Exit Cuzco for Vaparaiso, Chile, Part 1 -- Same Same but Different

(Note: I’m skipping over the details of my two-week trip to Bolivia last month since I’m feeling more inspired to write about where I’m now…)

After a full day of traveling I finally arrived in Valparaiso, Chile, a port city that reminds me in many ways of the Bay Area. Unlike in Cuzco, which is high in the Andes, it really feels like primavera (spring) in this city that has a Mediterranean climate (complete with fog, oh joy, my favorite!), with the same flowers scenting the air here as at home -- lilacs, wisteria, nasturtiums, calla lillies, bougainvillea and poppies. It’s a welcome change -- both of climate, scenery, and tempo -- from Cuzco, which I will always love; perhaps a bit too much.

After just 3 hours of sleep (after all, I had to have a proper despidida -- send off -- from that party town) I took a short flight from Cuzco to Lima, where I made my way from the domestic area of the airport to the international departure gates marveling at the feeing of being back in modern civilization. Guess bags, Esprit clothing, Chanel perfume -- all was there for the buying; however I didn’t have any energy, room in my 3 bags (including my huge backpack that now weighs close to 40 lbs after accumulating mucha ropa in Cuzco), or really the money to spend on overpriced airport schwag. Despite my exhaustion, on the way to my gate to connect to Santiago, Chile, I noticed the backs of Marlboro cigarette cartons lined up in the duty-free shop window. Evidentially the warnings on the cartons of cigarettes are mucho mas fuerte here -- some of them simply said “Smoking kills.” Good thing cigs (and of every brand imaginable) were being sold in the shop. The individual packs don’t have such strong warnings, though, only ones comparable to the U.S. Maybe they figure if you’re buying cartons you need to hear a stronger message…

Flew into Santiago, Chile’s capital that I haven’t heard much good about (although I will probably spend one or two days there after my wine-tasting trip to Mendoza, Argentina since I’m flying back to Lima from there), so I immediately took a taxi to the bus station to head for Valpo. The 1 ½-hour bus ride went through the Casablanca Valley wine region, where I’m off to tomorrow for a wine tour, where below a bright pink and red sunset I saw leafless vines nearing bud break Ah, to be back in wine country again! Yet another characteristic of this area that makes me think of the Bay Area.

Arrived at my hostel on Cerro Bellavista (one of the artsy hills -- Valpo has 42 cerros, meaning I’m definitely getting some much-needed exercise by sightseeing on foot all day) around 8 p.m. very tired and grubby (in the same clothes as the entire previous day). Grab a surprisingly tasty -- and huge -- tuna melt sandwich at a locals café down the hill and head back to the hostel where I can’t get my computer to work on the wi-fi connection nor the hot water to work in the shower. So much for my initial impressions of Chile as ultra-modern, with smooth highways, toilets that (mostly) can handle paper, and tap water that you can drink (a major revelation and the only incidence of that in any of the many developing countries I’ve traveled to).

My quaint hostel is housed in an very old, rickety wooden building that contains a handful of rooms, all named for famous Chilean artists. Mine is Ricardo Yrazzabal, a painter who was born in 1931 and whose main them is solitude, melancholy and isolation -- I suppose that’s a good choice for a single private room and also for how I’m feeling right now. That’s not just because I’m traveling alone (Niki is staying in Cuzco to continue to sing and play guitar with a group of peruanos that have gigs almost every night -- she’s supposed to meet me in Lima in a couple weeks) but also because I think that’s what I need a dose of right now. It's nice to be somewhere where I can be completely anonymous -- not only because it's much easier to blend in with the lighter-skinned and taller Chileans, but also because I don't walk down the street and see at least 2 if not 3 or 4 people I know like it Cuzco.

I’ve spent the last two days rambling around Valpo, which has definite beauty but also a grittiness that usually accompanies a port city. It seems to have a combination of many aspects of San Francisco and Oakland; in regards to the City it has those aforementioned hills, pastel- colored houses and very distinct neighborhoods; like the Town it’s got a bustling port that has a bevy of containers ships off- and on-loading, a semi-seedy central area and a ton of graffiti. Well, it really has is more than graffiti; there are at least stenciled graphics on nearly every block and extremely creative and well-executed murals on many. In fact, a former prison that closed in 1999 is now dedicated to this type of art -- the Ex-Carcel is a free park that is covered in murals and stenciled art. The grounds stretch for acres and the eye is rewarded with every turn into old cell blocks and exercise yards where brightly-colored creations await.

Valpo has some seriously steep hills, which make me glad I’m at sea level and not at the nearly 11,500 feet of Cuzco, although I’m sure my Andean hikes prepared me for my uphill treks better than most people. The city has a number of 15 ascensors (funiculars) built between 1883 and 1916 that will help you up the hills, but so far I’ve just hoofed it, even despite a weak left ankle that got crunched upon a descent down an Incan staircase on a Bolivian island in Lake Titicaca… The views are definitely vale de pena (worth the pain), though, with sweeping vistas of the bay and the Pacific stretching to the horizon.

The city also reminds me of Havana, Cuba in some ways as well, due to the pastel buildings and it’s location on the coast and as a major port, but especially due to the presence of some crumbling or burnt-out buildings that have evaded repair. I was struck by this feeling today while walking through one of the markets today in the Barrio Puerto, one of the seediest areas of town, which is located in a unkempt multi-story building that has the upper levels closed off due to extreme disrepair. On the way to the market area I passed a building that had been burnt out but left standing -- and naturally now covered with graffiti and murals.