Valparaiso: Graffiti Art Spotlight

Valparaiso is a city that wears it soul on the outside.  I mean this quite litterally as the entire city is painted.  Not only are homes painted bright (you cannot paint your house the same color as your neighbor) but local and foriegn aritsts have come to make their mark on many of the city walls.  I came to Valparaiso because I was interested in expereincing this painted city for myself.  I have always been interested in public art and view it as a true expression of the people and the cities values. I want to spotlight a few artsist and hope this will act as inspirtation to my fellow travelers to go out and explore this inspiring city.

The best plac to begin in ith Valpo Street Art tours.  The tour is free but tipping is more than recommended.  This tour is fantastic.  The guides are grafitti artists themselves and are very involved in the community as a whole.  These are the best guides you could ask for.  As they are all part of a larger community, my guide was able to explain the nature of grafitti culture.  He explained the significance of grafitti and street art around the world and how it has inspired so much of the Valparaiso street art scene.

There are three primary artsist that made the most personal impact.  Each has a clear presence all over Valpo.  Un Kolor Distinto, Inti, and Cuelli Mangui.

Un Kolor Distinto is the only grafitti artist recognized by the Municipal Council.  He has paid peices covering the entire city.  Un Kolor Distinto (Sammy) collaborates with mnay artists to make incredible works of art.  His personal style is very surrealist and have a whimiscal feeling to them!

My absolute favorite artist in Valparaiso in Inti.  He gathers his inspiration from traditional Chilean culture.  According to my guide, Inti is the most talented and respected artist in the city.  He has gained international recognition and is currently sharing his beauty with Germany.  Lucky them!

I was fortunate enough to briefly meet Cuelli Mangui while he was selling some of his paintings.  He explained how he gathers inspiration.  First, he throws color in patches all over the wall.  Using these colors he fills in the spaces with black lines to define his peice and what the colors will represent.  One of his peices turned the many colors into the scales of a lizzard and another became fish.  I was so excited to meet one of these great artists and am now the owner of a Cuelli Mangui origional!

Valpo Street Art tours are the perfect intoduction to the style and popular artsists.   I used them as my jumping off point to explore much more of the murals and grafitti around Valpo.  This is a do not miss!

Bolivia´s Uyuni Salt Flats, The Cheapest Ticket to The Moon

Every traveler has an exceptionally long bucket list.  Traveling to Bolivia, I was able to cross off a bold point on my MUST DO trips.

Salar De Uyuni is one of the largest Salt Flats on the planet.  Stretching over 100 kilometers, the flat hold enough salt to support the entire world for over 50 years.  The once ocean is a vast, flat landscape of strictly white ground against a bluebird sky only found in deserts.  To the Inca, it is a worshiped site  of Pancha Mama, Mother Earth, they to find spiritually charged and healing.

I planned the start of my trip around an expedition to these Salt Flats.   Travel to here is exceptionally easy and the Bolivians could not be more helpful and friendly. 

There are dozens of tour companies in Uyuni.  Most companies are a type of travel agency that work with just a few companies.  When searching for a tour I took a few things into consideration, an English speaking guide, the number of people on the tour, and online ratings.  After a bit of research before leaving home, I decided on a trip with Red Planet Expeditions. I emailed Maria with Red Planet a few weeks prior to enquire about space.  She allowed me to book the tour in advanced without any kind of payment.  The agreement is if you email to confirm three days prior and arrive before 8:30, they will honor your reservation.  A great requirement if you are like me and do not like to pay before entering the country.

Red Planet was an amazing choice!  The guides are fluent in English and provided us with fantastic information on the area.  I decided to go for a three day tour as it covered the most terrain.  The tour also has the option of dropping off at the border on Chile.  The first day explore the salt flats followed by a nights accommodation in a hotel made completely of salt, even the chairs and dining table! 

The second day tours the many lagoons and is perfect flamingo and Vicuna spotting.  The tour reaches 5,000 meter, roughly 15,000 ft, above sea level.  Be prepared for such a dramatic altitude as it can be painful!  The day completed at the Geysers before heading down to a comfortable 4,300 meters.  Thought the second night of accommodation is basic, it is located directly next to hot springs for late night soaking.  Red Planet is the only company that stays directly adjacent to hot spring.  Be ready for the most surreal experience of perfectly hot water and the most expansive sky and a display of stars that rivals any other sky in the world!

Finally, the tour commences at the border of Chile and San Pedro de Atacama.  Once again Red Planet exceeds expectations and towers over other tours.  The guide helps direct you through customs and has the entire group wait until the transfer bus comes to the boarder. 

This adventure has made my personal list as 7 wonders of Lauren Sakin's world.