Valpraiso, Chile

Valpraiso is a magical little city North of Santiago Chile.  I came here with the intention of staying one week and I ended up getting vortexed in for two weeks.  I volunteered at the Mitico Hostel and had a great time.  The city is so colorful and so vibrant with the best street art I have ever seen.  A very bohemian city with lots of hippies.

The street dogs here were very impressive.  They were very tame and nice.  This famous street dog named Beto has been romanticized in the neighborhood.  Little kids run up to him with their parents yelling ¨Beto I love you¨.  He is a very lazy dog that lies in front of the hostel all day long.  Sometimes he gets up to bark at other dogs that encroach on his territory.

Beto even has a mural painted of him and a two full page spread about him in the newspaper.

Beautiful demonstration of the street art in front of an old French Car.

This kid seriously looks a lot like Justin Beiber... but way cooler.  Dustin (or as I call him J-Biebs).  If you are looking to buy subwoofers or lemon meringue pie while in Valpraiso get in touch with him.

My travel sister Lea from France and me ona  beautiful cero overlooking the harbour... yes thats right Valpo has a harbour.

Valpo its a clean city.

Beto making friends with people in the plaza.

If you want to rent bikes in Valpraiso and go for a ride along the pier rent for free from University of Catholic Valpraiso.

At the right time of day you can even see Sea lions.

Up top of the escalator in Cero Blanco.  Here there was a street art performance last year and many beautiful murals.

Dog sleeps on coach with tattered blanket in front of Graffitti in Cero Blanco.

The port is a marvel.  Copper is a big export of Chile and China is buying a lot.

Japanese friends and I made the best suishi ever one night with salmon, shrimp, avocado, and mango.  Apparently in Japan you dont put mango in suishi but she was down.  Suishi is very famous in Valpraiso.  There are many restaurants selling it.  I think it has to do with the trade with Japan and China.

The beach Las Dockas near Laguna Verde.  Its about an hour drive to get here but so worth it.  The most beautiful beach with free camping.  Only problem is the water is cold and there are lots of jelly fish.

Beautiful flowers in bloom.

My French Canadian brother.  One of the only Canadians I met in Chile.  Not many Canadians seem to be travelling to South America.  There were many in Peru but here the number one tourists were French.

Damn... we make these streets look good.  Two friends from Argentina.

Beatiful character home here in Valpraiso.  The spanish first came here in 1536 so you can imagine the colonial architecture here is to die for.

Bohemian man on bicycle rides by on a Sunny Sunday.

A couple of Videos:

 
Every Thursday in Plaza Descansar in Valpraiso there is African Dance.
 
So many good local singers in the streets and other tourists coming through.

Drinking Pisco Sours is one of the most traditional things to do in Chile.  Also in Peru too.  Here is a video I made of how to make a Pisco Sour.  Yes you need to use an egg, but just the White!  Fill the bottle with ice, then juice of three limons.  6 shots of pisco.  egg White, and sugar.  Shake until all the ice is gone and then pour into a cup.  MMMM delicious.  Makes about 3 small cups.

Huan Chaco, Përu

From Guayaquil I took the bus from 9pm at night before arriving in a city called Chiclaya in Peru, the next day at around noon.  Bypassing Mancora which is the big party location on the Coast, most famous on the coast of Peru.  I was pretty exhausted although for the first time ever I was able to sleep on the bus.  In Chiclaya there were no affordable hostels, only expensive hotels.  It was on the beach but it was not a place I wanted to stay being a backpacker on a budget.  I hear rumblings that further down the coast was a place called Huan Chaco.  I remember meeting a French Canadian couple that I met in Ecuador that raved about Huan Chaco.  These hippie french Canadian surfers were my type of people so I decided to go to this Huan Chaco place instead of Chiclayo.  Another 5 hour bus ride and I was in Trujillo.  From there it was a 50 cent bus ride to Huan Chaco.  On the bus I met this surfer from California.  He made me promise myself never to start surfing because it is a contagious disease and I would never stop.  He led me to the hostel he was staying and it was a very good one. 

My boy Eric.  Born in NYC but living in San Fran.  Still getting used to my new camera, finger in the shot.

The view from the hostel I was staying at.  I am getting very good at knowing how to relax and not feeling like I have to explore and go to tourist destinations everyday.  Spent a lot of time on the terrace looking at this view.

BMX and two young guys hanging in the outdoor basketball stadium in Huan Chaco.

Beautiful streets like this everywhere in Huan Chaco.  You can literally wander for days through the maze of streets like this finding new and amazing restaurants everyday.  The seafood here is to die for.

Big ass waves here in Huanchaco.  This picture doesnt do it justice but they were the biggest waves I have seen anywhere on the coast so far: Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador.  But maybe I just hit it at the right time of the season, and the other ones at the wrong time.

