Fireworks, Confetti & Champagne... A South American NYE

In our wisdom/foolishness, we made an impromptu decision to travel to the epic NYE celebrations at Valparaiso on Chile's Pacific Coast. After a quick Google search it was obvious that we could not afford to stay the night in the city - most places had a three night minimum stay policy and beds in 10 person dorms that would have cost £10 a night being sold at £40-£60. With that we decided to pull an all nighter, arriving on Sunday morning, taking in the sights, staying up for the firework display and street parties before getting the first bus back on the 1st of January.

We got up at 6:30am on New Year's Eve and immediately struggled to find an uber to take us to the bus stop, to take us to the metro system, to get us to the bus terminal. It was a slightly stressful 30 minutes as we realised we couldn't even get a taxi from the vineyard and that we were rapidly running out of time to make the journey to the station. In the end, we got very lucky, as an uber was dropping someone else off nearby and we finally made it with time to spare.

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Our experiences of bus travel in South America have thus far been mixed, so we were not exactly sure what to expect. The terminal was chaotic as Chileans and tourists alike waited for their coaches taking them to a variety of different locations across the country. However, the process was actually far easier than we thought it would be - we could purchase tickets online and choose our seats in advance with Turbus (N.B. you have to use PayPal as they won't accept non-Chilean payment cards and you have to provide a Chilean phone number). The tickets could be picked up at a self service desk within the bus terminal and they gave us all the information we needed to board our bus with very little effort. The coaches were clean, new, super comfortable and all had working seat belts(!). The abundance of leg room and soft reclining seats meant we could sleep on the way to Valparaiso easily, which was great after our early start.

We arrived after a couple of hours to a city VERY different from Santiago. We had been warned by our colleagues and had read online that Valparaiso has a reputation for street crime, with tourists being particularly targeted. Muggings and snatch and grab thefts were the most common, especially if you wander into the wrong neighbourhood with expensive camera equipment, and for this reason we decided to leave everything at home. We took some sandwiches in a plastic bag and took a money belt with one phone, the debit card and a nominal amount of cash plus an empty wallet. It was very nice to wander the streets knowing we were free from items that could make us a target and though we missed out on some beautiful shots of the city's famous street art, we were actually able to live in the moment and enjoy our first New Year away from family and friends unencumbered.

Our day was spent wandering the hills, taking the oldest funicular in the city (not as grand or exciting as it sounds) to a warren of streets that can most accurately be described as a hipster paradise. Quirky shops and cafes sit nestled in multicoloured houses, whilst street artists have adorned the walls and buildings with whimsical and colourful scenes. We were also lucky enough to be meeting up with our friend Stephanie, who is currently working at a hostel in the city and so had a place to rest our feet before the evening festivities and had someone to show us where to get great ice cream (we went for peanut, chocolate and caramel which ended up tasting like a delicious frozen Snickers!)

NYE in Valparaiso was unlike anything we've ever seen before. Things you would normally associate with ringing in a New Year (champagne, novelty hats and glasses etc.) were all present, but on an unimaginable scale. Every street was lined with stalls selling confetti canons, bangers, fake snow sprayers and lucky yellow pants (apparently a tradition here). By the time we'd had a few beers and headed down to the harbour to watch the 20 minute firework display, the floor was littered with confetti and silly string. Covered in champagne, which is apparently sprayed not consumed, and after joining a parading street party complete with drums and crazy dancing, we headed back to the hostel to crash on the sofa for a few hours before heading to the bus station at 6am for our trip back to Santiago.

Many people who had had a similar idea to us were asleep on the bus station floor when we got there, and we were again grateful we hadn't had to spend to the earlier hours of a brand new year shivering in the cold. We boarded our bus without any fuss and arrived back at our apartment by 10:30am, ready to spend New Year's Day... completely fast asleep in bed. Happy 2018!

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