Valparaiso is a port city roughly 63 miles from Santiago. It is a quaint colorful town built on many hills overlooking the ocean. At one time Valparaiso was one of the most important ports in South America and was even called the “Jewel of the Pacific” and “Little San Francisco”. It was the major stopping point for ships transitioning from the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa via the Straits of Magellan. Many European immigrants moved to Valparaiso in hopes of capitalizing on the trade opportunities taking place there. This flood of immigrants from many countries gave the town a very unique flare. They introduced football, founded schools, and constructed homes with little architectural details from their home countries. Many were protestant and this did create some conflict with the predominantly Catholic population. In 1914 the Panama Canal was opened and this devastated the town’s economy. Most of the European immigrants took their business elsewhere and the traffic to the port drastically diminished. It wasn’t until more recently that the city has experienced a renaissance of sorts. Many artists now call the city home and with the city council’s permission they have covered the city’s walls with diverse murals (anyone found placing graffiti or art on the walls without permission has to serve jail time). Larger seafaring vessels that can’t pass through the Panama Canal stop in Valparaiso now and the country is exporting more, thus the port is more in use. We did a free walking tour and our tour guide told us that at all times at least 2% of the Chilean navy is stationed there.
From a tourism perspective all we did was the free walking tour (highly recommended- 10 USD tip is sort of the norm) and a wine tasting through the hostel. The guy who ran the wine tasting was hilarious. I was a bit confused because he had the Chilean look, spoke Spanish fluently, but then had perfect English with a really odd accent. Come to find out he is from Nebraska and just speaks very flamboyantly with the use of strong Chilean hand movements. He explained that the most famous Chilean wines are made from the Carmenère grape. We all were tickled by how he described this grape. He called it “The Little Bastard”. Apparently, it had been very common in France long ago until its popularity fell far below other grapes to the point it was no longer planted. An immigrant planted some in Chile and for some reason the plants were forgotten. When they were later rediscovered, it became apparent that Chile was pretty much the only place on earth growing this grape. Thus, they are now used to produce a very uniquely Chilean wine.
We really liked our hostel Casa Verde Limon. It even had a trapeze!
From a tourism perspective all we did was the free walking tour (highly recommended- 10 USD tip is sort of the norm) and a wine tasting through the hostel. The guy who ran the wine tasting was hilarious. I was a bit confused because he had the Chilean look, spoke Spanish fluently, but then had perfect English with a really odd accent. Come to find out he is from Nebraska and just speaks very flamboyantly with the use of strong Chilean hand movements. He explained that the most famous Chilean wines are made from the Carmenère grape. We all were tickled by how he described this grape. He called it “The Little Bastard”. Apparently, it had been very common in France long ago until its popularity fell far below other grapes to the point it was no longer planted. An immigrant planted some in Chile and for some reason the plants were forgotten. When they were later rediscovered, it became apparent that Chile was pretty much the only place on earth growing this grape. Thus, they are now used to produce a very uniquely Chilean wine.
We really liked our hostel Casa Verde Limon. It even had a trapeze!
