Valparaiso (or Valpo for short)-

I've been here roughly 3 days and have had many different opinions of Valpo. I've been thinking a lot what I would put in my blog and how to put some of it in words. It's not easy... Of course I only have my own experience to base off of so it's a little biased.

For me personally, Valparaiso has been a middle place, a pitstop to contemplate everything. It's also been one of the lonelier places for me, which is ironic because this place is pretty full of people and steep hills that are FILLED with small colorful houses, squeezed tightly close together. From afar, it looks jam packed. At first glance it reminded me of a nicer Brazilian favela. Except one cool thing is all the "ascensor"s which are rickety wooden cable cars that bring you up the hill, for less than a dollar. It's right on the port (which holds a lot of history) and since it's so hilly, there are a lot of great views of the water. But to me, maybe compared to Santiago, this place seems a little abandoned. The buses are really old and the buildings and streets really need some restoration. But at the same time, that's kind of the personality of Valparaiso. And that's the Thing, Valparaiso has it's own personality, I feel like I could talk about it as "she"... Like an old woman with a lot of experiences and stories.

Valparaiso is covered in graffiti which again, I'm mix-emotioned about. On one hand it's like people don't care of this city, paint all over the walls and trash around... But after a few days I'm starting to see it like ... this whole place is one big canvas. It's full of expression, and I love it. There's murals and flyers on the walls about love, war, a current strike going on here right now for free college education (it's actually a big deal at the moment, students aren't going to university), one flyer reads "If a woman says no, it's NO," it's amazing how much passion people have here. I feel like in Valpo, everyone becomes an artist of some kind. The "artsy fartsy" comes out in everyone :-).

So I've spent a ton of time walking. I went to a Naval museum about their history of winning this port and English men who helped (Lord Cochrane is a big British idol here). Also, a museum of the famous poet Pablo Neruda's home. I've spent hours looking at a ton of artisan work (jewelry, paintings, etc). Easter Island is a big deal here of course so there are a lot of little statues and trinkets of that. I've drunken great wine for cheap almost every day, and tried one of their trademark foods "sopaipilla",(from flour, naturally).

Side note: I haven't evaluated closely but I assume everyone here has great asses because some of these hills are killer. It takes core strength to balance while going down. But I wouldn't dare complain because on every curvy hill there's an 80 year old woman hiking it without a problem.

All in all, as I said, it was a good middle place... To reflect on my last few weeks and dream about my next ones (Brazil!). Marzhel wrote me about Valpo before and mentioned how it gives you perspective. It's so true... With all of the different views and angles from tall hilltops down to the "plan" flat area by the water... You realize how easy it is to see things totally different.