Kepfram & Ellie's Travel Journal

Incomplete Thoughts on Chile: Valparaíso
This city is beautiful. It's the legislative center of Chile (the congress was moved here some years ago so it would be less influenced by the president), but it doesn't remind me as much of Washington, D.C. as it does San Francisco (which I've never visited in case you were wondering). Valpo, as it's also know is spread over 44 hills by the sea & is Chile's major port city. It's full of lots of old buildings (apparently well constructed as there's little apparent evidence of earthquake damage), beautiful plazas, & old hillside elevators/ascensores/funiculares that work primarily by using the elevator going down as a couterweight for the up elevator. The most striking thing about the city was the volume of street art. There are some incredible murals and graffiti in sections of the city, I would love to spend a week here to take it all in.
The only downside to our visit was the dog poop in the streets (this town could really use Bob Barker)& it was a cloudy cold weekend.

Random Facts & Observations:

• Black person count since we arrived in Chile: 5, all in or near Valparaíso. I am still a novelty, yet I people don't seem to stare here like they did elsewhere.
• Abarrotes in spanish means groceries.
• Our hostel, Casa Aventura, was great despite the name (adventure house, or affair house depending on the context). It was not a party house, but quite the opposite a beautiful old building with a well equipped kitchen, really comfy beds, owners who were really welcoming & helpful, & the building was completely smoke-free (YEAH!).
• Smoking is incredibly common here! It's like the US maybe 30 or 40 years ago, there are no non-smoking sections or thought that anyone might be bothered by the smoke.

Kepfram