Valparaiso

Our first taste of Chile… We caught a bus across the Andes from Mendoza to Valparaiso: a small port town on the Pacific coast. We had decided to ditch our original plan of flying in from Buenos Aires for several reasons: 1) We were already in nearby Mendoza, 2) we had no interest in stopping over in Santiago, and 3) we wanted to avoid paying the $130US(!!) visa reciprocation fee imposed on US citizens flying into Chile. Besides, we were pretty used to long distance bus rides, and the trip across the border was only 8 hours. The ride over the mountains was quite spectacular as the peaks were immense and still covered with lots of snow. We had a not-so-brief stop at the border itself to clear customs (and watch the Chilean customs officials destroy imported fruits and vegetables with theatrical glee), but other than that the ride was remarkably smooth and void of delays.

Valparaiso is a pretty cool and unique town as it is built up amongst the impossibly steep hills that encompass the natural port harbor… think hills or Granada or something like that. The houses and buildings on these hills are difficult to access (even on foot), so the city built an extensive network of “ascensors” (funiculars) to cart people up and down the hills. These are not unlike some of the inclines that still run in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. We stayed in a hostel up one of these hills above the Ascensor Espiritu Santo some 65 meters above the town below. This lift isn’t the oldest one built (that would be Ascensor Concepción… built in 1883), but it is a respectable 98 years old and still in operation.

Aside from the ascensors, there isn’t anything particular to see in Valparaiso. The charm and character of the town lies in walking around and climbing endless hidden stairs to discover sweeping panoramic vistas and vibrant mural art painted on the sides of most buildings. Even the people here are interestingly quirky: We were walking to lunch one Sunday only to encounter a pack of young folk singing and dancing and drinking on the side of a hill, apparently still parting from the night before!

Ok… there is one other thing to experience here (as Ana has pointed out), and that is the work of the poet Pablo Neruda, who called Valparaiso his home. Pablo was a communist activist and outspoken political figure in Chile. Though he held many diplomatic posts for his country (he was even a Senator), he was highly critical of Pinochet’s military coup of 1973 and subsequent dictatorship. On the way to his house in the heights of Valparaiso, houses have poems placarded on their walls in his honor… making for an inspiring stroll to get in the appropriate frame of mind.

Click Here to check out where Valparaiso is on a map of Chile…

Also, check out the pictures that we took at the link below:

www.picasaweb.com/richmosko/valparaiso

Tags: Chile,Valparaiso,funicular,ascensor