Valaparaiso: A City in Color

I give a slight shiver as another cloud drifts non-chalontly across the sun, shading us from its warmth. From the top of the mountains that lift the outskirts of Valaparaiso into the sky we can see the entire city, from the port that harbours huge cargo and navel boats, accross the markets streets that cut between the massive modern buildings and shopping malls and up through the aging suburban streets.
But it is not the view from the hills, the boats in the harbor, the markets or the brightly colored buildings that cover the hill sides that stand out about this city...... It is the amazing street art that adornes every wall. Where most societies reject this form of expression, it appears that Valaparaiso encorages and takes pride in their street art, no matter how vulgar or what the political message being communicated.

So, this being said, it was worth going against the advice of nemerous locals communicated via worried looks and sign language (hold on to your bag up in the hills, dont take out your camera, its very dangerous up there) as we wandered up higher and higher, through poorer and poorer neighborhoods to take a few picturesof the better art to share with you all.

The street art of Valaparaiso:

 Nikis Bits: Valparaiso city is generally butt ugly and smells of fish, but they do have these cool hillside trams so you dont have to climb the steep hill (win!) to the good bits of town -which are really cool-, and yes we made great "stoopido gringo's" as we accidently fell into favela town.... oops. FYI vegans are screwed for food in Chile.