Struan and Anna in Chile: November 2010

One place we've been really looking forward to visiting since we arrived in Chile is Valparaiso, a faded but still vital port city only 2 hours' bus ride from Santiago. Valparaiso is a city with a proud history, once a fabulously wealthy port until the Panama Canal was built. Much of Valparaiso's grandeur was acquired at a time when its hills were inhabited by wealthy British merchants, who have left their names and architectural preferences all over the streets.

Valparaiso is protected by UNESCO, and as such receives a fairly large amount of funding for restoration. Compared with somewhere like, say, Siena, it is notably shabby. Someone we spoke with noted wryly that the money arrives, then disappears, and nothing really improves in Valpo. Nevertheless, we were absolutely bowled over by its charm - a frisson of excitement while walking through the old port area at midnight, yes - but it's a magical place without a doubt.

We stayed in a fantastic B&B on one of the less touristy hills, Cerro Artilleria, named after the guns that used to be posted here when various sea-borne dangers existed. The Navy picked this hill for good reason, it has a sweeping arc of visibility across the whole bay - the views are excellent.

Valparaiso is famed for the colourful houses spilling down the hills towards the bay, all of them painted independently over time in a happy accident. As colourful and attractive are the shipping containers in the port loading area at the bottom of Cerro Artilleria - these almost create a mirror on the shore of the colourful boxes (the houses) up on the hills.

The city is a working cargo and fishing port. There are some seriously good fish markets, and restaurants, here:

the small market in the old port area

a dog/ polar bear napping in a box

a massive squid folded up in a box

eating lovely reinetas

Despite the inevitable proliferation of stray dogs, as with everywhere else in Chile, Valpo is better described as a cat city - all those nooks and crannies, and fish... we haven't really noticed many stray cats in Santiago (though that's partly because unlike the dogs they won't go and lie in the middle of a road for example), but in Valpo they're hanging around everywhere, on ledges and roofs. Here's a lovely mog:

even the cats know how to look stylish

One of Valpo's defining features is the set of Ascensors which connect the lower part of the city (El Plan) with the iconic hills (Cerros) which together form a sort of upper town. The Ascensors are a set of fairly ancient lifts or funiculars which reminded us of Lisbon which has, in some cases, slightly more spectacular versions.

one of the ascensors in action

higgledy-piggledy

Ascensor Artilleria

The photo above was taken on the little street leading to our B&B, Anna has a beautifully wrapped cake from here:

life imitates art

art

the staircase in our B&B - The Yellow House

Some views at night:

The old Naval School on Cerro Artilleria

As we've now slipped into the night, here's a short video of a Chilean singer called Chinoy, one of a number of up and coming Chilean artists who is playing in Valparaiso over the next few (and last few) weeks:

The rescue capsule for the miners is on tour - here it is in the main plaza in Valpo:

Also in Plaza Sotomayor is this fantastic building:

You have to take two to see it, but basically this old building had become unfit for purpose and was due for demolition. As one of the old headquarters of a trading company (we think something akin to the East India Company) it was considered too important a part of Valpo's heritage for the wrecking ball, so they designed a new building to fit inside the shell of the old. It's an excellent innovative use of an old building and a clever piece of heritage that really stuck with us.

another view from high up

some Chilean muslims - yes really - dancing and singing of a morning

there they go

The photo above is the derelict Queen Victoria Hotel - further evidence of the city's British connections, most recently used as a brothel, now in line for restoration and reopening as a hotel... sometime (where's all the money gone?).

the Americans brought nuts, though there are no McDonalds in Valpo

Struan and a sailor

One of the major highlights of our trip was visiting the main fish market - both for the people and the fauna (dead and alive):

Do you want these?

You've had enough already

our new fave fish - the Reineta

the razor clam - a forgotten delight, why don't we see these much in the UK?

Congrio is conger eel. Later Anna had a conger eel soup, it was lovely and the fish itself is nice and meaty, somewhere between cod and monkfish.

sopa de congrio up close and curious

While showing pictures of lovely seafood, we also had this selection of mariscos (razor clams and scallops) in a creamy white wine sauce topped with parmesan - yum!

Back to the docks!

As well as dead fish, there were a huge number of birds, mainly gulls and pelicans (a new bird for us):

slightly eerie

what's down there?

Note the guy in the blue shirt in the background of the photo above - he's wearing the kit of Universidad de Chile, one of the three biggest football teams in Chile, domestically somewhere akin to Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal in the national consciousness (although their logo is an owl, like the sadly greatly diminished Sheffield Wednesday).

