Pale South African Traveler, Trilingual Tour Guide and another couch surfer drinking coffee on the ledge (look below for what they´re looking at…)

I come outside with my cup of coffee and find Trilingual Tour Guide and the other two couchsurfers sitting on the top of one of Valparaiso´s many (many, many, many) staircases, sipping their coffees. And admiring the stunning cliff, beach, mountain and city view that reappears unexpectedly around corners and between buildings here.

TTG, our couchsurfing host, lives on the southern end of this small but incredibly vibrant, artistic city. The northern end hits Viña del Mar and several smaller beach towns. Downtown Vaparaiso – literally the flat part by the water – is a long (north to south) and only about four blocks wide, fitting in most of the restaurants, bars, markets and plazas before the residential and university buildings take over the Steep hills and cliffs. (Though bakeries, kiosks, small shops and pubs can be found around the many small parks and tucked into neighborhoods.)

Staircases and ascensors – angled outdoor elevators – help people navigate up and down the steepest areas. The overused descriptor for here is undoubtedly bohemian, and parallels to San Fransisco are very common. In addition to the terrain and music and art scene, Valparaiso and San Francisco are (randomly) the same distance from the equator, share some similar (unexciting) history and are close to larger cities that overshadow and yet underwhelm them. More about that later…