In the comments of my last article, the reader Jaime Morales slips a shocking concept that I find worthy of further "Valparaiso is a city that denies itself." I quote: "... Valpo. is a city that denies itself, closes its lifts, construct buildings that do not go with her ... "
trial may seem hard, fact is that there is a widespread and silent adhering to this thought. There is an alert that grows and seeks to emphasize in a quite interesting discussion.
.- do we mean by heritage?
.- exterior walls speak of?
.- In colorful buildings with interesting architectural structure ?
.- We talk about lifts and cableways old and dilapidated?
.- De interesting neighborhoods to explore on foot?
.- Or we talk about all this, and its ingredient less visual and more active than is their own people?
Valparaiso is a city with character. Of that there can be no doubt. Everyone who visits is subjugated to the powerful attraction, and when you ask visitors what they both liked them or attracted or seduced to the point of emotion, everyone will say that is the great mix, is the surprise the encounter with the unexpected and above all, is this great character provided by the inhabitants of the city which, though invisible, can be perceived significantly.
This is the point, Valparaiso is a whole. No is a model of color corrugated. It is a city with a particular lifestyle, with a particular root, with a resounding silence of people who have made this character building the city house by house, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood and hill to hill.
Although it goes without saying that a city was built by its inhabitants and they are the ones that give it its character, oddly enough this is the point where more is forgotten in Valparaiso when looking for the empowerment tour of some of their neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are its people. If your people are going, the place loses its character, it loses what makes it so special and everything is standardized in a scenery snob arranged houses, of which only the façade, making apartment complexes or hotels or cafes.
Precisely, the beauty of Valparaiso and its neighborhoods is that it is "standard" is a special place and that is our greatest strength.
.- Then?
.- Who denies the city?
.- His own people?
.- O tourism development projects that seek to standardize commercial quality of a place? Please
. Do not get me wrong (Do not get me wrong, please!) I am not against development plans for the city. In fact, I've written before that I like both . I just want to stress this issue because it is smaller. We are all involved in this process of "trial and error", which is the search for assets linked to development of business events that will make sustainable local economy, but we must not forget the people and their lives tied to their neighborhoods. Just look for an improved local economy projecting into tourism, because we want the best coverage for the entire population.
once conversing with people of the hill Polanco. I commented on his concern to the sector development plans, which they see as an area of \u200b\u200bgreat potential for its broad appeal and his only elevator (there funicular) that subjugates its beauty and identity.
"... I do not want to happen here as was the case in the hills Concepción and Alegre, where his people, the traditional people who lived there, ended up leaving, selling their houses are now hotels and restaurants ..."
is complicated. The truth is that when a power thinking of becoming a tourist area, the surplus of homes is going to heaven and people end up selling them because the industry is passing into other hands and lost the known neighbors domestic charm. People come from other places, they buy houses they use for weekends and when they arrive, do not go there, lock themselves do not communicate, do not mix, do not get involved and keep others away. The neighborhood is not the same. Those who gave his character go. Those who generate their own activities, they are gone. Everything becomes a somewhat plastic.
sometimes feel like mant
energy some places almost untouchable. No foreign tourists visit them so they do not put the eye in that sector. Keep the neighborhood Hontaneda, deposit boxes to protect the residents continue to soak his feet in a pot on the street, keep buying in your store, children continue to play in Sunday Pichanga and identity of the city is maintained. A minor detail is not just that tourists are seeking identity and flee the places that produced noticeable. Or stay in those produced to visit the character.
The biggest attraction is the remarkable identity Valparaiso brings this character that moves so many times I have seen in my own passengers.
New places, new buildings no criteria preservation of modern architecture and square, few effective solutions with respect to our icons, are enemies of what they just sold to Valparaiso what makes it attractive, which makes it special and unique, something that touches the fiber of emotion in those who visit.
So the question hangs in the air ...
... who refuses to Valparaiso?
His own people??
O imagining who might become pregnant as a new neighborhood The Mouth "?
How do we keep places, even power, even promoting them, while protecting the largest source of city's identity, its own people, y que esta se vea beneficiada por la nueva actividad económica y que se motive a participar en ella, no solamente vendiendo sus casas a un precio que jamás habrían logrado???
Hasta ahora Jaime Morales, mi lector, tiene razón. Debemos tomar cuenta de esta voz que trasciende la opinión solitaria en un blog, pero que interpreta a muchos que la comentan en las esquinas de la ciudad.
La voz silenciosa de los que son en verdad Valparaíso y no lo niegan porque no se niegan a sí mismos…
… su propia gente.
Leo Silva
Because 
