Beautiful Valpo

We gave our bodies a workout with a day trip to Valparaiso, Chile. Valpo, as it is nicknamed is on the pacific ocean and is famous for the beautiful views of the water, poetry (birthplacemof pablo neruda) and it's buildings that cling to the hillsides. There are over 40 of these hills that since colonial times the locals have performed structural gymnastics to make their buildings perch and cantilever. Traditionally, the hills are accessed by a kind funicular / elevator. Most of these still run today.

We arrived early just as the markets were opening. We wanted to make sure that since we couldn't get any reservation to stay overnight we had enough time to see everything. First we went up one of the eastern hills and admired the view. Then we walked halfway across town, about a mile to the old port. There we checked out the financial buildings and government buildings. Valpo is the seat of the Chilean legislature. We took our first ride on the ascensore up to Cerro Concepcion and Allegre. The view was wonderful. The buildings are painted various pastel colors. Why is it so many maritime cities and towns paint their homes with such a variety of color? It must be the sun and water.

We checked out some galleries and stores and also started taking note of the very skillful street art. For lunch we grabbed empanadas. After resting and watching the lunch crowd navigate the narrow streets we walked to Cerro Artilleria, on the far end of town. From there we took the acsensore up to the panoramic view of the port and surrounding hillsides. There wasn't else to do but lookout at the view so after a short time we walked down and through the oldest parts of the city. The buildings were nice, but the streets were grimey and smellling of urine. They have a terrible problem of stray dogs and therefore there are landmines everywhere. We returned to the center and went up Cerro Belavista. Belavista is the bohemian art neighborhood. We got a work out climbing each street on the hill admiring the colorful buildings and street art.

Late in the afternoon we hit up J Cruz restaurant for Valpos famous chorilliana a dish of grilled beef, egg and French fries. It was huge and it was delicious. It is perfect bar food. We caught sunset back near the bus terminal at the top of one of the hills. The day was a good one and we earned our tired legs for sure.