Valparaiso

Definitely our kind of city – some great restaurants, cafés and bars.
For Saturday night we followed a 'Rough Guide' recommendation and headed for Café Vinilo for some Chileno food. Unfortunately they did not have the conejo (rabbit in white wine) which is one of their signature dishes but Linda had an excellent arollado of pork with a orange and mint mash while I had lengua de vacuna (cow's tongue) in a mustard sauce with a risotto of split corn which was just as good – impressed by their own brew of beer and the best bottle of Carmenere we have tasted (and the most expensive). Another very friendly welcoming place – listening to music from the Platters, and Abba and some Chilean folk group – all on vinyl. Even Peter B-C would have been impressed with the decks they were using – although the DJ wasn't going to start until 11.00pm.

The musical entertainment in our hotel was … amusing and entertaining. A lady singer of a certain age with a reasonable voice who sang in Spanish, French and English in the style of Ella or Piaf. By the time we left at 2.00am the show had degenerated into a sort of live Karaoke with contributions from most of the clientele – think Linda was keen to get me out of the room before I offered 'The Wild Rover'. Heard the end of the show from our room and settled down to sleep only to be kept awake by a group of drummers in the Plaza at the bottom of the hill who kept going until dawn – the second weekend in a row that I've made it through the night without sleep!