$1 US = 970 Chilean pesos
After enjoying the fjords, our first port of call in Chile was the city of Valparaiso. Leaving the ship an hour before the tour, we (John, Alan, Liam and myself, along with Flat Stanley) yenned when we should have yanged in finding the beginning of our walking tour, meandering by the large vegetable market. Locals quickly came out to warn us to keep our phones tucked away and to wear our backpacks to the front. Not the best introduction to the city. The square where our walking tour began – La Plaza Sotomayor – was actually across from the port – but since we have to take shuttle buses to the terminal – invariably that shuttle bus takes you in the opposite direction of where you want to go.
My guest companion – Flat Stanley, is used by teachers to help students learn about geography. The student assigned to a particular Flat Stanley writes a report on the place Flat Stanley visits. The guys embraced the project, making sure he could be part of the fun.
We met our guide, Maria Jose, herself a teacher well versed in the history of Chile and the west’s influence in its politics. But the main focus of the walk was the street art and murals. We rode up one of the funiculars into the many hills on which the city was built. (Of note – there were once 20 funiculars – the first built in 1883. Currently 5-6 are running and cost 100-300 pesos (10-30 cents) to ride).
The street art tells the story of current styles, politics and history.
And of note – the city became much friendlier in the hills.
History lesson:
Ancient World – The Chilean coast was settled by the Araucanian people, which fall into three groups. To the north, the Picunche, who lived under Inca rule, gave little resistance to the Spanish, but the Mapuche in the central portions had successfully resisted the Incas, and initially defeated the Spanish in 1541, limiting their ability to develop the central coast until the later 1550’s – where war could not defeat them, smallpox decimated their population leaving few warriors to resist Spanish occupation (though the remaining tribal groups never made it easy on the settlers). Rather than settle their capital in Valparaiso – next to the sea, the Spanish decided to use the Incan city and called the new one Santiago by Valdivia (who was killed by the Araucanians in 1553).
Chile declared independence with the fall of the King of Spain in 1810, but were brought back under Spanish control in 1814 until a revolutionary war led by Bernardo O’Higgins in 1817, who became the first leader in 1818. O’Higgins only remained in power for a few years until another civil war that ended in 1830. Chile expanded its territory in a war with Bolivia and Peru 1879-1884 (memorialized in the memorial in Plaza Sotomayor). Compared to most of South America, Chile had a relatively stable democratic government with a constitution for most of the 20thcentury, with the exception of Pinochet from 1973-1988. I will talk more about that in the next post.
Next stop – Coquimbo/La Serena