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The romance of Valparaiso
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Just like with Santiago, I didn't do much more than wander the streets in Valparaiso. Except, it was much more physically straining because the city is sprawled out over a never-ending series of hills (cerros). Whether you are in the slums or in the richest areas of town, all houses are painted in bright colors, with winding stairways and paths meandering between them. The streets are as steep as those in San Francisco, if not more so. Again similar to SF, you will see a number of staircases replacing the usual sidewalks - it's that steep. If you have the energy to climb up the hills, you are rewarded with very pretty views of the entire town in all its colors, like a boquet of randomly put together flowers.
I spent 3 days in Valparaiso, most of them walking around and enjoying the colours. I did visit the Pablo Nedura house, which has been turned into a museum since the passing of his third and last wife in 1992. It was wonderfully eccentric and ecclectic, a house that obviously belonged to someone who was still a child at heart and with a great sense of humor.
I wanted to see Earth, Wind and Fire, who were playing at Vina del Mar nearby as part of the annual festival there (yet another festival) - but forget it, the concert had been sold out (on Ticketmaster!) many weeks in advance. I also read two books in the space of 3 days, as I realized I was not doing nearly the amount of reading that I thought I would with all this free time. That's it for Chile for the time being. I'm off to Mendoza in Argentina to enjoy some fine wine (and weather, hopefully). --------------------------------------------------- I'm posting a separate blog entry (with just photos, no text) on Chile titled "Reflections and murals" because this was a repeat theme in both Valparaiso and Santiago. Many building facades have artistic murals on them. In Valparaiso, there is even an open air museum called Museo al Cielo Abierto - with murals from a handful of Chile's leading modern painters. However, I found the street art far more imaginative and impressive than the murals that are part of this free museum. As for the reflections, if you pay attention you will see them all around Santiago. Old cathedrals reflecting in glassy buildings. Wooded parks reflecting in... glassy buildings. And so on. Thus I found it amusing enough to gather all these photos under one album.
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