Valparaiso, Chile

Today we visited the bustling port of Valparaiso, Chile (Pronounced “bahl-pah-rah-ee-saw”). Colorful buildings rise from the sea as far as the eye can see, covering the 42 hills that the city occupies. 

The city (of 1 million folks) has quite a history. Founded by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s, it’s port was established to support the much larger nearby city of Santiago (population 5.5 million people). 

Over the course of the following centuries, these two cities battled the British and the Spanish for their independence. There were other interesting battles as well. Valparaiso grew from a village to become the Jewel of the Pacific. Not only was it considered the most popular city on the South American west coast, but it also became the banking capital. With many shrewd business tycoons who called the city home, banks worldwide opened branches in the city, driving tremendous growth and wealth. We opted to spend our day in the smaller city of Valparaiso.

Sadly, much of the diverse beautiful architecture found throughout the city was destroyed in a major earthquake in 1906, dealing a catastrophic blow to their economy. Ironically, this was the same year as the devastating earthquake in their sister-city of San Francisco. These two cities have much in common, with their hilly, winding street. In fact, the streets are so steep here that the city has 16 (of the original 34) funiculars scattered throughout town. And boy do the need them! They cost $100 Pesos each way! (Don’t worry, that is 11 cents…)

In addition to the extreme hills, the miles and miles of meandering winding streets “seem to have every angle except 90 degrees”. But traversing these streets are worth it, because this city is best known nowadays as the number one place to view urban street art. It is a shame that value is placed on graffiti. I believe much of society today accepts that this is the price of having large poverty-stricken urban populations with uneducated youth.

While the content varies widely, much of the art is commissioned by the city and painted by popular artist from around the globe. Karen and I have been excited for several years to walk several artistic routes and take a crack at photographing our findings. (I apologize in advance for the quantities of pictures below…)

Hope you enjoyed the photos. Next stop, La Serena, Chile, home of the “Chile Dogs”! And remember, “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx.
😉