Valparaiso, Chile: the City of Funiculars

Valparaiso is not only about the funiculars. It also has a beach. And a port.

This Chilean vacation comes to its conclusion at the twin beach towns of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, about two hours WNW of Santiago.

One of the problems in adding Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar to my itinerary was getting here. There are two choices. First, there is an inter-city bus. It is extremely cheap, between 10 and 15 dollars U.S. But you have to get to the bus station and, once in Valparaiso, you have to get to your hotel. All the while lugging a heavy suitcase filled with Chilean alcohol and two weeks worth of dirty clothes. Or you can take a taxi/uber, which I had prices quoted to me between $140 and $250 U.S. (The exchange rate for the Chilean peso is about 1000:1. Not absolutely precisely, but when you are spending money here, a 20,000 peso note is close enough to a $20 bill for purposes of understanding the price.)

I chose Option 3, which suddenly opened up on Thursday. My tour to four wineries was canceled and every tour company would prefer you to book an alternative tour to refunding your money. So I booked a tour to Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, and had them drop me off before the tour van headed back to Santiago. I got a trip to Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, with a three-hour or so guided tour of the cities, all for less than the price of the taxi transportation. Vacation magic! The first stop was Vina Del Mar.

 

Vina Del Mar is a nice upscale-ish beach town which great restaurants (I've been told), but not really many sights to see,

There are two sights to see in Vina Del Mar. The Reloj de Flores, or the Flower Clock.

It is clock made out of flowers. Except for the clock mechanics,for  which plant-based construction would be unworkable,

And the second is the moai:

A little bit of Easter Island in Valparaiso. Which is fitting, given that Easter Island is in the "Department," the Chilean equivalent of a state, of Valparaiso, 

This moai was a gift from the people of Easter Island. This is the only one of two moai anywhere in the world other than Easter Island, Rapa Nui. It is the only one that was not stolen. The other moai somewhere off Easter Island is in the British Museum. Status: stolen.

The first stop in Valparaiso was a fish market on the beach.

I believe this is Playa Caleta Portales. Google maps describes this place as a beach with a fish market, which sounds about right.

I stuck a finger in the Pacific here. The water was cold. Muy frío, as the cool kids would say. Could be the cold Humboldt Current up from Antarctica. Could be that it is a few weeks from the southern hemisphere winter.

For the bad reputation that Valparaiso has, the beach was clean. Not "picture postcard for tourist" perfectly clean, but clean enough for my purposes.

And here is a look at Valparaiso proper from across the waters of Valparaiso Bay.

The fishing boats were lined up here. Must be getting close to that fish market.

But, first, a pelican and two seagulls.

And sea lions under the dock of the bay.

And another pelican.

And more sea lions.

Up close this time. Thanks for the wonder of a telephoto lens.

Let's poke our nose into the fish market.

This one has octopus:

The sea lions would approve.

Sea lions. Keeping Valparaiso Bay penguin-free.

Valparaiso is gritty and working class. It is also bo-ho. As in "bohemian."

Some of the graffiti is just graffiti.

Some of it is art. The most prominent graffiti artists of Valparaiso even have galleries that sell souvenirs of their more prominent designs. 

The graffiti art is a legitimate tourist attraction here.

But we all now my idea of a legitimate tourist attraction:

A funicular!

This is the Ascensor Reina Victoria. The Queen Victoria funicular. The ride was short, but very steep.

And the views up top were impressive.

The upper end of the Ascensor Reina Victoria is the way to Cerro Alegre. Happy Hill.

I expected that the area was named from all the hippies smoking cannabis, since the bo-ho vibe of Valparaiso got me to think of hippies smoking weed.

It got the name because it was once an upscale part of Valparaiso and the upscale people were believed to be happier than the working people in the lower part of Valparaiso.

How does one get down off Happy Hill? There are two ways. You can walk the stairs. Or you can do as the locals do and slide down the smooth sidewalk.

This looks like I'm out of control, but I'm merely contorting myself to avoid hitting the wall. The slope of the slide automatically brings you into contact with the wall. I think I also was afraid of blackening the seat of my pants which, since so many people do this, your pants stay clean.

This is off a street named Galvez. It really is a thing. I didn't just slip and fall and now I'm claiming it is a thing. No. It's a thing. 

We are now in the heart of graffiti street art country.

This mural was done with a Sharpie:

The artist is Varas McKenzie. He has a gallery where you can buy art from him that looks like this. I'm not a fan of "graffiti" art, but even I am going to admit that Varas McKenzie legitimately is very talented. I don't care about the medium here being a Sharpie. This is work of a talented artist and I am not being sarcastic, ironic, or any other type of -ic.

This is the Grand Hotel Gervasoni. It was converted from a mansion once owned by an Italian gentleman named ... Gervasoni.

The steep cliffsides of Valparaiso have two great benefits. Funiculars, of course. And great views.

And it's not all graffiti art up here in the high part of Valparaiso.

Everything is not bo-ho.

This is, if my memory is correct, the oldest Anglican church in South America.

Or at least Chile.

My plane leaves for the United States tomorrow, but late enough in the day that I should have time to head back into Valparaiso from upscale Vina Del Mar for a day of funicular-riding before heading back to Santiago and its airport. Valparaiso is lousy with funicular, a dozen or more, and I've only ridden one so far. Not nearly enough funicularating.