Valpo Street Art: Part 2

The second full day we ventured to the dock for an informational boat ride around the bay. It offered great views of the colorful city and hills.  In the bay were shipping boats bound for China, Hamburg and probably many other places around the world as well as old military boats. 

 We went across town to find art from the 2012 street art festival. At first we weren't sure if we arrived in the right area but the fabulous murals left no doubts in our minds. Unfortunately, the only still running elevator was closed for maintenance. It's crazy some of these have been working for over 100 years!

We saw a guy leave this house.  I can hear him giving directions now "Just look for the blue building with two giant weird alien creatures on it."

The only elevator (the rest are ascensors/funiculars) with its view over the hills. 

The stairs up and down these hills also have many other purposes besides just getting people up and down the hill.  They are also homes for the many street dogs, trash cans (yes, lots of trash in places) and bathrooms (the stench of urine was pretty prominent at times which is unfortunate).  More art:

One of my favorites!  Love the muscles, the 'eye' and the hot air balloon.

 

This was when we decided to become part of the art.  We may have around 30 different photos of this attempt.

Shows the graffiti, the old colorful buildings and the buildings of Cerro Concepcion above.

The view from our hostel room at dusk!

Our last day was Pascual (Easter) and while we didn't see any of the burning Judas parades that apparently were occurring on each cerro, we ventured around town to see more art.  It was quite cloudy and foggy but made for better lighting for our street mural escapades.  We decided jumping in to the art was more fun than just looking at it.

 

This town actually reminds me of Guatemala in a way because of the absolutely haphazard way the buildings are constructed up and down the hills, with seemingly random colors splayed over dilapidated corrugated metal walls.

Since we've newly developed an interest in Chilean cemeteries, we visited the three in Valpo.  First, there is the Catholic one, then the Dissidents for other religions (the first of its kind in South America) and the Everyone Else (it didn't really have a name).  Unfortunately, the one that had all the gravestones from the immigrants was closed by the time we arrived and it would have been interesting to see the diverse headstones. From the gate, we saw headstones from Germans, Scots and Brits who died in the 1800s.

There were many different tombs for the various Bomberos (fire fighters) from each country.  The white plaque here listed about 15 volunteers who died on 1 Jan 1953. We later learned why.  Turns out a little boy started a fire by throwing a firecracker into a house. The firefighters rushed to the scene and almost contained it before it reached a building full of dynamite.  Yes, 10 tons of dynamite.  The explosion rocked the entire bay.  Fifty some people died, mainly first-responders , and the ensuing catastrophe took years to rebuild.  Very sad and crazy piece of Valpo history!

The oldest headstone I found...Maria Del Carmen Rodriguez was born in 1799.

 

Even the plaza steps were artistic.

The open air museum was a bunch of murals from university students in the 1990's. 

Another university student mural below the tall metal buildings.  Taken from below as we walk down the steps of the hill.

After some horrible dining experiences, we splurged on meals our last day.  While returning to our hostel in the late afternoon, we randomly ran into our French friend Remi who we have now ran into 4 times.  First was at our refugio breakfast on my birthday in Torres del Paine, then again in San Martin, Pucon and now Valpo.  He is riding a motorcycle for 4 1/2 months (started in Buenos Aires in February) and will finish with his wife in Peru next month.  While we've met a few other travelers again along the bus trail, it's even more random since he is on a motorbike.  So we invited him to dinner and enjoyed a nice conversation alongside the gorgeous views of the twinkling lights of Valpo.

Thanks for a fun dinner Remi!

The next day, we awoke early to catch our bus to Mendoza.  It was quite scenic, going up and through the Andes mountains, past a few very basic ski slopes, and whizzing through customs, even though we slept through most of it as usual.

Don't think I'll be returning in the winter to ski these hills!

Adios Chile, bienvenidos Argentina (otra vez)!

Mark's Minutes: The City of the Island Hills

Five hundred meters above sea level, we arrived by bus in Santiago, Chile's semi-arid capital, which was the biggest city thus far on our travels. One could immediately feel the busy hustle and bustle of a city of over five million people. That was quite a change for us after coming from those sleepy little towns further south. We knew that it would be a welcome change of pace as we dove into the fast flowing pedestrian traffic. Our first attempt to get to Andes Hostel via subway failed due to the long ticket line in the stuffy underground metro terminal and under the weight of our backpacks. Taking a taxi seemed like a convenient alternative. When we arrived at the hostel in the vibrant Bellas Artes district, we thought that it seemed oddly deserted. Consequently, we had a six-bed dormitory to ourselves. The only explanation may have been temporada baja, the low season. Since it was already late we decided to stay in the hostel, play guitar, talk to the few other guests, update the blog, eat salad and ice cream from the restaurants down the street, and go to bed.

