Tiff and Brad Are in Chile

We figured out the subway immediately so the city was
ours. We made the traditional pilgrimage to the Plaza
de Armas and the City Cathedral. The best church was
a smaller church of St. Francis. Everyone had put up
pictures of their dogs and cats with prayers all
around the statue of St. Francis. We visited one
church built in 1572. It kind of looked it.
The next day we went to Valparaiso. It´s hills and
hills and more hills. The houses all march up the
surrounding mountains in every color you can imagine.
We rode scarey old antique funiculars that seemed to
be hanging by a thread off the cliffsides. We had a
wonderful French lunch in a dingy little cafe because
we thought it would be a bargain, which it was, but it
was also the best dinner I,ve ever had. Later in the
day we went to Neruda,s house. It is in a lovely
setting --but it is four stories high with one room on
each floor--a bit of a bothersome floor plan I would
think.
The park near the Paza de Armas is full of chess
players. They play every day and huge crowds gather
to watch. There are official timers, etc. at every
table. It is very serious business. The players all
bring their own tables and chairs and certainly seem
to know what they are doing and who plays
who--although to a visitor it seems quite
indecipherable.
The people here are nice and the ice cream is the best. I
think it is even better than Italy. There is no meat
in the world like the beef here. It must come from
Argentina. There is no comparison with our tough old
tasteless cows. With my first bite--I just sort of
moaned with pleasure.

The hostel is $5 a night and
we had a great Lasagna dinner for $3. The subway is
65 cents--wait till we start South though--It will get
pricier but at least it will cool off.