birds-eye view of Valparaíso, Chile

Valparaíso drawings // dibujos de Valparaíso

Gran Bretaña Ave., on Playa Ancha hill,
southern Valparaíso, Chile

those who like my takes of  Valparaíso streets and corners, can go here to revise all the images made until now. there they are and I promise more to come. keep in touch! 

opening the week with the Port

port of Valparaíso, Chile. photo by Igor I. Solar

this time I want to start the week remembering the city where I was born and grew up. It's the port of Valparaíso, in the south-american Chile.
Chile is a very long and narrow country on the Pacific ocean, it's geography goes from the high altiplanic, desertic environment in the north to the antarctic, snowy, cold south, with all the grays through the thousands kilometers the country runs towards the southern pole.
in the middle, the port of Valparaíso, which the chileans call simply 'The Port', so people who live there are 'porteños'. they call it 'Pancho' also, due to a similarity the city has with the american San Francisco (Pancho is a spanish nickname for Francisco). (personally, I found it a lot more similar to the port of Haifa, in Israel).
but, I leave you with this nice article I found in the net about the Port. with a video, a bunch of excellent photographies and for sure, in better english. enjoy it!

Plaza Anibal Pinto, Valparaíso

in an old CD found this image. a photo I took in 2008 in Valparaíso, Chile. 

it's part of Plaza Anibal Pinto, a central place in downtown Valparaiso. plenty of cafes and restaurants, among them, the traditional Cafe Riquet (at the corner) and El Cafe del Poeta, related to chilean Nobel prize writer Pablo Neruda.

that's all. only wanted to share with you.

la chancha from Valparaiso

those who grew up in Valparaiso, Chile, know "la chancha" a very unusual play for children. of course it is very dangerous also. there is: a cultural expression from the times when children played outside home, in the street. when fun came from their own inventiveness and imagination.

the guy in the drawing is an adult - to make it funnier, because under the weight of a grown up earthling 'la chancha' became like a russian roulette.

Valparaíso side streets

Valparaíso - view from a hill

walking down the hill

◆ memories from those times when I lived in Valparaíso, Chile.

◆ recuerdos de Valparaíso, Chile, cuando caminaba bajando el cerro.

Urriola st., Valparaíso, Chile

■ the street winds down from cactus to sea

■ la calle serpentea desde el cactus al mar

restaurant in Cerro Alegre, Valparaíso

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rusted beetle in Valparaíso, Chile

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El Cardonal Farmer's Market, Valparaíso, Chile (2008)

■ noisy business of humans and earth - fruit, egg, cheese and chicken
share with fish a roof of clouds

■ bullicioso comercio de hombres y tierra - fruto, huevo,
queso y pollo, comparten con peces un tejado de nubes

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Condell Street, Valparaíso, Chile, 2008

■ and the mermaids whispered from a second floor window

■ y las sirenas susurraron desde la ventana de un segundo piso

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