Valparaiso, located on the coastline of Chile, is not more then 1.5 hours by bus from Santiago. An old port city built on the edge of the water with hills running right into the ocean. The city has 15 funiculars, which were built between 1883-1914, and are still in use today. Costing anywhere from 100 to 250 pesos per ride (22 to 53 cents), it’s a steal if you don’t feel like walking up one of the 42 steep hills of Valparaiso.
Small independent boutiques and cafés add charm to the city, along with graffiti that is ever present. Also interesting are the houses are mostly all paneled in corregated metal and brightly painted.
Valparaiso is an easy town to navigate and explore day and night. Saturday we stopped at Cinzano for lunch at 4pm and listened to an old time guitarist play traditional folk songs. In the evening we went out for a nice dinner at 10pm, then out to a club until 2:30am. It was a late night for us, but for Chileanos it was just starting to get going.

Since we were short on time, the following day we spent our day taking an organized tour around the park. The Patagonia region is beautiful, and Torres del Paine has more than it’s fair share of amazing views, teal and turquoise lakes, glaciers and icebergs, the towers of Paine and the horns of Paine. The sights are dramatic and ever-changing.  One minute it’s sunny and brilliant, and the next it’s overcast and ominous.