Take a visual journey through Chile, Santiago and Valparaiso and Castro to beautiful bays and waterfalls.
We landed in Santiago, Chile after a 10+ hour plane ride. We found and boarded a bus for another hour plus ride to the ship. The scenery was ugly at first — it looked like California or Arizona deserts. When we reach Valparaiso, this is what we see.
A brief city tour before boarding our ship. Valparaiso is very densely populated. Houses are stacked like Legos. This is the oldest part of the city — brightly colored and less stacked.
Castro, Chile is two very different towns in one. By the docks, the scene is very relaxed and quiet, but a hike up a very steep hill reveals a bustling city.
San Francisco cathedral in Castro has metal siding walls. I took this extreme close up of the stained glass because I saw a heart in the corner of the window on the left. You can see this church from the docks.
We took a walk through Castro’s residential area. Every house had a garden and stray dogs. Beautiful views of the water and graffiti!
In the bay of Puerto Chacabuco, Chile. There is no big port like the other towns. We walked through the town in the pouring rain. We saw more stray dogs and a very friendly cat, missing part of its tail. At the top of a hill was a dome structure. Inside, locals peddled their handicrafts. Knitting is huge in Chile.
Summer in lower Chile means fog, rain and temperatures in the 50s. We saw waterfalls on many a mountain side.
Friendly geese in someone’s yard. They seemed to like having their photo taken and posed for me!
The largest hydrangeas I’ve ever seen were in Puerto Montt, Chile. The colors were so vibrant. The sea air must agree with them.
Boats grounded for restoration. Men were working hard in the rain, sanding and painting. There was even a horse supervising.
Entrance to the huge “swap meet,” where stall after stall of handicrafts and various other souvenirs were on sale for tourists. I found a wadded up R$2. I was in Chile, so Brazilian currency was useless, but it was still cool.
Wild flowers growing in the sea wall of Puerto Montt, Chile.
