![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/P3299125.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
<\/a>We stopped at a mall and Sylvia & Annabelle road giant wheeled stuffed animals around in a circle for five minutes while awful\u00a0xylophone \/ children’s choir music played. \u00a0I think everyone would have rode them but the rest of us were too big.<\/p>\n We walked along the\u00a0ocean\u00a0front and did some shopping and spent the night. \u00a0The next day we continued our long, long desert drive south. \u00a0 We did drive along the sea for awhile and camped a few nights on the beach. \u00a0We have some tsunami fear so we subscribed to the tsunami warning center’s email and SMS warning system (weatherupdates@public.govdelivery.com), which messages us whenever an earthquake that potentially could cause a tsunami occurs. \u00a0This means we get messaged several times a day.<\/p>\n The ocean here is beautiful, very deep blue. \u00a0Almost like the Caribbean.<\/p>\n The city of La Serena was the\u00a0beginning\u00a0of the end of the desert. \u00a0We had hope of visiting the Penguin Reserve but it is only reached by small boats and the water was too choppy. \u00a0We waited two days and then decided to try to visit penguins farther south. \u00a0La Serena was a strange city. \u00a0We pulled into a Copec truck stop on the north end of town to do some La Serena recon. \u00a0It was getting dark so we disconnected the van and headed into town. \u00a0They had a Hyper Lider (Walmart) which is where everyone seemed to shop. \u00a0Hyper Liders are even worse than American Walmarts because there is usually not much left on the shelves. \u00a0 \u00a0They are two stories and have a moving sidewalk that you can put your cart on and ride up to the second floor, so this was a plus. \u00a0We meandered around town looking for a better grocery store and found a store, not sure it was better.<\/p>\n Back at the camper, we met a woman selling chicken sandwiches who spoke English very well and she talked to Mark quite a bit about La Serena. \u00a0She offered the use of her washer for laundry, which was really nice, but the sheer size of our laundry needs seemed overwhelming and we did not take her up on her offer. \u00a0We spent the next day driving along the beach and hanging out, wondering if the sea would be calm enough for penguin watching. \u00a0We had a plan to do some sea kayaking but that will have to wait for the fjords further south. \u00a0We left La Serena and headed south, always south. Next stop: \u00a0Valparaiso.<\/p>\n We had no idea where we would park and how it would all work out. \u00a0We had an idea we would take the train to Valparaiso so we headed to the town of Quillota to see if we could park and ride the train. \u00a0Turns out, we could not. \u00a0The train had no parking lot. \u00a0We found a gas station and asked where we could park overnight and they said we could park right there, which was nice and convenient and loud and busy and right next to the gas pump where trucks and\u00a0buses\u00a0got gas, often with less than 4 inches between us and them. \u00a0It was a terrible place to camp, probably the worst place on the trip. \u00a0Even worse than the night at the Colombian gas station where dozens of people came to look at us. \u00a0We left early the next morning to try the train station in the next town but again, there was no parking lot. \u00a0We decided to drive through Valparaiso and see if we could find a good spot. \u00a0The Pan American circumvents the city so we drove to the southern end and there, like a mecca beckoning us toward it, was the best of all overnight parking spots: a truck stop with free wifi, free showers, a mini mart and a McDonalds. \u00a0We were able to score a great spot so we promptly ditched the camper and headed into town.<\/p>\n Oh Valparaiso, the most beautiful city we have visited yet. \u00a0A shipping hub before the Panama Canal was built,\u00a0Valparaiso\u00a0fell into decline in the early 1900’s, suffered through earthquakes and then was revitalized in the 1990’s. \u00a0Wikipedia says:<\/p>\n “Nicknamed \u201cThe Jewel of the Pacific\u201d, Valpara\u00edso was declared a world heritage site based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture. In 1996, the World Monuments Fund declared Valpara\u00edso\u2019s unusual system of\u00a0funicular<\/a>\u00a0elevators (highly-inclined cable cars) one of the world\u2019s 100 most endangered historical treasures. In 1998, grassroots activists convinced the Chilean government and local authorities to apply for UNESCO world heritage status for Valpara\u00edso. Valpara\u00edso was declared a\u00a0World Heritage Site<\/a>\u00a0in 2003. Built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Valpara\u00edso boasts a labyrinth of streets and cobblestone alleyways, embodying a rich architectural and cultural legacy. Valpara\u00edso is protected as a\u00a0UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/a>.” (#29).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We spent a few days in Valparaiso. \u00a0We rode the train to Vina del Mar. \u00a0We rode more funiculars. \u00a0 We learned all about the Chilean version of the Battle of Iquique. \u00a0You can find the entire dramatic story at:\u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Battle_of_Iquique<\/a>\u00a0. \u00a0But since you probably won’t read the wikipedia article (but you should because it is full of \u00a0secret pacts that everyone knew about, motivational speeches that end with Long Live Chile! or Long Live Peru! and much drama) here is the shortened but still very interesting story of the Battle of Iquique:<\/p>\n The year is 1873. \u00a0Chile and\u00a0Britain\u00a0have interest in a nitrate mine near Antofagasta (now northern Chile but then — Bolivia). \u00a0Bolivia threatened to nationalize the mine. \u00a0Chile got angry and seized control of the Bolivian mine which made Bolivia declare war on Chile. \u00a0Peru was also forced to declare war with Chile because they had a secret treaty with Bolivia that Chile knew about. \u00a0 Six years go by. \u00a0Then one day in May, Chile decided to take their entire Navy fleet and sail north. \u00a0Coincidentally, Peru took their Navy and sailed south. \u00a0They sailed right past each other without knowing, literally ships that passed in the night. \u00a0Chile left two old boats in Iquique and Peru arrived and blew them up. \u00a0But before that, there was a lot of long winded speeches, some fencing, general swashbuckling and much manliness. \u00a0At one point, a Chilean commander named Pratt decided to jump\u00a0aboard a Peruvian vessel with his men for more manly swashbuckling. \u00a0He “raised his sword and cried his final order:\u00a0“Let’s board, lads!”\u00a0<\/span>but no one heard him except one other man so he was completely outnumbered but bravely fought (with machetes and swords and probably swinging from the rigging) to the death. \u00a0Here is the interesting thing – the death of Pratt inspired thousands of young Chilean men to join the Navy and it tipped the scales and they won the war and the mineral rich northern region leaving Bolivia landlocked, poor and bitter to this day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We headed south for 1,000 miles through desert. \u00a0Our first stop was Humberstone by Iquique, an\u00a0abandoned\u00a0saltpeter site and a World Heritage Site (#28). We spent the night and headed to the city of Antofagasta which is down a steep and winding road. \u00a0The Pan American is a straight highway about 50km from the coast on… Continue reading Valparaiso<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,265],"tags":[351,271],"class_list":["post-1931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaska-to-patagonia","category-chile","tag-chile","tag-valparaiso","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1968,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/1968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>