NOVEMBER 2019
Valparaíso has been a city that I had wanted to visit for a while, as it is located on a hill, with colorful houses, street art and with views of the ocean. Unfortunately, South America currently is not the easiest place to visit as there is a lot of political unrest in many countries. Ecuador and Chile recently had a lot of riots and protests and the countries are currently awaiting if new riots break out. After doing a lot of research we decided to visit Valparaíso despite of the recent incidents. The Dutch government says that you can visit Chile, but that you have to avoid the protests. We did avoid Santiago, as new riots often start in the capital city. Luckily during our time in Valparaíso we did not experience any issues and I was glad I got to visit this incredibly colorful city!
How to get to Valparaíso
We had a flight from Arequipa, Peru to Santiago. From the airport of Santiago you can take an airport bus into the city to the Pajaritos bus station (€ 2 per person, twenty minutes). From Pajaritos there are buses to Valparaíso about every fifteen minutes. We did not book a bus in advance and after a short wait of 30 minutes we were on our way to Valparaíso. The bus ride to Valparaíso took us about two hours and I really loved this ride as we got to see a lot of Chile. Just outside of Santiago you will find stunning nature reserves and lots of vineyards. It definitely triggered me that I would love to see more of this country!
From the bus station in Valparaíso it was a short taxi ride to our hotel “La Galeria B&B”. This hotel is located in the most beautiful area of Valparaíso: Cerro Conception. This neighborhood is located on a hill and features a lot of street art and has great restaurants. We paid € 35 per night for a private room, including bathroom and a small breakfast. We specifically recommend the restaurants “Pasta e Vino”, they had super original pasta dishes and we loved getting to taste the Chilean wine.
Pictures of the street art
During our time in Valparaíso we were mainly busy wandering through the colorful streets of Cerro Conception and taking pictures of the street art. This was quite exhausting, as the antique elevators that usually serve the neighborhood were closed because of the recent riots. You can do an organized street art tour, but we just started in the Templeman street and found many works ourselves.
Other things to do & protests
We shortly got out of our neighborhood to take a look at the harbor of Valparaíso. This harbor used to be really big, before the Panama Canal was built. It still is very important for the city, and it was cool to see the big ships and containers. From the harbor you can also take a short boat trip to spot sea lions. As we just did that in Paracas we skipped this activity.
When we got to the downtown area, we were quite taken aback because of what we saw… A lot of government buildings, shops and banks were completely sprayed with graffiti. Downtown is the place where a lot of the riots took place and you could still see its remains. Some buildings were cleaned already, but others were clearly waiting for more riots. We spoke to several inhabitants of the city and they do expect more riots and protests. The protests started because of a price increase of metro tickets, but they shortly escalated and are now about the social injustice in the country. Most inhabitants seem to agree with the reasons for the riots, but they disagree with the violence that is paired with it. Especially in Santiago a lot of damage is done, with not only graffiti but also burning down buildings. During the protests there were some deads and a lot of casualties. I have only seen a small part of the country, but was very impressed with its beauty and kind inhabitants. I can only hope that the people will soon feel safe again and that good plans are being made to reduce the social inequality.
