!
We found our way through the colourful labyrinth to the meeting point and realized that Hostel Mitico was right there. This was interesting to us not only because of the mystical name but since two other Finnish friends were staying there: (other) Laura and Karo. Laura was a school mate of mine since we were 9 and Karo I knew through Laura. Just as I had asked the receptionist about these two Finns, there they were, coming up the street! And then Peter showed us - and invited the gals to join for the BBQ! Perfect!
We had such an abundant evening: so many superfriendly new people, plenty of delicious asado and cheeses and salads and of course the wine tasting (which according to those trying out the wines) was pretty splendid too. Peter would always introduce the new wine with a short history of the grape and he offered a matching cheese to be enjoyed with the wine. I was merely tasting the cheese since I don't drink but I didn't mind, I like cheese. It was a great evening!
Clandestino Club de Vino wine tasting 
Eager students learning about wine tasting
Great asado and with our dear friends! Next day we walked a lot and ate some great stuff like Ceviche, a Chilean (and Peruvian) dish of raw fish with plenty of lemon juice, herbs and capsicum. Surprisingly nice, we had had our doubts but I'm glad we tried it. Our last day we started with a pretty great tour of the city. Tours for tips was - as one can conclude from the name - free and based solely on tipping. Two guys, Austin and Lucas led us through the city for three hours telling about the history, today and the possible future of Valpo. The city has quite the history going from riches to rags and ending up being a Unesco World Heritage site with quite the tourism boom. The street art plays an immense role in the latter part.
The tour was very good, the quides were knowledgeable and funny, we stopped on the way for alfajore cookies, took a funicular and drank pisco sour etc., not boring at all! We happily gave a good tip. On that day, since we started with all that walking, we might as well continue with it we thought, and I think we saw the most important parts of the city.
Next: another million pics of the street art 
Funicular
Sunset
Use that bicycle, man! 
The port
German firestation and our guide Lucas
Another funicular
And a view from one
He sang us the song of Valparaiso
Los locos que inventaron el amor...
End of the tour
Slurps
Yes, cycle!
Tango festival!
Dinner with a view!
Next morning we took an early bus to Mendoza. We had gotten first row seats (we were recommended to take those) and indeed it was great since we had perfect views on the Aconcagua and other mountains! We've mostly done the long busrides during the nights but this time we wanted to go by day, for the views. Totally worth it. In the afternoon we ended up in Mendoza and back in Argentina!
Views on the way to Mendoza
Long and winding road on a gps
Long and winding road in reality
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