Valparaiso is only 1 1/2 hours away from Santiago. Lots of artists call this city a home. Pablo Neruda, the famous chilenian poet, had a house there. The town consists of many hills, and the center is in the volley. The houses are vibrantly colored and seems like they are stock to each other like colorful mushrooms! Once again, I was lucky with the hostel choice and its people. The owners of the hostel are artists from Santiago; they also live in this same house, and often have interesting people around. There are also several foreigners helping to run the place. I had a warm welcome when I checked in and was invited to eat the delicious soup that John, the English dude cooked. In the following days I walked around a lot, and took millions of pictures of colorful houses and weird street art- graffiti. I also spent many hours in the weird and colorful art space, which located the former prison that was shut down recently in the end of 90’s. Unfortunately, in Valparaiso, I also had my first ever encounter of sorts- attempted robbery!!! :( I was in the very centre, when the "bad guy" decided to attack me by trying to snatch my waist purse. My reactions were: I got scared, I kinda screamed, and then, surprisingly fought back by holding on and not letting go of my purse. To say the least, I was scared and I did scare him and he ran away!!!!! Interestingly, the next day was a national holiday, and the president Michelle was expected to be here. This was all happening 200 meters away from the spot where she would give her speech in the morning!!! This was an unpleasant experience, but it also taught me that you can never expect how you will react in particular situations. Because, I would have never thought that I would put up a fight and not let go of my purse...!!!! After this unfortunate episode, the charm of Valparaiso had vanished for me and I went back to Santiago the next morning!
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