dred

We visited Valparaiso on our trip 3 years ago and I absolutely loved it. In fact I still remember saying that I had to return someday. So when we were planning our trip this year, Valparaiso was on the top of the list of places for us to visit in the first couple of months. On the bus from Santiago I was getting incredibly excited to experience this city again.

Valparaiso is a port city that consists of a flat commercial area near the water, along with a number of hills upon which most of the residents live. As we started the 30 minute walk from the bus station to our hostel, we manoeuvred through crowds of people along the main street of the flat area of town, dodging the ground level market stalls and the occasional stray dog. It was all very chaotic. I began to wonder whether my impression of Valparaiso had been enhanced in my mind over time. Perhaps nostalgia was playing tricks with me?

Fortunately, as we turned left up the steep streets heading to the hills, or ‘cerros’, I was reminded of what made me fall in love with this place. The walls of cafes, hostels and shops were covered in street art and many buildings were painted vibrant colours. After dropping off our bags, we continued to wander the streets of Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion and found some of these delights:

Valparaiso was once a thriving port city, however this changed with the construction of the Panama Canal, which had a crippling effect on the local economy. Nowadays the city is known for the many artists and musicians that have populated the cerros and have created what can only be described as a ‘vibe’. I am not normally a fan of using such vague terms, however this really does describe Valparaiso well. Everywhere we walked we could hear music coming from windows.

Alegre and Concepcion are definitely the most ‘touristy’ areas of Valparaiso. Although I really enjoyed seeing the artwork in these areas, given our experience in the area near the bus station, I couldn’t help but wonder whether these cerros weren’t necessarily a reflection of the character of the greater town. As we continued to explore away from Alegre and Concepcion, I quickly realised that the artwork was far more widespread. The charm of Valparaiso was evident wherever we walked. The more time we spent there, the more it confirmed how much I enjoy the place. My memories were accurate after all.

Whilst in Valparaiso, we also took a day trip to Isla Negra, one of the poet Pablo Neruda’s 3 homes. We had visited La Sebastiana (his house in Valparaiso) on our previous trip. A very interesting man, Neruda designed his Isla Negra home to resemble a boat due to his love of the sea. Neruda was also in love with Valparaiso and an excerpt of one of his famous poems about the city was mentioned and displayed frequently in town and on artwork.

We are now going to start making our way south through the lakes district of Chile on route to Torres Del Paine in Patagonia. Definitely a change of pace from bustling Valparaiso! I will certainly miss this town and am so happy that we were able to return. Perhaps we’ll swing past again on the way back north.

Erin