What a disappointment!! The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and we expected pretty buildings in a pituresque town. Sadly, although some of the buildings were colonial and attractive, many were covered in graffitti. Being one of the poorest towns in Chile results in a high numbers of homeless who were just lying around in the streets and plazas. Alleys stank of sewage and, apart from the main street and plaza, the area felt dirty. Sadly the beach wasn't as close as we had expected so we couldn't escape. Most places in town were closed on the bank holiday we arrived and we wandered the derelict streets trying to see what the hype was about. People explained that Valparisso was popular with those from the capital due to its liberal ways. Sadly we weren't fans. During our exploration we went in search of an open air gallery of graffitti art but were disappointed by what we found. Neither of us were certain if we found the right place. Graffitti covered the walls beside a staircase. We began to climb it but didn't feel safe when we reached the top so went back down instead of exploring more. Everyone who arrived with guidebooks in hand also seemed a little lost. There was alot of graffitti art around town, and some of it was very good - we just found that it was always sprayed in the wrong place. Its cool to see in alleys but not on buildings used daily. It just made the place look dirty and unkept and gives an impression that the locals are disrespectful. Luckily our hostel was the opposite to the town. It was so clean and cosy with an intimate social area. There was a variety of really nice people so we spent our evening with beers, cheap chilean red wine and new friends. Every time we went to the shops to stock up we were followed by a stray dog that waited whilst we went in, then followed us back to the hostel. The only benefit of our trip to Valparisso was being able to see the capsule that pulled out the Chilean Miners which was displayed in the main square. Its quite sad that neither Si or myself speak good Spanish as I would have loved to chat to locals in Chile who gathered round the capsule. Hundreds of locals queued up to have their photo taken next to it.Despite being large enough to carry each miner up, it was smaller than I imagined. It must have felt majorly claustrophic when they stood inside and waited to reach the surface. I'm still curious as to how long it took to decorate the capsule and get t-shirts printed. Could they have rescued the miners sooner?