TRUE COLOURS

Plenty of South American cities are awash with street art, but it’s probably only in Valparaíso that you can clamber all over it without realising

The truth dawns at the bottom of the stairs — looking back up them, it’s suddenly clear that they’re painted in the pattern of whiteand-black piano keys. The Piano Stairs are on Cerro Concepcíon, one of several ludicrously steep hills rising from the Pacific Ocean that make Valparaíso an exercise in stubborn refusal to accept nature’s rulings on where a city can realistically be built.

Among these hills — often clinging precariously to their sides — are narrow lanes, where cans of spray paint have been liberally emptied. Pasaje Gálvez, for example, offers the complete range, from basic tagging to a giant masterpiece that attempts to tell the history of Chile, via everything from Inca invasions to modern-day schoolkid protest movements.

Absurd geography alone, however, doesn’t account for why this culturally thriving port town has been turned into a giant art playground. “Under the dictatorship, painting was illegal. It was seen as political, and could have you marked as a Marxist,” Eddie Ramirez, of Valpo Street Art Tours, explains.

The dictatorship also saw thousands of families flee to North America and Europe. When democracy returned, so did many of the departed. Eddie was one of them — he spent 18 years in New York. Hip-hop culture was one of the few commonalities that these thrown-together young people had, and street art was entwined with it. Tagging and murals became both an expression of newfound freedom and a bonding exercise among those who’d grown up apart.

Outside the Centenario Building, one of the city’s tallest, Eddie shows off Solsticio de Verano (‘summer solstice’), a mural by Sammy Espinoza and Cynthia Aguilera (aka Un Kolor Distinto). Spanning all 22 floors, it’s a summery vision of fruit, vegetables and blazing suns. Eddie knows more about it than most, as he was roped in to paint a section. “It took my friends Sammy and Cynthia two and a half weeks, and they used window-cleaning gear,” he explains. “They’ve done graffiti together since 1998 and the main theme is always the love they have for each other.”

What’s particularly interesting is the funding: it was paid for by the government. The attitude towards street art has gone full circle, from banned to commissioned.

The tour finishes with a workshop in a mural-surrounded courtyard, where Eddie stretches transparent film between two posts to teach spray-can techniques. His entourage of bungling amateurs has a harmless blast or three onto the film before Eddie (street art name: Ronin) steps in to apply what he says will be the finishing touches. But he’s soon engrossed, more or less creating entirely new artworks.

Group tours, Monday-Saturday, twice daily (free); private tours from $25 (£19) per person, minimum two people. valpostreetart.com

Street art of Valparaíso