Valparaiso, Chile

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All ready...

Up the South American coast and through the Panama Canal on a Hurtigruten Cruise.  And then 10 days in a Tree House in Costa Rica.  And we just went through the Suez Canal a couple of months ago.  

Sandy kindly took us to the airport...

Jan, ever ready... eventually...

And this 6-eyed fellow... well... he didn't know he was taking a selfie...

But it was another great trip!  We were in 5 countries, 3 of them new to us, bringing our country total to 51 now.  We met and interacted with people from the indigenous Panamanian tribe, the Embera, and flew over the famed Nazca Lines.  We dined with folks from Germany, Luxembourg, England, Scotland, and California.  A week in Valparaiso, Chile.  Then a 17 day cruise followed by 10 days in a tree house in the jungle in Costa Rica.  And 3 days on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

Our digs for the first 6 days of the trip, a full loft level apartment overlooking the harbor and the port from which we would soon leave on our cruise.  An AirBnB.  This was a primo place, an incredible view including from the patio, a full kitchen, everything you could ask for, even an elevator and an onsite caretaker!  This is an old patrimonial home that gets handed down through a family, often with multiple related family units living in the same huge house.  This one is a class act, and huge, with quality art and fine old furniture downstairs in the general areas.  Here the view from the bed.  Buena!  And no more than we'd pay for a 2 or 3 star hotel.  This trip would have two fantastic AirBnB finds, as it turned out, this loft in Valparaiso, and the treehouse we would later have in the Costa Rican jungle.

The patio...

The view out the kitchen window.

We had a nice dinner in a place right next door, where we later learned that some people who were on our cruise were staying upstairs there.  Jan had looked around with binoculars and saw a woman on the rooftop patio that she thought was the woman she met on the ship.  Again, small world!

And there was a nice square overlooking the port a few blocks down from our perch on the hill, replete with coffee shop, music in the square, kids, dogs, the usual funseekers.  And a nice museum, featuring a few Impressionist pieces and works by Chileans and South Americans.

We like to go to an art museum or two when we can in our travels.  It turned out we were staying a stone's throw from probably the best in Valparaiso, a small and manageable museum in an old palace, The Palacio Baburizza.  Above, a photo from the patio of the Palace.

Our luggage had been lost, we discovered when we landed in Santiago.  We had stopped over in Bogata in the middle of the night.  And our lodging was almost 100 miles away in Valparaiso, with a ride arranged from the Santiago Airport.  Well, we took the ride, checked in to this fab place, and received a call the next morning that they were on their way to bring our luggage.  Which the caretaker took up to the loft for us in the elevator.  Life was good!  We didn't do a whole lot, but really enjoyed the port city ambiance and our great spot.

The view of the harbor from our couch and our bed...

In the morning we would board the Hurtigruten ship, the Fram, to start our voyage...