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Published: December 13th 2015
Street Art On Cerro Concepcion
About the only time the posterisation setting on my camera is useful.
You haven’t combed your hair,
You’ve never had time to get dressed,
Life has always surprised you.” - Pablo Neruda
In the words of Chile’s Nobel Prize winning poet, Valparaiso is like the scruffy guy or girl who hasn’t got their life in order (and maybe doesn’t wash as often as he/she should) but who yet sweeps you away with their irresistable charm.
The most colourful and hippie city that I have perhaps visited, there is a photograph around every corner here in Valpo – it truly is a visual joy to walk around. In addition to the copious amounts of graffiti on its walls, the stray dogs and dog shit everywhere adds to Valpo’s messy vibe.
Its grittiness and dirtiness however gives it an edge – an edge that ensures that you are never completely comfortable walking through the streets.
In such an environment, it is perhaps inevitable that the place is full of creative types, street art, galleries and funky spaces.
Just a couple of hours on a bus away from Santiago, Valpo is pretty easy to get to – even if you’re still half-drunk from the night before.
The ride
Cityscape Looking Over At Cerro Concepcion
A neat summary of Valparaiso's colourful houses, perched on the hills above the bay. there was beautifully scenic – vineyards, flowers, mountains.
Waiting for Teo and I at the hostel were Bianca and Nicola, who we met in
Mendoza and hung out with in Santiago. The
chorillana – a humongous portion of fries topped with fried egg, steak and onions – and craft beer that we had for dinner that night hit the spot in helping to cure our hangovers.
I could’ve done with a good night’s sleep too – something denied to me by a neighbourhood street party on a square just outside the hostel…and bedbugs! Again! The second time in a week, the third time in a year, and the nth time overall – this is getting ridiculous now…
Changing hostel to a place a couple of doors down, the new place was actually much nicer – the dorms were cleaner and more spacious, although there was a lot less common area here in which to hang out.
In terms of terrain, Valpo is hilly – like, really hilly. Some of the inclines are so steep that there are public funiculars dotted all over town to take you up them. With the hills however are a lot of viewing platforms affording
Street Art
All over the walls, and in some cases, all over the floor. the most magnificent views across the bay and the city.
At the bottom of the hills is El Plan – a flat, run-down area of old warehouses set out in a grid pattern and which contains Valpo’s main square, Plaza Sotomayor. Running along El Plan is the port which established the city. There is no beach here – that is about twenty minutes up the coast in the relatively posh resort town of Vina del Mar.
Other than the great views from the hills, there isn’t too much in terms of sights – although the whole town is a sight in itself – but both of the main sights that we saw were disappointments.
La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda’s Valpo residence, wasn’t anywhere as cool as his residence in
Santiago. There weren’t nearly as many quirks or cool furniture – but it probably did have one of the best views in town.
The open air gallery was also a let-down – much of the spontaneous street art dotted all over the city were much more spectacular than what was on show at this gallery inaugurated in 1969 but with pieces dating from the early 90s, although it has perhaps been the
View From Cerro Artilleria
Looking over Valpo's port. catalyst for much of the street art that followed and that can be seen today.
On our second night, Bianca boarded a bus back to Santiago while Nicola boarded one to La Serena – that left Teo and I to meet up with Wilco and Renate again, who we first met a couple of days back in Santiago, and Lisa, a German girl who was on one of our walking tours in Santiago who had also made her way to Valpo a couple of days after us.
Valpo has more than its fair share of arty, kooky,
Amelie-like, 40s-style cafes and restaurants and indeed we ate at a couple of them. But tonight, we decided on somewhere a little more fancy with a view over Valpo’s night-time skyline. My fish was excellent – Teo’s and Wilco’s steaks were even better.
On our way back to the hostel, Teo and I stopped by at an awesome dive bar just two doors down from where we were staying. The torn posters, stained tables and chipped-paint walls were in keeping with the general setting of Valpo – even better, the place was packed with locals. Just a shame the wine didn’t quite
Cool Street Art
Maybe the coolest piece I saw in Valpo, on Cerro Concepcion. match the scruffy setting. Or maybe it did?
It was also a shame that I couldn’t speak as much as I had wanted to, to the locals. Some of it was because of my limited Spanish, but some of it was due to the Chileans and their different words for things, and their slurry accent. About as messy as Valpo. Can’t understand them. Just as well there are more English speakers and signs here than there were in every other place I had visited in South America thus far.
We met up again with Lisa on our last night at another of Valpo’s arty cafes for a cheap but rather disappointing three course meal. There was to be no after-party though – Lisa needed some sleep and we had a 24-hour bus to San Pedro to catch that night.
A journey that I am sure will leave us as dirty and dishevelled as Valpo – but no less charming, of course.
Hasta luego,
Derek
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Street Art
Beautiful