Valparaiso

I've found it very hard to try and narrow down one photo which really communicates how this city looks and feels. A small town centre next to the coast is surrounded entirely by 42 steep hills absolutely covered in eccentrically decorated housing and connected by a labyrinth of alleyways and staircases, as well as some antique funiculars (spelling??) which run up and down the hillsides. Hopefully this picture gets across how mad it is, even if it does leave out the Pacific ocean and how stunning it is. My experience in this city was a weird one, though, and not as good as it should have been. For a town of which the whole point is to wander aimlessly and lose yourself I kept being shouted at by locals, cabbies and policemen to turn back as the area I was in was unsafe. One cabbie even offered to take me free of charge down to a safer part of town as he was convinced 3 guys on the corner were waiting to mug me (I took him up on it). The result was feeling chronically on edge all day and suddenly aware how alone and vulnerable I am out here, the first time that's really been brought home to me. Ah well, I leave for the much safer, countrysidey south today to start my Chilean life proper, I should shake off that feeling soon.