"We are not Hippies, we are Happies"

Graffiti tour in Valparaiso

Today was truly a breathtaking experience in Valparaiso. It was a life changing experience to see and understand art at a very intimate level. Being able to roam the streets and see the tiny details made it amazing. Our tour guide did a great job at engaging us with the art and not just to simply look at it, but understand. One of my favorite parts of this tour was to feel the art. We tried to "reenact" the art as Maura did and to become the art which was fun for me to do because as everyone can tell, I love to take pictures. We watched as Maura illustrated the art that we saw along the walls and were inspired to do the same to bring our pictures to life. Unlike most museums this had no restrictions. It was very nice to feel free in the streets and live with in this story of the images.

We learned about some of the specific stories of how the art was created like how an artist wrote on the walls "usa la bici" because of the local who hung his bike from the window from his work so that his bike was not stolen and decided to leave it there when he moved away from Chile to leave a piece of him behind. Most of the art that we had seen today told a story that went along with the country and it was nice to learn a little bit about the history of the country in a way that kept all of us engaged. Along our walk through the graffiti tour, Tina and I saw on the side of the street that there was a woman selling jewelry and both decided to get matching heart opals to commemorate the time we have had and the memories that we will make. All around, today was an amazing day that consisted of graffiti, pictures, and a beach that took our breaths away.