Valparaíso Photos


Prior to the establishment of Panama Canal, Valparaóso was a rich and bustling port city. Now, it's a crumbling and broken, but still amazingly vibrant, shell of its former self. Getting off the bus was a bit of shock. As I walked, I was surrounded by poorly dressed, abnormally short people, some of whom had physical deformities, such a contrast from Santiago.

Berlin claims to be the street art capital of the world, but Valparaíso gives the Germans a run for their money. In addition, the city is famous for having houses that are painted bright and diverse colors. This tradition originally came about because people used leftover boat paint for their houses. Whatever color there happened to be extra of is the color they used. Now when home owners repaint their houses, they over contract a local artist to do a piece on their wall because otherwise it immediately gets filled with graffiti tags. So people describe this phenomena as the "street art problem", but not everyone agrees that it's a problem. Without it, the city would've been much less interesting. Some of the art is quite fantastic.

Valparaíso is built on steep hills, similar to San Francisco, and there are even rail cars to take people up and down the slopes. Of course, staying true to the rundown character of the city, only a few of them actually work. There is also a famous annual downhill biking contest through the streets of the city. The riders, many of whom get injured, risk their bodies to win a prize of less than $1000. I guess it's all about the prestige.