Street art - a tentative convert

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Yesterday Abbey had a bad cough from a cold that has been creeping up on her, and Pauline was fine with a rest day, so I joined a couple from Toronto (Dora and Ran) on a walk through some neighbourhoods we haven´t been to yet. In our neighbourhood, we picked up a stray tourist, Marilena who is also from Toronto and was visiting Valparaíso for the day from Santiago. Ran is particularly interested in street art, and was it ever an eye opener for me to hang around with these guys. I had noticed a number of interesting murals, but for me a lot of it had been diluted by (what I consider) nuisance grafitti. Ran and Dora showed me pictures made when artists cut stencils from mylar and then spray paint on walls, streets, concrete steps. They are really quite interestng, and often have hiddden messages or meanings. The artists often travel the world to spread their art. Not sure how easy it is to sell your painting though.

With the house full of travellers, we gathered around the table at night to chat with Ran & Dora, and a German couple who had gone on a horseback riding excursion with our host Rene. They really enjoyed it.

Today we are going back to Viña to see the botacical gardens and an Easter Island museum.

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