Sleep update: I seem to be suffering from sudden onset insomnia and didn’t get to sleep until 5:30AM. What the hell?! I have never had this before. I’m hoping it’s the final throes of jet lag and not the new me.

I woke up exhausted at 9am. We had coffee in the room and got everything all packed up. We loaded the car and checked out of the hotel. We drove over to La Chascona and found an underground parking lot that felt safe enough to leave all our worldly belongings in.

The weather was a 180 from yesterday’s cold and cloudy day. We sat outside in the sun and had another coffee and some breakfast. (Happier than we look)

We walked over to La Chascona. This is one of Pablo Neruda’s many homes in the area. I think there are about 3-4 you can visit. This one was built for his mistress who later became his wife. I’m not the most knowledgeable about Neruda beyond reading some of his work in college, but I’m a sucker for any house tour. We were allowed to take photos inside but he had great taste. We left talking about how we need more weirdness and personal touches in our house.

It had an audio tour which kept Millie entertained and learning.

After our visit here we walked over to Cerro San Cristobal to take the funicular to the top. Funiculars terrify me and I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would feel like to have the cable snap and slide all the way to the bottom. We went way higher than I expected and survived the five minute ride.

At the top, Nick ordered a Chilean specialty that he’s been wanting to try, mote con huisillas. This is a syrupy sweet drink with rehydrated dried peaches and wheat berries. I was unsure of it on my first sip and then loved it for all subsequent tastes.

We walked around, admiring the view and the massive Andes that surrounded us.

At the very very top was a church and a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. We saw a wall where people had lit candles and left trinkets as prayers. Millie requested to pray and I told her sure. She said “I’m going to pray that Jesus comes back to life”. I have no idea where she learned this but I felt an immediate need to get here closer to our atheist/agnostic side of the spectrum. I suggested it might be more useful to pray for people who are already alive and in need, so she changed her prayer for all kids who need food. Much better.

We took the cable car back down. Cable cars are another one of these things that we’ve taken so many of this year, and we never would have predicted them. I’ll tally them up at some point but I think we’ve been on at least a dozen.

We walked back to the car and got on the road towards Valparaiso. This is a 1.5 hour drive from Santiago, but the cities feel worlds apart. We drove through and down mountains, then through the wine growing region, to the coast. I tried, and failed, to stay awake.

Valparaiso is much grimier than Santiago, but also has a lot more character. We made it to our Airbnb on the hilly one way streets. Nick was a champ navigating our stick shift rental car. We found some street parking and are hoping the car remains safe where we’ve left it.

We rested briefly and then went out for an early dinner. We found a restaurant with a great view of the water. I ordered a Pisco Sour, which might be a new favorite drink.

Nick and I shared a ceviche as an appetizer. It was up there in the top 10 things we’ve eaten on this trip.

We ate until we were very satisfied and the sun had gone down behind the water.

We tried walking to a grocery store, which took us down a few flights of dark and empty steps. When we got down to the Main Street, everything was boarded up and empty. It was only 7:30 but didn’t feel very safe. Nick aptly said “usually when everything is closed and boarded up like this, it’s a sign to stop walking around”. So we high-tailed it back up the steps and back to our Airbnb. Millie was none the wiser. We will try again in the daylight.