Chile Valparaiso 瓦尔帕莱索智利 4/2017 (20)

18/4/2017. One and a half hours away from Santiago on the Pacific coast was the port city of Valparaiso, made famous by its street art, a euphemism for graffiti. A few cable car stations connected the foothills to different parts of the hilltops. Up on the hills, the houses and buildings were neat and tidy, the cafes tasteful. This part of the hills seems to have gone upmarket for the tourist dollars. To many countries, graffiti was vandalism and rubbish, but for me, and many Latinos on this continent, it was art. Why not?

Almost next to Valparaiso, sitting pretty just less than 10 kilometers away, was Viña del Mar, another seaside town, a virtual fairy-tale of two cities. This one was an enchanting beauty. The city center streets were lined with restaurants of fine dining and buildings spruced to match the class of the rich and famous. This is the place you come to spend your money, made elsewhere. Though just 15 minutes apart, they couldn’t be more different, as different as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. This was the playground of the rich, I am glad to have a taste of it, even just for one day.

Many travelers I came across on this trip go northward. I bucked the trend by going southward. Venturing south along the Pacific coast was really fun. With so many different beaches to savor, the fun lingered on for days and weeks. Chile was almost over. I was coasting toward Argentina.

18/4/2017 离圣地亚哥一小时半是太平洋海边港口瓦尔帕莱索 （Valparaiso） ，闻名于其街艺，也就是涂鸦墙。市内有几个缆车点各上不同山区。上山后，发现房子和街道都还整齐，别致咖啡馆，没看到涂鸦街的乱象。对有些国家涂鸦是垃圾，这里垃圾也是个性的象征。

离瓦尔帕莱索十五分路程是另一个海边小城。这是截然不同一幅画，完全不一样风貌。这里有海滩，不是码头，面海公寓，不是山坡上的涂鸦街道。十五分钟的距离，一万八千里的差距。我想这儿就是首都有钱人来潇洒的地方。

旅途上碰到无数是北漂的，我没周密计划糊里糊涂就选择南漂。南下太平洋享尽海滩盛宴，玩得过瘾了，几乎晚上睡觉也以为是躺在水床。智利快玩完了，一路往阿根廷奔。