'DOGS
It's very noticeable. There are dogs everywhere, all very laid-back, peaceful, and healthy and well-fed, but clearly owner-less. They lie around in the streets and traffic goes round them, they come and lie on your feet and want stroking if you sit down, they may accompany you if you are strolling, they even take buses - hop-on, hop-off?
Chris and I took a 3 hour walking tour and learnt how this came about.
Immigrants from rural parts of Ecuador and Peru arrived with their families and their dogs, treating them as they had always done in the countryside, letting them run wild. Eventually the government decided that all these feral dogs had become a problem and organised a public kennel and dog-catching scheme. Dogs were taken off the streets and, if unclaimed, were killed. Inevitably some were killed which did have owners and the public became so angry that they mobilised to render the scheme ineffective by taking the dogs into their homes when the wardens were coming. The scheme was dropped and people continued to care for the street dogs and now you can see everywhere on the pavements bowls of food and water, cushions or cardboard for beds and people even make coats for them.
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| A poor street dog |
VALPARAISO
We came over here by bus 1.5 hours, £7 return and it's great. We've been warned about some dodgy parts but it's mostly safe and very friendly but above all colourful. There's a flat strip along the edge of the sea then the town very quickly rises up steeply above with hundreds of steps and lots of funiculars and there are murals and graffiti everywhere and I love it.
We went on a walking tour the first day the best part of which was a mad bus ride up the hilly streets. We learned how the murals came about. Ships coming into the port would leave behind corrugated iron sheets which the locals used to surround and protect their houses. The ships often spent time repainting and left paint behind too which got used to adorn the corrugated sheets. This spread to decorating walls and steps and now it's awash with colour. And I can't show you. Damn.
I've spent lots of time wandering round with my mouth open and camera ready. The port is very much a big commercial one, none of that pretty marina stuff but Chris and I walked along to where the sea lions hang out on a concrete platform just off the beach. Tomorrow we're going to take the bus a short way along the coast to Vina del Mar.
