Picture this

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We love Val Paraiso (Valpo). Thousands of brightly coloured houses are cramped all along the hillside overlooking the ocean. As you walk the street it's like walking through an art museum. Almost every house is a canvas for some abstract piece. Apparently artists come from all over to graffiti the houses. Regardless of whether you're in to art or not, you have to appreciate the effort that has been put onto the walls of this place. It is simply unreal.



On our first night in Valpo we washed the sweat from our bodies then got ready for the hostel's pub crawl. We took the scenic route to our first destination (Liberty) for some dinner and drinks. I ate some kind of pie that was recommended by our hostel guide - perfect for a vego apparently. Its base was made up of chicken and I think a bit of meat, a whole boiled egg, olives and onion and the top was a layer of mushy corn. If you know me well enough you can imagine how wrong this dish was for me but if i'm honest it actually tasted alright. It was intense and I only ate a bit but it wasn't a complete disaster. Although it had been a big step up from the few dried crackers I'd had for lunch.



We shared wine and chatted to the swedish, aussies and one britt that came on the crawl. After dinner we went to a bar and shared four large jugs of Terremoto - an apparent "must have" in Chile. Terremoto means 'earthquake' in english because it makes your legs shake. I'm not sure if it lived up to its name but it certainly made my teeth ache. It was a sickly sweet concoction of sweet fermented wine and pineapple icecream.



Next stop was a night club but only a few of us stayed on. We danced along to a slow 80s mix in a smoky dark room (you're allowed to smoke inside in most places). I had my trail runners on and was keen for some serious dancing but it was difficult to feel the groove when the music had you swaying from side to side. So we made the steep ascent to our hostel. We carried on there until Coebbie got in trouble for loudly playing his guitar at 2am.



It poured with rain the whole next day so we slept and watched movies. It's nice having that luxury when you're not pressed for time. We walked around the town in the evening and ate some street food for dinner. Then took a 1.5L bottle of wine back to the hostel. We chatted until we were kicked out of the court yard at midnight. Coebbie went out with a few english dudes and didn't get home until 7am this morning. He mumbled something about getting his picture drawn by a man on the side of the street and being king of the street dogs but we'll have to see what actually happened when Sleeping Beauty wakes from his coma.

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Photos

Steep climb to our hostel
See how everything is so colourful!

Pictures on the wall
With artworks at every turn we're inspired to keep walking regardless of the weight of our packs on our backs.

I really love this one.
She's just sitting there by herself - pity about all tags on her.

view of ValParaiso
Or at least I think so.

The weird and wacky
Most of the pictures have some abstract slant to them. Not sure where their heads are at in Valparaiso but I like it!

Portrait a la Coebbie
A man with a caricature face drew Coebbie for $6 at the pub.