Finally managed to get to an authorised Mac Repair Centre for my ailing (new) Mac Book Pro. You may remember back in Mexico that the screen packed up and I had to import my old AirBook from Australia to Mexico. Well, that was a costly and rather stressful undertaking let me tell you. This is the first opportunity to get my MacBook fixed.

Valparaíso has two distinct but connected areas, the charmingly decrepit and rather chaotic old port and its relatively new and rather swish neighbour, Vińa de Mar. Here you’ll find modern apartment towers and hotels on a grid system lined with large palm trees, shopping malls, smart cafés and an endless stretch of golden sand with a curved promenade, old iron pier and loads of swanky seafood restaurants. It’s very nice in its own way (a go-to place for Chileno holiday-makers – think a mini Miami, a Cancun or a Gold Coast – but with one noticeable difference, a cold, air-cooling ocean due to the Humboldt current running up the Chilean coastline) and a total contrast to Valparaíso – no graffiti, flat straight streets, no traffic jams and a rather ordered sense that wouldn’t be out of place in a European coastal resort town. But don’t get me wrong I still prefer the characterful bustle of Valparaíso.

Vińa is an easy train journey from Puerto taking a leisurely 20 mins along the sweep of the port front. We had a pleasant 16 block walk to Mall Marina along a tree-lined boulevard and finally arrived at the Mac Online store to hand over the Mac Book Pro to a very helpful and smiling, non English speaking assistant…Phew! Fingers crossed this all works out well.

I’m now waiting for the ‘diagnostico’ to come back to know my fate. Can it be fixed whilst here or will it remain a deadweight part of my carry on baggage?