En Vina
y Valpo – Dia Dos
I did some
research on Vina del Mar and Valparaiso on Trip Advisor and found rave reviews for “the
German Pirate”, a guide named Michael, so set up a tour of Valparaiso with him
for day two. It was a great decision and
a good get acquainted strategy.
I first learned from him how to determine which busses go where and how much they cost. (more
about CLP/Chilean pesos, later) Vina and
Valpo are physically next to each other and polar opposites in almost every
other way.
From the
time the Spanish got to South America, Valparaiso was one of the major Pacific
ports. The Conquistadores came overland
into Chile, found no great quantities of gold or silver, and promptly went back
north without developing much infrastructure in this country. However, for those sailing around Cape Horn,
Valparaiso was the first port (or last) in a temperate climate that offered well
protected anchorages. It became one of
the premier ports on the Pacific coast and as such was truly an international
community. The British, Americans and
Germans were prime investors and developers around the port and their names and influence are everywhere. The customs house was designed and built by
an American, the fire department is still divided into the English and German
stations!
Things
thrived in Valpo till the opening of the Panama Canal. Suddenly, there was not much reason to go
there. The first big mineral boom for
Chile was in nitrates used to make fertilizer and explosives and sadly, nearly
at the same time, artificial nitrates were invented and that trade
collapsed. Valpo became a ghost town as
it was abandoned by a huge segment of the population.
Much of the
architecture of Valparaiso is late 19th century and there are
flashes of Victorian gingerbread trim, and an air of San Francisco in many
places. There are still the grand mansions
of the rich in the hills above, many
being rehabbed by people from Santiago and from Europe into boutique hotels
and hostals.
One of the
most unique things about the architecture is that the outsides of the buildings
are covered with painted tin, which protects the original wood frames and the
adobe bricks that were used in many houses. Even better, they are painted in bright Caribbean colors
.
The most fun
was riding the funiculars! We
went up and down several times. For New
Year’s the prices were raised to about $1, normally they are $0.25. It was still a deal, kind of like a mini Disney ride.
 |
| Happy that it's New Years and that they aren't climbing the hills (inside the funicular) |
Valpo is
still very much a city in transition.
According to Michael, as late as 10 years ago, a fixer-upper on the hills could be bought
for as little as $5,000. Fixer upper
being a relative term (see the fixer upper picture for a REAL rescue project).
Valparaiso
is a UNESCO world heritage center, and much is being done to rebuild it around
the tourist trade. El Armada de Chile (the Navy) still has its headquarters
here in some beautiful buildings. It’s also the graffiti capital of Chile,
and a good deal of it is just downright beautiful. I'll post my favorites so far.
 |
| Same artist, famous for his birds |
 |
| un gato |
 |
| My favorite |
All in all,
it was an amazing tour. Michael had
friends everywhere in the city so we met quite a few of the locals, who were
quite kind about my fractured “Castellano”, which is what the locals proudly
call their version of Spanish, since it is said to be quite close in accent to real Castilian Spanish.
Going home, we rode the
subway back from Valpo to Vina, a fun experience that took about 10 minutes, in a clean and quiet environment. Next stop: Nuevo Ano!
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