Valparaiso, Chile
16-17 September 2006
(Valparaiso Photos)

Well before arriving in Chile I was well aware of this port on the Pacific, less than two hours from Santiago. I have a friend who did a semester abroad at the university in Valparaiso last year (I was meant to catch up with her then, but I arrived a year too late!). So it has been very much on my "places to go in Chile" list. So I was slightly surprised to here several negative reports from those that had been to Valpo (as it is affectionately known). These were not just from travelers I had encountered, but from locals as well. Anyone in my Santiago hostel who were planning on visiting Valpo were just going for the day. Valpo is an easy day trip from Santiago. But, I felt that it deserved at least night.

I have heard charming and romantic sounding descriptions of Valparaiso. However, you need to keep in mind that it is a port city, all be it a small one. Valpo is totally different from Santiago. "Gritty" would be one way I would describe it. After the very safe, Western feel of Santiago, when I Arrived in Valpo I felt like I was back in South America. I felt less safe and was much more on my guard. I learned that Valpo has bad reputation for petty thievery. I fortunately had no bad experiences nor did I witness any. But I heard plenty of stories, for example, of mobile phone being snatched right out of people hands.

I was not going to let any of this deter me. I found a nice, simple sounding hostel on one of Valpo's 42 cerros (hills) and spent my time doing what I do best - getting out and exploring on foot. Valparaiso is known for its hills and the haphazard manner in which people have built their houses on them over the past 150 years. It is these brightly painted, tin sided houses and the little funiculars one rides to get to them that is the main attraction of Valpo. My Footprint "South American Handbook" guide puts it quite well when it says, "...the cerros have bohemian, sightly anarchic atmosphere."

Cerros Alegre and Concepción are probably the most visited and it was there were I found my hostel, the Casa Aventura. The city's tourist office offers a good, free walking tour of these two cerros, which starts from its kiosk in the Plaza Sotomayor, down in the lower part of town. And this seemed like the best way to start my exploration. From my photos you should get a feel for the hills and the tin houses (lata in Spanish). Many of the houses on Alegre and Concepión have been renovated, given a new coat of paint and turned into restaurant or little boutique hotels. But many are in a very poor state. Many are perched precariously on the sides of the hills, looking like they could slide off them at any moment.


Walking up the hill to my hostel for the first time, huffing and puffing, it occurred to me that the city's hill dwellers must be extremely fit. But they have a little help from the 15 ascensores (literally translates as elevators), which are more like very short, steep funiculars that carry them up and down. Most date of the late 19th and early 20th century. They cost either CL$100 to CL$200 (US$0.20 to US$0.40) a ride depending on which company runs the ascensor, and you usually pay at the bottom. They all have their original turnstiles, which I had the misfortune of getting caught in every time - they were tiny! The lower level entrance was often a doorway that you could easily walk passed if you were not paying attention. The station at the top was usually like another tin house. I think I managed to ride on five of the 15 ascensores. You can view a PDF with data (date constructed, height, angle etc) about the various ascensores past and present here.

I also discovered that Valpo had trolley bus line, almost as antiquated as the ascensores. I think these were perhaps more of a novelty, compared with those I found in Mendoza. Bus fleet was on odd mix of articulated (bendy) vehicles from the French part of Switzerland ("Demand d'arret le ouverature portes APPUYER" read the signs by the stop request buttons) and the US dating from the mid 20th century. You will not be surprised to hear that I did have to do a few laps on the trolleys.

Although it did not rain during my visit to Valparaiso, the weather was gray most of the time. On may second day I followed a fairly level road that runs along the crest of some cerros in hopes of finding Pablo Neruda's house, one of the cultural highlights. The day started out beautiful and clear, but as soon as I started out clouds appeared as if to spite me.

Along the way I came across the "ex-carcel", Valpo's apparently infamous prison, which closed in 1997 (or was 1999?). Anyway, it was turned into an arts or cultural complex in 2000. But, on this gray Sunday, it looked very bleak indeed. The gates were open, but the place was deserted, neglected.


I did finally make it to "La Sebastiana", Pablo Neruda's house, which is know a museum. Pablo Neruda is probably Chile's (and Latin America's) best known poets. He bought and remodeled the house towards the end of his life in the late 1960's. It is quite disjointed, with only one or two rooms on each of its five floors. It is definitely quirky, which must be a reflection of its former owner's character. Neruda clearly had a fantasy about the sea. There are paintings of ships and seascapes, maritime related books and journals, and some of the best sea views in Valparaiso. But the reality of actually going to sea was something he was never keen on fulfilling. He just watched, wrote and dreamed of it.

With my last few hours before my bus back to Santiago I decided to try out the region's relatively new, shiny metro system that connects Valparaiso, Viña del Mar (a beach resort of high rises and a casino) to some to the inland communities. In sharp contrast to the areas around the port, the train and its infrastructure is modern and spotless.

I could have stayed another night. 24 hours was just enough to skim the surface of Valparaiso. But, something was telling me to keep moving on.