Bernie's Travels: Gorgeous Valparaiso, Chile

I absolutely loved Valparaiso. So far it has been my favorite city in all of Latin America. It was rough around the edges, but so full of life. The steep hills and funky neighborhoods overlooking the ocean were terrific. Known as Chile's cultural capital, Valparaiso had a creative buzz about the town, and the people were great as well.

Valparaiso is a little more than an hour from Santiago on the Pacific Coast of Chile. It has a long history as a port town and there still seems to be plenty happening on the docks. Valparaiso also has a number of universities to give a youthful mix to its working class roots. To add to the decrepit character many of the Valapariso's wealthy elite left the hilly, working class port city sometime ago for the beachy, manicured, and modern surroundings of Viña del Mar, just a fifteen minute drive around the coast. What was left was the old architecture, a working port, a young university crowd, and of course the amazing hills overlooking the port.

A classic part of Valpariso's charcater are the dozen or so working elevators that lift its citizens up and down the steep hills of the city.

Very characteristic of Chile, and in particular Valparaiso, were all of the friendly street dogs. They were everywhere, just hanging around as if they belonged there. In other countries street dogs tend to be a bit more skittish and malnourished, but the Chilean dogs seemed to be living the life roaming where they wanted and being fed by people passing by.

I was there over a weekend when there were loads of people milling about the markets, antique malls, and public squares. People seemed to be out and enjoying life.

I walked all around the city up and down the hills. It was a photogenic place to be sure. A couple other things that stuck out about the city was all of the graffiti, which seemed to fit in nicely, and also the trash. It wasn't a clean city, but had lots of life and great people.

One night I met up with my friend Sharon from Holland we had met earlier on the boat ride from the south of Chile. We had a fun night out dancing and keeping up with the university crowd. Another night I met up with some people from Santiago that I had met through Couch Surfing. I had met Joris a few days earlier in Santiago, and I got to meet Barbara and some of their friends while they were visiting Valparaiso. We had a fun night visiting a unique eatery that served only one dish, the “chorrillana” – heart attack special!
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