Valparaiso

There are two things you won’t see in any other city but Valparaiso: maze-like urban design and a major love for art.

When at home in Vancouver, I have always thoroughly gone through all my travel plans so that I get the most out of each trip. I want to be spending every day of the trip exploring the area I am in. If this trip has taught me anything, it’s to leave a few gaps in the trip as well as your time. Half the fun is exploring the unknown, outside those guides and boundaries, and to find out about those nooks and crannies from those really in-the-know about a place. Who knows? The locals or fellow travelers you meet can really help shape your trip; if you’re open to the idea of course. I’ve brought this up because Valparaiso was not on my radar at first and neither was the hostel (Casa Kreyenberg) which was also recommended to me by a fellow traveler.

The city of Valparaiso was a seaport that played a huge part in Chile’s development in the second half of the 19th century before the Panama Canal was built. You can learn all about this during the Tours4Tips tour walk. The Waldo-styled tour guide starts with a quick history lesson about the city in the oldest part of the harbour. These tour guides are volunteers and so the best way of showing your appreciation is to provide a tip (or not, if you didn’t enjoy the tour, of course).

What I loved most about this city (and why I stayed for a whole week) is the maze-like urban design and the city’s appetite for art. Everywhere I looked, art caught my eye. I found out that home owners would often contract artists to have their homes literally covered in art. Valparaiso was pretty well covered in 402㎢ of gallery space. It was a maze-like city that begged to be explored. For me, this was the most amazing part of Valparaiso.

Why is Valparaiso so bright and colourful? The British ships loaded up on materials from Chile and offered paint, rocks, and metal, for example, in return. I’m not sure if this was considered a fair trade back then but the artists used these materials to build the city’s stairs, sides of buildings, and gates. To complete these structures, they painted them in a beautiful mish-mash of hues.

I’d say you could walk these streets every day for a week and not see even a quarter of this city.