Chao a septiembre, me pinto con la primavera

This post is for my mama (the REAL one!) because she has been so curious to see more about this project that I helped with last weekend, called "Semilla de color" - Seed of Color.  This group is organized by an awesomely artistic and down-to-earth Chilean woman named Myriam who happens to be a mother of a fellow ISA student.  The purpose of the group is to keep Valpo beautiful and colorful by painting the would-be grey stairways and walls and sidewalks that make up a city made of mostly cement.  It's a great outlet for those of us who aren't particularly artistically inclined because we get to make something fun and  beautiful as a group, but it doesn't take much skill.

I went to help this group on the last day of September, and it was a beautifully sunny day (I got a little bit burnt, but what else is new).  We painted an 'escalera' or staircase in Cerro Monjas, one of the 42 cerros (or large hills) that give this city its famous texture and character.  The escaleras that are found all around this port city make me laugh because the city is literally built upon so many hills that steep sidewalks will finally give way into stairways.  I'm so used to flat walkways, but the angle of the roads and sidewalks here are so dang steep, they build staircases right into the walks.

Myriam adding the final touches to our masterpiece

We painted the fronts of the steps cream-sicle colored and added an excerpt of a poem by Pablo Neruda (the most famous poet from Chile, among the most famous of South America).  This way, pedestrians who climb the escalera can enjoy the color and read the poetic words written by Neruda on their way up.  We painted the hand-rail in different bright colors, too.  Isn't this just so much nicer than grey everywhere? :)

If you want to see more cool stuff that this volunteer group does to keep Valpo pretty, check out their Facebook.  It was a fun way to pass the morning, especially because some locals tagged along to provide us with live music!  A few Chileans around my age hauled their ukes and guitars and strummed along as we painted, and we all sang together.  What a great way to bid September good-bye and welcome the primavera!