For a Midwestern gringa like me, a trip to Valparaiso means visiting "Valpo," a small town of about 30,000 people in Porter County, Indiana. This has a special significance to me since a large part of my family grew up near there, and it's also well known for Valparaiso University, a small private school of about 4000 students.
Valparaiso, Chile, is an important seaport located about 75 miles northwest of Santiago. It's an easy day trip and a great way to see beautiful clear blue skies and breathe in some fresh ocean air. I only began to scratch the surface since my friend A. and I spent most of the day in the 20% of Valparaiso that is flat. Future trips will take me up higher into the
Cerros of Valparaiso and into the neighboring Vina del Mar and also to Pablo Neruda's Isla Negra. For now I will share some pictures of my first outing and assure you that the "Valpo" of Chile is a much more desirable place to visit. (Sorry family!)
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| These higher shots were just taken from a little foot bridge |
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| It's possible to take hundreds of photos of the murals and graffiti |
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| If you look at the background you can see the ascensor, or one of the 15 lifts that takes you up to the higher areas of the city |
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| Notice the graffiti and the Bresler ice cream sign that is now just a cement wall |
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| The plaza was empty since there was a crew there filming something and diverting people around. A. and I have become so accustomed to ignoring men here that we didn't notice the very official looking man in the bright orange vest trying to divert us around. I think it took us about 3 "Senoritas!" and 3 "Miss, do you speak English?" before we even looked up at him! |
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| Proof that they were actually filming something. Seeing this alone made the whole day worthwhile! |
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I think Valparaiso is one of the ugliest cities in Chile.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful city, I wonder what they were filming? Pretty cool that you were around for it! Awesome pictures and I'm sure you were happy to get away from the smog for a while. How is the bike hunt going? "See" you on skype tomorrow!! Miss you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's much more to see than in Valpo, IN!
ReplyDeleteLooks like fun, I have yet to visit Valpo. Do you have any idea what they were filming??
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, obviously you missed the fact that it's a UNESCO world heritage site. Apparently a whole lot of people thought it was beautiful and worth preserving.
ReplyDeleteI think I know every single spot that you stood to take those pictures. I had no idea that I knew Valpo so well, but I guess I've been there a lot since L's family lives there.
And did you know that there are like four cities names Valparaíso in the world. Just some trivia knowledge I will probably never use.
Anonymous-
ReplyDeleteIf it's the ugliest city here then I think I will definitely have a great time in all of the other ones!
Jen and Shannon-
I don't know what they were filming! We stuck around to watch but all we saw was a one-car scene where it drove across the plaza. It was pretty anticlimactic!
Sara-
Wow, I didn't know that there were two other cities as well, that is good trivia!