In Valparaiso. As I mentioned yesterday, this is definitely not a flat city - from a narrow coastal plain a few hundred metres across, a steep range of hills rise up with the city stretching to the top of them - the geography has a little bit in common with Wellington (except that even the steepest bits that have been left alone in Wellington are built on here). Not sure how high the range is but I'd guess 400-500m.
My initial target was the top of said range. I didn't think the bits of my body which take a while to warm up would appreciate hitting it cold, so started with a flat-to-downhill initial loop before starting the climb about 2km in. From there it was a 35-minute climb with only a couple of brief flats, getting me to the highest parts of the city - it was a slightly murky morning but the view was still worth it. (I had thought from the description of the event that this might take me into some of the areas affected by the
fire earlier this year, in which about 2500 properties and 15 lives were lost, but it didn't).
The first attempt at coming off the range went into a slum which I didn't feel comfortable in (and wasn't sure I'd be able to get out of at the bottom anyway). The second attempt made it clear immediately that there were much steeper ways of taking on the hills than the way I'd climbed it - it took only 2k to lose most of the height it took 5.5k to gain. That put me onto a road which contours around for a while at about the 100-metre level, which was nice, before dropping down onto the flats. Thought I might be a bit short of 2 hours when climbing back to where I was staying but was enjoying myself enough to add an extra loop to take it up to that mark.
Certainly happy with the way I handled the big climb - no issues, just steady grinding without feeling like I was struggling. Quads were a bit iffy after the major descent but settled down again and were fine later in the run (though we'll see how they come up tomorrow).
Valparaiso is an interesting, gloriously chaotic place - all manner of building styles spread over the hills and lots of street life. Definitely glad I came out here rather than spend the weekend in Santiago.
Because English-speakers most commonly associate the word with military dictatorships (most infamously
here), it seemed a bit odd to see signs erected on behalf of various juntas. In fact it just means a board or committee (I think the ones I was seeing were community associations).
Headed to Santiago in the afternoon, the last stop of the trip.