• Valparaiso, Chile

    25–27 sty, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    Sooooo many hills, sooooo much street art. That's Valpo, or Valparaiso, Chile's 2nd largest city after Santiago. It's built on multiple steep hills overlooking Chile's largest port on the Pacific. This was a major stop for ships that went through the Magellan straits from the east coast of the US or Europe back in the day. If you were headed to the 1848 California gold rush from New York, you might take several days to rest here.

    It's got a funky vibe. Most walls and entire buildings are covered in beautiful murals in our neighborhood, Cerro Allegre, one of the many hilltops. There are a lot more tourists here than I expected, mostly Chilean. And we're hearing English for about the first time in Chile. Foreign tourists tend to do a day or 2 in Santiago and then beat it to Patagonia.

    There's lots of Jazz playing in cafes and houses as we walk around. If I had to describe it, I'd say it's a hodgepodge of a Rio favela meets New Orleans in 1950s San Francisco. There are several ascensores, or antique funiculars that cost 100 pesos (a dime) to scoot to the top of a hill. Some are over 100 years old.

    We were tempted to skip it altogether but I'm glad we didn't. In 2019 there were major riots and protests against the government in Chile. Santiago and Valparaiso experienced a lot of vandalism and crime. Then came Covid. Valpo especially became graffiti tagged and crime ridden.

    Tourists are just now starting to come back. Chileans on Reddit were almost universally saying to avoid it. Our hotel host in Santa Cruz told us we'd get robbed. But our friends in Santiago, Sebastian and Teresa had just returned from a weekend there and had a great time. We are staying at their recommended hotel, which has a locked parking spot. Granted, it's an unpaved ledge carved into a hill, but it's secure with cameras.

    There's not a lot to do other than to walk around enjoying the street art, grabbing a coffee, or enjoying the views at a rooftop restaurant. Two nights is plenty. But this area is totally safe and we've enjoyed it.

    We head home tomorrow. It's been 9 weeks for me and 5 for Deanne. There weren't any real lowlights to the trip and we both agree that Iguazu Falls and Buenos Aires were the trip highlights.

    More photos and videos are here.
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/FKnVhqQxMzknX2WCA
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