Valparaiso: street art on hills

I’ve arrived in Valparaiso, which is itself a World Heritage Site because of its cultural links, including amazing murals and winding steep streets around the older part of town. That also means that there are lots of steps, as the picture shows.

My trip here involved taking my first long-distance Chilean bus, which was entirely unproblematic. The bus was newish, comfortable, well-driven, with secure luggage processes and on time; it’s hard to expect much more for the princely sum of about $4 that I paid for the 90 minute trip from Santiago to Valparaiso! (It was a special deal of some kind, completely mysterious to me). My bus was described as semi-cama, or half-sleeping; I had a good footrest and could have inclined the seat (a lot), had I chosen to.

I’ll be doing some more travel by buses, so I am feeling positive about the likely experiences. You can see from the picture that the bus company has improved its fleet since the early days!

I passed some lovely agricultural land on the way, as we drove through some wine-growing regions. Chilean wine is a major export I think, and have often seen it in Australia as a relatively inexpensive alternative to some Australian wines. It was difficult to take photos out of a slightly dirty window, however. I saw lots of wildflowers too, mostly yellow, and many of which looked like wattle to me (although I am rarely a good botanical guide).

The city of Valparaiso is built on about forty hills, so is a nightmare for cartographers and pedestrians alike. Although I have various maps, I was mostly lost for most of the first few hours here, but in a pleasant way of course. A feature of the town are the famous ascensores, or funicular elevators, which help people navigate some of the hills cheaply and efficiently. This one is near my (wonderful) B & B, just a few blocks away (downhill from me).

It was fun to go down, not long after arriving, but a great relief to go up, as I wended my way home! Many of the ascensores are not working, unfortunately, awaiting funds for repair, it seems. But in my travels yesterday, I also went up another one (for the princely sum of 100 pesos, which is about 20 c in Australian money. Worth every cent, according to both of my legs …

Valparaiso has been Chile’s main port for many years, especially when trading ships used to sail around the horn and up the coast. Lots of minerals were exported from here, when taking stuff out of the ground was Chile’s main industry. Even when the Panama canal opened, it continued to be an important port, and in recent years has become a popular destination for cruise ships full of tourists. So the population relies on tourism and the port for employment and economy. These days, however, lots of the port work is handled automatically by big container machines and computers, so employment is a problem. My local ascensor is right next to the huge port area:

My landlady was telling me at breakfast that the port authorities are now trying to reduce the number of cruise ships coming (presumably as they make more money with container ships), which would exacerbate further the local employment, of course, as most of it relies on tourism these days.

I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around some of the hills, especially going down and not going up, as there were many steps (and my iPhone still does not record my daily steps! what a waste!). Many streets are very steep indeed, and must be a nightmare to drive on. (This would be a great place to sell spare clutch parts, I thought to myself.) The picture at the top of the blog gives an example of some steps, and also shows that the the mural has been refined here to an urban art form of a high order. I loved the step painting below, for example, and was imagining driving down the hill shown below, pleased that I was not trying to do so.

Here are some more examples of the wonderful street art around town. I liked the van Gogh, especially! Click on the pictures to get a better sense of them; some of the murals are huge.

I also saw the most decorated lamp post I’ve ever seen, too:

I am sure that later blogs from Valparaiso will have lots of other murals, so I’ll resist adding more now. My B & B has some wonderful views from the terrace just outside my door, while the picture below with the pink flowers shows the view out my bedroom window.

Lots of people in this town get a good view, although it does make me wonder about earthquakes, which are not uncommon around here. Still lots of things seem to survive, such as the house with a view below and the lovely naval building in the town square.

Actually, the naval building used to be the town hall, but it was commandeered by the navy when the military coup took place in 1973 and they seem to have forgotten to return it, which has not endeared them to the locals.

My first afternoon in Valparaiso finishes with sunset over the bay, with a lovely view from my terrace. First time in a while that I’ve seen the sun setting over the Pacific

I’m sure the terrace will come in handy in the next few days I am here.