Beguiled in Valparaíso

Valparaíso -

“…the most beguiling city in Chile.” Footprint Chile

“Chile’s most memorable and most remarkable city.” The Rough Guide to Chile

“Undoubtedly the most unique city in Chile, and one of the most distinctive and unusual in all Latin America.” Lonely Planet – Chile

We moved at the end of February from our summer apartment (remember February here is August in the Northern hemisphere) in Viña del Mar to the apartment in Valparaíso where we will be living for the rest of our time in Chile. Our former apartment, which was on the tenth floor of a modern style condominium, was very nice, but in many ways it felt like we were living in Miami, or Tel Aviv. We feel much happier in our present location; it’s like having moved from Tel Aviv to Sefat (or, for those unfamiliar with the Israel analogy, like having moved from Miami to…well, a larger Saratoga built over hills, or a funkier San Francisco, or Taos, New Mexico). We still have a spectacular view from our apartment (first picture).

We live on Cerro Alegre (the name even means “Happy Hill”), a very picturesque artsy neighborhood perched up on one of Valparaíso’s many famous hills, with narrow cobblestone streets, a little plazuela that has four almost identical small grocery stores right next to each other, and an old church outside of which there is a small open-air vegetable market every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

We took a walk one afternoon to explore our new environs, meandering across some hills and up and down narrow streets. The street art is fantastic – bright, colorful murals painted on doorways, walls, garages. Here is just a small sampling of what we saw on our walk:

(The last one of Shira is actually from another walk through the neighborhood, but we couldn't resist including it here.)

We also strolled through ex-Cárcel Parque Cultural, a former prison, now used as a cultural center. Originally built to store armaments during the Spanish colonial period, it served as a prison up through the Pinochet years, but is now used for theatrical performances, and art and dance workshops.

Here are just a few of the amazing paintings covering the former prison walls:

And we happened to stumble upon some young drummers practicing in a corner, who were happy to let Jonathan photograph them in exchange for his promise to email them the pictures.

As we write this, we have returned from a week's trip via rental car to some of Chile’s many scenic areas. Our next post will tell of volcanoes, beautiful alpine lakes, hikes in the Andes, mythical islands, and pingüinos.