These assorted pelicans and gulls were standing around waiting for something, and here it is...

...periodically one of the fishermen cleaning their catch would go and chuck a bucketful of guts over the side of the pier, then this would happen...

a horrible melee of pelicans feasting on fish guts

Attracted by the excitement, along came some sea lions:

some Marlins bothering a sea lion

well-fed Pelicans floating around

look at his feet!

some action

In the background one of Valpo's universities, architecturally modelled on an Oxford College

a little one - some of these weigh 300lbs

...and everybody reverts to standing around

On the way out of the market we stumbled quite unexpectedly on the self-styled "Chilean Maradona". With the breath of an old sailor and the dubious charms of the man himself, this character waits at the docks "offering you his attention always". Anna could not resist.

Anna and the Chilean Maradona

It's not an incredibly tanned Struan in a wig - it's the Chilean Maradona!

Offering you his attention always - whether you want it or not

After that excitement we took an ascensor up to one of the most famous hills of Valparaiso - Cerro Concepcion.

In fact we didn't go up Ascensor Concepcion as it was closed for maintenance (more on that later) but instead we took Ascensor Peral which goes to a similar area.

Ascensor Peral on the move

a well placed can of Escudo

Exploring Cerro Concepcion gave us an opportunity to see some more of the spectacular Valpo buildings and sights up close.

wish we had a postbox like this on our doorstep

radioactive dinosaur, obvs

And finally on this hill, that broken Ascensor again. Someone is seriously not pleased about the closure and posted this excellent rant on its door:

Roughly: "Until when?? You're messing with the locals and others who want to use this historical means of transport. They're not for some, they're for all!!"

While on the subject of seriously displeased people, here's a photo of "Chilean Justice":

Chilean justice...

Blind "Lady Justice" usually looks something like this - or this, as an aside read this hilarious story about the statue of Justice in the US State Department, we wonder if these curtains are still used... anyway the photo in the statue above stands outside the Court of Appeal in Valparaiso. It was apparently donated by a wealthy American who was wrongly convicted of some crime. After about 5 years in prison he was released and had this statue made and donated to the Chilean Government - note that the trappings of Justice (sword, scales etc) are all nonchalantly stuffed under one arm and, most crucially, she is not blindfolded.

Apparently initially the Chilean government thought it was a genuine rather than ironic gift - but today it still stands as a warning to students, lawyers and judges not to allow such miscarriages of justice to occur again...

Big Ben in Valparaiso

Another Valparaiso oddity is the clock tower, apparently built, by the homesick wealthy English merchants in Valparaiso, to resemble Big Ben - they allegedly set it to GMT. The clock tower sits at the bottom of the hills, near the first stock exchange in Chile...

... and the first spanish language daily newspaper - El Mercurio:

While we're in El Plan, see this photo of the cathedral tower poking through the palms - all the plazas we've seen in Chile have palms, and they do put a smile on your face:

One of Valparaiso's most notable sights is La Sebastiana, one of Pablo Neruda's houses. We've visited his house in Santiago - the third is in a small coastal town called Isla Negra, we'll write about the man and his houses once we've visited the final one. For now it's enough to note that Neruda is a huge cultural figure in modern Chile, along with other artists such as Victor Jara and Violeta Parra who really embody Chilean culture before its attempted destruction and erasure by Pinochet. Closer to home, Neruda was friends with Pablo Picasso another artist famed for his stand against fascism.

La Sebastiana from the outside

La Sebastiana is located on a quiet hill called Cerro Bellavista - La Chascona, Neruda's house in Santiago, is located in the barrio known as Bellavista. We haven't yet worked out what the connection is but there are many Bellavistas (beautiful views) in Chile.

Some pics on Cerro Bellavista:

Photos weren't allowed inside La Sebastiana, but we got some shots of the city from the top floor:

As we're looking out to sea, we should mention that we also went for a quick visit to the neighbouring city - a famous and popular seaside resort called Vina del Mar. It's not really much to look at, but is a hugely popular holiday destination for Chileans. It has a bit of character if you're willing to look:

Not that bad

It was Halloween while we were here and it was great to see Chilean kids running around doing a bit of trick or treating:

on the way home from the shops - Ready!

enough scaring for one night

speedy devils

We've mentioned before the Chilean custom of onces, "elevenses" taken at tea time - consisting of sandwiches, cakes, coffee or tea etc, here's a photo of a good one we had in Valpo: