Today I successfully rode the bus from Santiago to Valparaiso (aka Valpo by those in the know). It was about an hour and a half ride and on a comfortable bus. This time, bus adventures were alright.
In Valparaiso they don’t even want me to practice Spanish. I’ll ask something in my form of Spanish and they’ll answer me in English. Or maybe they just like to take the opportunity to practice English whenever they can. Valpo is crazy busy. It’s on a level I haven’t seen since Lima, Peru and maybe this is how all South American cities are and I just never paid attention.
My walking tour started at 3pm so I had time to eat lunch at my hotel and sip on a pisco sour before going on the walk. My tour guide Jose Jo was awesome. He made his own route because he didn’t like the route the tour company gave him. I told him I liked that he was a rebel! There is so much street art in Valparaiso that I had a hard time narrowing down photos for the blog. So I’ll include a few here with the commentary and then the rest at the very end in case you want to just see it all. No sense in depriving you of awesome street art.
Valpo is a city built on hills so there are funiculars, stairs and hills to take you up and down the city. From one of the viewpoints you can see the bay.
Also, there is color everywhere! On houses, on stairwells, and even on electrical boxes.
Here’s my tour guide in front of one of the most intricate murals. It tells the story of Chilean history and the end of the history is that Chile is too involved with the US. So a Chilean person wearing a mask of the indigenous people (Mapuchen people) is choking Mickey Mouse. Do you see the happy meal with “Mierda” printed on it? That’s Spanish for “shit.” There’s also a Donald trump figure parachuting in but I refuse to include that ass-clown in my blog.
We made some stops along the tour to a candy store (we got some samples) and an empanada shop that sells 80 different varieties. We also got a sample of pisco sour from the store owner. Those were some of the best empanadas I’ve ever eaten. No lie. Tomorrow I have no plans except to wander up and down this town and see what I can discover by taking a few wrong turns. I can tell this is the kind of city you can get lost in and it will be alright.
As promised, here’s some more of the street art photos. Which one is your favorite??
There She Goes... 