Tuesday February 25th, 2025 San Antonio / Valparaiso, Chile

Sandra’s birthday and we are spending it in Valparaiso. With the ship docked in San Antonio it allows tours to Valparaiso or Santiago which are both about 90 minutes away. It’s just as well that there were interesting places to visit within a short bus journey as San Antonio did not appear to offer anything, it’s the biggest port in Chile and the city is very run down – beyond gritty, not the kind of place to go wandering.

As the bus made its way north on a very nice freeway our guide gave us a bit of a political history lesson about Chile, in particular the swinging of the country from left to right and the dominance of General Augusto Pinochet who took power through a military coup in 1973 and rules as dictator until 1990. Pinochet brutalized, tortured and murdered his opposition whilst in power – approximately 3000 citizens were “disappeared”, though many turned on dead by the side of the freeway. We could still see several small shrines along the roadside as we headed north.

Passing through the Casa Blanca Valley, which produces most of Chile’s white wines, we were reminded of our home region in Sonoma County, California. Wide valleys, green with vines, between rolling, dry and arid hills. The summer climate here creates cool misty mornings and warm afternoons and in the sping and winter slight frosts can occur calling for the deployment of “smudge pots” – motor powered windmills to keep the air moving to prevent frost from damaging the buds in spring, just like back home.

Soon we were motoring up a hillside on our approach to Valparaiso and, as we crested the top, swirling fog enveloped the bus like light grey curtains. The port city of Valparaiso is located on a hillside around a broad bay, some similarities to San Francisco sprung to mind with the summertime fog. The outskirts of the city began to reveal the nature of the Valparaiso urban design, in sort there isn’t one. There has, and continues to be, no urban planning or enforced building regulations – I think this reflects the city’s free spirited culture. Descending into the heart of the city we were amazed at the ramshackle, graffiti daubed and flimsy structures that make up a large part of the city buildings. Many of the houses were little more than shacks, often balanced precariously on a steep hillside, with no running water, scary looking power lines and very difficult access. There are numerous earthquakes in this area, and apparently the shack dwellers just set to work and build a new dwelling when their previous one falls down. Our bus driver was an expert, easily handling the bus around the crazy roads and traffic that appeared to be only loosely following any kind of rules. At every intersection we’d find one or more suicidal street merchants wandering through the traffic trying to make a sale of candy bars, drinks and other assorted essentials.

Villa Victoria is a cultural interpretation center in the UNESCO designated old town area of Valparaiso. The derelict house was restored to its 19th century glory by a local family who now run it as a museum. The tour was a bit strange, led by the matriarch and assisted by a couple of her children. We were met by the family all dressed in period costumes and they took our group into a large tile floored room with historical displays around the walls – the lady introduced her family and informed us that they were not actors but the real owners, and then they all proceeded to act out a script throughout the entire tour. As we moved into the various rooms, prepared audio narration would supplement what the guides were saying, at times the lady even lip sync’d. A very long video presentation in the basement gave us the history of Chile, we were sat on long hard benches, many in the group had to get up and walk around a bit. In other rooms we learned about life in Valparaiso in the 19th century, baking, tea drinking, barrel making and blacksmithing (if that’s a word). It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t learn anything about the actual history of the house.

Back on the bus we headed uphill, I honestly don’t know how the bus driver did it – the bus seemed to morph its shape as it negotiated unbelievably tight turns and around oncoming traffic. The “houses” on the hillside continued to amaze me, as did the graffiti – some of which was artistic, some student protest related, and some gang related. There are four major universities in Valparaiso and its often the starting point for political demonstrations, which seem to happen quite often – there are no MacDonalds stores in the city, as every time there is a demonstration the students would through rocks through the windows, so the company pulled out. The views out across the bay from the top of the hills showed us the entire city, with most of the Chilean navy in port.

Our guide led us on a short walk downhill to our next stop, the Baburizza Museum. The museum is in a palace (large house) that was built in 1916 but before it could be occupied by the owner he died. The building lay empty for many years until a Croatian businessman, Pascual Baburizza, purchased it in 1925 – he made extensive modifications to transform the house from a family home into a residence suitable for a single gentleman. The house eventually became the property of the city of Valparaiso and is now the national art gallery, containing many works collected by Baburizza and others owned by the state. We had a short, guided tour showing off the eclectic mix of paintings, Baburizza just bought what he like – rather than focusing on a particular style or artist. The building has been beautifully maintained although some of the interior wall paint colors appear to have been selected to make the artwork “pop” rather than hark by to the early 20th century.

The museum tour finished with a sit down in a covered patio area at the back of the house where were served cake and tea or coffee. There was just enough time for me to purchase us some lattes as the provided coffee was a bit iffy to say the least. I also risked, what looked like, a very nice empanada which turned out to be served at the temperature of the surface of the sun and was horrible.

Our descent back to the floor of the city was accomplished via a very old cable car located just adjacent to the museum. Given how old and flimsy looking the cable car apparatus appeared, the two minute ride was very smooth – we got a good view of the city rooftops and the ships in the harbor. The terminus of the cable car opened into the main square in Valparaiso, Plaza Sotomayor. A large stalled market covered one side of the plaza with plenty of tourist trinkets and well as goods for locals; the center was dominated by a large monument that honors the Chilean sailors who fell during two sea battle on the same day in 1879. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend in the square but managed to acquire a few trinkets and Sandra talked her way on to the top step of Chilean Naval Headquarters to have her photo talked with the guard without being arrested. I wished we could have spent less time at the two museums and more time in Plaza Sotomayor.

Our bus journey continued to the town immediately adjacent to Valparaiso; Vina Del Mar was a complete contrast to its neighbor – well laid out, clean, modern and with a real resort feel. Big hotels were hosting the annual Vina Del Mar song festival – the biggest in South America, a large casino, nice restaurants, high rise condos overlooking the sea, even a small beach. Strolling along the promenade we stopped at the many vendors plying their trade from stalls; the sun was dipping towards the Pacific; it was warm with a nice fresh breeze. Looking back, through the mist, we could see the vast sprawl of Valparaiso creeping up the hills of the bay like a carpet of urban moss. This was a nice way to end our visit.

Crazy people in Valparaiso