Purchase last minute tickets at our tour meeting points!!!

Back by popular demand guests can now pay (cash only) in person for "El Valpo Walk" English-guided Walking Tours prior to tour starting times.  All last minute ticket purchases can be made with cash only and in Chilean pesos.  Please review "Payment" under "Tour Details" for current adult and child admission prices.  Just show up at the tour's designated  meeting point a few minutes early and provided the tour is not sold out you'll be able to make your payment to the tour guide and join.

Purchase Tickets online!!!

Please be advised that all tickets can be purchased online via our respective tour pages.  Also, notice that ticket sales end at 7:30pm the day before the event.

Spring Cleaning in Chile

So, in case you haven't noticed we're doing a little updating and "spring cleaning" on the o'l website in preparation for the up-and-coming summer season.  And we want all you happy travellers coming our way to know that we're not just sitting around drinking cervezas and eating empanadas, no sir.  And who said a couple of hot mushroom and cheese empanadas chased with a cold IPA was bad for you anyway?!... Well, while spending all this time online I dug up this video just for all you office stiffs bored &%!!less.  Cheers!

Chilean shopping in Valparaiso.

Regardless whether you´re shopping in Valparaiso to find presents for your parents or to treat yourself to a piece of Chilean art to ship back home, you'll find it here. And if you don't guard your travel budget, even the things you never thought you needed.

Although tourism in Valpo still is a baby buisness in terms of years (the bohemian boom came with the explosion of visitors in the 90s), Valpo is already flooded with handcraft shops. At least in the most arty-bohemian, as well as the most touristy cerro - Cerro Alegre/Concepcion.

There is one place that combines various styles of handcraft shops together, with more than a passing resemblance to an art gallery. On the corner of the streets Urriola and Templeman is where "Casa Viejo" is situated and inside await four independently artesenal galleries, with a few products in common but still with distinct differences.

To the left, when you walk in you will find a small shop of four artists: Leonardo Alvarez, Hilda Osses, Astrid Ziniga and Karin Ouiroga. Karin tells me that they all offer different products, She vends the clothes while they also sell glass, leather and woven curiosities. This is "Artesano del Cerro" and they started up in November 2008.

"You can find handcrafts all around this cerro nowadays, but what we sell is not to be found anywhere else", Karin says."Usually handcraft artists sell their things to several shops to increase their chances of purchases, but this also leads to a similarity between the shops. We don´t do this, we just sell our own products here. We can honestly say that everything we sell here is unique",she continues.

At this time during low season they are entertaining, amongst others, customers from France and Brasil, as foreigners make up the largest group of clientele. This changes. during "ferias", the public holidays, when lots of Chileans come from Santiago to Valparaiso and into their shop.

The next shop, after "Artesenal del Cerro", is also to the left. Here you'll find even more glass,items made by Guddrumm Santos. Unsurprisingly the name of this shop is Vidrio del Cerro.

When moving on you´ll find the next shop on your right. It´s kind of hard to avoid the focus in this slightly bigger shop - the room is full, from floor to roof, with knitted clothes. Even a piano is covered with knitted cardigans. The maker, as well as the salesmen, (or in this case the saleswoman) is also the owner of Casa Viejo, from which the other handcraft makers rent their space. She´s had this place for five years. Whatever you could imagine knitted, she´s got it, and her cardigans range from 10 to 20 mil (thousand) pesos,around 18 to 36 dollars.

Last is the tiny artesenal shop beyond the other three. But size isn't everything. This offers the greatest alternative compared to the others as they have a focus on natural cosmetics. Their shampoo, conditioner, oils, soap and make-up is all made in Chile and the saleswoman Suzanna informs me they also offer aromatherapy.

The corridor between these artesenal shops usually has its walls covered with paintings, something you´ll probably see on your way out if you don't notice it before. Maybe, if you're lucky and have a sunny day in Valpo,you'll see shafts of sunlight come through the windows that form one side of the corridor.

This is the equally beautiful interior behind the colourful exterior of Valparaiso.

/Emilie.

Ciclo de Cine film nights

Ciclo de Cine
580 Urriola, Cerro Alegre
Friday nights from 20.00hrs

Free cinema nights are getting common in these parts, but none offer such affection for the civic history and filmmakers of Valparaiso as Ciclo de Cine. The colectivo artistico ciudad puerto have been at it for over a month now, with their Friday night open invitation gathering popularity. The theme is simple and successful: showcase films made in and about Valparaiso from the last 50 years and bookend the evening with an introduction and post film discussion. Hosted by Simone and Pilar in their house in Cerro Alegre, you can get swallowed up in one of the huge black sofas or for the more robust amongst you pull up a wooden stool, to watch the screening in the living room. From the first week in June the offerings have spanned subject matter from circuses to port cermonies to disillusioned priests. And multiple images of ascensors doing what they do best. Best of all the daily life in Valpo is given a colour to match the buildings. Anyone interested in the recent history can glean a lot from the style of porteno pelicula as the evolution of the city is recorded in film. Ya No Basta Con Rezar gave voice to rebellion within the church and underlying dissatisfaction in society, while Belgian director Jons Ivenz's A Valparaiso was a loving ode to the city in cod documentary fashion. Usual suspects include local director Aldo Francia, whose films have provided the entertainment on two evenings. Commentary comes from film officienado Silvio Cuneo and Simone. As the collective continue in the same vein through July, it’s worth paying a visit, stock up on some navigador, hot wine with naranja, and let the film reel uncover more about the people and passion within Valparaiso in recent times.

Jon :o