Valparaiso is a small city in Indiana, but it is named after a large seaport city in Chile (long story, Google it if interested). Our group took a 2 hour bus ride to Valparaiso today. This is the closest port to Santiago, second largest port in the country, and in a sense, the co-capital of Chile, as the congress (House of Deputies and Senate) meets there, rather than in Santiago (another long story going back to the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990).
Like Punta Arenas, which we visited earlier, Valparaiso was an extremely prosperous and cosmopolitan city in the 1800s. And for the same reasons as Punta Arenas, that prosperity ended abruptly in 1914 because of the opening of the Panama Canal and the outbreak of World War I. Owners could no longer afford to maintain grand old buildings, so they fell into disrepair. And homeowners too poor to afford paint used whatever discarded marine paints they could salvage from the harbor, making for a mosaic of bright colors.
Poverty sometimes helps preserve antiques, simply because people can’t afford to replace them with new things. In the same way, the charming old buildings of Valparaiso were not knocked down for new high-rises (and some cases in which the new and the old came together are almost comically bad architecture). The old buildings are now rapidly becoming a tourist mecca, with old houses converted to shops and restaurants.
The main square is dominated by the headquarters of the “Armada de Chile.” Chile has a very long coastline — well over 2,600 miles of it — so the navy is its largest military force. Other buildings, such as the Ministry of Arts and Culture, and several banks, are also here. But a brief walk up hill soon gets one into neighborhoods that are just being renovated for tourists after a century of neglect.
One problem is that many properties are being bought by wealthy absentee owners who only use them as vacation homes a few weeks a year. This has made it difficult to generate a sense of community.
The area is full of winding, dead-end streets that end in painted pedestrian stairways, and colorful murals cover the walls of many buildings. The murals are mostly not graffiti, but the work of paid artists.
Because people came here from many places around the world, we saw both Anglican and Lutheran churches, in addition to the usual Catholic churches. The Anglican church no longer functions, but the building maintained and the pipe organ used for occasional recitals. It was not open at the time of our visit. The Lutheran church was having a service in Spanish on this Sunday morning. We stepped in for just a moment during the sermon. There were about 25 people worshiping, so lots of empty pews.
After taking in the scenery we were picked up by a number of cars operated as “collectivas.” Many streets are too narrow and winding for a bus, so these cars drive circuits through the neighborhoods. People flag them down, and if there is room, the driver will pick them up. The cars are small, so the maximum is four passengers at a time. Each person pays 400 Pesos (about 60 cents U.S.) to ride for a block or for the entire route — same price no matter the distance. Great for getting your groceries up the steep hill.
At the top of the hill we were welcomed to the home of the owner of one of the collectivas. The homes in this area are brand new, because the entire neighborhood was wiped out by wildfire in 2014. The home was very nice, and the family served a hearty chicken dinner that would be a typical Sunday noon meal in many Chilean homes. For dessert we were served a “tres leches” (three milks) cake and lucuma-flavored ice cream. We don’t recall experiencing the lucuma fruit elsewhere.
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| View of the city from the home of our hosts. |
The meal ended with yet another South American cocktail which is unique to Chile. Called a “terremoto” (earthquake) it is mostly cheap white wine called Pepeno (sold in big plastic jugs) mixed with Grenadine and pineapple ice cream. It was pretty good, but we all decided it wouldn’t take too many of them to make a person collapse, which probably accounts for the name.
After being driven back down the hill by one of our hosts, we bid farewell to four members of our group who are staying for several more days on their own in Valparaiso. Then it was back on the bus for the return to the hotel, where we bid farewell to eight others who are not able to take the post-trip to Easter Island. Their planes leave this evening for return to the U.S. The remaining eight of us and our same tour leader will fly to Rapa Nui early tomorrow.
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| A Valparaiso bar using clever marketing to Gringos. |
Mary and I walked to the shopping mall, but wound up making only one very small purchase. Later we walked the neighborhood, thinking about the possibility of a drink. But very few places are open on a Sunday evening, and we decided just to return to the hotel to get packed and to bed in anticipation of our early morning departure.
Like Punta Arenas, which we visited earlier, Valparaiso was an extremely prosperous and cosmopolitan city in the 1800s. And for the same reasons as Punta Arenas, that prosperity ended abruptly in 1914 because of the opening of the Panama Canal and the outbreak of World War I. Owners could no longer afford to maintain grand old buildings, so they fell into disrepair. And homeowners too poor to afford paint used whatever discarded marine paints they could salvage from the harbor, making for a mosaic of bright colors.
Poverty sometimes helps preserve antiques, simply because people can’t afford to replace them with new things. In the same way, the charming old buildings of Valparaiso were not knocked down for new high-rises (and some cases in which the new and the old came together are almost comically bad architecture). The old buildings are now rapidly becoming a tourist mecca, with old houses converted to shops and restaurants.
The main square is dominated by the headquarters of the “Armada de Chile.” Chile has a very long coastline — well over 2,600 miles of it — so the navy is its largest military force. Other buildings, such as the Ministry of Arts and Culture, and several banks, are also here. But a brief walk up hill soon gets one into neighborhoods that are just being renovated for tourists after a century of neglect.
One problem is that many properties are being bought by wealthy absentee owners who only use them as vacation homes a few weeks a year. This has made it difficult to generate a sense of community.
The area is full of winding, dead-end streets that end in painted pedestrian stairways, and colorful murals cover the walls of many buildings. The murals are mostly not graffiti, but the work of paid artists.
Because people came here from many places around the world, we saw both Anglican and Lutheran churches, in addition to the usual Catholic churches. The Anglican church no longer functions, but the building maintained and the pipe organ used for occasional recitals. It was not open at the time of our visit. The Lutheran church was having a service in Spanish on this Sunday morning. We stepped in for just a moment during the sermon. There were about 25 people worshiping, so lots of empty pews.
After being driven back down the hill by one of our hosts, we bid farewell to four members of our group who are staying for several more days on their own in Valparaiso. Then it was back on the bus for the return to the hotel, where we bid farewell to eight others who are not able to take the post-trip to Easter Island. Their planes leave this evening for return to the U.S. The remaining eight of us and our same tour leader will fly to Rapa Nui early tomorrow.
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