Valparaíso Bike Trip

 Yesterday evening, the two guides that showed us around Valparaíso last weekend reached out to us about going on a bike ride. This was something that we talked about doing last week, not as guides, but just as friends/acquaintances. We didn't think anything would come of it, but it did! Anyway, we met them this morning at Fernanda's apartment (which she shares with her mom and grandmother). Her apartment is about 2.5km from ours, so Laura and I took the subway there. That was our first time on the subway and it went well. Good to have that figured out. Turns out you just tap your credit card on entry and exit and it charges the fare.

At Fernanda's, we borrowed two of their bikes and helmets and away we went. We went back to the coast and then along the coast all the way to the other side of Valparaíso to the lighthouse Faro Punto Angeles. Along the way:

We stopped at the Playa Caleta Portales where there is a fish market. Literally, the small fishing boats come to this pier, offload their catch and sell it to folks.

As we walked through the market, we happened upon two regular customers--a couple of huge South American Sea Lions. At this tienda, fish are cleaned and sold in the moment, the head and guts get tossed to the sea lions:

 Later, along the coast, we saw two more sea lions basking on this old bridge support. I still have no idea how they got up there:

The views back to our part of the city were amazing, aided by the beautiful, clear weather,

The rocky Pacific coast here is very similar to WA and OR,

We turned around when we got to the lighthouse,

It turns out that Fernanda and Kath had gone to the fish market earlier in the day and purchased some fresh fish. They invited us back to Fernanda's place where her mom prepared the fish and some mussels for lunch. As most of you know, seafood is not my thing, but Laura said it was some of the best she'd ever had. This is raw salmon with lemon and salt

These are steamed mussels

This is ceviche with some kind of fish, not sure what,

While they made lunch, I practiced my Spanish with Fernanda's grandmother, Ida. We did pretty well. Turns out she also knows some German (her father immigrated to Chile from Germany). All the while, we played with the family's 2-year old dachshund, Bora.

We had a great day and very much appreciate the effort that Fernanda and Kat made on our behalf. We hope to return that effort some day soon.

****

We made it back to our flat in time for sunset,