Valparaiso is SO cool, seriously it was such a neat area! At first glance I’ll be honest, I was a little doubtful but it was also because we were at the bottom of the hills with tons of gray clouds. Whereas Valpo is a city with steep hills covered in vibrant colored graffiti. However, once those clouds parted and we were further up the hills it was as if the town turned on it’s light switch. It reminded me of the seen in Disney’s The Road to El Dorado, when at first all they see are rocks and once they pass through a cave they come upon the city of gold. I found my city of gold, it’s Valparaiso.

We walked around the city, got a delicious lunch in a small restaurant that we randomly found while walking near the port. It was a thick stew of seafood, lots of cheese and mussels. Later we went on a walking tour to learn about all the history of Valparaiso. We were shown numerous graffiti artworks and tried chicha, which is an alcoholic South and Central American drink that includes corn beer (chicha de jora) and non-alcoholic beverages such as chicha morada, and can be made with other various fruits such as grapes and apples.

Later on we went back to the hostel to figure out the next day’s adventure. It was our lucky night because the hostel had a wine tasting at the owner’s house, just a block or two up the hill. He served us several different wines one of which was Carménère, a wine specific to Chile, which the grape was once brought over from France and is no longer produced anywhere else but in Chile. We met several people from around the world and exchanged traveling stories, tips for traveling any where else in South America, and overall fun shenanigans.

Hostel: Casa Verde Limon

Transportation: Turbus, Semicama $12

Walking Tour: Free, but tip is recommended