Valpo, as the locals know it, has long been considered to be home of Chilean culture. It is home to two of Chile's literary Nobel Prize and a home to a host of international writers like Isabel le Allende, to name but a few.

But it is not these facts that make Valpo, as it is known to the locals, remarkable. But rather the art that literal leaps out at you from every wall, corner or empty boring space.

But to get to Valpo from Argentina, you have to cross over the high Andes where one of South Amercia's greatest liberators and sons, General San Martin, led his army to rid the continent of Spanish rule and influence.

The pass is aptly now called Los Liberadores. You could imagine that the soldiers and those that eventually settled in Valpo were so inspired by the lofty heights, high snow capped mountains and volcanoes and stunning scenery they saw as they made their way west, that they had to produce what we now see in this coastal city.

In the Valpo, the street art is outstanding. So much so, that several books have been produced about Valpo's street art for the international market. Here the street artists are exactly that, artists.

People like Banksy (www.banksy.co.uk) would approve of how the city spaces have been transformed from bland, boring walls and spaces to vibrant, exciting and invigorating cultural comments.

In certain circles, graffiti is seen as vandalism and needs to be removed (think some boroughs in London that consider Banksy to be a vandal) while in others, street art is seen as another highly elevated art form.

But, then again, where does graffiti stop and art begin? Or is it really in the eyes of the beholder? Or who sits on the council cleaning policy board?

But in Valpo, street art is everywhere! Literally. Tiny little bits and pieces located under stairs, on thin little window sills, and even on dog kennels; large pieces on walls that surround properties. But the art is not restricted to a 2d piece of space.

Even parking bollards, park benches and street lights have got "the treatment" of many hours of design and execution of detailed mosaic work and so these everyday objects become pieces of art in their own right.

Even parts of the street s and roads have street art on them. Before we went into an art gallery, we noticed a trail of stencilled ants leading from the base of a tree, onto the street, across the pavement, up the property wall and into the gallery. Cool. For those that know, you could argue that there are remnants of Dadaism here. "Art is dead. Long live art!"

Not to be outdone by pieces are the houses themselves. Valpo is built across 46 hills that surround the port. Initially, Valpo was the west coast of South America's most important export-import port and saw many riches come through its warehouses.

With increased riches and a luxurious lifestyle, comes the need to have other people do all the skut work for you. Hence, the population of Valpo grew rapidly and exponentially. The further from the port you move and into the higher hills you climb, the more it becomes evident the luxury stopped further down the hills.

That does not stop anybody from painting their houses in all sorts of bright and vibrant colours with swathes of washing hanging out to dry in the sun and gentle breeze. But the painting does not stop there. Even doors and window frames get a touch of paint!

Just to complete how colourful and exuberant this city is, you find plenty of artists lining up their works against walls and displaying their wares. Every now and again, you come across street performance artists putting on little shows too! At lunch time there are plenty of 16th century costumed musicians serenading those at lunch!

Here is a city that has been influenced by all sorts. You see the British influence in the old Victorian port and its admin buildings, the statute of Queen Victoria and some fine admirals. There is even a Lord Byron coffee shop and a Queen Victoria hotel!

We did chuckle when a local told us about the days of the British and their strange dress sense. Some parts of the Valpo British high society insisted on being more British than the British. According to our friend, people dressed as they would have in the motherland.

Bear in mind that a Valpo summer is very hot, while a London winter is a very cold! It was not hard to imagine mad dogs and Englishmen strutting their stuff in the summer sun in the lastest London winter fashion!

Not to be outdone were the Germans. But their influence is a little more discreet. The Cafe Hamburg has been around since...forever and is now an institution in naval circles the world over. All the naval and marine memorabilia that adjorns the walls, the floors, the stairs and the cabinets, is testimony to that.

From the roof and rafters hang flag after flag after flag from various parts of the world and from naval ships that have made Valaparaiso, and Cafe Hamburg, home for a while. From the walls, come many smiling officers from times past.

With a little bit of imagination, you can see the history of this port swirl around you as the ghosts of sailors long gone walk in and out, while you sip a German beer and sup on a German sausage and sauerkraut!

But in a town that has seen much richer days come and go and is now watching other parts of Chile enjoy the new demand for its copper, there is a pliable undercurrent of tension, of an "edge", maybe even of resentment for the haves.

Every guide book we came across, the police and even the hostel owners point out that you REALLY need to be careful about your possessions(what? Even more so that anywhere else in the world?) and don't get lost. "There are bad people out to get you!"

I remember my art teacher from high school getting us to have a think about where all the great art in the world had come from and in what time periods. If you think about that, you will realise that Switzerland has only ever really produced the Swiss Army knife, the cuckoo clock and the some pretty chocolate.

Whereas those places, and times, that undergo any kind of change, more often than not rapid and very often violent, produce circumstances that compel the artists of all kinds to comment on what is happening around them; and each artist uses whatever media is available to them to do so.

My art teacher went on to say that if you imagine society as a beetle with poor eyesight and therefore long antennas, then that society's artists are those antennas that transmit the information to the rest of the beetle in order for it to "see". It seems as if the artists/antennas of Valpo, Chile are trying to say a lot to the rest of the beetle!

But whatever your persuasion, getting lost in these "mean" streets is the way to go. You can't really get lost here anyway. Keep the sea in view and you know where you are - you are either high up the hills or a little further down the hills.

If you can't see the sea at all, then you are at the same level! Simple! It is in the process of getting lost that you find some of the best pieces or art tucked away from tourists' eyes and certainly far from the tourist track.

But what makes all this street art so much more special is that it is for themselves that they produce these pieces. They are not contrived under some city wide project for the benefit of tourist who might come. Nice!