Coke truck rolls through on the beach to stock a nearby tienda.  Hippies and Bohemiams sit on the ledge of the sidewalk selling trinkets and bracelets.  A really laid back beach vibe hear in Huan Chaco but at the same time it has great tourist infrastucture.  Tonnes of affordable hostels and good restaurants mixed with discotecs, bars and a multitude of surf rental shops.

Really can't say enough about Huan Chaco.  Those French Canadian Hippie Surfers I met in Ecuador were sure right.  This probably has been my favorite spot on the coast so far.  If I ever meet that amazing couple from Quebec again I owe them huge.  Fuck Lonely Planet!  Instead I use Word of Mouth Planet.

Back to Trujillo.  The nearby city to tiny Huan Chaco.  Trujillo has a population of 300,000 people.  It is even bigger than Cusco.  Here you catch the bus to another city.  Bye bye beautiful coast.  Time to head to the mountains for Christmas.

Gypsies of the Caribbean

I got stuck in Cartagena for way longer than I thought I would.  I really didn't like it at first but it started to grow on me.  And then slowly it turned into a vortex and I couldnt leave.  Here I am with my Venezuelan friends and we are in my new hostel for 5 dollars a night.  It was kind of a shit hole though but it was good to save money from the other fancy hostel I was staying at for 15 dollars a night.

 Pasqual from Venezuela.  This guy is the most Original Gypsy I have ever met.  He can talk his way with anyone to get really good discounts.  He came here with no money at all and he is finding a way to squeak by everyday and make it to Panama to start a new life.

 This guy worked the door at the cheap hostel.  He is from Chile but he is trying to save up money to go to Panama (like pretty much everyone I met in Cartagena).  After Panama he is going to Mexico, US then Canada.  I have a feeling I will run into him again.

My friends from Venezuela wanted to go to Panama.  I wasn't to keen on going back to North America.  But I was down for  a little bit of a journey.  From Cartagena we took a bus to Monteria for 25,000 pesos.  From Monteria we took a bus to Turbo for 40,000 pesos.

 In Turbo we paid to take a boat to Capurgana.  Capurgana is right beside the border to Panama in the Caribbean.  Here is the station in Turbo where you can buy the boat tickets.

 Turbo was definitely an interesting town.  A true Colombia town with no tourism but it is a port town.  Everyone rode bikes here, so many motos.  It was definitely a dangerous place if you spend a lot of time there.  Lots of drug problems with Cocaine and crack.  We had to spend the night here to wait for our ferry.  The next morning we walked around for three hours and I bought the cheapest rum so far in Colombia.  But quickly we got on a boat and out of this town.

 Here in Turbo we have the fish market.

 Waiting for the boat to take us to Capurgana. 

 Hanging in the main plaza and port of Turbo with Phillipe waiting for our two hour boat ride to Capurgana.  I had been hanging with this guy for a few days so it was gonna suck to leave him when he goes to Panama.  He has a job lined up with REd Bull already in Panama.  He talks so highly of Panama like it is heaven but I dont think that he has been there before.  I hope it works out for him there.  He sold everything he owned just to have a little bit of American dollars to go to Panama.  

 Look at the port in Turbo.  What a place!  I had a strong connection with Turbo even though I was only there for about 8 hours.

 On the boat to  Capurgana.  So Close to Panama!

 Made it to Capurgana.  This is where I say goodbye to the Venezuelans.  I have to stay here and check out this town.  It is so beautiful and so untouched.  You can only access it by boat or two planes per week.  There are no cars here or motos.  The truest Colombian Caribean town.

You can see that CApurgana is so close to Panama.  The Panama Canal does not separate Colombia and Panama, it is actually further north.  The South of Panama doesnt have much and there are no roads to Panama City and North.  You have to take a plane or a giant network of boats like the Venezuelans were shaping up to do.  One day I will visit Panama.  I think on my next trip I will fly from Canada to Mexico and see all of Central America, and definitely come back to Capurgana.

 Having lunch in Capurgana with my amigos while they wait for their boat to Panama.

 The wild flowers in Capurgana are so beautiful.

 This is the path that winds its way to my hostel.  The hostel I am staying at here is called the Bohemia.  Very nice hostel with shared rooms for 5 or 7 dollars a night.  A beautiful kitchen and bbq.

Girl rides her bike through the main park and town square of Capurgana.  Nobody every locks there bikes here even if you have a good one.  There is a couple bars, a couple grocerias, and one bakery in this area where the photo is taken.  In the nighttime it is filled with loud caribbean music and people drinking rum, whiskey and beer.  You don't really need to know the time or the day of the week here.  It is always kinda the same thing.  A beautiful, untouched beach town with amazing walks, beaches and people.  You can walk to Panama in one hour and there is a beautiful beach there.  I may do that tomorow.