Valparaiso, Chile

Well, once again we were met by Chilean health officials when we docked yesterday and first told we could not go on any of our shore excursions. After discussions with Silversea, they agreed to let us do a short bus ride through the city but everyone had to stay on the bus. I opted not to go since I was here 2 years ago and was able to experience it first hand. Valparaiso is a fun city but you need to be able to walk the narrow winding streets to see all the street art, shops, etc. and the buses were too large for most of them. It’s very hilly so they have funiculars that will take you up and down the hills. These are basically a cog railway.

So the good news, is we’re supposed to be able to do our tours starting tomorrow in Porto Montt, but we’ll see. It’s somewhat disappointing not being able to see and experience these towns but if I wasn’t doing this, I’d be home complaining about the cold. I’ve also decided most of South America is not a place I will return to unless it’s something like Machu Pichu or Galapagos. We have 3 more stops in Chile then off to Antarctica where we’ll be able board the zodiacs and go ashore.