Valpo, Reprise

So... we'd been to Valparaiso several times, but never took the time to do more than the most cursory of self-guided tours. We remedied that last month by joining a group trip organized by the excellent Escuela Bellavista, where Jason and I have been frustrating our respective Spanish teachers for the past year.


Much of the trip included repeats, but new sights included one of Pablo Neruda's three houses (check out the cow-shaped punch mixer) and the Open Aire Museum. The latter was a very cool and successful attempt to liven up parts of the city by inviting artists to paint murals on the sides of buildings. It caught on so well that home owners outside of the designated museum wanted their own murals. Of course, they weren't always happy with the results, so some art-student murals have been "improved" by subsequent owners.

Also interesting is the statue of Chilean Justice. Rumor has it that after an unpleasant brush with the Chilean justice system, a US businessman donated the statue to the city. Note the lack of blindfold and addition of... sword? cross? club?