Teskes Gone South: Chile - Valparaiso Tour

By Dana

Valparaiso is one of the most amazing big cities I've visited in Chile. It is a port city with beautiful, steep hills similar to those of San Francisco that jut out of the ocean giving just about every home a view of the sea. The houses are extremely close together and painted brightly, and the people of Valparaiso are very proud of the city's tradition and history. Valparaiso, or Valpo for short, is full of amazing sights, spooky alleyways where pick pockets like to run and hide, and fabulous people (other than the thieves).

View of the city from the water

My host brother, Isaac, makes a living giving tours around Valparaiso and working on the city trolleys. He's worked extremely hard the last few years studying English so he is able to give tours in both English and Spanish. His love for the city and its history along with his personable nature makes this an absolute perfect job for him. On the days that he doesn't have a tour, he dresses in old traditional wear and hops on the the trolleys for the day. There he tells stories from the past about the way the city used to be. In return he receives tips from passengers. He said he loves the acting aspect of it despite sweating in a suit and hat all day.

Isaac in his trolley suit

For fun we headed around the city with Isaac and saw the sights. He practiced some of his Englilsh with us and we practiced our Spanish. It was a blast to learn more about some of my favorite places that I used to go and see new sights that I never even knew existed. Here are some of the amazing things we got to do and see.

Mercado

First we headed to the fruit & veggie market and checked out the amazing Chilean produce.

Cool squash that I've only ever seen in Chile

Delicious and cheap Chilean 'paltas'

Ascensores

Next we visited a few of the many 'ascensores' or elevators in the city. In some neighborhoods the hills are so steep that people build elevators to transport goods and themselves more easily up into the hills. Some of the 'ascensores' were built in the 1800s and are still functioning today.

The view of the ascensor from the bottom

The view down from the top

One of the coolest and most unique 'ascensores' in the city is Ascensor Polanco. It's unique in that it has a tunnel and the elevator is 100% vertical rather than at an angle like all the others.

The tunnel of Ascensor Polanco

The outside view of the 'elevator'

Mansion Built in 1912

Cerro Polanco is a working class hill/neighborhood, however, Valparaiso is unique in the fact that when people came to the city, worked hard, and became wealthy, they often built a new, beautiful home in the same place as their old home. Therefore, in areas of the city you'll see simple homes right next to beautiful mansions such as this one.

This mansion was owned by an Italian family that became wealthy after moving to Valparaiso

We were admiring the outside of the home when someone walked in the front door. My host brother asked if the owner might be home so he could ask him about the history of the home. After a lovely conversation with the owner, Isaac somehow then got us invited to go into the home. The owner showed us around the entire first floor. He had an incredible appreciation for the history and has spent countless hours and thousands of dollars restoring the home to keep it looking exactly as it did when built in 1912.

Entryway

Living room

One of the many chandeliers that originally used gas

The owner showing us the dining room

Beautiful wood floor and wooden carved chair in the dining room

Graffiti

One of the amazing cultural artforms Valparaiso has adopted is graffiti. The graffiti here is so phenomenal, it could be considered murals. In Cerro Polanco (Polanco Hill), behind the ascensor, they actually had a graffiti festival a few years back and invited incredible artists from all over South America to participate. This was all 'new' for me as well, as I studied here 6 years ago before any of this existed. Here are some of the incredible murals we found.

Entrance to Cerro Polanco

Brew Pub Tour

We discovered that Isaac has the same appreciation as we do for good, tasty beer. Therefore, we concluded our day testing out the 2 brew pubs in town.

The first one was Altamira and had phenomenal beer, the best beer (brewed locally) that we've found so far in South America. We came here a few times. . . . :-)

The entrance of the brew pub keeping up with the Valparaiso tradition of graffiti

Brent and I enjoying our tasty brews

Isaac also convinced us to try the hamburger at the Altamira brew pub. He said it was one of the best burgers he's had. We were skeptical but got one to share to give it a try. If there's anything Isaac knows it's history of Valpo and good food. He was absolutely right. It was extremely greasy like any good Chilean food, but it sure was tasty.

Altamira burger with fried onion and fried egg, among the usual toppings

Brent and Isaac enjoying the burger. The mayor of Valparaiso happened to be sitting directly behind us. Isaac introduced us to him. Pretty cool!

Next we headed to a place that sold the traditional Valparaisan beer brewed by 'Cerveceria del Puerto.' It wasn't quite as good as the beer at Altamira, but it was still pretty tasty and the bottle cap had a cool tab to pull to get it off!