Valparaiso

As soon as we arrived in Valpo we felt the city calling us to explore it. This place is hands down one of the most fascinating cities I have ever been in. Its like a giant trash sculpture. The city is dirty and grimey, but it is covered with murals and littered with artist. It is an amazing place.

At the top of one of the many mountains that surround the city there is an abandoned prison built in the late 1800s. This prison has been converted into a city park for the purpose of giving artist a place to work. Here is the artist prison.

We came across a flyer for a puppet show that night, held in a theatre within the prison.
Of course we went.
The show reminded me a lot of Bread and Puppet, only with smaller puppets and in spanish. The audience was filled with adults and children, within the show were acts for each.
It was wonderful to see such communion among the ages.

The last act used shadow puppets and it discribed the history of South America.
How Europeans seeking religious freedom, more land and wealth drove out the native tribes and conquered their land through violence. Sound familiar?

We head to Santiago sunday to watch the super bowl with ben (go cardinals!). Laney and I both wish we could spend more time in Valparaiso, so we are thinking of returning for the month of September, just before we fly home. Its just too nice for only one weekend.