Days 199-202 - Valparaiso, Chile

VALPARAISO (19/07/09 - 22/07/09)

We arrived in Valparaiso after our longest, but certainly not worst, bus journey at 24 hours. We both immediately liked the city which for some reason reminded us alot of Brighton. It was not picturesque in a conventional way but was quirky and interesting and we spent many hours just wandering the maze like streets.

Not far from our hostel was a disused prison which had been converted into a cultural centre for the local community.

Many of the original features of the prison still remain such as this watch tower. Like many of the buildings in Valparaiso the prison architects took advantage of the natural bedrock to add stability.

The prison was in use as recently as the mid 1990s. As we walked around we looked in as many windows as possible and finally found this cell which still had beds and mattresses in it. The cells were probably about the same size as those in the UK but the Chilean prisoners were squeezed four to a cell rather than two.

Adam finally where he belongs!

Local artists and children have been allowed to paint all the old prison walls adding colour and life to what would otherwise be a cold and depressing building.

We were quite overwhelmed by the hundreds of stray dogs living around the city. They seem to be perfectly well accepted as citizens of Valparaiso and coexist peacefully with the locals, even waiting patiently at traffic lights for the green man before crossing the road. We didn't mind them either since they completely ignored us even when we were eating.

One thing that sets Valparaiso apart from most other cities are its incredibly steep hills and its novel way of dealing with this. Around the city are about 20 or so "ascensors" which are basically diagonally rising lifts. They were all built around the turn of the last century the one above being the oldest of them built in 1883. Not all of them have been particularly well maintained and riding up can be a hair raising experience.

Normally the cars hold around seven or eight people but we were lucky enough to get this one to ourselves.

The view from the top of the highest of the ascensors. Going up was scary enough but going down was terrifying. However it still seemed a better option than climbing up and down huge hills all day and the fares were never more than the equivalent of about 30p.

Out of all the cities we visited in South America Valparaiso would probably be the one where we would most like to live. All the buildings are painted in bright colours and the people are really friendly.