Leaving My Mark

Before

After

                                                             

Today, Mari Clare's host mom, Myriam, took us to paint some steps in Cerro Bellavista.  She's an artist and loves to brighten up the city with her artwork, and always brings study abroad students along.  When we first met up this morning, she wasn't sure where she wanted to paint, so we just started walking. In Valparaiso, painting steps is legal and very common.  You also don't need a permit to do it, so everything is fair game.  

There were 7 of us gringas and 4 chilenos, all wandering around Bellavista with 5 cans of paint searching for a place to leave our mark.    Finally, near the open sky museum we found some and got right to work.  We painted for about three hours, and by the time we were done, the cerro looked completely different.  It was so much fun, and the people living in the neighborhood were very happy we chose their steps.