Another City on Hills by the Pacific - Valparaiso

Created April 2006, Updated 4/2006

中文版 (Chinese)

After a day in Santiago, I pretty much finished most of the sights I wanted to see. So next day, I made a daytrip to the Pacific port city of Valparaiso.

Before I saw the movie "Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), I had never heard of the city of Valparaiso (aside from that this name is difficult to remember). In "Motorcycle Diaries," Che Guevara (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) found out he was dumped by his girlfriend when he picked up a letter in Valparaiso. We saw him reading the letter when taking an "ascensor" (furnicular in English I guess) up the hill. I decided that I would also take an ascensor up (though I am not sure if it is the same one he took because there are dozens of ascensor in Valparaiso!)

In fact, Valparaiso is Chile's legislative capital, so the Congress is located here. Together with neighboring resort town of Viña del Mar , it is the 2nd largest metro area in Chile. Being a port city, it is also the most important habor in Chile (and possibly the whole Pacific Coast in South America). San Francisco it may not be, Valparaiso is also famous for its hilly neighborhoods and great view of the Bay.

I took a stroll around the harbor area; went up and down the hills. Then, I took their metro train (even nicer than Santiago's) to Viña del Mar ; had a beer at a beachside cafe. And I did all these in a daytrip!

Please click the thumbnail on the pictures to see enlarged images
在照片上按一下滑鼠就可看到此照片的放大版

Valparaiso is quite a busy seaport. You can even see huge container ships from Taiwan (long way from the other side of the Pacifics). Behind the port (and the summer smog), you can see the hilly area of the town.

I took the "furnicular" (ascensor) up to the hills (just like Che Guevara did in the movie "Motorcycle Diary") and wander around. It is a quite nice neighborhood with a lot of coffeehouses and galleries.

Interestingly, Chilean congress is not located in Santiago but here in Valparaiso. I think Michele Bachelet's inauguration ceremony (on March 11th, after I left Chile) was right here at this Square.

At the time of my visit, a nice open-air photo exhibition was going on, right on the Square of Congress. Titled "Faces of Chile" (or something like that), it shows pictures of Chilean people and landscapes from all parts of the country (including Easter Island and the Antactica), spanning more than 80 years.

First picture: A demonstration asking to bring Pinochet to justice for his military dictatorship in 1990's.
Second picture: Penguins in Chile's South Patagonia.

Pictures from Valparaiso's "sister city" the seaside resort of Viña del Mar (Vinyard of the Sea). The Flower Clock sort of reminded another one in Geneva, Switzerland.