Blog

January 2012

• 29/01/12

  Tales from Valparaiso (and beyond) No. 13

  Our taxi driver in Chillán today told us that he was a nephew of Violeta Parra. We were transferring from one bus terminal to another after a night's journey from Frutillar. After two weeks travelling by air, ferry and bus, seeing fjords, glaciers, whale more
• 11/01/12

  Tales from Valparaiso (and beyond) No. 12

  The evening before last I went to a concert out at the University of Playa Ancha, about a mile out on the edge of town. It took me a while to find the (excellent) venue – an open gate in the otherwise impenetrable high surrounding fence... more
• 08/01/12

  Tales from Valparaiso (and beyond) No. 11

  My original intention was to restrict these blogs to musical subjects; I got a bit blown off-course, didn't I? I'm reverting to plan now and leaving the politics out. I'm conscious that the person who arrives in the UK, for example, and has some conversat more

December 2011

• 12/12/11

  Tales from Valparaiso (and beyond) No. 10

  There are a number of stray dogs who live on our street – as in every street here. Walking uphill with Adriana the other day she said hello to all of them in turn (“fuerte! you're a big strong boy!”). Only one of them, as far as I know, she knows by more
• 01/12/11

  Tales from Valparaiso (and beyond) No. 9

  It hasn't rained here since we arrived – well, to be absolutely honest, there was one morning when Ann said there was a light drizzle for a while, and another when we were first here, when I definitely felt a few drops... more

November 2011

• 24/11/11

  Tales from Valparaiso (and beyond) No. 8

  A Chilean friend here exclaimed over lunch the other day: “I'm fed up with all this '73 stuff!” - yes, we're all fed up with it but it keeps coming back – like a recurring nightmare. Two public events have happened this week to bring it back to the more