muchos colores de las casas

---

What a transition from island Chiloe to the bustling port of Valparaiso! Shipping containers piled high on the docks, megaships in the harbor steered by tugboats, the Chilean navy, all spur contemplation of global commerce and international trade, just as the bus trip here through Chile´s central valley prompted thoughts of agribusiness. Chiloe´s salmon and shellfish mega farms ship internationally, and from the central valley wine, berries, beef, from the north copper, who knows what else. Do I really need Chilean raspberries from the coop out of local season, and why are they so cheap...
Easter week is a big family and vacation time in urban Chile, and Valparaiso is crowded with families enjoying the warm sunny weather. The local daily paper boats a 95% hotel reservation rate for this weekend. Yesterday afternoon and evening local churches marked Good Friday with religious reenactments, processions to the stations of the cross, and burning effigies of Judas in the streets. Tomorrow will be primarily a family day.
About the colors...Valparaiso´s hills look as if someone went wild with leftover paints and brush. Bright colors are the norm, and the architecture includes German and British style buildings left from Valparaiso´s early days as a treaty port. Outdoor murals, official and unofficial, and creative graffiti cover many walls. There´s even an outdoor museum of wall murals.

---