The Train Graveyard, Bolivia

Here are some pictures that got lost in the shuffle of my trip to Bolivia to keep you interested.

Hiatus

It's hell trying to wrap up school but I'll inundate you with musings once it's all over in 2 weeks.

Until then, here are some pictures you haven't seen yet of the people that have helped to get me this far. I arrived in Chile on the 24th of January so in 4 days it will be my 10-month anniversary. 

Ode to Valpo

Over the months I've showed you all multiple glimpses of the clusterf*@# that is the city of Valparaíso.  I use the term lovingly to denote the insane lack of planning, logic, and regard for landslides immediately apparent upon entering the city. It's like nowhere else. And if you can get yourselves to South America one day I highly recommend it.

Once upon a globalizing time, Valparaíso (or Valpo, for short) was the leading port city in South America as it was a vital stop on the trade routes up the Pacific Coast. The Panama Canal stole Valpo's thunder in 1914 though upon its completion, and the city has been struggling ever since. You can see it in the hillside houses that appear slapped together with whatever mismatched materials were available. The city is not financially rich anymore but boy, does it have personality! Graffiti (if you can even call the amazing street art that) is legal and abundant. The streets are laden with curves and blind corners, and are almost vertical in many places to the point that they make Lombard Street in San Francisco look like a windy road on a gentle incline. 

The hills there are no joke. One of the most famed and legitimately used forms of transportation in Valpo are the funiculares (pictured above in the 3rd photo), the small train-like cars that ascend like elevators up the steep hillsides to deliver passengers onto the next rung of the cityscape.

Geologically speaking, there is no possible justification for building the city up such steep hillsides, especially in a zone that is so seismically unsound. But when globalization hits everybody wants a piece of the merchant port pie, and in the case of Valparaíso the only place to build was up.

Nowadays the poorest people live up at the top of the hills with the best views, because in the tale of a port city's past all the rich people wanted to be down by the harbor where the action was.

Some must-see graffiti outside the Hostal Bellavista.

The majestic and ever-in-mind Salvador Allende.

As I hope you can tell, I'm quite the fan of this funny little hill conglomerate. The vibe here seems easier to me than Santiago. When I'm in Valparaíso I always feel that I am in a city of artists.

¡fall in love every day!

I think that if the city had a motto it would be "Color and Creativity!"

If any of you were looking for an excuse to come to Chile, (among many others) Valpo could just be it.

"And I go back to [September] all the time..."

Fiestas Patrias is Chile's 4th of July. They do it a little better than us though in the sense that instead of taking just one day off to celebrate the homeland they devote an entire week to eating, drinking, (and subsequently littering) on the land they love.

The Chilean work philosophy is a little bit like that of the French and the Italians in that they'll take any excuse to take a day off. So when the actual day of independence falls on a Wednesday the entire nation collectively decides to just take thursday and friday off as well regardless of whether those days are actually encompassed by the holiday, because "hell! wednesday is practically the weekend anyways!" I'm just gonna put it bluntly: They know what's up!

The most abundant foods during this time are empanadas, choripanes (chorizo + pan = choripan), and brochetas.

The most abundant drinks are chicha (a slightly bitter fermented grape drink. the taste is about halfway between a beer and a wine), and terremotos (a pineapple ice cream + alcohol concoction so named because after just one people begin to walk as if the ground were shaking).

The parties that each comuna (like a county) holds are called fondas. Michael, Chris, and I set out early to one of the biggest ones in the city at Parque O' Higgins.

Only Joking

Hi Team,

My apologies that the blog has taken a backseat to school and adventuring lately. Consistency is hard work, sheesh! I'll get it back on track in no time though. I have a bunch of pictures saved up that I wanna show y'all and a few lessons I am learning as well. In the meantime, Michael, Chris and I traveled to Viña del Mar (the costal sister city of Valparaíso) to rage for Halloween.

I never pass up an opportunity to play with make-up no matter what continent I'm on. 

Now that Halloween is over Christmas is in FULL SWING! They don't have Thanksgiving here to temper the blow so the department stores are already going all out with the decorations. Even though the weather is getting hotter, my music has taken a turn for the Bing (Crosby) and I'm gearing up for a very happy Christmas.