Valparaiso and its history

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It was during the Californian gold rush that Valparaiso became a rich port. When people were sailing to California, they would stop off at Valparaiso using it as a half way stopping point. People then began stopping there longer, and settling there with their families. Valparaiso became wealthier and Calle Serrano in Valparaiso became the richest street in Latin America. Then once the Panama canal opened people travelled through the canal instead on their way to California and had no need to stop in Valparaiso. However, the port of San Antonio (not Valparaiso) was the most important port of Chile , located about an hour away by bus from Valparaiso. Valparaiso, was mostly famous for its salmon production. Chile now produces more salmon than Japan or Norway. This is one of the reasons why customs are so careful in Chile, as Chile' climate and biodiversity must be protected to ensure that Chile’s agriculture can continue given that agriculture is Chile’s third main activity. In 1559 Valparaiso was nothing but a port, but then the immjgrants built a church and began developing it. Im 1802 Valparaiso was officially founded. Valparaiso literally means Paradise Valley but trust me this couldn’t be further from the truth. 300,000 people live in this city and my heart goes out to each of them.

There are plenty of earthquakes which have more impact here than they do in Santiago as when they happen in the ocean they create tsunamis. Last year there was a huge fire which burned down 3,000 houses. The town is a fire hazard with badly spaghetti wired electrical cables, narrow streets and a lot of wind causing fires to spread quickly. Its also impossible to get a fire engine anywhere near and difficult to escape through the maze of narrow steps to get away from the fire. If a house here gets destryoyed it is very difficult to renovate because rules exist which say you cannot destroy the façade of a house, together with the fact that it is very costly to continually renovate houses everytime they are damaged by earthquakes or fires.

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