Hi every body,

In italian we say: "Il troppo stroppia" and in french: "Trop de velo tue le velo"...

In other words, sometimes we have enough of  cycling and we need something else to avoid to loose that flavour and the pleasure of our bike tour.

That's why here and there we made some breaks, not only for recovering the legs, but as well to change our mind and refind motivation to continue the travel.

Now we will show you a bit how we spent our last "recovering times" on Chile before crossing the Andeas, reach Argentina and start the last part of our journey.

The first pause was at Valparaiso or Valpo as the local people call this charming city at the border of the ocean which is, as well, the most important harbour close to the Chile capital Santiago.

Valpo's view from Lucile and Julien house...

There we spend our time doing various things other than cycling..

.

Arthur's preferred non-cycling activity...

For example by visiting the city, which extends from the sea up to the surrounding hills or "cerros".

View from the top of a cerro to the neightbouring one... 

The flat part of the city has big buildings, skyscrapes, historical palaces and monuments...

Arturo Prat (chilenean hero) and Arthur Lespagnol (well...)

Valpo historical center...

...but as soon as we start climbing the hills the urban space becomes totally different.

The small houses appear as stiched to the extremely steep slopes...

...and they seem to grows one on top of each other...

...they are extremly coloured and often painted with flashing tones...

...beautiful "graffiti" or paints cover the old or greish surfaces... 

...freshly renewed hauses cohabited side by side to some which are really in a decandent state...

...small walking trails create like a labyrinth where is very easy to get lost...

...many almost vertical stairs allow to reach the upper zone of the city..

...but how could, for example, the old people move in such a place?

To face the problem more than ten elevators were built since the XIX century...

...unluckily nowaday only few of them are kept in use...

...but mainly for turistical purposes meaning that they are quite expensive and only in the "nice" hurban areas...

...people are fighting in the city to regain the social role of them: link 

Apart discovering Valpo, we also enjoy really pleasant evenings with our hosts...

During the week end, in the middle of our Valpo's period, Arthur and Ilaria choose to split for a while and dedicate to different activities: Arthur went to the Andes...

...for a bit of mountaneering and wildlife with Lucile and Julien...

...whereas Ilaria decides to meet with some old Erasmus chileans friends, Felipe and Alejandro, which live in Santiago...

...and take the chance to discover the Capital...

Palcio de la Moneda: the presidential house.

Salvador Allende: last Chile president before the military dictature

The past...

...which melts with the present...

Its culture...

The cultural center La Moneda.

...and fight for having culture...

Sebastian Piñera (on the bottom left), actual president of Chile (and the first right wing president after the dictature), according to the views of the students fighting for having high quality public education (link).

In front of Santiago University...

Just attached to the quite informal, eccletic and artistic Valpo are the more elegant, rafinate and expensive Viña del Mar and its surroundings...

Viña del Mar...

...and its coast...

After more than one week we finally feel ready to start again our travel...

Good bye Valparaiso...

Leaving the city we could personally experience the chilean manifestation (and police repression) style: it was the first one of the new academic year. We crossed the university zone where it took place the march a little time before, but we didn't take photos. Maybe because a bit scared by the numerous military panzers in the surroundings and because we were crying and coughing for the dense tear gas still in the air...

A more pacific manifestation...

Next break was 400 km northen in La Serena city. Four days of Panamericana at 100km/day were enough to motivate us to stop another time...

Moreover, this city really deserve her name ("serena" means in italian "peaceful") : it is calm, relaxing...

...with beautiful colonial style buildings...

...lively road and ancient churches...

Definitely it seems to be in a spanish town...

Walking around this town we realize how strong is impressed in us the european aesthetics taste...

The time in La Serena was short, but definitly pleasant ...

... moreover Ilaria was a bit sick...

therfore those few days were really important to recharge us with the dose of energy necessary for next step of our travel: crossing the Andes passing from the top of Mont Blanc...