This is how someone decribed Valparaiso to me. And visually, its true: the place is steep and hilly. There are cafes with funny looking cups and live music, walls covered in poetry and It has a general sense of calm, especially compared with the crowded and cautious feeling in Santiago. But more than San Francisco it had....culture? Not to insult my second favorite city, but I always felt as though it had a more 'J.Crew meets bohemian' quality to it. I love its tolerance and politics, but still, its a clean and friendly city. Valparaiso isn't clean, but it is beyond friendly. We stayed in a Residencia, with a perfect view of the ocean, run by an older woman who had color coded the keys, so that we would have an easy time getting in at night (ahem..morning). She served us breakfast in a sun room overlooking the port. She brought us extra blankets. Really, what more does a person need?
And then there's the elevators. Because of the hills, there is a system of elevators running up and down throughtout the city, taking people to all of the important places. I am afraid of elevators, especially ones built in 1887. But I'd be liar if I didn't say that sitting in a clattering wood lift, looking out over the ocean in Chile wasn't one of the best experiences I've had so far.
Of course, there was also the great coffee, salsa dancing, insane 'other' dancing, non-Chilean beer, cobble stone streets, intimate conversation, no-work, fish market, Pablo Neruda, Flea Market, Muebles (oh, my sweet muebles), and colo colo records. Not bad for a 1.5 hour bus trip.
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