The next day we embarked on a rather lengthy exploration around town. While it was cold in the morning, I increasingly grew frustrated over my choice to wear jeans in the hot afternoon sun. The weather reminded us of Colorado, with its significant day and evening temperature shifts. Despite the small clothing hiccup, I was excited to explore the city that I had learned so much about in my international affairs classes in college. But since we had our usual late start into the day, we started out with a quick sit-down lunch at Mercado Central, the city's fish market. Suzy had the typical Chilean crab stew dish (pastel de jaiba). 

Mercado Central (central fish market)

After lunch we continued our stroll around town. We saw many statues that appeared to communicate three common themes: war and independence from Spain, respect for the native culture and immigrants, and anti-fascism. The image of the late Salvador Allende, Chile's first Marxist president, appeared frequently. When the U.S. backed general Augusto Pinochet staged a coup d'etat, in 1973, Allende took his own life after giving an emotional radio speech to his people. Pinochet would continue his authoritarian rule for 17 years until 1990. 

Palacio de la Moneda

Statue of Salvador Allende

The main shopping street just like the rest of the city reminded us of any other southern European capital. Chile's wealth compared to other South American countries is apparent in all things. And like any big city they like their graffiti.

Near a high school we observed a donation drive for the regions hit in the north by devastating floods. The signs indicate that donations containing food and blankets, except clothing, are welcome.

Flood relief donation drive

Signs of immigration are all over the city. We walked through Santiago's English and French quarters and saw the Italian Plaza. The old architecture in these quarters lend an otherwise modern city a nice touch.

Santiago's nickname is The City of the Island Hills. It was labled that for it's many steep and beautiful island looking hills, like the Cerro Santa Lucia. A short climb up the Cerro gave us a good view over the city.  

After the short climb up and down the hill Suzy enjoyed her first ever pisco sour, Chile's national drink, which is brandy distilled from grapes. Pisco hadn't been very kind to me in the past so that I was glad that I could watch Suzy drink her maracuya pisco sour from afar.

Another picturesque neighborhood is Lastarria, which is tranquil during the day, but lively with its many restaurants at night.

We ended the day exhausted, but satisfied from all that walking and sightseeing. Every morning we were greeted by the two murals just outside our hostel. The imagery of the two native looking characters holding a lamb, an ammunition belt, working tools, and a heart seemed unmistakably political like so many things in this city. It appeared as if Chile's history of dictatorship and hardship had molded a population of political activists. 

During the scorching afternoon heat we walked through the touristy Bellavista neighborhood, up the Cerro Blanco via the funicular from where we got our first glimpse of the tallest building in South America, the Cementerio General (main cemetery), and the snow covered Andes mountains. At the top we were greeted by a statue of Mary. There was some smog, but still less than in some U.S. cities.

That visit as well as a trip to Pablo Neruda's house took us all afternoon. We spent the evening with my old college friend Priscila and her boyfriend at a restaurant at Lastarria. Priscila is originally from Brazil and it was interesting to learn that many Brazilians live in Santiago. Most for economic opportunities, just like a Venezuelan couple who stayed with us at the hostel and who had just escaped from their homes to seek a better future in Chile. Our dinner with Priscila and Christian went well into the late evening. We would only have one more full day available to explore the city.

The next day we spent the greater part of the morning trying to navigate Chile's postal service in order to ship a few items home. Sending a bottle of wine home however proved to be almost impossible. I finally gave up when I was told about a wooden shipping box that needed to be purchased at a specialty store. The woman at the post office was very patient with us. Some items made the trek, but the wine would be consumed that evening.

We figured that it would be best to visit the Memory and Human Rights Museum during the hot afternoon. The museum illustrated the suffering Chileans endured under Pinochet's dictatorship. But we concluded that we did not learn anything new beyond what you would naturally associate with a brutal and oppressive regime. My biggest criticism would be that the museum did not illustrate the motivation for the coup, besides the military's dislike for the Marxist government. Also missing was the context under which the Allende government came to power. Jumping immediately to the coup seemed to me like a Holocaust museum that would begin with the invasion of Poland.

Human Rights Museum

In the late afternoon we visited the massive Cementerio General where most of Chile's great personalities are buried. The tombs were elaborate and imposing. We couldn't help but think: "Whatever happened to the idea of ashes to ashes?" What's the point of being stored in a giant concrete casket? We visited Allende's tomb who had only received a dignified burial 17 years after his death under newly, democratically elected president Aylwin and interestingly with general Pinochet alive and still acting as the chief of Chile's armed forces.

After three full days we left Santiago for Valparaiso. I wouldn't say that Santiago is a touristic highlight, but it appears to be a very nice city to live and work in, especially with the mountains and outdoor activities at its doorstep. Everyone in Santiago is extremely courteous. If you pet a street dog, you will be accompanied all the way home, like a good friend, and maybe to make sure that you get there safely.