Discovering the World Sans Valise: Valparaiso, the Chilean city with beautiful murals - Previously known as "Little San Francisco" and "The Jewel of the Pacific"

Valparaiso is a surprising city. When we arrived in the city, we were impressed by the number of graffiti and murals on the walls of houses. This street art work is a great form of expression, that makes the city very unique and full of personality. Valparaiso also looks run down and quite dirty. The buildings appear poorly maintained. Valparaiso used to be a very successful port due to the fact that boats had to go around Cap Horn and up the Chilean coast to get to Central and North America. The city decline started when the Panama canal opened. Most boat traffic and commerce stopped.
We were lucky to participate in walks through the city with well informed guides. This allowed us to understand and appreciate more the past and current history of the city and the art work displayed on the walls. Some of the murals are beautiful and they all tell a story. The streets are meandering through several hills. There are many stairways and funiculars to take people up and down the hills. We had the chance to visit Pablo Neruda's house on one of the hills, actually close to where we were staying. The city grew on us as we kept wondering through the streets.

Funicular on the right side of the picture

Safety is not Valparaiso's priority - this wall is ready to fall....on the house in front of it!

"We are not hippies, we are happies"

Nice dinner at a restaurant down our street

We visited the house of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. He named his house "La Sebastiana".

We also visited Villa Del Mar, a beach town near Valparaiso. This town is certainly very different from Valparaiso - soulless - and its style did not touched us as much as Valparaiso. We took a walking tour of the city with american students.which was fun.